Tastes Like Summer!

One the most exciting things about being in my own place again is the chance to get cookin'!! With 3 people and 3 sets of kitchen stuff, it was little tougher in the old space. And unfortunately I like to spread out when I cook. Now, my little studio kitchen still makes that a bit of a challenge, but I decided I was up for it. Plus my office was having a dessert cook-off today to kick off the holiday weekend, which gave me the perfect excuse to make Pretzel Salad. I put this together last night since it needs time in the fridge to set up, but I'm blogging about it now so you can see the finished product.

This is a special recipe because it's one my Mom used to make when we were growing up, and it always makes me think of summer. Plus it's super easy and I always get requests to pass it along. I am pretty good at following recipes, but I like visual confirmation I'm doing the steps right, so I figured I'd cook and photo at the same time in case you want to give this a try. And while I'm at it, I'm gonna give a little shout-out to some of my favorite Pampered Chef products. Never heard of Pampered Chef? It's a great line of cookware, and my friend Meagan Shemenski does parties to demo it. I know, I know. I normally don't get into that kind of thing either, but this stuff is truly amazing.

Enough free advertising (Meagan, you can thank me later...)! Back to the recipe. You start by taking everyday old bagged pretzel sticks and crushing them into little pieces, kind of like crunchy bread crumbs. The crushing part is my favorite! And if you have a special guy in your life that doesn't like to cook but enjoys taking some aggression out on stuff, have him smash them. This is also a great activity for kids!



Of course, the best tool I have found for crushing stuff is my Pampered Chef Meat Tenderizer. It has a flat side in addition to the prickly one, so I put the pretzels in my Pampered Chef mixing bowls and smush them with the flat side of the tenderizer. And if you need to defend yourself, you could leave one heck of a bruise on someone with this thing... Next best thing to a hockey stick. But I digress....



You need 2 cups of crushed pretzels. This is also a Pampered Chef measuring tool that does both wet and dry measurement. Plus it has that cool plunger effect to make sure you push all the stuff you measured out the other side. Kids and immature dudes dig that too. Gotta find ways to make the kitchen fun for your helpers!



OK, back to business. You melt one and a half sticks of butter, add 4 tablespoons of sugar, and mix all that with the pretzels. Pour that into a 9x13 baking pan and press it out until it's even and forms a layer. Don't be afraid to get in there with your hands...it's fun, and you can lick the butter off them after. Or have someone else do it for you....

Then you pop it in a 400 degree oven for 8 minutes. NO MORE....my Mom's recipe card makes a special point about this, and Mom is always right.



Once the crust is done, you need to give it some time to cool off. If you try to put the next layer on while the crust is still hot, it's BAD! Everything gets all mushy and melted together. Not exactly the point of making a layered dessert, right?

OK, so when your crust is cool, you mix together 8 oz of cream cheese and a cup of sugar. It helps if you leave the cream cheese out on the counter while you're making the crust so it's not super cold straight from the fridge. Then you fold in one 8 oz container of Cool Whip. The good news with this layer is you can use the light or fat free stuff (both cream cheese and Cool Whip) and it tastes just as good with less calories. Bonus! Spread it on top of the cooled crust and stick it in the fridge while you're making the top layer.



Already looking yummy, I know. But stay with me. This is the arty part of the program. Now you take a 6 oz package of strawberry jello and dissolve it in one and 3/4 cups of boiling water.



I leave that to cool off for a bit after it's dissolved. Why? 'Cause if you pour it on the cream cheese-Cool Whip layer now, it's too hot and the colder stuff bubbles through, mixes with the hot liquid jello and it just doesn't look pretty. And we want our dessert to look pretty, don't we? I thought so...

So while the jello is cooling, you can deal with your strawberries. I used fresh ones because the store had some very pretty ones...on sale to boot! But in a pinch, you can use a large bag of frozen ones and the whole thing tastes just as good. And sometimes strawberries aren't in season, and you just may be craving some pretzel salad.



You can arrange them however you want. Pretty is as pretty does...



Your jello should be cooled off now, so you can pour it over your strawberries. It should look something like this...



Then it's off to the fridge, preferably overnight. Jello can be touchy if you push it too fast, so give it time to be all it can be.



And the next morning, you have a little bit of summer heaven!



Alas, my masterpiece did not win the office bake-off. I ran into some pretty stiff competition, including a still-warm from the oven apple pie that I must admit was amazing (damn you, Dan Warnick!). But I still had a great time and realized I have a workable kitchen. I just may find some motivation to try some new recipes and share some more culinary discoveries later.

In the meantime, come to my place for leftovers...I can't eat them all by myself!