Strawberry Season Is Here!

This absolutely YUMMY receipe was on the "Mennonite Girls Can Cook" Blog this morning. With strawberry season here I thought I'd pass this along through my blog as well. I can't wait to give this recipe a try.  Of course, knowing me, I'll probably BUY my pie crust dough from the grocery store, and use Cool Whip for the topping!

Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Strawberry Sheet Pie

This dessert serves 20 good sized pieces or up to 30 smaller ones.  Make the pastry for the crust a day ahead and you will have half the work finished for the day of your party.   You'll only need half of the pastry. .the other half can be wrapped in two separate discs and frozen for double pie or two single pies.

Dorothy's Pastry

• 5 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pound tenderflake or other lard  (not shortening)
• 1 egg and 1 tablespoon white vinegar and enough COLD water to make 1 cup

1. Put the dry ingredients in a very large bowl.
2. Stir it up with a pastry blender to evenly spread the ingredients through the flour.
3. Cube the lard and cut it into the flour mixture until it is the size of oatmeal.
4. Drizzle the water/egg/vinegar mixture over all the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until a shaggy dough forms.
5. Dump it onto a pastry mat and pull together to form a large ball.  Don't over mix.
6. Divide the pastry into half.  Divide half into two parts so that you will have three pieces all together.
7. Wrap the three pieces separately in plastic wrap.  Chill.
8. Preheat oven to 400 F.
9. For this dessert, take the large piece of pastry and roll it onto a floured pastry mat or well floured counter large enough to come up the sides of a 13 X 18 X 1" cookie sheet .  Roll the pastry up onto your rolling pin and transfer to the cookie sheet.  Trim the edges along the top of the cookie sheet.
10. Prick the dough with a fork every couple of inches and line the pastry with foil, pressing firmly onto the pastry, covering it all. ..extra does not need to be trimmed.
11. Bake 10 minutes and then remove the foil and bake until evenly browned.  Do not under bake ..you want the pastry nice and crisp.  Cool for an hour before adding the first layer.

Cream Cheese Layer

• 2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese. ..may be light
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons instant vanilla powder
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• Beat the softened cream cheese together with the remaining ingredients and carefully spread evenly over the cooled pastry crust.

Strawberry Filling  ( I had enough strawberry filling left to make a small 8 inch pie which is really handy if you want to enjoy pie the next day but know there will be no leftovers)

• 4 pounds strawberries diced (it makes it easier to cut nice slices if the strawberries are diced to about 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 4 cups water
• 1 large package strawberry gelatin

1. Combine the sugar, and cornstarch in a large pot and stir to blend the cornstarch with the sugar.
2. Add the water and bring to a boil, stirring the whole time.
3. Add the package of gelatin and stir.
4. Add the diced strawberries to the pot and allow to cool for to room temperature.
5. Spoon the filling over the cream cheese layer and chill.

Beat 2 cups whipping cream, 1/2 cup sugar and several packages of whipping cream stabilizer or several tablespoons of vanilla instant pudding.  Using a pastry bag with a large star  tip. ..decorate and then slice and serve.

Super Simple Peanut Butter Fudge

1 - 16 oz. Jar of Peanut Butter
       (creamy or chunky - your choice!)
1 Can of Vanilla Frosting

Mix together - spread in pan and let it set-up (doesn't take long).

YEP - that's it!  I've thought of trying chocolate frosting, but haven't yet.

Easy Chicken Divan

2 (10 oz.) Pkgs. Frozen Broccoli
3 Chicken Breasts, Baked and cut into smaller pieces
         (or just pull it apart - that's what I do!)
2 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 C. Mayonaise
1 tsp. Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp. Curry Powder
1/2 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Cook Broccoli and arrange on the bottom of your baking dish (spray or grease dish).  Arrange chicken over the broccoli.  Combine soup, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and curry powder.  Pour over chicken and broccoli.  Sprinkle with grated cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees until bubbling (30 minutes or so).

Company Casserole

This is a recipe I found years ago in a Mennonite Cookbook.  It’s kind of like Lasagna.  I love this recipe so much that I haven’t made Lasagna since I found it!

¾ lb. Hamburger

1 pkg. Dry Spaghetti Sauce Mix

1 (15 oz.) can Tomato Sauce

½ C. Sour Cream

1 C. Cottage Cheese

8 oz. pkg. of Cream Cheese

12 oz. pkg. Egg Noodles (wide or fancy cut)

3 T. Melted Butter or Margarine

Brown and drain hamburger.  Stir in dry mix and tomato sauce.  Simmer.  I also like to add 1 can of sliced black olives.  I add them right into the sauce while it simmers.  Cream the 3 cheeses together.  Cook noodles and drain.  Put half the noodles in baking dish.  Cover with cheese mixture.  Add other half of noodles.  Top with meat mixture.  Drizzle with melted butter.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until it bubbles.

NOTE:  This is the BASIC recipe.  Once you’ve made it you can adjust things to your taste.  I normally just use the 1 package of cream cheese – but SELDOM do I use only ½ C. of Sour Cream and/or 1 C. of Cottage Cheese.  Same with the hamburger – the amount depends more on what I have on hand and want/need to use up.   I don’t always drizzle the melted butter on top … but it really does make it taste a little more “extra good”.  This is a super easy recipe … ENJOY!

Pumpkin Muffins

Anyone who is a Weight Watchers member, or former Weight Watchers member, most certainly is familiar with this recipe.  But for those who aren't ... give this a try.

1 box of Cake Mix - either Spice or Carrot Cake
1 small can of Pumpkin (not Pumpkin Pie Mix)

Mix together - just these two ingredients.  It's very thick, and a little hard to mix, but just when you think it's not all going to mix together ... it does!  Spoon evenly into muffin tin.  Makes 12 muffins.  These are very dense, and very flavorful, and very delicious!  (I always mix mine by hand, but you could probably use a mixer).

Hashbrown Casserole

This is certainly a recipe that's been around for a long time ... and one that I'm sure many of you have, and have made often.  But I'm planning to include this in dinner that I'm taking to my dad this weekend ... so thought I'd go ahead and post it here.

1 Bag of Frozen Hash Browns
1 (10 oz.) Can "Cream of ....." Soup (I prefer Cream of Celery ... but use whatever you like)
1 Pint Sour Cream
2 Cups Grated Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Cup Melted Butter or Margarine
1 Pkg. Onion Soup Mix
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 11 X 14 baking dish with cooking spray.

Mix all ingredients together, except butter, and place in prepared pan.  Drizzle with the butter and bake for about 45 minutes, or until bubbling and brown on top.

TAKE NOTE:  I thaw my hash browns usually.  I normally only use about 1/2 to 3/4 of the Onion Soup Mix.  I find that using the entire package makes it a bit too salty for my taste.  I also omit the salt.  These are sinfully rich, and so easy to make.  ENJOY!