Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

I love this dessert. The balance between the fruit, sweet, and salty it perfect. This is a great recipe to make year round and for some reason the only time my family ever makes this is for Christmas Eve! Doesn't it make a pretty 4th of July dessert?

When my family makes this we buy the frozen sugared strawberries in a carton. You can find the frozen strawberries in the frozen dessert section of your local grocery store. They come in a 24 ounce container so a little more than you need for the recipe. Sometimes I add a little extra or I eat the rest because they are so yummy. :)

This recipe is really easy but you need to plan ahead so you have enough time for each layer to cool before you add the next layer.

This recipe is from the Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale Cookbook, 1984.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert Recipe

First Layer:

1 1/2 sticks butter

2 2/3 cups pretzels

3 Tbsp. sugar

Second Layer: 

1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 sm. carton cool whip

Third Layer:

1 lg. box strawberry jello

1 cup boiling water

1 cup cold water

1 - 20 oz. pkg. strawberries, fresh or frozen

Roll pretzels with rolling pin until you have 2 2/3 cup crushed pretzels. Do not make too powdery. Melt butter and add sugar and pretzels. Press into a 9x13 pan and bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Prepare middle layer by creaming together cream cheese and sugar. Add cool whip. Spread over cooled pretzel layer. Let set in refrigerator until firm.

Mix strawberry jello with water. When the mixture starts to congeal, add strawberries. Pour over the cream cheese mixture and place in fridge until firm.

This is such a sweet, decorative dessert. No matter who you make it for they're sure to love it!

What's your favorite 13x9 summer dessert?
Comment below!

Megan

Peach Cobbler

This peach cobbler is the best. In my family, we call this a cobbler, but it's really more of a deep dish pie.

I love peaches and I especially love fresh-picked peaches! While growing up, we vacationed in Michigan every summer and picked bushels of fresh peaches. Some would be eaten fresh, sometimes we made peach butter, and others would be peeled and sliced into bags and frozen to enjoy throughout the year.

I like to blanche my peaches. I find this is the easiest way to quickly peel a lot of peaches. In a large pot of boiling water, add several peaches and boil them for 30 seconds. Remove peaches from boiling water and immediately place in ice cold water until cool. Then all you have to do is grab the skin and it will come right off! Super quick and child-friendly since you don't even need a knife!

This recipe does work with frozen peaches just keep in mind that your finished pie may have more juice. Adding an extra Tablespoon or so of flour can help with this.

The only thing that makes this pie better than it already is - vanilla ice cream! This pie is best served warm with vanilla ice cream.

This pie crust recipe is from my Grandma Salzer. She was such a good cook and baker. Grandma loved to watch cooking shows and wrote down at least half a dozen recipes a day! This is the only pie crust I use and I'm always getting compliments on it. Thanks Grandma!

The Deep-Dish Peach Pie recipe is slightly adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

Crust:

2 cups flour

3 tsp. sugar

1 1/4 tsp. salt

2/3 cup vegetable oil

4 Tbsp. cold milk

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar, or to taste 

4 Tbsp. flour

8 cups peeled, thickly sliced fresh peaches

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

3 Tbsp. butter 

For the crust measure flour, sugar, and salt into a 9x13 pan and mix well. Measure oil in a measuring cup then add the cold milk. Whip liquid with a fork. Pour liquid in pan with dry ingredients and mix well. Reserve a small ball, about the size of a plum, and put to the side. Press into place keeping the bottom even and going 3/4 the way up the side.

For the filling combine sugar and flour. Add the mixed sugar and flour to the sliced peaches and toss to coat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Pour filling into the unbaked crust and spread evenly. Top with small pieces of the leftover dough and dot with butter. 

Bake in a 375 degree F oven 45-55 minutes until the crust is golden. 

What's your favorite way to eat fresh peaches?
Comment below!

Megan

Best-of-Class Fair Fudge

Summer makes me think of days and weeks spent working on 4-H projects. I would spend all summer sewing, crafting, scrapbooking, and making several posters as the fair approached. 

I might practice my food projects throughout the summer but it wasn't really until the week of that I would start making most of my foods. I've spent countless hours standing at the stove making jams, butters, and candies. While these foods aren't hard to make, they sure are time consuming! 

Be ready to stand at the stove for a long time if you're planning on making candy!

This fudge is so easy! Smooth, creamy, and chocolatey! The classic fudge.

Don't get impatient while making this! Make sure you have plenty of time to stand and stir while you bring the mixture to a boil on a very low heat. It took me 20-30 minutes of constant stirring waiting for the mixture to boil.

Before starting to make your candy, it's always a good idea to make sure you have everything ready. I like to pre-measure my sugar and have my cans and jars open and ready to go. You especially want to have your pans lined and greased.

You want to use a heavy duty pan. I like to use this old pan when I make candy. It is my grandma's old pressure cooker pan. It's nice and heavy to help prevent burning and scorching.

When you add all of your ingredients stir constantly to melt all of the sugar to prevent sugar crystals in your fudge.

