Oh for the love of STRAWBERRIES!

Being that it was Bella's actual birthday yesterday, I just HAD to make her a birthday treat. Eventhough I was way behind on packing and the many other items on my list that needed to be done before this afternoon's flight, I decided to make this glorious beast of strawberry heaven. Ain't she a beaut!Bella just loves, loves, loves strawberries! If I would let her, I think she would eat a whole 4 pound container of Costco strawberries, if I would let her. I don't think so. I like to keep the diaper changes to a minumum thank you very much. Anywho, I thought what not better treat than a homemade strawberry pie. It turned out so good that I can give Marie Callendar's Fresh Strawberry pie a run for its money. I like this one way better and our crazy, sweet-loving bunch finished an entire pie. Good thing I made two, the rest of the clan can have some more tonight when Bella and I are in Washington.

Here's what the yumminess looked like all sliced up and undressed in all her glory. YUMMY! Makes me want another piece right now!
And here she is all dressed in her white, creamy goodness. Best pie ever and very easy. I made my own pie crust then baked it. Then I filled it with a ton of fresh, washed, Costco strawberries, and then I made my own glaze. Now, you can buy the glaze at the grocery store, but I personally think it is nasty. So I made my own with jell-o! Super easy...
1 c sugar
1c water
3 T cornstarch
3 T strawberry jell-o(I personally didn't have any so I used raspberry instead, still sooo good)
Bring to a boil in a saucepan and boil for 1 minute. Take off heat and and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.
Pour over strawberries in the pie crust and let set up for at least 2 hours in the fridge. Eat and Enjoy, we sure did!

A Break from yard projects!

Our family has been doing yard projects like crazy over the last couple of weeks. We have been unable to do any during the week, so they all fall on Friday afternoon and Saturday. Not much of a problem for most, but when you have the "crazy" bunch we do, "a" project takes twice as long, not to mention just mowing the lawn takes 3 1/2 hours. Remind me in the next life, no corner lot house. Haha! Anywho, I was taking a break between our projects on Saturday and decided we needed to do a "cooking" project. The kids love when we do these. We came up with frozen bananas, YUM-MY! The four older kids did them with me, Logan just didn't want his pic taken. Poor guy, I think he is tired of mommy always snappin his pic!
Cute little-well not so little anymore-girls! They had a blast dippin' and rollin' their banana pops. I use to eat these all the time when I was little. My daddy gave me my very first frozen banana pop at Disneyland, and I've been hooked ever since! Love the good memories from childhood!

A simple, but very YUMMY berry sauce

Breakfast anyone?

My family loves, loves, loves having breakfast for dinner. I wanted to try a different way of having berries on our waffles, so I made this sauce. It's tangy, but oh soooo good! You can put it on waffles, french toast, pancakes, ice cream, yogurt, etc. You name it, you could put this sauce on it. Here's what you need:

1 bag of frozen mixed berries

1 tsp of orange extract

1/4 c of lemon juice

1/2 c of sugar

1 lb. of fresh strawberries-cut up into pieces

You put the frozen mixed berries into a saucepan with the extract, lemon juice, and sugar and bring to a light boil. This thaws out the berries and smells heavenly. You take off the heat and add the strawberries. Serve over waffles. Eat and Enjoy!

New Recipe-my take on banana foster

Yummy!

Doesn't this look good. I love trifles and so do my kids. I have had a dessert on my mind for awhile-bananas foster. It's super yummy, but I really didn't want to make it in a pan and all so I thought trifle form.

This is banana cake with caramel sauce and banana cream. So, so, so YUMMY!
First you bake a cake and mix ripen bananas into the mix. Yep, I just used an old plain yellow box cake mix. Instead of using the water I substituted lemon juice. It brings the fruit flavor out more. I mixed in 5 banans with the cake mix and then baked it following the cake mix instructions. I then cut it into squares adding half to the bowl for the layer of the trifle.


The first layer of the trifle

Then I poured half the caramel sauce mix over the cake.

Caramel sauce:

1 tub of caramel dip(I used my free Marzetti tub)

Half a can of sweetend cond. milk

2 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of almond extract

Boil in a saucepan for about 2 minutes just to warm it all up.

Then comes the creamy, delicious, banana cream filling.

1 small box of instant banana pudding(make it with only half the amount of milk it calls for)

add 8 oz of cool whip to it and fold it in

Voila! Banana cream filling

This is what it looks like after it is put together. I saved some of the caramel sauce to just add a little somethin', somethin' to the top. I then sprinkled the crumbs that were left in the cake pan to also make it look prettier. Ooh baby, this is a yummy, easy, quick dessert that feeds a crazy bunch like mine!

Here's what it looks like inside with all the layers. Oh, man I wish I was skinny so I could just eat this whenever I wanted. My hips sure do not appreciate things like this. Eat and Enjoy!

Two Yummy Salad Recipes!

This is the tastiest fruit salad EVER!It has bananas, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and strawberries in it-YUMMY! It's perfect for the warm weather and it goes great with this...

Wonton Salad
This is a very simple recipe
1 bag of romaine lettuce
Newman's Lite Sesame and Ginger Dressing
Wontons-cut up into strips and fried
1 can of mandarin oranges
3 cooked chicken breasts-shredded
red and green peppers diced up(we were out of them so they aren't pictured)

I bake the chicken breasts in a little of the dressing at 350 degrees for about an hour. I then let them cool while I fry the wontons in a little oil. When the chicken is cool I shred it then place it into a big bowl. I add the salad, oranges, peppers, and a little bit of dressing( a little goes a long way)and mix it all up. I then put the wontons in and stir gently-so as not to break them too much. Eat and Enjoy!

Fruit Salad
1 can of mandarin oranges
3 bananas cut up
2 cans of pineapple chunks
about 1-2 pounds of strawberries sliced up
1 big box of cook type vanilla pudding
1 small box of cook type tapioca pudding

In a saucepan combine the pineapple juice from both cans of pineapple and add about 1 1/4 cups of water. Then add the puddings and heat on medium heat until well combined and boiling a little. Remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled add all the fruit and mix. Chill until ready to serve. Enjoy!