Hungry Enough To Eat This?

A book of family recipes from a good friend

I recently received a lovely gift from a good friend. Natalie is a teacher at the school where I work and I had the pleasure of helping in her classroom last year. When not distracted by… whoops, I mean helping students, the topic of our conversations often turned to food: the recipes I worked on for my blog, her searches for good gluten-free recipes, our love of the Thug Kitchen cookbooks, Pumpkin-Spiced coffee, and much more.

She surprised me with this gift: a collection of her family’s favorite recipes gathered together for me and sweetly titled, “Hungry Enough To Eat This?” How amazing is that?

After first finding these recipes from her family she then typed them up, added pictures and created a book through Shutterfly. It is such a touching and thoughtful gift! There is a beautiful message from her in the forward, too.

It has twenty recipes with everything from breads to desserts. And two recipes for margaritas. It’s well-known that I’m a fan of margaritas, and it seems that Natalie’s family is too.

Two desserts caught my eye and I made them this week to share in this post.

One was a Cream Cheese Cool Whip Pie, thick, creamy vanilla filling inside a graham cracker crust.

I also made a Cinnamon version of this pie. Both versions were quite well received by my family and our friends at a recent gathering to watch Captain America.

The other recipe is for simple Lemon Bars. This dessert is a favorite of mine to come across at potlucks and work breakfasts. The bars are so full of sweet and vibrant lemon flavor. I made these to share at a Friend’s Thanksgiving gathering.

Natalie has graciously given me permission to share these family recipes here. I hope you will try one or both soon. Thank you, Natalie!

Cool Whip Cream Cheese Pie

Recipe from the LaRose family, shared with me by Natalie LaRose

Ingredients:

• 1 Graham Cracker Crust (recipe below)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1-1/2 c. Cool Whip whipped topping

Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually, beat consistently.
2. Add the salt and then blend in the milk, lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Blend in the Cool Whip.
4. Spoon the filling into the cooled graham cracker shell. Chill until set – about 3 hours. Garnish with lemon or fruit.

** For the Cinnamon version, add 1-1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon in step 2.

Serves 8

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients:

• 9 sheets graham crackers (about 4-1/2 oz.), crushed to fine crumbs
• 6 TB, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter. Stir until all the crumbs are moistened.
3. Press the butter-crumb mixture into a 9″ pie tin into an even layer across the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden brown. Remove and place the pan on a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

Lemon Squares

Recipe from the LaRose Family, shared with me by Natalie LaRose

Ingredients:

• 1 c. Gold Medal all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. grated lemon peel, if desired
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. powdered lemon juice (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix together the flour, butter and 1/4 c. powdered sugar. Press the mixture evenly into an ungreased square pan, 8″x8″x2″ or 9″x9″x2″ size, building up 1/2″ edges.
3. Bake the crust for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, beat the granulated sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice, baking powder, salt and eggs on an electric mixer on high speed. Beat for about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
5. Pour the filling over the hot crust. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched lightly in the center.
6. Let cool. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into 1-1/2″ squares.