Au Gratin Potatoes

We had my Dad and his girlfriend over for dinner tonight, and I wanted to make a special Easter dinner. I made Au Gratin potatoes as a side dish, I kind of created my own recipe for these, and they turned out great.

We have leftovers and I can't wait to go to work tomorrow and bring them :)

Au Gratin Potatoes (From: Myself)

• 6 potatoes potatoes, peeled, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 1/4 onion, cut into chunks
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 c. heavy cream
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 1 quart casserole dish.

Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Top with the onion chunks, and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in heavy cream, and milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds.

Pour cheese over the potatoes, and cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven.

Scalloped Potatoes

Knowing that we were going to be gone all Christmas Day I knew I would need to make slow cooker recipes so I wouldn't be stressing to get dinner on the table in an hour once we got home, that was great intentions but you have to turn ON the slow cooker in order for it too cook, so I ended up baking this in the oven for about an hour on 425 :-)

These were AMAZING! Out of the whole pan I had 2 scoops left, and there was only 4 of us eating :-) Definitely worth a try!

Scalloped Potatoes and Parsnips (From: Favorite Brand Name Slow Cooker Recipes)

• 6 Tb. unsalted butter
• 3 T. all-purpose flour
• 1 3.4 c. heavy cream
• 2 t. dry mustard (I used yellow mustard)
• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 1 t. dried thyme
• 1/2 t. black pepper
• 2 baking potatoes (I used 5 medium size potatoes)
• 2 parsnips (I omitted)
• 1 onion (I used a 1/4)
• 2 c. (8 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk constantly 3 to 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in cream, mustard, salt, thyme, and pepper. Stir until smooth.

Place potatoes, parsnips and onion into slow cooker. Add cream sauce. Cover; cook on low 7 hours or on high 3 1/2 hours or until potatoes are tender.

Stir in cheese. Cover until cheese melts.

Cheesy Potatoes

My dad and his girlfriend came down for dinner tonight, Adam wanted to grill steaks and have corn with it. But I still needed to figure out a side dish and some dessert. I wasn't in the mood for mashed potatoes after having them a lot lately. So I decided to try to recreate my grandmas hashbrown casserole recipe.

These were AMAZING, if I do say so myself, better then my grandmas

Hashbrown Casserole (From: Myself)

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 stick of butter (melted)
• 2 lbs. hashbrowns
• 8 oz. colby cheese
• salt and pepper
• 1 c. colby cheese
• 1 c. crushed ritz crackers

Thaw hashbrowns.

Melt butter, and then mix with soup, cheese (8oz), and salt and pepper. Fold in hashbrowns.

Spread in a cake pan and top with some shredded cheese (1 c.), and then top with some ritz cracker crumbs.

Bake at 400 for 30-45 minutes

Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes! They are my FAVORITE part of Thanksgiving, I heard on the nest about vanilla bean sweet potatoes. I didn't really have a recipe so just kind of created my own recipe. They turned out REALLY yummy!!!!

I made these up the night before, which saved me A LOT of time come the day of :-)

Vanilla Sweet Potatoes (From: Myself)

• 2 lg. cans of sweet potatoes (drained)
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
• 2 Tb. vanilla
• dash cinnamon
• dash nutmeg
• dash allspice
• 1 bag small marshmallows
• 1 stick butter (softened)
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 Tb. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream sweet potatoes, brown sugar, and whipping cream together. Once smooth add in cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

Spread in a cake pan top.

Mix butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together. Spread over sweet potatoes.

Bake for 30 minutes then top with marshmallows and bake another 30 minutes until marshmallows are golden brown.

Beef Roast

Tonight my mother in-law, sister in-law, and niece came over for dinner. I knew I was going to be gone for the day so wanted something very comforting. I decided to try my hand at a beef roast. Growing up we had this all the time on Sundays, it was always SO good. I have never made one, I don't really know why. Tonight was SO worth trying!!!

I used a seasoning mix which was AWESOME! I didn't need to make gravy with it, as the seasoning mix made it's on gravy.

Beef Roast (From: My Mom)

• 1 beef roast
• 7 potatoes (quartered)
• 1 sm. bag baby carrots
• 3 onion slices
• 1 pkg. slow cooker beef roast seasoning
• 2 c. beef broth

Preheat oven to 375.

