Florida Strawberry Pie

Where have I been.. It has been a crazy couple of weeks.. This blog should have been posted a few days ago. The days just seem to evaporate... On March 6th, I celebrated my 50th birthday. AUGH.. I was really dragging my feet about turning 50. My hip has been bothering me, I need readers all the time and winter just seems to be dragging on forever. WHINE..

So, my wonderful Husband and my fabulous sisters threw me a birthday party the week before my actual birthday. It was at a local bar. My Husband invited everyone, ordered the cake and paid the bill. He also flew my Florida sister in. She was glad she was here, but did not like the super cold weather. My sisters went WAY over the top. They decorated the place, made fabulous appetizers and really made me special. They are all a very special part of my whole life.  Sometime I will post my birthday pictures.

My birthday party started February 27th and finally ended on March 7th. Wow 10 days of lots of fun. If you are approaching a new decade, hit it up with a bang.

So off to Florida we went to celebrate my birthday. I was really missing my Mom. She was very glad to see us.. The first day we were there, we went to Bonefish Grill for are usual, Bang Bang Shrimp and Martini's. Well Martinis for me and beer for everyone else..

It is wrong to start a vacation with Bang bang shrimp

and a delicious martini.. well 2 martinis

MOM
Florida agrees with my Mom

My Husband and I after watching a beautiful sunset

Super long walk all the way to DOCS

Even the birds have fun on the beach

Going to celebrate my birthday some MORE with my family

My Florida sister and I after dinner

My handsome and TALL nephews

Another cocktail and another perfect beach day

My Mom made me a wonderful Florida dessert. Strawberries were in season their and just delicious in this birthday dessert. This recipe came out of either Cooks Illustrated or America's Test Kitchen. Make Ahead Dinners.. There recipes are always tested and come out perfectly. Time and time again. 

My Mom made this in a 9 x 13 pan and doubled the recipe. I am going to give you the recipe for a 9" pie pan. This dessert does go a long ways. This PIE could be made the day before. It could be covered with the topping even several hours before your event. The original recipe calls for a homemade pie dough. Mom likes to use a graham cracker crust. It does not break down so fast and is just perfect for Florida or anywhere you call home. It is up to you. Today I am posting a graham cracker crust recipe.

Icebox Strawberry Pie

original recipe for America's Test Kitchen

Adapted by my Mom

Ingredients

Crust

1 cellophane package of graham crackers, crushed

4 ounces (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Filling and Topping

2 pounds strawberries (7 cups)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin

1 cup granulated sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 pound strawberries (3 cups), hulled and sliced thin

4 ounces Cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream

For the pie crust

Preheat your oven at 350 degrees. 

Crush the graham crackers. Add melted butter and mix completely. Pour into a 9 inch pie pan. Using your fingers and hands, press the graham cracker mixture into your pie plate until smooth. Bake in oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let complete cool.

For the filling and topping

Cook the 7 cups of strawberries in a large saucepan over medium low heat until they begin to release their juices. About 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium high and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is thick and jamlike. It should measure 2 cups, this takes about 25 minutes

Combine lemon juice and water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over lemon juice mixture and let sit for 5 minutes until the gelatin softens. Stir 1 cup of sugar, salt, gelatin mixture into cooked strawberry mixture and return to simmer, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool for 30 minutes.

Fold fresh strawberries into filling and spread evenly into cooled pie crust. Cover pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set. at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix cream cheese, vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of sugar on medium speed until smooth.  About 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add cream and whip until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Spread over the top of your set up strawberry pie. Decorate with additional strawberries if you want. 

My Mother did not want ANY one in Florida 

to not know it was my Birthday. 

The original pie was not photograph before cutting...

It was beautifully decorated and served perfectly

Additional strawberries fanned over the top.

AND Candles if you want

Is that just a perfect dessert.

Cut beautiful and easy to serve

I really liked how it set up. 

You could serve this at a casual gathering or

Pre-plate it for a more formal occasion

This is what the caught on the beach one day...

