Strawberry Nutella Semifreddo

As a native Baltimoron, you think I would be used to ridiculously humid almost triple digit temperature mid-Atlantic summer days.  Nope, not so much.  Even though I love summer weather there is always that week where you can't even move it is so sticky hot.  All you need is a snowball and a beach chair.  Because I cannot get my beloved tastee tops or trek to Bethany yet, I decided I would make myself a frozen treat!

Semifreddo is an Italian frozen dessert that means "half cold."  Basically, you make a mousse and then freeze it!  No extra equipment is required, just a hand mixer for the whipped cream and a double boiler to cook the eggs.  Plus, it really makes an impression when it is flipped out of its mold.  I decided to stick with the Italian theme and went to my go to: NUTELLA.  I love dipping strawberries in nutella, so I decided to make a fast strawberry sauce to incorporate into one of the bases.

I sloppily layered the strawberry and nutella layers, but if you want even layers I would recommend freezing after each addition.  After about 4 hours of freezing, you'll be able to unturn the mold and present your beautiful semifreddo.  Decorate with some of the leftover strawberry sauce and nutella, maybe some fresh strawberries or toasted hazelnuts as well.  An easy ice cream fake out without the effort or extra equipment, the perfect project for a muggy summer day!

Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake: 50 Women Game Changers in Food - #49 Tastespotting

It is no secret that I love my food town and cannot shut up about it. So I was super excited when the ladies from tastespotting.com came up because it is an app dedicated to telling people THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD EAT!  It doesn't hurt that almost half of the DC entries are from Good Stuff Eatery, Spike Mendelsohn's place in Capital Hill.  His good stuff sauce, ridiculously juicy burgers, mayo bar (mango mayo!), and ugh those milkshakes!  Plus it doesn't hurt that he's normally walking around the restaurant...

The first time I went I was told that I needed to get the toasted marshmallow milkshake. I've always been kind of averse to drinking my calories (without alcohol), so for me to get the shake and then also rave about it and want everyone else in my general vicinity to also drink it means it must be pretty darn good!  With a sunny side burger and onion petals, it is the perfect fat kid meal!

 

This milkshake is like drinking a burnt marshmallow. Toasted marshmallows (read: burnt) are blended into vanilla ice cream and a little bit of sour cream is added to cut through the sweetness of the marshmallows. Because Spike himself has released this recipe, I decided to jazz up the presentation a little by adding a chocolate covered graham cracker and a torched marshmallow.

Really, any excuse to finally buy a baby kitchen torch... But you can do it in the oven if you go here!

And here are the other ladies who as always have fantastic interpretation of this week's lady game changers:
Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden
Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades 
Mary - One Perfect Bite, Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts
Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo, Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen, Annie - Most Lovely Things, Jeanette - Healthy Living
Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table
Kathy - Bakeaway with Me, Martha - Simple Nourished Living, Jill - Saucy Cooks 
Sarah - Everything in the Kitchen Sink