Summer Fresh Strawberry Pie

Hello friends! I hope you are all doing well! We've had some very crazy storms here as well as unbearable humidity, so my kitchen ventures have been few so as not to add to the heat. However, in lieu of Father's Day, I whipped up my favorite strawberry pie to celebrate! This is a quick easy recipe and you can make it too!

Ingredients:
1 baked pie shell recipe (posted below)
2 cartons strawberries
1 package strawberry flavored jello
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Step One: Prepare baked pie shell recipe.

Step Two: Wash, hull and half strawberries. Set aside.

Step Three: In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and cornstarch. Whisk till combined then add 1 cup boiling water. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir with whisk until thickened. Remove from heat.

Step Four: Add strawberry flavored jello to sugar and cornstarch mix and stir until smooth. Let cool, stirring occasionally.

Step Five: Arrange strawberries in pie shell. Pour cooled jello mixture over strawberries. Place pie in refrigerator and let chill about 3 hours before serving. Pie can last three days in refrigerator. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

Baked Pie Shell
Ingredients:

1 cup butter or shortening (I prefer shortening in my pastry doughs, but some like butter.)
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
4-5 tablespoons chilled water

Step One: In a large bowl and using a pastry blender, combine flour, shortening and salt until small pea sized lumps appear. Dough should be slightly moist.

Step Two: Add water one tablespoon at a time until dough is moist when pushed, but still crumbly.

Step Three: Roll dough out into large circle, one inch larger than pie dish.

Step Four: Loosely place pie shell into pie dish. Cut out shapes for decorative trim, or decorate as desired. Prick bottom and sides of pie crust. Fill crust with parchment paper filled with rice or beans to keep crust from falling. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes until shell is light golden brown. Brushing with milk just before putting in oven will make crust more golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely before adding filling.

Frango Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Living in the Chicago area you find lots of delicacies, and one that our family loves is Frango Chocolates. These little bite sized mint chocolate candies are to die for! When Marshal Fields closed, I panicked thinking that that meant no more Frango Mints! But, lucky for all us fanatics out there, Frango Chocolates has survived. Now that I live away from Chicagoland, I can't get these any time I want, so when my mother-in-law (who's recipe this is...and who is by far a more superior cook than myself) brought me this box during there last visit I squeeled! I admit I ate half the box before I decided to quite hogging all the chocolate goodness and share the wealth. Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients (I even took a picture for you!)
1 cup Imperial Margarine (two sticks)
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cap Watkins Vanilla (or one teaspoon the other stuff.)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
12 chocolate chips

How to:

Step One: If your using Frango Mint Choclate pieces like the ones above, you'll have to chop them up into little chips like so: (I know they look yummy, try not to drool on your keyboard.)
Step Two: In a large bowl cream together: Imperial Margerine, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla. (Should look like picture below.)

Step Three: Add in flour, salt and baking soda. Combine until you get a nice moist consistency cookie dough.

Step Four: Add in chocolate chips (or in this case, Frango Mint Chocolate pieces)
Step Five: Spoon out balls of cookie dough about 1 1/2 inches wide on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (or as you can see below, three across.) Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. DO NOT GREASE COOKIE SHEET!

Cookies should look slightly doughy when removed from oven. Don't panic, your cookies are done I promise! Let them cool for two minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a cooling wrack for complete cooling.
These are sooooo melt in your mouth good, especially when eaten still slightly warm! Enjoy!

Mom's Famous Banana Bread

Growing up, my mom used to make this banana bread ALL the time. It as a family favorite then and still is today! I have several banana bread recipes, but this is the one I always turn to when I want the best! Today I'm sharing it with you! Aren't you lucky?!

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 very ripe bananas (like brown and mushy to the point of throwing them away)
1/3 cup margarine, shortening or butter
2 tbsp milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Step One: Mix all dry ingredients.

Step Two: Add all wet ingredients except for eggs. When that is all creamed, add eggs. If using nuts, add them last.

Step Three: Pour batter into lightly greased bread pan.

Step Four: Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool about 30 minutes before slicing and eating.

Try not to eat the whole loaf in one sitting!
Enjoy! Tomorrow, we'll be exploring the realm of Cindy's Tollhouse Cookies with special ingredient, Frango Mint chocolate chips. mmmmm

Creamy Potato Ranch Soup

My grandmother used to make this yummy soup when I was a kid. I was fortunate enough to attain it 6 years ago as part of a wedding gift of recipes assembled by my aunt. Digging through those same recipes today looking for certain ones that I wanted to add to a family cookbook I came across it and decided that it'd make the perfect anniversary dinner. Today I'm sharing with you the how to for this yummy soup!

Ingredients:
10-13 small potatoes
2 celery sticks
5 slices of bacon
Milk
Water
Salt & Pepper to Taste
1 cup Ranch Dressing


Step One: Peel Potatoes.


Step Two: Slice potatoes in thin slices, like shoe strings.


Step Three: Cut potato slices into very small pieces and add enough water to just cover potatoes. Boil until soft.


Step Four: While potatoes are boiling, cook five slices of bacon until very crisp (almost burnt).


Step Five: Clean and slice into thin slivers, celery. Set aside until potatoes are completely boiled. DO NOT DRAIN POTATOES!


Step Six: Once potatoes are softened, mash down until water is thickened like mashed potatoes. Add enough milk to make soup consistency, leave somewhat thick. Add celery. Break bacon slices into small pieces and add to soup. Add salt & pepper to taste. Add ranch dressing and stir till all mixed in. Simmer on low for about 30 minutes or until celery is tender.

The finished product is a nice creamy soup with just a hint of ranch flavor. Hope you all enjoy! Tomorrow, Banana Bread! mmmm