Here is another recipe from our 4th of July party. It really does live up to it’s name as in EASY! It is a very pretty pie and makes a great presentation! This would be great for any summer gathering!
Easy Strawberry Cream Pie
Tag Archives: whipping cream
Strawberry Shortcake
My husband and I have been gone on vacation for the last week or so and now it is time to come back to reality and the real life. Ugh. We had a great time in Sunny Arizona and enjoyed many fun activities like spring baseball training, shopping, sunny skies, shopping, eating out, shopping, going to the fruit stands, shopping…OK I think you get the picture! I will do a post later about some of my fun finds!
But I had a major computer disaster and ended up buying a brand new computer when we got home! It is a pain trying to re-load everything onto a new computer, but it is so fun to have a new, clean, faster computer! So now this is my first post on my new computer and it is great.
My husband and I have made this trip to AZ every year now for about 7-8 years. It is something that we both look forward to. My husband loves all the Spring Training baseball games and I love being in the warm (hot) weather so it is a great match! We have gotten so that we know the area pretty good and are learning all the road names and how to get around the Phoenix area. One of my favorite places to go every year is a big fruit market called Superstition Market. They have so many different fruits and veggies for so cheap it makes my head spin! I would totally go here every week if I lived anywhere around there! So I had to load up with all kinds of goodies to bring home. It was great!
One of the things that I brought home was strawberries and so I HAD to make a strawberry shortcake for a birthday that we celebrated on Sunday. This is a fun recipe, using a cake mix that is really easy, but yet looks so pretty!
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Zuppa Toscana Soup
I hope that you are all having a great week with your families and friends. I started putting away most of my Christmas decorations and all I have left is to take down two trees! I know some of you are saying, just what exactly have you taken down then, but I had decorations is my kitchen, family room, bedroom, front hall and living room! It feels so good to start cleaning it all up and organizing a bit. I have decided that I have to clean out my clothes closet before I can hang up anything new in there, so that is really quite a challenge, since I have not gone through my closet and really dejunked for a couple of years! But the new year is always a good time to organize and start fresh, so that is my goal! I am going to do one rod, shelf and drawer at a time so it is not too overwhelming!
Are you tired of all the Christmas food yet? I know I am ready to go back to the good old homemade soups and salads, etc. Here is a recipe I found for a Copycat Zuppa Toscana and then I adapted it to make it more the way that I thought it should be. :) This is a great hearty soup that is so good for you! It is a meal in and of itself and all I added was a butterflake roll to make the meal complete.
Here is the recipe:
Zuppa Toscana Soup
4-6 servings
Ingredients:
1 lb mild Italian sausage
2 large russet potatoes, sliced in half, then cut in ¼ inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
½ cup real bacon bits
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups kale, chopped
2 cans chicken broth-14.5 oz
1 quart water
1 cup whipping cream or half & half
Directions:
- Brown sausage and drain off the oil.
- Place the onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water and garlic in a pot. Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are done.
- Add the sausage and bacon bits and salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Turn to low heat and add kale and cream.
- Heat through and serve.
- Can garnish with more chopped kale and course ground pepper.
French Cocoa
It is a cold, rainy, dreary day outside today. Perfect for staying indoors with a big mug of hot chocolate with the fireplace going and a good book to read, wrapped up in your favorite quilt! At least until you have to get on with real life! But you could at least make a big mug of hot chocolate!
A few years ago my friend, Leslie, gave me this recipe for French Cocoa. I really was not a great fan of hot chocolate…but I guess that I am now!
To make this French Cocoa you will put the unsweetened chocolate squares, sugar and water into a pan. (I am only making 1/2 of the recipe, because it is too big for my empty nester family.) 
Bring to a boil and let it boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then let it cool to room temperature.
Whip your cream until it is very stiff.
Fold the cooled chocolate into the cream.
This is heaven, folks! At this point you can just refrigerate until you want to make French Cocoa. (Try not to eat the whole bowl before you make the cocoa. I may or may not have had a few tastes!)
Or you can take a large icecream scoop…
And scoop onto a cookie sheet. I lined mine with parchment paper so they would come right off after freezing them. Flash freeze for about 2 hours, then put into a freezer container. (Half of the recipe makes about 12 servings)
To make your cocoa, heat milk in a mug until very warm. Add one scoop of the chocolate mixture and watch the foam start to form!
This truly is a great comfort drink and warms you all the way to your toes! You need to try this recipe. It is Heaven!
Here is the printable recipe. To print-right click on the image, go to copy, then open your favorite program, like word. Right click again and go to paste.
It is a 4 x 6 format so it will fit in your recipe box!