Strawberry Delight

Ingredients:

1 angel food cake
8oz cream cheese
1 box powdered sugar
3 packages of frozen strawberries (works best with sliced or halved strawberries)
1/3 cup almond milk
3 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Combine softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. The mixture will be VERY thick. Slowly add almond milk until mixture is a paste similar to cool whip.

Break up the angel food cake. Put a layer of the pieces in the bottom of glass bowl. Layer strawberries over the cake. Drizzle a layer of mixture over strawberries. Repeat.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

3 cups white sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 T butter

Directions:

1. line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with butter spray.

2. combine sugar, evaporated milk, & cocoa in saucepan. Stir over high heat until mixture comes to a roiling boil. (the boil doesn't go away) Lower the heat to medium and continue cooking being sure to scrap sides while stirring. Mixture is ready once it reaches soft ball stage. (About 5-8 minutes)

3. remove from heat, add peanut butter and butter. Mix by hand until thoroughly mixed and creamy. Pour in to your prepared pan. Allow to cool completely and then cut into squares.

This has quickly become a favorite in our house and it doesn't take that long to make. While waiting for the fudge to cool you can always clean the spoon if you are in need of a chocolate fix. :o)

Homemade Apple Syrup

So... Mom has these two apple trees that have surprised us with all kinds of apples... WE have been coming up with apple jelly, apple butter, etc... looking for ways to save these apples and use them. They were also quite tart.

So, I decided to make some apple syrup today. I had seen several different recipes and I sorta mixed them up to my own concoction.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups of cored, peeled and sliced tart apples
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar (optional)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups homemade apple juice*
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water

Throw the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice and butter in a deep pot. (I made sure to have the butter and lemon on bottom.) Cover and cook on medium heat until the apples are mushy. (You should probably stir occasionally)

Mash the apples (I used my potato masher so that it's just little pieces. You can do this in the pot)

Add everything else except the cornstarch and water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to boil. Let boil for 5-10 minutes until it gets runny. You will have apple chunks.

Mix the cornstarch into the 1/4 cup of water until it is completely dissolved. Then stir into syrup mixture and cook until slightly thickened.

Pour into jar and refrigerate. (This made 4 jelly jars for me They sealed but I still put them in the frige until use, which around here won't be long.)

Homemade apple juice...

What I do is when I am coring and peeling the apples is save the peels and cores and freeze them. Then when a recipe calls for apple juice or cider it's easy to make some fresh.

I make a bag out of cheesecloth and put in about 3 cups of the peelings and cores. In a small saucepan, heat 2 1/2 cups of water and place the bag inside. I let this boil, covered for 10 minutes. Depending how strong you want the juice you can do longer. When done take the bag out and squeeze the juice into a bowl (I used a mesh strainer to assist. That way just push the bag into the mesh and have a bowl under)

YUMMY! I think we are going to have this with some fresh biscuits tonight.

Scratch Biscuits

ummm.... yummy.... first shot at homemade biscuits...

2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup milk

bake at 450 for 6 minutes makes 12

What's for Dinner?

Squash, tomatoes and fresh garlic sauteed in extra virgin olive oil.

yummy!

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