"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony."
~Fernand Point
Bonnie, Kathleen and my mom at Miss Molly's Tea Room for Afternoon Tea,
one of our favorite "ceremonies"
This is one of my favorite salads that Miss Molly serves. It is so light and refreshing- I just love it! This isn't Miss Molly's actual recipe, but it is Paula Dean's so I am sure it is fantastic! This is on my To-Make list and I didn't want to loose it. I think I will make it for my next family get together. Yum!
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar, plus 3/4 cup sugar
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1 (8 oz) container whipped topping
2 (3 oz ) packages strawberry jello mix
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 oz) packages frozen strawberries
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple
whipped topping or whipped cream, to garnish
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Press the mixture into a 9x13 inch pan and bake for 7 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar. Fold in the whipped topping and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled.
In a small bowl, dissolve the jello in the boiling water and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refridgerate until serving time.
To serve, cut slices and serve with a dollop of whipped topping.
Oh my gosh Amie. This recipe brings back alot of memories. In fact Rick and I were just talking about it a week ago saying we haven't had it for so long that we should make it. You see, on my very first Mother's Day in 1983, Rick cooked dinner for myself, your family, my mom and dad and Babci. The men served us ladies dinner and cocktails and cleaned up too! I remember my dad coming in and wearing a towel over his arm like he was a waiter in a fancy restarant. You would have been too young to remember or maybe you were busy tap dancing on the hearth :) Rick made homemade spaghetti and meatballs and this strawberry pretzel salad for desert. He found the recipe in one of my first cookbooks I got from the Easter Seals Society I think your mom might remember this day in my first home in Lakewood OH (that I still miss to this day). I know we all loved it at the time and I believe we brought it a few times to family get togethers -- somehow it happened to be one of those recipes that went by the wayside and then suddenly resurfaced in a new light! I got out my old cookbook and compared the recipe to Paula Deen's and am amazed to find it is exactly the same after all these years!
ReplyDeleteKathleen, what a wonderful story! I can't wait to ask my mom about it. Reading your comment just warmed my heart so. It reminded me of my favorite thing abut food- how just reading a recipe or taking a taste of a dish can flood you with memories.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool that your recipe is just the same as Paula Dean's! I can't wait to make it now.