Strawberry Shortcake

strawberry shortcake

Butter Recipe Yellow Cake (prepared to instructions in a bundt pan)

1/2 of a 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream container (softened)

fresh strawberries (sliced)

1/2 cup sugar

whipped cream

Macerate the strawberries with 1/2 cup of sugar. Set aside.

Take the cake and slice it horizontally in half and place the bottom half back into the pan and spread the softened vanilla ice cream onto the cake and top with the other half of the cake. Let it freeze for another 30 minutes to an hour to stiffen up the ice cream. Slice and serve with strawberries and whip cream.

Enjoy!

Broccoli & Cheddar Twice Baked Potato Skins

• 6 Yukon Gold Potatoes
• 1 bag of Steam in Bag Broccoli
• 1 bag of shredded mild cheddar cheese
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1/4 cup of sour cream
• Salt, Pepper, & Garlic Powder to taste

Wash and puncture the skin of the potatoes and microwave them until baked through.  Half the potatoes length-wise and hollow out the insides of the potatoes - leaving 1/4'' of potato all the way around. Put the scooped out potato in a bowl and dump in bag of broccoli, butter, sour cream, bag of cheese, and salt/pepper/garlic powder.  Mash contents of bowl with potato masher and scoop the broccoli & cheese mixture back into the hollowed out potato skins. Top with extra shredded cheese.

Bake at 400 until potato skins are crispy and the cheese is melted.  (About 20 minutes)

You can add bacon to this but when making it as a side dish, I don't want the bacon to clash with the main meat served, but you can definitely add it if serving it as the main course.

Chicken & Stuffing Casserole

Chicken & Stuffing Casserole:

• 1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stove Top Stuffing Mix (Savory herbs is the one I used)
• 1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream

1 pkg. (16 oz.) steam in bag frozen mixed vegetables, steamed. Preheat oven to 400°F. Brown chicken, onion and garlic together. Cook through. When chicken is done or even slightly golden brown, drain. Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and vegetables. Pour into greased casserole dish. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package (dont forget to fluff it). Top the soup/chicken layer with stuffing. Bake 30 mins until nice and bubbly and the top is a little crunchy.

thanks to kraft foods for the picture - although i modified the recipe to fit my family's taste.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2 1/2-3 cups of graham cracker crumbs
  
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (melter)
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 2 (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
  
• 1 + 1/3 cup sugar
  
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice**
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 1 large can pumpkin (NOT Pumpkin pie filling)

Line outside of spring form pan with two layers of aluminum foil. Take the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter and mix together. Press into a lightly greased spring form pan. (I trace parchment paper and cut it into the shape of the bottom of the pan and sit it inside the pan and then spray the lining of the pan - parchment paper too). Press mixture firmly on the inside of the pan and halfway up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.


Mix softened cream cheese until whipped - scraping down the sides AND BOTTOM of the bowl as necessary. Add in sugar (1/3 cup at a time) until well incorporated - scrape sides and bottom of bowl again. Add in the pumpkin pie spice. Fold in the pumpkin. Add in eggs (1 at a time - mixing well in between each). Pour into pie crust we prepared earlier. Cook for 15 minutes at 350 and cut the heat back to 300 and bake an additional 45-50 minutes. Cut the oven off and open the door of the oven and let it cool another 30 minutes (with the door open and the oven off). After 30 minutes, bring it to a cool place on top of the counter to cool for an additional hour. After the hour and half cool down, you can safely move the cheesecake to the fridge without shocking it.



*** NOTE*** DO NOT over mix the cheesecake once the eggs are in! Your cheesecake will puff up like a souffle and then fall and crack -- and it will be UGLY! -- On a turtle cheesecake, you can hide it because you could fill the cracks with the toppings, but the pumpkin isn't as forgiving!



Serve the cheesecake cold - topped with a dollop of cool whip! Its amazing! This particular recipe is not that impressive warm, but its fabulous cold!

Strawberry biscuits

Strawberry biscuits:

3 cups of biscuit mix

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup of sugar

extra biscuit mix for kneading and rolling

--

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 tbsp of milk

strawberry jam

Mix the biscuit mix with the sugar and pour in the milk and add slowly until the mixture is sticky and sort of dry. Dust a clean flat surface with extra biscuit mix and spoon out the ball of dough onto it. Sprinkle more biscuit mix on it and knead it. Keep adding more if you need it based on if its too sticky. Roll it out to 1/2 thick and cut it with something - either a cup, a lid of some sort, or a cookie or biscuit cutter. Spread them out leaving 1.5-2 inches between them and press down with your thumb in the center, leaving a dip to later fill with jam. Bake 12-15 minutes at 400 or until golden brown. (you may have to pull them out half-way and re-press the centers down). Take them out and fill the holes with strawberry jam.. Make a glaze using the powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over the strawberry filled biscuits. Enjoy!