0 strawberry jello pretzel salad

This weekend was Labor day so of course we had a cookout and I took the excuse to make something dessert-y. I found the recipe in a bunch of placed but I'll site these two since I basically combined them >Paula Deen< and the other is >HERE<

Here it is.. these are my mom's hands by the way

So here is everything that went into it.. and yes that is a giant easter-egg-shaped spatula.

Bust up the pretzels, I used sticks but the regular kind would work too

You can further smoosh them this way or you can leave them chunkier, I was seconds from pretzel dust and I think that may have been bad

Theres still chunks though. You'll need about a cup and a half to two cups

Mix in 3T of sugar

Melt down 1 1/4 C butter

Pour it in and mix well

Looks kinda gross but just go with it

You'll want a 9x13 baking dish.. I figured this would do but it turned out being too small. Bake 10mins @350F

Beat up two blocks of softened cream cheese

Add 3/4 to a cup of sugar

It should get creamy

Fold in 8oz of whipped cream

Oh yes.. =]

Spread evenly over the pretzel mush

Stick it in the fridge while you do this next part

Boil 2C of water

Pour in 6oz jello mix and stir well

Add 16oz frozen strawberries

Also add the small can of crushed pineapple

Mix it in good

Pour it over the chilled cream cheese stuff

Stick it back in the fridge for an hour or so and it's ready to go =]

Mmm... Okay I actually didn't really have any of this, mom says it wasn't bad at all but shes had better.. she's pretty brutal, she also says when she had it before it was mixed all together rather than layered. BUT; The Easons(of Sliding E Stables, sorry, no website to link to) came over for a visit and I made them have some, Angie said it was really good and she really like the whole salty vs sweet thing it had going on. So I suppose this means you'll have to make and eat it for yourself to really know how good it is. My input: USE A 9x13 DISH! Mine was smaller and I had an overflow issue, my counter is now stained red from the jello. 


Happy Baking!
Enjoy! =]

0 Piña Colada Cheesecake =]

I grew up in Florida. Piña Colada is not just a fruity drink, its the smell and taste of 'home'. You know when people tell you to go to your 'happy place' or when they say to imagine yourself in a perfect place, mine is filled with salty air, palm trees, crashing waves, bare feet on sandy ground and most importantly sunshine. The smell of sun tan lotion will force my eyes closed and my brain goes 'home' theres just something about the pineapple and coconut thats just comforting. A few days ago I stumbled upon a recipe for a piña colada cheesecake, I didn't save it, I don't know why but I just didn't and that decision has been haunting me since. Today I turned to google in search of that lost recipe and found MANY different listings, none of which were the one I had originally found. I was disappointed, but not to worry I wrote down a couple that sounded similar to the one I had lost and decided that I didn't need an exact recipe, I know how to make cheesecake, now all I have to do is make it taste like the epitome of 'home' not hard right? Since I came up with my own rendition I didn't feel the need to post a source link, you can google it for yourself if you want to see the selection I picked from but I did get a little link happy with other stuff and for that I apologize. 

Here is how they came out:

Here is everything I pulled out thinking I would use (don't mind the milk- I was eating a bowl of captain crunch when I was getting all this together)

Start out by softening the cream cheese, I threw 3 blocks in the microwave for 30sec then tossed them into the mixer until they got creamy.

Then I added 1/2 C sugar and continued to mix

After that I started on my theme flavor by adding in some crushed pineapple (drained)

Put it in the mixer and mix it real good

Then I added the eggs (beat them before adding)

Of course mix that real good too

Then I added sour cream

I then returned to my flavor crusade 

Mix that up really good and the cheesecake part is done, though in the future I would up the pineapple and coconut and even the rum flavors to maybe double what is mentioned though it did end up being a big recipe so maybe instead of doubling flavor elements cutting the other stuff in half would be a better idea. 

