Amamzing Strawberry Pie

I had the opportunity today, thanks to the rain to come home (since we live about 10 minutes away from our farm) and bake while Jonathan worked on paper work and financials.  Our farm is a business, so we always have to make sure we are staying on top of those darn bills, haha!  Anywho...this is a great recipe that I found in my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook for Strawberry Pie, with a couple of changes that I made to it, using my strawberries from my garden.  And yes!~the strawberries were grown with fertilizer thanks to the cows...yep, cow manure was used to grow these wonderful berries!  YUMMY!  Hope you try this recipe out!

Strawberry Pie (makes 2, since one is never enough)
2 single pie crusts (see recipe below for my recipe)
4 pounds of Strawberries, washed and cored, if needed
6 Tablespoons Corn Starch
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Water
2 packages Cream Cheese, at room temperature (I used reduced fat cream cheese)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring or extract
Fresh Whipped Cream, sweetened to taste

Use and mash enough strawberries to make 2 cups of mashed strawberries.  Mix corn starch and sugar together in medium sauce pan.  Slowly add mashed strawberries and water.  Stir constantly on medium heat until boil.  Boil for 1 minute, and remove from heat to cool.  Mixture should be thickened and slightly transparent.  Mix cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar together, add vanilla.  Spread smooth into the bottom of the pie crusts.  Place remaining sliced strawberries on top of the cream cheese, layering if needed.  Pour cooled strawberry sauce over the top of the sliced strawberries.  Cool for 3 hours in the refrigerator, cut and serve with sweetened REAL Whipped Cream~this is DELICIOUS!!!  Hope you enjoy!


Pat in Pan Pie Crust (Makes 2 single crusts)
2 2/3 cups Flour
2/3 cup Vegetable Oil
4 Tablespoons Water
1/2 teaspoon Salt (if desired, but I don't ever bake with salt)

Mix Flour and Oil together in bowl, until flour is moistened.  Add water one Tablespoon at a time, tossing flour mixture to incorporate.  Make into 2 equally sized balls.  Place into 2 greased pie pans. Press up sides. Bake at 475 for 10-12 minutes, until golden, cool and fill.

Awesome Fruit Dip for Super Bowl Weekend!

Just came upon an awesome Fruit Dip for Super Bowl weekend. It's very simple, but uses great ingredients that are healthy and add the fruit for a snack that beats potato chips any day!

Fruit Dip
1-8 ounce package of fat free cream cheese
1-6-8 ounce cup of fat free plain yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix softened cream cheese with yogurt. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Chill for at least one hour and serve with your favorite fruits (strawberries and apples are my favorites!)

Busy, but good recipe to share!

Holy smokes we have been busy, I haven't posted in so long! Between calves, cows, new cows, and dairy princess stuff it's been a whirlwind at the farm. I did get a chance to do some baking the other day-something quick and easy, but very tasty, so I thought I would share the recipe:

Peach and Raspberry Crisp
-6 cups peeled and sliced Peaches (I used ones that I froze from last year)
-2 cups Raspberries (I also used ones from last year that I froze)
-2 tablespoons Orange Zest
-1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
-2 cups White Sugar
-1 cup Oatmeal
-1 cup Flour plus 2-3 tablespoons
-1 cup Butter

Toss peaches with Orange Zest, 1/2 cup Brown Sugar, 1 cup White Sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of flour. Let sit until juices thicken. Add more flour if needed. Gently toss in raspberries. Pour into the bottom of a 9 X 13 greased pan. Mix butter, remaining flour (1 cup), oatmeal (1 cup), Brown Sugar (1/2 cup), White Sugar (1 cup). Pour dry mixture over the top of the fruit layer. Gently press, and bake in a 350 oven for 1 hour.

Best served warm with vanilla ice cream on top and a tall glass of milk!!!!

Christmas Snow Storm is coming....

The Weather Channel is telling me that there is a Christmas Snow Storm coming this week. The timing is terrible, but what can we do-arguing with Mother Nature never works in our favor. Christmas is hard with cows, mainly because we have to work twice as hard to get everything done so we can travel to our various parties. We have been blessed to live so close to most of our family, so we won't be traveling too far from home, but with a snow storm comes some extra chores and snow removal. I know it will look so lovely Christmas morning, but all I can think about right now it how much more work we will have. I am also thinking about all of the cookies and candies I have left to make and presents to wrap....tonight I finished some more sweet creations.....check out the recipe below, which uses REAL butter, from REAL cows! Yummy!

Shannon's Butter Toffee

1 cup Butter

1 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Water

1/2 cup Miniature Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Almonds (slivered)

Mix butter, sugar and water together in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and reduce to medium heat for 13 minutes, stirring constantly. Liquid should read 300 degrees on a candy thermometer or make a brittle string when dropped in cool water. Pour quickly onto a cookie sheet and spread out. Sprinkle with chocolate and almonds. Cool for 2 hours and break into pieces. These makes great gifts, and are super easy!

Just an update on our calving season, since Thanksgiving we have welcomed 13 bulls calves and 12 heifer calves, including 2 set of twins....we are waiting for 5 others to have calves this week, and then we will have a couple days of reprieve until New Year's Day when we have 4 due on one day. So far so good! Merry Christmas!