Here the mixture is boiling for 7 minutes. Because you don't have to stir constantly during the 7 minutes, keep a close watch as you can see the pan gets quite full! 

When 7 minutes is up, you remove your pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate. It doesn't hurt it to let the pan sit for a minute and let the chocolate melt. Stir until chocolate is completely blended in.

Pour into your prepared pans and let cool.

Once the fudge has set up you can score the top for cutting later. It's easiest to hold a ruler next to the pan and lightly press the fudge with a knife at one-inch increments. I mark two sides.

The foil is great because you can lift the fudge out after it has completely cooled in the fridge.
Follow your scored marks and you will have 64 pieces from each pan.

This recipe is from the old Illinois 4-H Cooking 101 book. They have changed the recipe since I was a 4-Her.

Fudge Recipe 

1 cup unsalted butter

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow cream

1 can evaporated milk

1 (11.5 oz) package semi-sweet choc. chips

1 (11.5 oz) package milk choc. chips

2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine butter, sugar, marshmallow cream, and evaporated milk in a 3 qt. heavy saucepan. Bring to boil over medium to low heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Boil steadily over low heat 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep mixture at a fairly low boil all the time.

Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and nuts, stir until chocolate is melted and blended into mixture. 

Pour at once into two lightly buttered or foil lined 8x8 square pans or one 10x15 jelly roll pan. While still warm, score candy in each pan into 64 pieces. Refrigerate. When cool and firm, cut. Makes about 5 1/2 pounds. Recipe will divide in half.

What's your favorite homemade candy to make?
Comment below!

Megan

Chocolate Strawberry Layer Cake

I enjoyed making this smooth chocolate cake with a mixture of frostings and fillings! This summer-y chocolate cake is perfect for any of your summer gatherings. Chocolate, fresh fruit, and cool whip for a light, cool summer treat.

I did make a few different layers. First, I iced the bottom cake with chocolate icing and layered it with strawberries topping with a layer of cool whip. I added another layer of strawberries and cool whip so the top layer would have something to stick to.

I used the chocolate frosting to ice the top and then used the rest of my thinly sliced strawberries to decorate the top.

I used almost 2 pounds of fresh strawberries for this cake!

Thanks to NellieBellie.com for the chocolate cake recipe!

Chocolate Cake Recipe 

3/4 cup soft butter

3 eggs at room temp.

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa 

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. baking powder 

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups milk

Grease pans (either 2 round 9 inch pans or one 13x9) and either flour or coat with cocoa. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Beat butter for 30 seconds or so. Slowly add sugar.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in vanilla.

Add dry ingredients beating after each addition.

Add half of the milk, beat, and then add the other half. Beat just until everything is nicely combined.

Spread batter evenly into pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes for round pans, 5 minutes or so longer for a 13x9 pan. Watch them! A toothpick inserted in the middle that comes out clean means it is done! 

Let cool completely before icing. 

Chocolate Frosting Recipe

1/2 cup soft butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. milk

Beat ingredients together. Add additional cocoa, sugar, and milk to taste.

Note: I did not ice my whole cake, I left my sides bare. If you are making this to ice the whole cake I would double or triple this recipe to make sure you have enough frosting.

What's your favorite cake/fruit combination?
Comment below!

Megan

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Creamy Mac 'n Cheese is an anytime-food. Whether you need a dish to share for a picnic, birthday, or potluck, this can be your go-to dish!

There is no comparison between stove-top mac and baked mac. I ate plenty of stove mac 'n cheese growing up but baked mac 'n cheese was a special dish! It's so easy, I think it should be made instead of the stove kind. Too bad we live in a world of convenience foods! Everyone's missing out on the good stuff!

A super simple dish that can be doubled or quadrupled to satisfy your crowd. With six ingredients, it doesn't get any easier!

I love the crunchy baked top but for this pan I stirred the mac once while it was in the oven. I was requested to make this for a birthday party and I know my nephew doesn't like the crunchy ones. ;)

This recipe is from my Great Aunt Donna.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese Recipe 

1 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked

4 Tbsp. butter 

1 lb. velveeta (or generic brand) cheese, cubed

3 green onions, chopped

2 cups milk

1/4 tsp. pepper
salt for water, about 1/4 tsp.

Cook macaroni according to the instructions on the box add salt to water. Drain, then pour into a 13x9 pan and add the butter. Add cubed cheese, green onions, milk, and pepper. Mix well.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes. 

If you don't like a crunchy top, stir once or twice during the cooking time for a creamy mac and cheese. If you like it crunchy, just pop it in the oven and leave it!

This simple recipe is sure to be a hit at your next gathering! 

What's your favorite potluck dish?

Comment below!

Megan

Stir-Fry with Garlic-Crusted Chicken

I love vegetables and one of my favorite ways to eat them is in stir-fry! It's a quick, healthy dinner full of bright colored veggies. I can't wait for our garden to start producing this summer so we can have lots of fresh zucchini, squash, peppers, and tomatoes! 

