Strawberry Pretzel Fields Forever

My mom used to make this pretzel salad when we were growing up and going to a picnic or covered dish supper. The funny thing is that I never liked it that much growing up, but boy has that changed. My mom made this for a Super Bowl Party we had this year and OMG!!!!!! it was sooooo good!! Seriously, you have no idea how good it was. And what's even funnier is the recipe is called "My Friend Pat's Pretzel Salad". Ha! I have no idea who Pat is, but her recipe for Pretzel Salad is yummmmy! :)

The first thing you do is take 2 cups of pretzels and crush them. I think the easiest thing to do is to put them into a zip lock bag

and then take a rolling pin and roll it over the pretzels and that's it. So simple and an easy cleanup too. Bonus! Save a few of the crushed pretzels to garnish with at the end.

Next you want to melt 3/4 cup of margarine and then mix that together with the crushed pretzels and 4 tbsp. of sugar. Spread the pretzel/butter mixture over the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Bake this for 8 minutes in a 400-degree oven. Cool.

Next you want to cream together an 8-0z cream cheese and 1/3 cup of sugar. Then fold into that mixture 8 ounces of Cool Whip.

Then spread this over the crushed pretzels. Note this looks a bit lumpy and it should not. :) This is because we did not completely cream the cream cheese and sugar first before folding in the Cool Whip. Make sure you do this and it will not be lumpy.

Next you want to prepare a small box of strawberry Jello with 1 3/4 cup of boiling water. And then stir in the frozen strawberries. Pour this over the cream cheese layer. And then refrigerate for 3 hours.

Have you ever had this or something similar? It is really really good. :) You should go out and buy the ingredients tomorrow and then surprise your family with this delicious treat. They will definitely be your besties!! Pinky swear!

Pecan Gems

This is my Great Aunt Tissie's (her real name is Clarissa, but when I was little I couldn't say that and so somehow we all call her Tissie) recipe for Pecan Gem cookies. Now, my family always pronounced pecan as pee-kin, not sure why or how it got started, but that's how I grew up pronouncing them and I still do occasionally. Ha! I have also heard these cookies called Pecan Tassies, but that just doesn't make sense to me. They are a gem!

Anywho, these are my one of my absolute favorite cookies to make at Christmas. Not sure, why only Christmas though. I mean really, we make cookies other times of the year too right, so why not these? Hmmm, maybe I'll have to make them again soon. Or, maybe you'll have to make them and tell me how you like them. They are really easy to make too.

First you mix together 1 stick of soft butter with 1 3-oz. cream cheese and 1 cup of flour. This can be difficult to mix and so I use a pastry blender to mix it. Looooove this utensil, it makes cooking easier and it's fun too!

Next, you take a little bit of the dough and pinch it into a little ball and then place it into a gem pan. This is what my great aunt called it. Now today, we call it a small muffin tin. :) You will have to form it around the sides of each gem pan. I used this cool little utensil I got from Pampered Chef but cannot think of what it is called. DO NOT grease the pan. There is way enough butter in the dough so it won't stick.

Next, you mix together 3/4 cup of lite brown sugar, 1 egg and 1 tbsp. of melted butter and 1 tsp of vanilla. Put this mixture into a saucepan and heat on the stove until it just comes to a boil. Do not overcook it.

Once it comes to a boil, take it off the stove and let it cook a little bit and then add in 1 cup of chopped pecans.

Spoon the mixture into the gem pans evenly and then cook in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 250 degrees for an additional 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and let them cool completely before removing from the gem pans.

OMG!!! Seriously, seriously the BEST thing you've ever tasted. It is just like eating a mini pecan pie. It's a fantastic treat in your mouth. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.
Fab-u-lous!!!!!! Please, make them now and there be a party going on!!!!