The Covered Dish - Lemonade Dessert

As much as I love cooking and keeping a tidy home it’s time to approach change. I’ve been getting ready for an event in our home and I keep realizing I need time to ‘play’! Honestly I think it all goes back to the word, ‘balance’! My easy dessert is a bit of a tribute to keeping things simple, yet delicious. Summer means fishing, boating, swimming, picnics, travel, the racetrack, family, friends and so much more.
Once again we’re going to jump outside of four little walls and kick our creative juices into overdrive. What am I thinking? Well, here goes: Lemonade switched out to limeade is easy peezy. We don’t even have to discuss modifications, it’s pretty obvious!

When I go to the Caribbean or any sunny beach it’s fun to seek out the best Pina Colada in town. You have to be careful with the cream of coconut because too much results in a ‘soapy’ tasting drink, yuck. Still I think it’s worth ‘messin’ around here and making one of my favorite summer flavors. Two ingredients come to mind quickly: coconut and pineapple. In the crumble portion of the dessert add 1/3 of a cup of toasted coconut. You might even want to crush a few cashews into the crumble, instead of pecans. With the ice cream add 1/2 cup of cream of coconut, sample and see if you can go to 3/4 of a cup for a nice coconut flavor. To the cream of coconut add a small flat of crushed pineapple, undrained.
Go to larger markets to find a good selection of frozen fruit concentrates. Pineapple Orange is going to be another easy modification. Use frozen pineapple juice concentrate or orange juice. Also add in the crushed pineapple again. With the orange juice you’re going to get the flavor of an Orange Julius.

Strawberry-Banana juice concentrate, mashed bananas with a little lemon or orange juice stirred in to keep browning at bay, mashed strawberries. So very refreshing.
Chocolate, sure, why not? I would probably go with 12 ounces of heavy cream with chocolate syrup added to desired strength. Peanut Butter Chocolate?
Freeze this easy dessert and keep it tightly covered. It’s going to be a refreshing closure or ‘snack’ for a hot summer day. Now I have the ‘hankering’ to prepare one of these for our home. They could even go into muffin tins for the kiddos.
The perfect dessert to make in advance for a summer barbeque.
This weekend I’m making changes, more time for fun is the prescription. Go forth and have an outstanding week or week-end. Simply Yours, The Covered Dish.

Lemonade Dessert

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup cold butter

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

1 (12 oz.) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed

(May have to use regular, if there’s no pink.)

In a small bowl combine flour and sugars, cut in cold butter until crumbly. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle and spread in a single layer on a greased 10 x 15 x 1 baking sheet. (I would put parchment on my pan first.) Bake at 375 degrees for 9-12 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring once. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack.
In a large bowl, beat ice cream and lemonade until well blended. Sprinkle half of the crumbles on a greased 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish. Spread with ice cream mixture and sprinkle remaining crumble over the top. Cover and freeze overnight. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. MUST SET OVERNIGHT. Serves 12 persons.