Strawberry No-Bake Cheesecake

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2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

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32 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup strawberry preserves
16 oz. frozen strawberries, thawed and drained
8 oz. cool whip

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Mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter and 1/4 cup sugar.
Press firmly into the bottom of a 13x9 pan.
Refrigerate while preparing the filling.

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Beat the cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth.
Add preserves and mix until well-blended.
Stir in strawberries.
Gently stir in the cool whip.
Spoon over the crust and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

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Note: Instead of frozen strawberries, you can use 2 cups of fresh strawberries, fork-mashed with 3 tablespoons of sugar.

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This is so fresh, cool, relaxing, and insanely easy to make! Enjoy!!

Apple Nut Cake

Cake:

2 sticks butter, melted
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans
5 apples, cored, peeled, and sliced into thin wedges
1/4 cup apple jelly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease a 9" or 10" springform pan.
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.
Mix in eggs and vanilla.
Combine flour and seasonings. Stir into creamed ingredients.
Add pecans and mix until well-blended.
Note: Batter will be thick.
Measure 2/3 cup of batter and set aside.
Spread remaining batter in the bottom of the pan.
Arrange the apple wedges on top of the batter.
Heat and stir the apple jelly until melted and smooth.
Brush jelly over the apples.
Carefully spoon the reserved batter around the outside of the apple wedges.
Spread the batter with the back of a spoon to make a 1/2" border.
Bake for 45-50 minutes.

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Topping:

1/2 stick butter
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans

When cake is done baking, combine butter, milk and brown sugar in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in the pecans.
Spread topping over the cake and bake for another 5-10 minutes, until the topping bubbles.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes.
Remove sides of the pan.
Let stand 45 minutes before serving.

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If desired, top with a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream.

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ENJOY!!

Peach Cobbler

1 stick butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
2 large cans of sliced peaches (29 oz each)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

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Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Pour melted butter in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Put 1/2 cup of the sugar and all of the cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.
Drain both cans of peaches, but reserve the syrup from one of the cans.
Pour the drained peaches into the pan.
Mix together the other 1 cup of sugar, flour, and baking powder.
Stir in the peach syrup and milk.
Pour mixture over the peaches.
Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top.
Bake 45-60 minutes.
Serve plain or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Cream Puffs

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1 cup water
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Powdered sugar for dusting
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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Bring water, butter and salt to a boil.
Remove from heat.
Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.
Add eggs and stir vigorously until mixture is smooth and glossy.
Scoop dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Cut off tops of puffs and allow to cool.
(Do not allow to cool with the tops on, they will be doughy inside)
Pick out the inside dough and fill with pudding, cake icing, or whatever you feel like.
Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
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Note: I use a #12 scoop which makes 4 baseball-size cream puffs.
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If you make these, please let me know what you think.

Bread Pudding w/ Vanilla Sauce

Bread Pudding:

1 - 16oz loaf of bread, torn into small pieces
1.5 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
cinnamon to taste
6 pats butter

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a 9x13 pan.
Mix together the sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla.
Spread bread pieces evenly in the bottom of the pan.
Pour mixture over bread and press lightly until all bread is moist.
(Note: I add a cup of raisins and chopped walnuts or pecans at this point. S'up to you!)
Sprinkle cinnamon on top.
Top with six pats of butter.

Bake for 50 minutes.

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Vanilla Sauce:

1 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch or flour

Bring water, vanilla and butter to a boil.
Mix sugar and cornstarch (or flour) together then stir into the boiling water mixture.
Reduce heat and stir until mixture starts to thicken.
Pour over baked bread pudding and allow it to set for a few minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!

If you make this, drop me a comment to let me know what you thought.

Easy No-Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Crust:

1.5 cups of crushed graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Mix together and press into the bottom of a 9×13 pan

Filling:

Five 8-oz pkgs cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 jar peanut butter (room temperature)
1 small tub whipped cream
1 cup crushed unsalted peanuts

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar.
Mix in the peanut butter and peanuts.
Fold in the whipped cream.
Pour into the pan and smooth-out the top.

Topping:

Sprinkle with more crushed unsalted peanuts
Drizzle with chocolate syrup or fudge topping.

Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

YUM YUM GIMME SUM!

Strawberry & Romaine Salad

Dressing (you can buy bottled poppy seed dressing, but I prefer making my own):

1/2 cup - mayonnaise
2 tablespoons - white vinegar
1/3 cup - sugar
1/4 cup - milk
2 tablespoons - poppy seeds

Salad:

1 bunch romaine - rinsed, dried, and torn into bite-size pieces
1 sweet onion - thinly sliced
1 pint fresh strawberries - cored and sliced

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Mix the dressing ingredients and chill for at least 24 hours before serving.

Mix salad ingredients.
Drizzle dressing over the top and serve cold.

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You're probably thinking, "Ewwww". BUT...everyone who has ever tried this recipe has fallen in love with it. Try it and let me know what you think!!