Before and After

I've always wanted to get a complete makeover.  So far it hasn't happened, but I'm not giving up hope.  I have had a partial mental makeover... or a change of thinking when it comes to Pretzel Salad.  I thought one way about it before I consumed it (BC) and I had a whole new way of thinking about it after I devoured it (AD). Let me elaborate by sharing my thoughts about Pretzel Salad BC and AD.

BC Pretzel Salad thoughts:
"that sounds disgusting!"
"that looks disgusting!"
"I'm not eating that!"
"ugh!!!!! Granny made that crap again!"
"EW"

Now for the AD Pretzel salad thoughts:
"that sounds gross!"
"OMG! that looks sooooo good!"
"I'm gonna have some more pretzel salad"
"Granny, please make a pretzel salad!"

Here's how to make a pretzel salad:

bottom layer:
2 c. pretzels (we found Kroger brand is the best at staying crunchy)
1½ sticks butter
3 Tbsp. sugar

middle layer:
1 (8oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 c. sugar
1 small tub whipped topping

top layer:
1 large box strawberry gelatin
2 c. boiling water
1 qt. frozen strawberries

For the bottom layer mix slightly crush the pretzels.  

Mix the pretzels with melted butter and sugar.  pour the mix into a casserole dish.  

Bake for 10 minutes in a 350° oven.  Let cool completely.

For middle layer mix cream cheese and sugar.  When cheese & sugar are well mixed, fold in whipped topping. 

Spread mixture over cooled pretzels.  

For top layer add gelatin to boiling water.  Add frozen berries to the water.  The berries will cause the mixture to set. Pour over the cream cheese layer.

 Refrigerate.  

Finally, DEVOUR!

In our family pretzel salad leftovers are considered miraculous.  But there are usually at least 8 or 9 of us to devour it.  I convinced Granny to make this cool treat for our 4th of July Cookout.  With the temperature reaching a record setting
102° there weren't any leftovers this time either.

Granny & Nem's Cafe and Store

Being out of school for summer gives me a lot of free time.  I get to sleep in, eat whenever I want, eat wherever I want, shop, watch a lot of TV, travel (not doing too much of this year)...
This week I went to the Loveless Cafe for the first time...EVER (yes, I am a native Nashvillian)!  I can't believe I had never been.  The food was delicious!  I'm such a sucker for biscuits and jelly!

I also wandered into their little Hams & Jams store.That's when I saw their strawberry, peach and blackberry preserves for $8.75!!!!!! As Granny would say, "SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!"

Remember when I posted about Granny giving her strawberry preserves away (click here)? She should have been charging all those folks for that preserves.  She could even have her own little store.  I've already got a name for it, Granny & Nem (the rest of the family and I can be the "nem").
So here's what we'll have for sale at Granny & Nem one day in the distant future:

Granny's Strawberry Shortcakes

1 pkg Hostess Shortcakes (these are the best)

2 c. fresh strawberries

1/3 c. + 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1/2 c. heavy cream

Wash and slice strawberries.  Place berries in a bowl and cover with 1/3c. sugar.  Set aside.  Combine cream & remaining sugar.  Mix cream and sugar until light and fluffy.  Cover and refrigerate. 

*not really cream and sugar in this bowl

 When sugar has dissolved on the berries they are ready.  Top a shortcake with berries (and sweet berry juice) and then finish off with a dollop of hand whipped cream. Enjoy and come back to Granny & Nem's!

Nem's Strawberry Ice Cream

6 c. Half & Half

2 - 14oz. cans Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 c. strawberries (Mom likes to mash her berries, but put them in however you like)

2 tbsp. vanilla flavoring

Ice

Ice cream salt

Pour half & half, milk, berries, and flavoring into the ice cream freezer.  Stir it all together.  Put the dasher in and the top on the canister (follow the directions for ice cream freezer). Surround the container with ice and sprinkles of salt.  Turn on the freezer and let it do all the work.

So super easy to make Mom's ice cream. I think she should charge at least 4 bucks for a half ounce of that goodness! I mean if Loveless can do it so can we!
Now if only Granny and I can crack the code for those Loveless biscuits we'll be in business!

Strawberry Time!

IT'S STRAWBERRY TIME!!!!

I love, love, love fresh picked strawberries.  The family goes to the strawberry patch once or twice (or three times) during strawberry season. That's because we do so many things with our fresh picked berries. Everyone has their own strawberry specialty. Granny's specialty is Strawberry Jam.

I am not an outdoorsy person, but I will go out and pick some berries!

Growing up I don’t think I knew jelly was sold at the grocery store.  That’s because all the jam, jellies and preserves I had ever had were made by Granny.  So imagine my surprise when I opened up Granny & Paw’s refrigerator and saw this:

Granny & Paw use the blasphemous jelly on PB&J sandwiches (and now I do too).

Everyone seems to think making jellies, jams and preserves is a ridiculously hard task, but trust me it’s not that hard.  In fact I’ve been making it myself for years now (I can say years because it’s more than one and that makes it plural)! It only takes a few ingredients.

The recipe comes in the box of Sure-Jell.

I thought this was one time when Granny actually used a recipe…thought.  It turns out Granny has been making the cooked strawberry jam recipe so long she no longer needs the recipe.  I’m almost that good.  I think I only had to look at the recipe 39 times this year. WhooHoo! Way to go Me! 

Granny and I do things a little different when we make our jam.  Although the results are the same, I wanted to help watch Granny do things her way. 

We started by washing the berries.

Granny’s next steps are to slice and mash the berries.

I agreed to mash the berries Granny's way.

I prefer the much more tedious task of putting my berries in the blender and crushing them for less than 15 seconds. Whew!... I know it sounds exhausting, but it’s not that bad.

Granny prepares her jars by putting the jars and lids in a metal baking dish filled with a little water and heating them on the stove.  I never knew what the purpose of heating the jars. Granny said it’s to get the jars warm slowly so they won’t break when the hot jam goes in.

The next step (for both of us) is to put the mashed berries in a large, deep pot.  Mix in the Sure-Jell and butter and bring it to a boil.

As soon as it’s boiling add in all of that sugar and let it boil again.

It only has to boil for 1 minute.

Granny removes the hot bubbly mixture from the heat and begins removing some of the foamy bubbles from the surface.  I hate this part of the process, but Granny makes it look super easy!

See that foam? Granny skims it off using a spoon.

Foam removed from the surface of the jam

Once the foam has been removed start ladling the jam into the prepared jars.  Granny used ten 6oz. jars.

Now here is where Granny detours from the recipe.  Sure-Jell suggests using a canning contraption of sorts and boiling the jam in the jars for a few minutes.  Granny's way around this step is to screw on the lids and put the jars upside down for 5 minutes.  

When the 5 minutes are up flip the jars right side up.  As a kid I would always hang out by the jars to listen for the magic pop. The popping lids indicate the jam is all set and ready to be devoured.

 I'll post some of the other ways we use our fresh picked berries soon! Right now I need to learn how to make biscuits so I can eat some of that jam!