Brown the roast on high heat with some oil for about 3 minute on each side.

Mix seasoning mix and broth together (the recipe on the seasoning called for water, I used broth).

Pour broth mixture in bottom of roasting pan, place roast on top. Place onion ring slices on top of roast, then throw in potatoes and carrots.

Bake for about 2 hours or until tender and veggies are soft.

Au Gratin Potatoes

Adam and I decided to do steaks for dinner, we haven't had them in a while and I had a bottle of wine that was calling my name. I was bored with the "normal" sides we use. So I asked on TheNest board I am on, and someone said Au Gratin potatoes. I knew this was what I wanted, as I have never made them before, I would be able to use my food processor, and they are YUMMY!

I found this recipe on allrecipes, it seemed easy, and I had all the ingredients at home. This was really good, next time I will mix the onion and potatoes together and then top with cheese instead of layering.

Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes (From: Allrecipes)

• 4 russet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 onion, sliced into rings (I diced and sauteed with a little garlic)
• salt and pepper to taste (I added some seasoning salt)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 1 quart casserole dish.

Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Top with the onion slices, and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds. Pour cheese over the potatoes, and cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven.

Crock Pot Pork Chops

As you can see my slow cooker has became my new friend, it's such an easy way to make dinner, and doesn't heat up the apartment with the oven on. I have been bored with our pork chop recipes, so I was glad to find this recipe.

Slow Simmered Garlic Pork Chops(From: Bakingblonde)

• 4 pork chops 1 inch thick (I used 3 boneless)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Paprika to taste
• 1 T. Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, thickly sliced
• 1/3 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
• 2 1/2 T. brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
• 1 T. cornstarch
• 1 T. cold water

Rub chops with salt and pepper and paprika. In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil and brown chops on both sides. Transfer to crockpot.

Add garlic and onion slices to porkchop pan with the residual oil and drippings. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add soy sauce and wine/broth, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Cook until the brown sugar is dissolved.

Pour over the pork chops in the crockpot and cook on low for 7 hours. Remove pork chops.

In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water, whisk until smooth. Slowly stir into crockpot.

Return the pork chops to the crockpot and cook for 30-45 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to desired consistency.

***Tips: I had to add more corn starch, it still didn't thicken so I simmered on the stove for a few moments. I served with mashed potatoes

BBQ Pulled Pork with Root Beer

I love pulled pork, and go to Famous Daves just to have their pulled pork. I have tried making it at home but never been super happy with it. This recipe was posted on The Nest, and it is my new favorite, it tasted just like Famous Daves does!!! I changed the original recipe a little

Pulled Pork (From: Allrecipes)

• 1 pork roast or loin
• 1 can root beer
• 1 slice of onion
• salt and pepper
• Penzeys BBQ America
• 1 jar BBQ sauce (we tried Jack Daniels, Hickory Brown Sugar)

Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker, put any seasonings you want on, and onion rings over the top, then pour the root beer over the meat.

Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours (I did 8 hours, and BBQ sauce for 1 1/2 hours.)

Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.

I served with sweet potato fries just like I made them here.

Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries

I was planning to make sweet potatoes with last nights steak wraps, but the potatoes I had bought at the store were not sweet potatoes, I still had the craving today. So I stopped at the store and got some while out today. They were very good. Adam who told me he didn't like sweet potatoes (has since had 2 other recipes he enjoys), enjoyed these also. I had 2 chicken breasts in the fridge I had to use, but wasn't sure what to do with them. My mom stopped by at 3:30 a whole 30 minutes before Adam would be home on dinner break, and gave me this idea. I took it and ran. They were pretty good, I don't care for chicken, but still enjoyed them.

Ritz's Breaded Chicken Breasts (From: My Mom)

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/4 c. milk
• 10-12 Ritz's crackers (any would work)
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 c. parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400

Use a rolling pin to make your crackers into crumbs then place in bowl with salt and pepper, and parmesan cheese.

Pour milk in a bowl.

Dip chicken in the milk, then coat in the cracker crumb mixture, then place in baking dish.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Sweet Potato Fries (From: Myself)

• 1 lg. sweet potato (next time I will use 2 since Adam likes them)
• drizzle of olive oil
• couple dashes of cinnamon
• dash of cumin
• drizzle of honey

Preheat your oven to 350

Peel your potato and cut in thin strips, you could do thicker if you prefer.

