Recipes

A very few of the berries we picked.  

This week the boys and I picked 45 pounds of strawberries.  We must have hit the perfect day to pick because in less than two hours we came away with twice as many berries as we had planned on getting.  I'm a berry fanatic and pick a ton every year, but I outdid myself this year.  It helped that Buddy is a really hard worker and was bound and determined to work hard enough to earn some money.  He picked almost 20 pounds himself.  Needless to say I've been washing and freezing and jamming and eating berries nonstop for the past three days.  Tomorrow I'm picking up some cherries I ordered so I've got to make room in the fridge for them too.  Bring on berry season!

I've been pinning and trying new recipes like crazy from Pinterest. Today I tried a new strawberry pie recipe.  I have several tried and true recipes I love, but this one caught my eye because it combines all my favorite things:  cream cheese, strawberries and chocolate.  I modified it a little, so I'll list the recipe I made here as well as a link to the original recipe. 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

10 chocolate graham crackers
6 TBSP butter, melted
1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
1 (8oz) package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
4 oz white chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the crust:
Process the graham crackers in a food processor.  Mix the melted butter and the cracker crumbs together and press firmly into a pie plate.  Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.



For the pie:

Melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler.  Set aside.

Beat the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar until it becomes thick.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, the other 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, and the white chocolate.  Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Spread the cream into the chocolate pie crust. Don't put all of the cream in the crust at first. There is a lot of cream and it will overflow as you fill the pie with berries. Then, press the sliced berries into the mixture.

Melt the milk chocolate in a double boiler.  Then either drizzle the melted milk chocolate over the strawberries.  Or... my chocolate wasn't really drizzling consistency, and my berries were so small I didn't slice them, so I plopped a generous dollop of chocolate over each strawberry.  

Enjoy!  This pie is TOO DIE FOR.  I ate two pieces.  And... I ate several additional chocolate dipped strawberries.  I had to do something with the leftover melted chocolate!  I've been eating berries and salad all week so my dessert(s) tonight were acceptable.  So don't judge...

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In other cooking news, Buddy made me proud today.  I had some leftover waffles from dinner the other night that I offered the kids today for lunch.  Buddy said, "If you have waffles on hand, I found the perfect recipe for lunch."  He then thummed through an old Friend magazine until he found a recipe for scrambled eggs and a slice of cheese between two waffles (like a sandwich).  He explained that he's been waiting for the perfect time to make it because it "sounded so good."  I was so overjoyed that Buddy (who is normally clueless about cooking) has possibly found an interest in collecting recipes.  Like mommy, like son.  Maybe I should teach him about Pinterest too.