Homemade Strawberry Poptarts

So this recipe is really easy and quite delicious. It would be delicious with any type of preserves or even fudge topping to make chocolate pop tarts. I also like that you can individualize each pop tart if you wanted to. Yum!

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour plus additional for shaping and rolling
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 tablespoons ice water
12 tablespoons strawberry preserves (preferably organic homemade)
Powdered sugar
Fresh strawberries

Whisk 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, coarse salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add butter. Using fingertips or back of fork, blend in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water by tablespoonfuls, tossing until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball. Divide in half; shape each half into disk. Wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour.
Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on floured surface to about 13x11 inches. Trim to 12x10-inch rectangle, then cut into eight 5x3-inch rectangles.
Arrange 4 rectangles, spaced apart, on each sheet. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons preserves in row down center of each rectangle. Top preserves with second dough rectangle. Using fingertips, gently press all edges of each tart to seal; press all edges with tines of fork to double-seal. Using toothpick, poke a few holes in center of top dough rectangle. Cover; freeze tarts on sheets at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.
Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake frozen tarts uncovered until golden, reversing sheets after 15 minutes, 25 to 30 minutes total (some preserves may leak out). Immediately transfer tarts to rack. Sift powdered sugar lightly over. Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh berries.

**I was too impatient to freeze it and it still turned out delicious :)

Strawberry Cake

A friend of mine gave me this recipe and I made it for my family while I was home. It is incredibly delicious.

Ingredients:

Cake
-solid vegetable shortening for greasing pans
-flour for dusting pans
1 package plain white cake mix
1 package (3 oz.) strawberry gelatin
1 cup mashed fresh strawberries w/ juice (about 1 1/2 c. whole berries)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole milk
4 large eggs
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans (very optional-- I've never put these in)

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Please note that the following ingredient list is to make frosting for  the layer in between the cakes, and the outside of the cake. To make just enough frosting for the layer in between, (and use an alternate
frosting for the rest of the cake, like a store bought chocolate fudge) you can fourth the cream cheese and butter, and guesstimate on the strawberries and powdered sugar. I had enough leftover ingredients to make a little extra and pipe it on top for decor.

1 package cream cheese, room temperature
8 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
3/4 cup fresh ripe strawberries, rinsed, capped, and mashed to make
1/2 cup, then drained well.
3 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (about, add enough to achieve
desired consistency. frosting tends to be runny)
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup pecans (optional)

1. Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9" round cake pans 1/ shortening, dust with flour then shake out excess. (Or just spray with Pam for baking) Place aside.

2. Place cake mix, strawberry gelatin, oil, milk and eggs in large mixing bowl and combine. Then add mashed strawberries and juice and blend with electric mixer on low for at least one minute. Increase speed and beat 2 more minutes, scraping sides as needed. Strawberries should be blended well into batter. Fold in coconut and pecans (if you'd like).
Note: While some may feel coconut is an option in any recipe, I stress that in this one it is not. Because of the overall moistness of the cake, something about the coconut helps it solidify. Without the coconut, the cake is just as delicious, but be forewarned, more than likely it will cave in the center, or have structural issues. There is so little coconut in the recipe, that most people don't notice.
Divide batter into pans, and place on same rack, side by side in oven.
3. Bake cakes until they are light brown and just start to pull away from the pan, 28 to 30 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Remove cakes from oven, and place on wire racks to cool completely. Seriously, walk away for awhile, or make the frosting, and walk away for a while. When it comes time to remove them from the pan, run a dinner knife around the outside edge and invert.

4. Meanwhile, prepare frosting. This is much much easier when your cream cheese and butter have been sitting out the entire time you've been baking. Combine cream cheese and butter until well blended with
an electric mixer. Then add strawberries (this time without the juice-- if you leave the juice in, the frosting will be more runny) and blend. Slowly add powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency--the more powdered sugar, the stiffer the frosting will be. You'll be reaching a desired consistency when the frosting lightens noticeably.
If you're frosting the inner layer, and the entire outside cake, I suggest folding in the coconut. Again, something about the coconut makes it stick together better. You can leave it out, but it will be runny. If you're just doing the inner layer, and maybe piping for decoration, I'd leave the coconut out.
5. To assemble, put a little frosting on the serving platter to hold the cake in place. Put down one cake, frost with strawberry cream cheese frosting, then put the next cake on top. Frost with chocolate or with additional strawberry cream cheese frosting. To pipe a heart as decor, place excess strawberry cream frosting in ziplock bag, snip one corner and pipe away.
6. Chill cake. I promise you, you won't get the desired taste if it's room temperature or warm. Chill it. It's delicious.

help!

