This past week has been great! My trip to Devine was uneventful, other than having to keep waiting for ‘follow me’ cars due to road construction in several places. My daughter and I had a good time on Wednesday keeping the baby, going out to eat with my son and grandson and visiting with my Aunt. For her age, she is doing well, her mind is great, but her physical condition is not quite as good. She has aches and pains, mostly in her legs, and gets around well with her walker! She still does some of the cooking for herself and her daughter, I get the impression they share the duties.
On Thursday, I had an appointment with the tax person and got my taxes done. We also kept the baby and worked outside in the yard, planting various flowers. She loves being outside and since there were no mosquitoes around she really enjoyed herself.
On Friday, my son-in-law took me to AT&T in San Antonio to try to fix a couple of problems with my phone bill, it was a great trip and we did get it accomplished without any hassle! This is always good, isn’t it? On Saturday, we went to Wimberley to spend the day with my other daughter and her husband. We had a great time, playing with ‘clay’, meaning we used ceramic or pottery clay to make angels, butterflies, wind chimes, ornaments, etc., that they hope to sell at the booth they will be manning at the annual Craft Show that they usually come help our Auxiliary with. They help set up and take down our booth and decided that if they had to be here anyway, they might as well have a booth, so all three girls are working on different crafts that they think might sell. I came home on Sunday after waiting out the storm that was going on at the time I wanted to go to church. Dark skies, lots of thunder and lightening, enough rain to make a mess of the road that leads from their home to the highway, but I got through just fine and had a great trip home, as there was no road construction, and very little traffic! All in all, a truly great mini-vacation for me! This coming week will be a busy one as there is something going on almost every day as it usually is the first week of the month. I am not sure just why four organizations have their meetings that first week, but it happens! Since it was too stormy to go to church Sunday morning at Moore, I headed to Cuero Sunday evening for their 5:30 p.m. service. Most of the churches in our area have Mass on Saturday evening, starting as early as 4:30 so most folks sort of take their pick as to which one they want to go to. I usually opt for the 7:00 a.m. at our little country church. It is closer to my home than the one in town and I enjoy going there.
Well, lent is almost over, with only a week left of needing meatless meals, so, I’m going to forget about the meatless main dishes and just give you some desserts you can choose from for your Easter dinner.
Since strawberry time is here, there are two different ones using that red delicious fruit and one using Rice Krispie® Treats as a base. My neighbor made it up for us to sell at our bake sale last week and it is really delicious!
Snickers® Rice Krispies® Bars
(Read all instructions before beginning)
Ingredients:
¼ cup butter
5 cups mini-marshmallows
5½ cups Rice Krispies® Cereal
½ cup salted peanuts
16-oz unwrapped caramels (1½ bags 11-oz each)*
(Guess what…caramels now come in 11-oz bags, not 16-oz bags!)
3 Tbs. heavy cream (I used half&half and it worked fine J)
2 cups milk chocolate chips
Directions:
Melt butter over medium/low heat in large sauce pan.
Add marshmallows and stir together until marshmallows are completely melted.
Pour in Rice Krispies® and stir until cereal is completely coated.
Pour mixture into a lightly sprayed, foil lined 9×13 pan and press down evenly. (Don’t squish too much). (I did not spray my pan and they struck to the foil and we had to work to get them out!).
Sprinkle peanuts evenly over Rice Krispie® mixture.
In medium-size saucepan, combine unwrapped caramels and heavy cream over medium heat and stir until completely melted and smooth.
Pour caramel evenly over Rice Krispie® treats.
Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30-second increments (for about 90 seconds total). And spread chocolate over caramels on the treats and allow to cool before cutting and serving. *It is best to unwrap the caramels and put them in the pot with the cream before you make the bars, then all you have to do is melt them and pour them over the bars.
Strawberry Pie
1 baked pie shell, or a vanilla ready-to-use-crust
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
6 teaspoons cornstarch
7 teaspoons strawberry gelatin
1 pint cleaned, hulled fresh strawberries
Whipped topping, thawed
Mix sugar, water and cornstarch together in a saucepan. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil and cook and stir until thick and clear. Add gelatin, stir well and set aside to cool. Cut strawberries into quarters or smaller and place in prepared pie shell. Pour cooled mixture over strawberries; chill thoroughly and serve with whipped topping.
Strawberry Cake Roll
(Grease and flour a 15½ x 10½ jelly roll pan. This is a cookie sheet with sides). OR: Line pan with waxed paper or parchment paper cut to size. This is much the easiest way.
3 large eggs (2/3 cup)
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pint strawberries, cleaned, hulled and sliced
1 carton (8-oz) whipped topping, thawed
Powdered sugar, (about ¼ to ½ cup. Sift and set aside)
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Beat eggs until thick, gradually adding sugar, beating well after each addition. Beat in, all at once the water and vanilla. Beat in all at once, the sifted dry ingredients. Beat just until smooth with no lumps remaining. Pour into prepared pan. Bake just until cake tests done, about 12 to 15 minutes. While cake is baking, lay a clean cotton cup towel (if all your kitchen towels are terry cloth, use a piece of an old sheet, about 15 x 30 inches in size) on the table and lightly sprinkle with the sifted powdered sugar. Remove cake from oven, loosen edges and turn out onto the sugared cup towel. Peel off the paper, and immediately roll the cake into the cloth. Allow to cool completely rolled up. Mix the strawberries and whipped topping together; unroll the cake and spread with the strawberry mixture. Re-roll without the towel , chill and cut into slices to serve with additional whipped topping, if desired.