When You Can't Eat Out: Black Beans and Avacados...What Can You Make with That?

Decadent desserts abound in Orlando: The Dessert Lady, Jeremiah's Italian Ice, Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly, Blue Bird Bake Shop (I need to visit this place!), etc. Sometimes, however, time and money prevents indulging in conventional sweets. Not to mention that the ingredients can be questionable. To fix the dessert need, homemade concoctions can do just the trick.

At a New Year's Eve party we attended, a mountainous dessert of brownies, chocolate pudding, cool whip, and Heath Bar crumbled on top drew my mom's attention and one she wanted to replicate. There is a catch...See, we don't eat typical sweets; our family tries to make cookies, cakes, ice cream even, with alternative sweeteners such as honey, coconut palm sugar, or stevia. It can take time to develop a taste for these compared to white sugar but once done, you really don't miss the other. Thus, to make the dessert seen at the New Year's Eve party, we took an alternative route which included black beans and avocados.

To make the cake part, we made chocolate cake using 1/2 cup of honey instead of a white sugar and rather than using flour, we used black beans which makes the end result very moist. It isn't as sweet as typical chocolate cake but it is just as satisfying and high in nutrients!

For the chocolate pudding, we employed avocados. Yes, avocados! We added a little sweetener and cocoa powder which makes it almost a chocolate mousse.

Finally, instead of cool whip, we made homemade whipped cream. This is simply the only way to indulge in whipped cream and it is way easier than pie; the air can stuff can't compare (see recipe below).

For the Heath Bar, I made a creamy peanut butter filling which I spread and froze in a pan. My mom made a chocolate frosting/toffee for the top that we aren't sure how we got to the consistency and texture that we did so that could make replicating it difficult. We placed the entire thing in the freezer to get good and hard.

We layered the concoction in a clear dish so we could get a good look at our creation. Cake, then the pudding, then the whipped cream, then the peanut butter candy; we repeated this one more time. Once completed, we set it in the freezer for about a half hour to set. The end result was a rich, healthy, dessert which hit the spot! Enough of my opinion, a picture speaks a thousand words and I have a few!

Not bad for black beans and avocados!

Whipped Cream Recipe:

Place a medium bowl and beaters in the freezer until completely chilled.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place all the ingredients in the cold bowl and beat on high until stiff peaks form; you can test this pay pulling the beaters up and creating peaks. If they flop over, then you need to beat a bit longer. You don't want to over mix the whipping cream.

Ritter's Frozen Custard

My dad promised me a frozen dessert for my birthday in August. Due to the incredible amount of sweets consumed around my birthday, I wanted to hold off a bit but it took a while for a free day to open up. Finally, we had an open Sunday afternoon to get my dessert of choice: frozen custard.

I love frozen custard and Ritter's somehow came across my path as a good choice. I checked out their website before our road trip but was having a tough time deciding what to get. Part of me wanted just pure vanilla custard (my personal favorite) or something called a Glacier, similar to DQ's Blizzard.

The Ritter's location in Cleremont, FL was empty when we were there. Only two ladies were working and I wondered if the one answering all of our questions wasn't one of the owners. I got a sample of pumpkin frozen custard and my dad got a sample of an almond, chocolate, coconut frozen custard. All the custard and Italian ices are made on premise each day, never re-frozen. The waffle cones are made fresh each day as well.

In the end my dad got two scoops of vanilla frozen custard in a cone cup as I hemmed and hawed over my selection. I got a small Glacier with chocolate chip cookie dough mixed in and they were kind enough to sprinkle some Reese's peanut butter cups on top (they said I could create my own!). With treats in hand, we headed outside.

(Glacier with cookie dough and Reese's peanut butter cups)

I am glad that I got the Glacier; it brought the simple vanilla great flavors. I really enjoyed the added Reese's peanut butter cups. I was a bit disappointed by the flavor of the plain vanilla. It was very creamy but did not have enough vanilla flavor. I actually thought Rita's tasted better. While my dad thoroughly enjoyed his frozen custard, and even said it was comparable to the famous Ted Drewe's frozen custard in St. Louis, I'm not sure I would make the trek from East Orlando to Cleremont when I have Jeremiah's Italian Ice and Rita's in my backyard. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my birthday treat and the company thoroughly.

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza and Piccola Gelato Cafe

As if the holiday season didn't hold enough savory concoctions and mouth-watering sweets; then to add to the special foods, a spontaneous lunch the day after Christmas at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza. I love pizza; it's my if-you-were-stuck-on-a-deserted-island food. And I've had all sorts: from Mellow Mushrooms chewy crusted pie to a completely crunchy Sicilian crust at Mamma Rosa's in Dothan, AL.

Anthony's, newly added to the shopping center off Turkey Lake Road down the road from Whole Foods, is a sporty clean restaurant that warns that it's crust is "well-done". Heated to 800-900 degrees F. in a coal oven, they weren't lying -- the crust is a combination of crunch and chew. The bottom is charred and crunchy but right underneath to toppings is a nice soft bread.

The decor of the place is a movie and music hall of fame. Black and white photos of Audrey Hepburn, the Beatles, Muhammad Ali, and others hang on the walls. Several flat screen TVs distract from the food at hand. The bathrooms are another story. Men beware: scantily clad females were the story reported (now all of you are going to go use the bathroom; really, just go before you leave the house). The woman's room is a bit safer, just poor pictures of Brad Pitt, George Clooney in the main entry and Elvis, Johnny Depp, and James Dean in the stalls (all fully clothed, mind you).

The waitress informed us that you can get half and half on any pizza except the one with eggs. We got the Paul and Young Ron (meatballs, sausage, ricotta, and sweet or spicy peppers--definitely would go with spicy peppers next time); Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella; and pepperoni. I enjoyed all three but the T,B, & M had the best crust because there wasn't any sauce for it to absorb. FYI: you can get sauce on the side for no extra charge. The waitress ended up bringing the first pizza to the table and serving. That sure threw me off! I'd prefer to pick my own slices but I had to remind myself that the intentions were good. I took a look around and none of the others waiters seemed to be doing. Maybe it was just her style or maybe that's what they do for bigger groups; either way I can handle serving it up myself.

In the end, the two 16 inch pizzas fed all 6 of us. We agreed it was a decent pie and I wouldn't moan if we decided to go back.

Across the street is the sinfully delicious Piccola Gelato Cafe which we entered at my request. Mostly white with accents of black the petite cafe was sadly empty (I hope that isn't the norm). Our server said we could try samples, "as many as we liked" (they had me at hello). I stuck to the traditional flavor of chocolate chip for my sample; but flavors ranged from lemon to a nutella flavor. While we split a small cup, my mom inquired regarding the production process. All the flavors (24 daily, 100 in all) are made on the premise with milk, sugar, cream, and vanilla. (How many desserts these days are made with just a few basic ingredients? Just goes to prove that you don't need corn syrup and hydrogenated oils to make something taste good.) Then depending on the flavor, additional ingredients are added to this base. Let me tell you: it's better than ice cream. Cleaner, fresher, denser but not heavy, gelato is my new favorite. How is it that Italians know how to do it better? Better version of ice cream and always better pizza. Take a trip and check out both of these places: dinner and dessert. Hmm, this might be conspiracy...

Anthony's must have: Tomato, Basil, and Fresh Mozzarella (with sauce on the side)

Anthony's next bite: Paul and Young Ron with spicy peppers

Piccola's must have: Gelato, I don't think any of their flavors could be bad

Piccola's next bite: can you guess? Gelato!