Place potatoes in an even layer on baking sheet, drizzle olive oil over the top, then cinnamon and cumin.

Bake for about 35 minutes, then add a drizzle of honey, bake 5 more minutes of until done.

Steak Wraps with Baked Tortilla Chips

Adam and I love tacos and wraps, but it never fails that our shells and lettuce go bad. So we purposely bought some steak to make steak wraps. Adam took care of the wraps, and I made the chips. I was a little unsure of the wraps that they wouldn't be too good, but they were wonderful! The tortilla chips were also AWESOME! I will buy more flour shells just to make more chips. I put a little honey after the chips were done baking, added great flour.

Adam's Steak Wraps (From: Adam)

• Thin Sirloin Steak
• Marinate (We used Steak and Chop)
• Lettuce
• Cheese
• Onion
• Tortilla Wraps

Cut steak into thin strips place in ziplock and marinate in sauce, we marinated for about 24 hours.

Fry the meat in the pan with marinate.

Then assemble wraps, you can add any toppings you want.

Baked Tortilla Chips (From: Krashed24)

• 2 flour tortillas
• cinnamon sugar
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take a flour tortilla and brush it lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle on seasoning.

With a pizza cutter, cut the tortilla in half. Fold the two halves together and cut stacked pieces in half. Then cut each half in half. You should end up with 8 pieces.

Arrange pieces onto baking sheet in single layer.

Cook for 5-8 minutes (depending on the thickness of your tortillas) or until tortillas are crisp.

Drunken Steak!!!

Adam use to work at a local restaurant they are well known for the drunk and dirty chicken. It's marinated for a day or more in a mix of coke and liquor. He was in the mood to try it. So we tried steak last night!

Drunken Steak (From: Adam's Recipe)

• 2 steaks
• 2 shots southern comforter
• 6-8 oz of coke

Marinate steak in mixture for about 36 hours, longer is ok. Then grill until done to your preference.

**Tips: Our were a little over cooked, but had GREAT flavor, and didn't taste like liquor.

For the potatoes we boiled some potatoes. I mashed them in my kitchen aide with a splash of milk, a tablespoon of butter, and about 1/4 c. sour cream. I had some white cheddar cheese left and threw that in. They were very tasty.

A Welcome Home Supper

My best male friend Jake is in the Navy and was stationed for the last 4 years in Japan. He got home for a month leave a week ago Saturday. I told him when we picked him up at the airport I wanted to make him a nice dinner to welcome him home and show him some of my new cooking skills.

He came up to our house on Friday evening, we did a little mall shopping then came home to make dinner. Adam and I quickly wiped dinner up. This meal took a while baking but was quick to put together.

Meatloaf (Kraft.com)

• 2lbs ground beef
• 1 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing (recipes calls for chicken we prefer mushroom and onion)
• 1 cup water
• 2 eggs, beaten
  

Mix all ingredients together put into loaf pan. Then you can use BBQ sauce or we prefer about 1/4 c ketchup, and 1/4 brown sugar mixed together on top. Bake in a preheated 375 oven from 1 hr, and 15 min or until cooked through.

Sweet Potatoes (Cd Kitchen)

• 3 large sweet potatoes (I used 1 lg. can)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crunchy topping

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Boil potatoes until tender. Remove skins when cooled. Put into a large bowl and whip them until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into a greased casserole pan and top with the Crunch Topping. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes.


**Tips: I loved the topping but think I would use my moms sweet potato recipe and this topping.


Green Bean Casserole (My Mom)

• 2 cans green beans
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 can of french onions
• Salt and pepper

Heat milk, soup, and salt and pepper in saucepan.

Place beans in a casserole dish, add soup mixture, and 1/2 can of the onions. Mix together.

Top with remaining onions.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Kielbasa with Spuds

I took a Kielbasa out of the freezer last night, and today decided I didn't want to do the same old same old. I wanted to do something different. So I searched online for a new recipe. And a friend helped me find this one. It was OK, but not something I would rave about our make all the time. But if I need something quick to make I might do this.