I made this recipe up as I was hurrying to get dinner on the table. You can't ever go wrong with garlic and sesame oil, right?! I don't think so! I absolutely love the way the chicken turned out- moist and coated in garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Such a yummy flavor combo.

Stir-Fry with Garlic-Crusted Chicken Recipe

3-4 Chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes

4 tsp. minced garlic, divided

2 tsp. soy sauce (may use less) + extra for drizzling 

2 tsp. sesame oil (may use less) + extra for drizzling

2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 red bell pepper, cut in squares

1 yellow bell pepper, cut in squares

4-6 carrots, cut in thin strips

1 box (8oz.) mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 med. onion, sliced

2 zucchini, sliced

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil until pan is very hot. Add cubed chicken to pan as well as 2 tsp. garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Stir chicken to coat and cook evenly. Make sure chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Pour chicken into a bowl and cover to keep warm.

In the same skillet add 1 Tbsp. olive oil and heat pan. When hot add red pepper, yellow pepper, carrots, mushrooms, onion, and zucchini. Add 2 tsp. garlic and drizzle soy sauce and sesame oil over veggies. Cook, stirring almost constantly, until veggies are bright, shiny, and soft. 

When finished, add the chicken to the skillet. If you need time to work on other sides, this dish will stay perfect if covered and the burner turned to low-heat, this also helps the harder carrots and peppers soften. 

Serve over rice or noodles. Other great sides: egg rolls, dumplings, fruit. 

What are your favorite stir-fry ingredients?

Comment below!

Megan

Rhubarb Custard Bars

I had these once and I knew as soon as I got my hands on some rhubarb that I would make them! The recipe makes a 13x9 pan of these sweets so make sure you have somewhere to take them or you will literally want to eat them all!

My favorite part of these sweet bars is the crust!! Crisp and buttery. :) Is there anything as good as a perfect pastry crust?? It smelled amazing while in the oven.

These custard bars are so pretty before you add the topping! Rhubarb sure is a pretty color! You want to cool the bars completely before adding the topping.

Because the frosting is made with heavy whipping cream, it takes longer to set-up than if you use cool whip in the frosting. The heavy whipping cream definitely adds better flavor though.

I was not completely happy with the topping, I thought it was lumpy. Originally, the recipe said to whip the heavy cream and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture. After researching some other recipes and cream cheese frosting, I changed the recipe so that you whip the heavy cream into the cream cheese. It mixes so much better and is more smooth! 

Rhubarb Custard Bars Recipe

Crust:

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup cold butter

Filling:

2 cups sugar

7 Tbsp. flour

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 large eggs, beaten

5 cups finely chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed & drained

Topping:

6 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup heavy whipping cream 

In a bowl combine the flour and sugar; cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Press into a greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, for filling, combine sugar and flour in a bowl. Whisk in cream and eggs. Stir in the rhubarb. Pour over crust. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until custard is set. Cool. 

For topping, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add the heavy whipping cream into the mixer, beating well until peaks are formed. Spread on top. Cover and chill. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator. 

Makes 3 dozen. 

Recipe from Taste of Home. The only thing I changed was the process of making the topping. 

A great cold, summer treat! 

What's your favorite rhubarb recipe? 

Comment below!

Megan

Poppy Seed Bread and Peonies

We've had some beautiful days lately. The flowers are starting to bloom and the days are beginning to warm up. I love that it's still cool enough outside to open the door and windows while I work in the kitchen. If the weather can't brighten up your day this delicious poppy seed bread sure will!

I'm loving the peonies in our yard. We have a really unique peony- I've never seen one like it before.

This is one of my FAVORITE breads ever. My mom made this poppy seed bread while I was growing up and I have many memories of helping her measure out the extracts and flavorings. This is one of the first recipes I learned to bake.

I make this recipe in my 5 quart Kitchen Aid mixer and always double the recipe when I make it. I put all of the ingredients in my mixer in the order listed and leave the mixer on stir, or your lowest notch, the whole time. It mixes it really well and I've found that if you start and stop the mixer, the jerk of the machine starting will slosh your precious batter out! So because of that, I let mine mix nice and slow while I add the ingredients and it doesn't affect the recipe!

The little loaves make great gifts! Who doesn't love a little loaf of sweet bread??

This bread is covered in a sweet, orange juice glaze = so good!

The only poppy seed bread recipe I will ever make. Seriously, it's that good! Thanks to my long time friends, the Troyer Family, for letting me share this recipe!

Poppy Seed Bread Recipe

3 cups flour

2 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup milk

1 1/8 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 1/2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 1/2 tsp. butter flavoring

Combine all of the ingredients for the bread and mix well, 1-2 minutes, with an electric mixer. Pour into 6 greased mini loaf pans or 2 regular size bread pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then glaze.

Glaze:

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1/2 tsp. butter flavoring

Mix all glaze ingredients well. Pour over warm bread while still in pans.

Recipe doubles well. Bread freezes well. Store in an airtight container.

I'm having an impromptu party in my kitchen! Flowers, food, and bread! :)

Who is going to make some of this sweet bread?

What's your favorite bread? Comment below! 

Megan