I need a good recipe to make for 10 people. Something that is tasty and filling. ideas?

Land O Lakes Frosting

You have got me going now. Unfortunately, and I really mean it, I do not like store bought icing. I am always guessing on the ratio of powdered sugar to butter. Then I found this recipe in a magazine.

Land O Lakes Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 c. butter (must be butter) softened
1 t. vanilla
2-3 T. milk or cream

One Hour Rolls and they are really good

I love hot rolls but they are so time consuming. I had a basketball dinner at my house and Lori Maughn brought these rolls. They were very good.
One Hour Rolls:
3 c. warm water
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. oil
6 T. yeast ( for those of you that use SAF yeast it works)
Mix together and let stand 15 minutes

Add:
1 T. salt
3 beaten eggs
10- 10-1/2 c. flour
Mix and let stand 10 minutes. Shape and let rise 20-30 minutes. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. makes 4-1/2 doz rolls . Recipe can be cut in 1/2 or 1/3.

Yogurt Parmesan Chicken

This stuff is awesome. It's super easy, moderately healthy, and almost fancy. (I mean, not compared to what you guys make, but compared to the usual fare Chez Wells.) I usually serve it with steamed veggies and Larry's biscuits, but I wish I served it with garlic mashed potatoes and lemon butter green beans.

Yogurt Parmesan Chicken

8 boneless skinless chicken breast tenderloins, (or 3 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into tenderloin-sized strips)
1 - 2 cups fat free plain (not vanilla) yogurt
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed (I use generic Ritz, reduced fat version, and I just blender 'em up)
3 tbsp. parmesan cheese (Kraft, from the can. Don't be a snob.)
1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. seasoned salt (Lawry's, of course)

Mix crackers, cheese, garlic powder, and salt together on a plate. Put yogurt on another plate. Coat each piece of chicken in yogurt, then in crumbs, and place in a 9x13 baking dish. (Don't crowd them. If you use more chicken, use a bigger pan.) Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve with Chicken Lime Sauce.

Chicken Lime Sauce
3/4 cup chicken broth (or 3/4 cup water with 3/4 tsp. chicken base)
1 tbsp. brown sugar
3 tbsp. lime juice (from one large lime--lemon also works, although it's not as good)
2 tsp. Dijon mustard (regular mustard will work in a pinch, but it's not as good)
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. butter
Combine chicken broth, sugar, mustard, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. While still cold, whisk together until all the cornstarch particles are separated (no lumps). I usually do this part right after I put the chicken in the oven, and then I just set the pan on top of the stove with no heat. With five minutes left to go on chicken cooking time, turn medium heat on under the saucepan and simmer until slightly thickened. Add butter and lime juice and stir until butter melts. Put in your fanciest creamer jar or gravy boat and serve with chicken.

Yummyness!

I made some new things that went over wellish.

Curry Turkey Burgers

1 1/3 P. Turkey Breast

Half and Onion Diced

1 inch Fresh Ginger, grated

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 Red or Green Bell Pepper

Salt to taste

2 Tbsp. Curry Pwd. (I used yellow)

Mix like meat loaf and form into patties. Brushs or drizzle with Olive Oil and grill or cook in pan.

We didn't put them on buns cause we had none but they were really good.

Australian Potato Bake ( I got this on my mission. Similar to funeral potatoes but not yucky and Mike liked them)

4 Lrg. Potatoes sliced into 1/4 inch rounds, skins left on

2/3 C. Heavy whipping Cream

2/3 C. chicken stock

Half of an Onion diced

3 garlic cloves minced

Pinch of Nutmeg

1 to 2 Cups grated cheese

Preheat Oven to 450 degrees. Arrange potatoes in a 8 in. square baking dish sprinkling onion in between layers and on top. Gently heat cream, stock, garlic, and nutmeg until nearly boiling. Be careful not to let boil cause bad things happen:) Ladle over potatoes and cover with tin foil. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Remove foil and cover with cheese return to oven and let cheese melt and become slightly crisp. Take out and let sit cause at this point it's hot magma!!!