Kielbasa and Spuds (From: Recipezaar)

• 1 lb kielbasa
• 2 cups cubed potatoes
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

Slice kielbasa into 1/2" or so slices.

Saute kielbasa with onions in a dutch oven over medium heat.

Continue until nicely browned.

Add potatoes to the kielbasa and onions.

Mix water, brown sugar, mustard and soy sauce.

Add to the dutch oven.

Cover and simmer until potatoes are done.

May have to add more water depending on how much the spuds soak up.

If potatoes break down they make the sauce nice and thick.

***Tips: I sliced my potatoes instead of cubed them, and simmered for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes the sauce was rather thin, but after sitting for just a minute it thickened up.

Roasted Potatoes

Tonight is Adam's birthday, I must say I am kind of glad his birthday is over, we had 3 fun-filled but VERY busy days of birthday stuff. He is know officially a quarter century old.

Tonight Adam's requested menu was steak, with some kind of potato. It started raining around 3 here so we were unable to grill out, he pan fried the steaks. I made roasted potatoes a recipe I kind of made up, and corn with some bread. These potatoes were very good and something he wanted me to make again.

Roasted Potatoes (From: Me)

• 4 potatoes
• 1/2 c. bread crumbs
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
• 1 T. Seasoning salt
• 1/2 t. Garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Place all ingredients but potatoes in a large bag and mix together.

Wash the potatoes, I left skin on, but you could peel if you are anti-skin. Cut in half, both ways then cut into cubes.

Place in bag and coat, you can put some olive oil on top if you want to better coat.

Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minute to an hour. I tossed about every 15 minutes or so. And the last 15 minutes I put more olive oil on top and put the rest of the bread crumb mixture on top. This helped them get crispier.

Chicken, Potatoes, and Rolls

This week we were craving a good cheesy meal, this came together a little cheesier then we planned but was good!!! I made Garlic Cheddar Chicken, Mashed Taters, and Cheddar Biscuits.

Garlic Cheddar Chicken (From: Allrecipes)

This is the same recipe as for the pork I used except it is for chicken. We actually preferred the pork. Click here to go to pork recipe.

Ultimated Mashed Potatoes (Allrecipes)

We made this recipe with the pork also, but this was the twice baked potatoes, we didn't do the twice baked, I just boiled potatoes and mashed them, and used the same ingredients they were awesome tasting! I also added about 1 tablespoon of onion and chive cream cheese because I had it here. Click here to go to potatoes recipe.

A few weeks ago Adam and I ate at Old Country Buffet, and they had these wonderful cheddar scone things, they were without a tag and I didn't know how to make them, but I wanted to make these biscuits. My biscuits turned out just like those. WONDERFUL! Not really a biscuit but really good

Cheddar Biscuits (From: Kraft Foods)

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. CALUMET Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cubed
• 1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread

PREHEAT oven to 450ºF.

Mix flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in Cheddar cheese. Add milk; stir until mixture forms soft dough.

PLACE on lightly floured surface; knead 8 to 10 times or until smooth. Pat out dough into 6-inch square. Cut into nine squares. Place on ungreased baking sheet.

BAKE 10 to 12 min. or until golden brown. Spread each warm biscuit with 2-1/2 tsp. of the cream cheese spread.

Easter Cut-Outs

This Easter I was in charge of Sweet Potatoes and Sugar Cookies, I have made my new sugar cookies for 2 weeks running, and mom and brother are just in love with them. So I made a double batch this weekend!

Sweet Potatoes- I made these in Feb, click link to see recipe and picture. This time, I made the potatoes yesterday and just stored in the fridge then topped with marshmallows and topping this morning. It was really easy and made for no mess today.

Cut-Outs- I doubled the recipe, and then rolled and used the Wilton Cut outs, they were really tasty! And were a big hit at Easter Dinner.

I hope you all had a very safe and happy Easter!

Breakfast In Bed

This morning, Adam was bound and termined to make breakfast in bed. It didn't work as we woke up at the same time. But he brought the paper to bed, and got busy in the kitchen, it was a great breakfast!! One of the first meals Adam made for me was breakfast foods, and his American Potatoes, they sold me at point one. They are SOOO yummy!!

