Becka's blog

I read in the paper last week that this is the peak of strawberry season in Florida. Then I saw that one of our local grocery stores had strawberries on sale for a really good price. That clinched it--we had to have strawberry pie for dessert Sunday.

This is a really old recipe that I got from one of my teachers when I was in school. I have modified it some over the years to make the filling a bit firmer.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Crust:
1/2 cup margarine
2 Tbsps. sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsps. flour (the extra 2 Tbsps. flour may not be necessary in some areas)

Blend together the margarine, sugar, and flour. (I use the mixer for this.) This should form a dough. Pat into a 9" pie pan with your fingertips.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 mins. Set aside to cool. This can be made a couple of days in advance if desired.

Filling:
1 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup cold water
2 Tbsps. dry strawberry gelatin
1 quart strawberries, washed, hulled, and cut into bite size pieces
Mix sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add cold water. Bring to a boil and boil a full minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the gelatin. Stir for another minute or so to completely dissolve the gelatin. Pour over the prepared berries and then refrigerate for two hours to thicken. Pour the thickened filling into the cooled pie crust.

Chill for several hours or overnight. Serve with whipped cream or whipped topping.

A delicious taste of spring!

Becka

Calzones are another item that you can make from pizza dough. Here is how I do it:

Calzones
1/2 recipe of pizza dough
15 oz. ricotta cheese (can use the part skim)
1 egg
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix together the ricotta, the egg, and the shredded mozzarella and set aside.

Divide the dough into 4 or 5 portions, depending upon your appetite and the number of people you are feeding. Roll each piece of dough into a circle about the size of a dessert plate. Place some of the ricotta mixture on half of the dough circle.

Fold over the dough to cover the filling and crimp the edges to seal with a crimper or with a fork.

Place the completed turnovers on a baking sheet (I like to line this with parchment or use a silpat). Brush with a little oil. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 mins. Serve with heated spaghetti sauce.

You can vary these by adding well drained spinach or chopped pepperoni to the filling.
If you have any leftover you can reheat them at 375 degrees for about 15 mins.
I hope you will give them a try.

Becka

Our little grandson, Drew loves Curious George as you can see here.

He got George this past Christmas (actually he found his gift early, so his mother didn't have the heart to take it away from him!). The two have been inseparable since first meeting.

George has had some interesting experiences including a couple of showers and a swirly. George is very helpful to have around. Sometimes in the evenings or at naptime when "George is tired" Drew will very happily crawl into bed so that he and George can get some much needed rest!

I recently found this little George and purchased him for Drew's birthday which is coming up soon. This George is in his pajamas and is holding a little teddy bear. I'm not sure he will be as well loved as his predecessor, but perhaps he can stand in when George I is drying out from his next water adventure.

Another gift that is going into Drew's birthday package is this little gift set of the book Corduroy and a little Corduroy bear wearing green corduroy overalls. This set is in honor of Corduroy's 40th birthday.

So, if you see Drew, please keep these new friends a secret. Fortunately he doesn't read my blog, so I'm safe sharing these pictures with you.

Becka

I like to keep a few meals in the freezer for especially busy weeks. These Lasagna Rolls freeze well and are a nice change from regular lasagna. This is also a good recipe for a small family because you can just take out however many rolls that you want at a time.

Here's the recipe:
Noodle Mixture:
8 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded carrot
8-9 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (I put this in a dish cloth and wring it out)
1 egg

Sauce:
1/2 lb. ground beef
26 oz. jar of pasta sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps. Italian seasoning
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (set aside for later)

Cook the lasagna noodles. Drain and rinse with cool water. Thoroughly drain the spinach.

Combine the cottage cheese, shredded carrot, spinach, and egg. Spread each noodle with about 1/4 cup of the spinach mixture and then roll up.

At this point you can wrap and freeze the rolls or proceed with the recipe.

To prepare the sauce:
Brown the ground beef and garlic. Stir in the sauce and Italian seasoning. Simmer briefly. Place part of the sauce in a baking dish (9" x 13" for full batch.) Place the rolls on top of the sauce with the ruffled edges to the side (just the opposite of how you would place cinnamon rolls in a pan.) Pour the reserved sauce on top of the rolls.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 mins. at 350 degrees or until hot and bubbly. (If cooking from frozen increase baking time to about 45 mins.) Remove foil and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Bake an additional 5 mins. Let stand 5 mins. and serve.

I keep cooked ground beef in the freezer so it makes it easy to put together the sauce and have this in the oven pretty quickly. You could also eliminate the ground beef if you wanted a meatless meal.

Do you have a favorite freezer meal you like to keep on hand?

Becka

I love to read the King Arthur flour Baker's Banter Blog. The recipes have lots of pictures and very clear explanations. I have tried several of them and found some new family favorites. A recent post was for a pizza dough very similar to the one I have been experimenting with from my new Artisan bread book that I got for Christmas. What is especially nice about this dough is that you stir it up (no kneading required) and refrigerate it so you can have pizza on the table in a jiffy. If you are interested in this technique you might want to visit the King Arthur blog and check it out.

You might also want to check out the recipe my daughter Megan recently posted for Chicken Bacon Ranch calzones over on her blog, The Happy Little Hawkins family. Her calzones sound really good and I'm hoping to try them soon myself!

Becka