Friday, May 16, 2008

Strawberry Shortcake

This is a new favorite of my husbands'. The shortcake is so easy to make, and much cheaper than storebought cakes! A great dessert to serve when strawberries are on sale!

Strawberry Shortcake
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1-2 lbs. sliced strawberries
1/3 cup sugar + 2 tbsp. sugar, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter, sliced
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
Cool Whip or Whipped Cream - at least 1 cup
Vanilla Ice Cream, optional

In a small bowl stir together strawberries and 2 tbsp. sugar, set aside. In medium bowl, stir together 1/3 c. sugar, flour, and baking powder. Using pastry blender or two forks, cut in butter slices until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg and milk, add to flour mixture. Stir just until blended. Spread the dough into a greased 8x8in. square baking pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 16-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool shortcake in pan. When ready to serve, cut shortcake into 6-8 square pieces. For each serving, in a small bowl, layer a piece of shortcake, strawberries, vanilla ice cream if desired, and top with whipped cream. Serve. Makes 6-8 servings.

Tropical Slush Punch

This fruity punch is a huge hit at any party or gathering! It is also wonderful 'spiked' with any alcohol for the grown-up guests. Enjoy!

Tropical Slush Punch
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6 cups water
5 large ripe bananas
2 cups sugar
2 cans (12 oz. each) frozen orange juice concentrate
1 can (12 oz) frozen lemonade concentrate
46 oz. can pineapple juice
3 2-Liter bottles Lemon-Lime Soda (such as Sprite)


In a blender, puree bananas, sugar, lemonade concentrate, orange juice concentrates, and 1 cup water until liquified. Pour into a large punch bowl. Stir in remaining 5 cups water and pineapple juice until blended. Cover punch bowl with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours or overnight. Pull punch bowl out of freezer 30 mins. before serving to slightly thaw. Mash frozen mixture up with a large wooden spoon or potato masher. Add sprite and stir well. Serve immediately. Makes 24-48 servings, depending on size of cups.
*You can also mix in any alcohol desired when mixing in the sprite (depending on how much alcohol is used, you may want to cut down on the amount of Sprite used so it doesn't get too watered down) I have a friend that spiked this with banana liquor and vodka and said it was wonderful!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Mashed Potato Pancakes

From Grandma Graf, a side dish true to my German heritage! She told me once she started making these when she was just a teenager in the 1920's! At that time, my Great-Grandmother ran a boarding house, and my Grandma would help cook meals for the guests. These were a popular side dish because they were so cheap to make, and made good use of leftover mashed potatoes!


Mashed Potato Pancakes
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2 cups seasoned mashed potatoes
1 tsp. chopped parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. chopped onion
dash black pepper
crisco for pan frying

Combine potatoes, egg, onion, parsley and pepper. Shape into small round cakes about 3/4" thick. Brown cakes on both sides in hot crisco. Makes a few cakes.
(I copied this recipe directly from my Grandma's very old and aged recipe she had in her cookbox!)