American Potatoes (Adam's Recipe)

• 2 potatoes per person
• Salt & Pepper
• Seasoning Salt
• Garlic Salt
• Onion Powder
• Italian Seasoning

1. Heat pan with 2-3 Tb. of Oil

2. Wash and dice potatoes into small cubes.

3. Throw into warm pan, add seasonings. Cover

4. Fry on medium/high for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and little mushy.

***Tips: Stir every couple minutes, you can add mushrooms, onions, and/or beef or sausage. Want to have oil hot, so they start cooking right away, and cook all the potatoes at one time.

Pork and Potatoes

Adam wanted to make dinner tonight, so I gave him a few recipes that sounded good. I helped him but he created a WONDERFUL dinner!!!

Garlic Cheddar Pork Chops (From: Nesties)

• 1/4 c. butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c + 2 Tb. Dry Bread Crumbs
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 c. shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 1/8 tsp. dried parsley
• 1/8 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 4 boneless pork chops

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, and cook the garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.

3. In a shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmeasan cheese, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano, pepper, and salt.

4. Dip each pork chop in the garlic butter to coat, then press into the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the coated pork chops in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with any remaining butter and top with any remaining bread crumb mixture.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Twice Baked Potatoes (All Recipes)

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 8 slices bacon
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
• 8 green onions, sliced, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Bake potatoes in preheated oven for 1 hour.

3. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

4. When potatoes are done allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl; save skins. To the potato flesh add sour cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup cheese and 1/2 the green onions. Mix with a hand mixer until well blended and creamy. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Top each with remaining cheese, green onions and bacon.

5. Bake for another 15 minutes.

***Tips: Mine didn't look "pretty" but tasted great. We had large baking potatoes and they weren't done in the hour time. Also we omitted the green onions as we don't like them.

Grilling Season Is Coming

We hit a record high of 81 today,in March. That's pretty good for March in Minnesota, of course next week it's suppose to be 40. But Adam and I took advantage of the weather today. We had some steaks, and a tin foil dinner and grilled out.

We parked our blanket on top of a hill and relaxed and enjoyed the breeze. It was a wonderful day. The pictures isn't the greatest as it's taken in the dirty tin-foil but it was GOOD.

Steaks: Adam put Seasoning salt, and Woreschure Sauce.

Tin Foil Dinner (My Grandmas Recipe)

• Spray shiny side of the foil with cooking spray. then put in veggies.
• I used potato (cut up into chucks), baby carrots, and onion.
• Put butter, I used a stick because a lot of it burns off. Cut it in 2 tablespoon pieces and place around.
• Add, salt, pepper, season salt, to taste.
• Crimp edges all around and place on top part of the grill.

Grill for about 20 minutes our until potatoes are done.

***Tips: Can add mushroom, pineapple, anything you want to it. Really wonderful addition and easy clean up!!

Chopped Pork

We had our weekly date with my girlfriend and her fiancee tonight. I made chopped pork with roasted potatoes and a pie for dessert. Overall it was a good dinner.

• Chopped Pork (My recipe)
• 1 roast (I prefer pork, but can use any kind)
• 1 jar BBQ sauce
• 1 onion

I brown the roast in a pan, just with some oil for about 2-3 minutes on each side, then place in crock pot with onion slices and water about 2 inches of water across the bottom. Cook on medium heat for 6 or so hours. Then take out and shred or chop. Normally I shred but this time just chopped it and liked it a lot better. Then add the BBQ sauce and cook for another 2-3 hours. You can serve on a bun or we prefer on top of toasted Texas toast. Tonight we took the easy route and bought some frozen roasted potatoes and just fried them. They were very tasty!

For dessert I was going to make strawberry pie,I went to make it and had the filling down but my frozen strawberry's looked horrible and I opted to not use them, so just used chocolate chunks and coconut on top.

Strawberry Pie (Nesties)

• 8 oz Cream Cheese
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 c. whipped cream
• 1 Oreo Cookie Crust
• fresh strawberry's
• Chocolate chips

Beat cream cheese with vanilla and sugar. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into crust. Top with whole berries pointed up. Melt some chocolate chips and drizzle over top. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

This pie was pretty tasty, it tasted a lot more like cheesecake then it did a pie, and I think the strawberry's might go better with it. This will be a recipe I will try again come summer time!