Make the crust, you can use graham crackers (like I did) or nilla wafers or I think they actually sell already crunched up graham crackers.. if you have a food processor that would work well but I don't so i crushed up 1 3/4 C graham crackers by hand, put half a stick of butter in with them and they went into the microwave until the butter was completely melted (40sec) then got mixed up. Press this mixture into the bottom of your pan or cupcake tin or whatever you're using, I used a variety.

Pour or spoon in the cheesecake mix

Here they are done

Bake at 340F (cupcakes- 45min)

I also made mini cupcakes

They're a little over done I would suggest 35min, I kind of forgot about them..

I also made one in a pie stone, this is at 70min

They're very good though as I said could definitely use more flavor elements

Here it is cut in half, I know its not very attractive but look at the pineapple chunk stuck to the knife =]

Here are the cupcakes and minis all together on a plate ready to go into the fridge, they should be refrigerated 8hrs before eating (supposedly) I'm not very good at following rules about when to/not to eat things so rule of thumb- leave them overnight, I stuck one in the freezer for 10mins then ate it, do as I say not as I do =] 

One more time heres the recipe for you, with my recommended alterations:

1 1/2 pkg Cream Cheese

1/2 C Sugar

1/2 C Crushed Pineapple

2 Eggs

1/4 C sour cream

2 t Coconut extract

1 t Rum extract

Bake @ 340F 

(see above for instructions/bake times)

Happy Baking!

Enjoy! =]

0 Oreo Cheesecake

Ok, so I made these great little cupcake size single portion cheesecakes yesterday morning.. and I cannot stress enough the amount of GREAT that that little 'great' contains =]


I rolled lazily jumped out of bed around 10am excited about the thought of eating cheesecake for breakfast embarking on the bright new adventure that was a recipe I found online for these little cheesecakes.  After updating my Facebook status to reflect my excitement and its source (the cheesecake) and responding to a comment, on said status about my dietary deficiencies, I wandered bounded out to the kitchen and started pulling ingredients out of the cabinets, got out my new found favorite recipe, hand wrote it on a scrap sheet of printer paper (because recipes are just easier to follow that way) and decided to make a half recipe, after softening and creaming the cream cheese i added the sugar, threw in the vanilla, drizzled in the beaten room temperature eggs, measured out the sour cream and realized I had added a full cup of sugar rather than following my original plan to half everything... so, I panicked and scrambled for the rest of the cream cheese calmly added the other two blocks of cream cheese that I was already making plans for had on hand just in case and the last minute fix caused a little lumpiness in the consistency that was somewhat disappointing added to the overall texture of the finished mini cheesecakes. 
Here is how they turned out:

See how lumpy textured? 

This was round 2

Round 3...

Annd here they all are =] ok.. minus the 6 or so that I devoured the second I thought they were edible, and we aren't going to discuss the amount of batter that I ate prior to baking.. =D

I used colored paper liners, and tip: if you leave them in the muffin tin to cool, like the recipe tells you to, they stay rounder, they get a little smooshy/misshapen if you take them out to cool on a plate.

heres the recipe:

Makes 30

• 42 Oreo, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275° F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Place 1 whole Oreo cookie in the bottom of each lined muffin cup.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.  Gradually add the sugar, and beat until combined.  Beat in the vanilla.
3. Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add in sour cream and salt, beat to combine.  Using a large spatula, fold in the chopped Oreo cookies.
4. Divide batter evenly among the cookie-filled muffin cups, fill each cup almost to the top.  Bake, rotating muffin tins halfway through, until the filling is set, about 22 to 28 minutes.  Transfer the muffins tins to a wire rack to cool completely.  Refrigerate (in the muffin tins) at least 4 hours (or overnight). Remove from tins just before serving

I'm pretty sure I'm obligated to say on here that this is not MY recipe and I think I also have to tell you that while I don't have a direct source, I'm pretty sure this came from Martha Stewart in a round-about kind of way. 

OH! And heres what they're supposed to look like: