Strawberry Shortcake Cookie Bars

These semi-homemade cookie bars are a quick and delicious

 celebration of the strawberry shortcake.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Pillsbury.com.

Ingredients

• 1 package Pillsbury™ Ready To Bake!™ refrigerated sugar cookies
• 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (1 tablespoon)
• 4 oz frozen (thawed) whipped topping (half 8-oz container)
• 1 3/4 cups chopped fresh strawberries

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper.

Remove cookies from package; place cookies on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack; cool completely. (To speed up process, refrigerate cookies about 1 hour.)

Meanwhile, line 11x7-inch pan with cooking parchment paper.

Once cookies are cool, place in food processor. Cover; pulse a few times until all cookies are crumbled. 

Reserve 1 cup of the cookie crumbs. Pour remaining cookie crumbs into pan; press in bottom of pan to form crust.

In mixer bowl with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy and smooth. Add gelatin; stir to combine.

With rubber spatula, fold whipped topping and 1 cup of the chopped strawberries into cream cheese mixture. Spread over cookie crust. Top with remaining chopped strawberries.

Sprinkle reserved 1 cup cookie crumbs evenly over dessert; gently press with fingers. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

To serve, cut into 5 rows by 3 rows to make 15 bars, or into 6 rows by 3 rows to make 18 bars.


Notes from Pillsbury

If you're on a vegetarian diet, you can leave the gelatin out, but remember to refrigerate a little longer.

These bars can be easily frozen and served as ice cream bars on hot summer days.

BBQ Roast Beef Nachos

Everything about these nachos sounds good!  They looked good too as Jeff Mauro prepared them on my new favorite cooking show, The Kitchen on The Food Network.  The whole thing came together very quickly with the help of a trip to your local deli.

Check out the link for the show episode which includes other recipes and great tips from that episode.

Recipe courtesy of Jeff Mauro
The Food Network
Show: The Kitchen
Episode: Weeknight Shortcuts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound rare deli roast beef, thinly sliced and julienned
• 1 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
• 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
• Tortilla chips
• 1 cup French-fried onions
• 1/2 cup pickled cherry peppers, sliced
• Honey Horseradish Crema, recipe follows

Honey Horseradish Crema:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 1 teaspoon honey

Directions


Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the roast beef, stir once and let the meat brown, about 2 minutes, and stir again. Add in the BBQ sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.

Layer the shredded cheese on top of some tortilla chips on a large platter. Pour the piping hot meat over the cheese and then top with the crispy onions, cherry peppers and dollops of the Honey Horseradish Crema.

Honey Horseradish Crema:
Mix the sour cream, horseradish, honey, mustard and salt in a bowl. Let the crema sit for 20 minutes before serving.

Homemade Lemonade

Since we have lemon and lime trees, I love to make homemade lemonade, but did not have a good recipe until now.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Linda Larsen, About.com . . . love this website for reference on just about anything!  The source link follows the recipe.

The secret to this lemonade recipe is to use simple syrup, made by boiling together sugar and water, then cooling. The sugar is completely dissolved and blends beautifully with the tart lemon.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• Juice from 4-6 lemons
• 4 cups cold water
• Mint sprigs

Preparation:

Blend 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar well in small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves completely. Let cool and refrigerate. (This is the simple syrup.)

Mix the simple syrup well with the juice from 4-6 lemons (strained or not, as you like) and stir well. Add 4 cups cold water and mix. Try using sparkling water for some fizz! Pour into thermos or large jug, adding thin lemon slices if you'd like, or garnish with mint sprigs.

Make more lemonade and freeze it in ice cube trays, adding the cubes to the lemonade so it's never diluted as the 'ice' melts.

You can increase the amounts of this recipe proportionately, depending on the amount of lemonade you want.

Source

Fresno Pepper Hot Sauce

Hot Sauce is a staple in our kitchen.  

The Captain loves putting it on all types of food and I'm learning how to expand my horizons, even though I have always cooked with hot peppers.  He makes our hot sauce and we will be sharing his recipe as soon as he puts it into words!

The source link goes to the episode page of Fiery Foods, which includes other recipes featured on the show.

My favorite thing she made with the pepper was the fiery compound butter she used to make a roasted chicken.  OMG, that gave me so many ideas!

Wouldn't the hot sauce taste great in a mayonnaise sauce for sandwiches and burgers?  The possibilities are endless!

Source: The Food Network
SHOW: Kelsey's Essentials
EPISODE: Fiery Foods

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 8 Fresno peppers, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 habanero pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar

Directions

Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add all the peppers, the garlic and shallots, and saute until softened and fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup water and simmer an additional 4 to 5 minutes.

Place the cooked mixture into a blender and add the vinegars and salt. Blend until completely smooth and pureed. Adjust the seasoning and serve.