They call this a Lemon Shark...

I call it never going into the water again

My Mom and I in front of this large gardenia bush.

And this is how you end a wonderful vacation..

Green Cleanse - 6

Last week, we were in Florida to see my Mom. It was a great trip. We celebrated my birthday for many more days. I was lucky to see my sister and her family. She has the best looking boys. 

We tried very hard to eat some what healthy. I made green cleanse drinks for most days. I could tell when I did not drink one. My Mom made us fresh orange juice everyday. That was also delicious. Pulp and all, I did not care. There are no cool drink pictures, I was on vacation. We stopped at a Whole Foods one day. I purchased Goji Berries. Those are a work in process. There is a different taste there, but they are a super food. We ate in a few days, the eating out was a killer. Grouper is the fish for that area, and it was fantastic. Grilled, fried, in tacos, on a bun, anyway it was good. BUT.... the cold slaw, potatoes (french fries) and desserts were KILLERS.

Pina Colada Ice box cake. Homemade and DELICIOUS

A beautiful sunset that day

Just a gorgeous sunset

My Mom and I celebrating my Birthday with cocktails

Birds. 

My Florida sister. I love hanging out with HER

Green Cleanse - 6

Adapted by ME

Ingredients

1 cup of water

1 juiced lime

1 green apple, chopped

1 orange, peeled and chopped

1 piece fresh ginger

1 1/2 cups fresh spinach

1 cup ICE

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender in the order listed. Blend until smooth.

Just a few items for a fantastic clean healthy drink

Everything is cut up and ready to go

A perfect combination of Healthy flavors

Back on track again. A Coconut Jack's glass, shell and limes, make it all good

From toes in the Sand to....

THIS is what we came home to. I HOPE we are done for the season.

No Bake Chocolate-Coconut Bars

As I am sitting here with a thousand ideas in my head and nothing on the laptop.There was a commercial that stated that Julia Child did not publish her first book until she was 51. I just celebrated a birthday last week. I am not in my 50's, but they are rapidly approaching. Holding onto my forties with so much force. This is also why I am working on launching my sweets business. I have made several treats for a few different events. It is starting out slowly. As this blog progresses, I hope my life will continue to change.

Our trip to FLA was wonderful. My Mom is doing great. She looks fabulous. We walked on the beach everyday. It is always so much work to get to Florida, but I am always glad we went. My sisters and I  are so lucky there are so many great people in Florida.

My Husband and I were also fortunate enough to see my Florida sister twice. It was a blast hanging out with her. My Sister made this fabulous Strawberry Cake for me pictured above. Someday, I will post the recipe. She also made a lovely Meyer Lemon Cheesecake on my birthday. WE ate and drank way to much on vacation. I actually sleep all night. 8 hours of sleep is quite an accomplishment for me.

The Sunsets are always so amazing

So, we are back home trying to go back to regular food. Desserts were still screaming for me. I have always loved No Bakes. They are always such a wonderful little treat. When we were younger, my sisters and I used to make them and eat them out of the pan on the stove. Burned our tongues every time.

These bars are fabulous. I could really eat the whole pan. Little refrigerated snacks. They are also healthy, yes healthy. Coconut oil is so good for you. Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Dark Chocolate, and Nuts, all good things. Talk about protein and fiber. This recipe can be modified a ton of different ways. Whatever floats your boat, or whatever you have in the pantry.  Most of all, these are bars are easy to whip up. Great for any short notice get together.

No Bake Chocolate Coconut Bars
adapted from eatgood4life.blogspot.com

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup flax seed meal

Directions
Line a 8x8, 9x9, or 10x10 pan with parchment paper. This will vary the thickness. Set aside.

Melt the peanut butter, honey and coconut oil in a medium size saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until mixture melts. When melted, add chocolate chips and continue to stir. About a minute or so.

Remove pan from heat and stir in remaining ingredients until combined.

Pour mixture into your pan. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, until set up. Cut into pieces and pig out!

