Chocolate Poke Cake

A few months ago, I have not heard of - much less tasted - poke cakes before. But I have been seeing them all over the internet lately, so I finally decided to give it a try. And you know what? I'm sure glad I did, because I've just added this to my list of favorite treats. I adapted this from this recipe right here. I hope you like it!

CHOCOLATE POKE CAKE

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cups Hershey's Cocoa 

1 tsp. salt

1-3/4 cups sugar

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 container (16 oz.) dairy sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2/3 cup butter/margarine, softened

2 eggs

2 pkg. (4-serving each size) Jell-O Cook & Serve Pudding

1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed

chocolate shavings

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
2. Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa,  baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add butter , sour cream, vanilla and eggs. Beat on medium speed of mixer for 3 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake 40-45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Immediately poke deep holes in cake at 1-inch intervals, using round handle of wooden spoon.
5. Prepare pudding as directed on package. Pour it onto the cake, making sure the pudding gets into the holes. Refrigerate for about 2 hours.
6. Spread Cool Whip onto the cake. Sprinkle chocolate shavings on top. Refrigerate 1 hour. 
7. Serve and enjoy!

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|  Angels Homestead : Saturday Spotlight  |  A Night Owl Blog : Create & Inspire  |  Anyonita Nibbles : Tasty Tuesdays  |  A Peek Into My Paradise : T.G.I.F. Link Party  | Bebetsy : Brag About It  |  Cooking With Curls : Best of the Weekend  |  Create With Joy : Inspire Me Monday  |  Domesblissity : Thriving on Thursdays  |  Ducks n' a Row : Wonderful Wednesday  |  Let This Mind Be In You : From the Farm Blog Hop  |  Life With The Crust Off : Two Girls and a Party  |  Life with the Crust Off : Incredible Poke Cakes  |  Living Better Together : TGIF Link Party  |  Love and Laundry : Weekend Wonders  |  Love Bakes Good Cakes : All My Bloggy Friends  |  Memories by the Mile : Tuesday Trivia and Link Party  |  Piggy In Polka Dots : Party In Polka Dots  |  Pink Recipe Box : Creative Wednesdays  |  Pink When : DIY Sunday Showcase  |  Rain On A Tin Roof : Give Me The Goods Monday  |  Simply Designing with Ashley : Simple Create Link Party  |  Table for Seven : Show Your Stuff Tuesdays  |  Thank You Honey : Whatever Wednesday  |  The Jenny Evolution : Friday Flash Blog  |  The NY Melrose Family : Whimsy Wednesdays  |  The Pin Junkie : Friday Link Party  |  The Wondering Brain : My Favorite Posts SHOW OFF Weekend Blog Party  |  Thirty Handmade Days : Pity Party  |  Titi Crafty : Bewitch Me & Titi Link Party  |  Who Needs A Cape : Super Sunday Link Party

Watermelon Pops

These Watermelon Pops are a fun and refreshing snack for the summer. As  soon as I saw this on the Kraft Recipes site (you can click here to see it) I just knew I had to make it with my little boy.

I did not have the Lime JELL-O and pop sticks so I just used Melon Fusion JELL-O and 5.5" wooden skewers instead. My favorite part would be the middle, cream cheese with Cool Whip... yum!

So here's the recipe. Enjoy!

WATERMELON POPS

1 cup sugar, divided

1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Lime Flavor Gelatin

2 cups boiling water, divided

Ice cubes

1 cup cold water, divided

1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

3 Tbsp. miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Mix 1/3 cup sugar and dry lime gelatin mix in medium bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water; stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to 1/2 cup cold water to measure 3/4 cup. Add to lime gelatin; stir until ice is completely melted. Refrigerate 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, repeat step 1 using dry strawberry gelatin mix and omitting the refrigeration step. Pour into 16 (3-oz.) paper cups. Freeze 20 minutes. Stir 1/2 tsp. chocolate chips into gelatin in each cup.

Beat cream cheese and remaining sugar with mixer in medium bowl until well blended. Stir in COOL WHIP; spread over gelatin in cups.

Pour lime gelatin over cream cheese mixture. Insert wooden pop stick into gelatin in center of each cup. Freeze 3 hours or until firm. Dip cups in warm water for 15 seconds. Peel off cups. (Do not twist or pull pop sticks.)

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I linked this post to these wonderful parties:

Alderberry Hill : Make The Scene Mondays  | Anyonita Nibbles : Tasty Tuesdays | BeBetsy : Brag About ItTuesday Link Party | Create With Joy : Inspire Me Monday | Domesblissity : Thriving On Thursdays | Ducks 'n a Row : Wonderful Wednesday | Frugal Foodie Mama : Marvelous Mondays | Life With The Crust Off : Two Girls and a Party | Love and Laundry : Weekend Wonders | Love Bakes Good Cakes : All My Bloggy Friends | Memories by the Mile : Tuesday Trivia and Link Party | My Life as Mumma Walker : Friendly Friday Blog Hop | My Turn (for us) : Freedom Fridays |  Piggy In Polka Dots : Party In Polka Dots | Rae Gun Ramblings : What We Wore, Read, and Made | Rain On A Tin Roof : Give Me The Goods Monday | Thank You Honey : Whatever Wednesday | The NY Melrose Family : Whimsy Wednesdays | Titi Crafty : Bewitch Me & Titi Link Party | Who Needs A Cape : Super Sunday Link Party

4th of July 2013

My family and I love watching the fireworks every 4th of July, but we don't like the huge crowd and the heavy traffic on the way home. So this year, we found a spot inside the NAB (Naval Amphibious Base), laid out a blanket on the dead grass (yes, dead grass, no sugar coating here), and made ourselves comfortable while we waited for the fireworks. 

This is the view from our spot, the Coronado Bridge. It looked really pretty with it's lights on, when it got dark. But this is one of those times when I wish I have one of those fancy cameras. The pictures I took were just too embarrassing to share. So if you're expecting really cool photos of fireworks, you're not gonna find them in this post. Sorry!

These are my three goofy kids, (from left to right) Nath, Bea, and Claire. We brought Subway sandwiches, KFC chicken, chips, cookies and drinks in the cooler, nothing fancy. 

Killing time while waiting for the fireworks wasn't a problem either. Not when you have your grandpa to horse around with.

And video games of course!

The fireworks were spectacular! Thank goodness there were no technical problems like last year. The little boy enjoyed every moment of it.

What about you? How was your 4th of July?