Stove top cooking in one pan ~~ EASY ~~

Pour into the pan. I used a 10 x 10 pan. A smaller pan would make thicker bars

At the Pier.. thanks Mom for the great Vacation.

Tropical Smoothie

Next week, my Husband and I are going on vacation. We will be going to FLA to visit my Mother. She  spends her winters in the Naples area. It is a beautiful place to visit. My Mom is literally on the beach. I am hopeful to see my Sister and her family. She lives on the other coast. It is a great break from everything going on around here. I can sit on the beach and do NOTHING. (right) There are people from our hometown and the surrounding area there to see. The people that are in her building are mostly from the Midwest. Great group of people to hang out with.

This beach is where a large amount of my shells have come from. We like going on morning walks and finding shells. It is also a bit of exercise to start the day. Then my day will consist of sunning, eating, reading, cocktails and telling stories. LOVE IT. In any order.

In order to go on vacation, I really needed a pedicure. My Husband actually caught the hint, and He gave me this for Valentine's Day.

Thank you Tiffany from Divas. You are the bomb. Best Pedicure I have ever had.

I am also starting to clean out my refrigerator to get ready for vacation. There sat a VERY overripe Pineapple and two wrinkly Mango's. I was worried that everything was garbage, but I lucked out. This recipe would have to be adjusted with a sweetener due to the ripeness of your fruit.

This was one of the best tasting smoothies I have ever drank. It was like a tropical vacation in a glass. It is almost like being in FLORIDA. Ok, probably not, but it did taste good.

Tropical Smoothie

Ingredients
2 very ripe mangos
1 very ripe whole pineapple
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
3 cups almond milk
ice

Directions
Set up blender. Remove pit and skin from Mango's and place in blender. Remove top, remove skin and core from the Pineapple and place chunks in blender. Add 1 scoop of  Vanilla Protein powder and add the 3 cups of Almond Milk. Blend.

If  you would like to add ice, be my guest.

Fabulous, the only calories came from the powder and milk. 

Make your own smoothies, forget the mixes. This was easy and tasted amazing.

Coconut Pecan Sandies

I realized in my last post, I swore I was not making anymore cookies. I am so weak. My Husband is still faithfully doing Insanity. There have been changes. He is less loose in the cage (firming up) and he is losing some inches and weight. After two weeks, there are some results. I have been doing some Insanity and still running outside. This week, it is very cold here. Today, it is in the single digits, so hard core Insanity for me. There are no results for me. It is a bit easier, I am getting coordinated, so those are my results.

After a two week delay, my Mom is in FLA. The weather is in the 70's. My Mom and sister went for a walk on the beach yesterday. They were searching for shells. I love looking for shells. During my years of shell collecting, I have found so many cool shells. This picture is a very small portion of my collection.

I decided to make Coconut Pecan Sandies. They slightly resemble a sand dollar. I thought that Florida needed a few cookies. They are probably not missing me, but I am missing them. The cookie's texture was soft and gritty just like a sandy shell. I ran the coconut and toasted pecans through the food processor. Small specs of intense flavor made this cookie delicious.

They are the perfect size. Just a basic butter cookie with loads of punch.

Coconut Pecan Sandies

adapted from singforyoursupperblog.com

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup pecans, toasted, cooled and finely chopped

3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut finely chopped

Directions

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. For two minutes. Add milk and vanilla extract and mix.

Slowly add in flour, salt, cinnamon. Mix until just incorporated. Add in the finely chopped toasted pecans and minced coconut.  

Place dough in a container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking sheet with your Silpat or parchment paper. Scoop you dough with your cookie scoop or a teaspoon. Smash down dough balls with a wet glass. I actually used a wine glass.(that was available) All my cookies were that size of the rim of the glass. Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes, until lightly browned edges. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and move to a cooling rack. Place in a airtight container or just eat. Recipe make approximately 37-38 cookies.

These cookies are on there way to Florida. I hope they enjoy then as much a I did.