Pillsbury Recipe - Strawberry-Filled Lemon Cream Cheese Bars - May 30, 2014

I used to love to cook.  Before my 21 years of being on call day and night, I
was constantly in the kitchen, putting my five hundred cookbooks, acquired in
my world travels, to use.  I also perused magazines such as Bon Appetit and
Good Housekeeping, clipping recipes to try out on family and friends.

Once I started wearing a pager almost constantly, I knew I was taking a chance
to undertake elaborate meal preparation.  As one of my forensic nurse 
colleagues used to say, "You can make toast but you can't bake a cake".

Once my SANE position ended and I downsized and headed off to India, 
I gave away most of my cookbooks, putting a treasured few, along with two
recipe boxes into storage.  When I've been home, renting a room, I haven't
had the opportunity to do any cooking at all.  

At least, here at my son's home, I've actually cooked dinner many evenings, 
what with Laura working.  Thanks to the wealth of internet recipe sites, I've 
found a lot of my favorite recipes and have acquired several new favorites.  

I get daily recipes from Pillsbury via "Pillsbury Today's Taste" - quick, easy
dishes from main courses to desserts, requiring only a few ingredients, most
of the time, and, of course, recommending Pillsbury products.  I have always 
enjoyed their "bake off" recipes and the cookbooks from those contests and 
some of the recipes featured are from that.

This week, I tried their recipe for strawberry filled lemon cream cheese 
bars.  They were very easy to make and did not even last twenty-four hours
in our house.  Little Harper Ann, my 14-month-old granddaughter kept chanting,
 "bite, bite" if she saw us eating one!

Here's the recipe with my variation.  I added almond flavoring to both the crust
and the filling - I love the stuff!!!!  

Strawberry-Filled Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

Delicious strawberry-filled bars recipe – a delightful dessert with 

cream cheese, sugar and margarita mix!

·         prep time  30 min

·         total time  2 hr 15 min

·         ingredients  10

·         servings   32

Ingredients

Base

1 box lemon or yellow cake mix

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

           1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

          

***I added ½ tsp almond flavoring to this ( I LOVE ALMOND )

1 cup strawberry preserves or jelly

Filling

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4   cup all-purpose flour

            1/8 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup frozen concentrated margarita mix, thawed

***I added ½ tsp almond flavoring to this

Steps

·         1 - Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease 13x9-inch 

    pan. Place cake mix  in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter

    until crumbly. Add almonds; mix well. Reserve 1 cup mixture for topping. Press 

    remaining mixture in bottom of pan. Stir preserves until smooth; carefully spread 

    over base.

·        

            2-  In same bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt and egg with electric mixer 

    at medium speed until well blended. Add margarita mix; beat at low speed until

    blended.Carefully pour filling over base. Sprinkle reserved base mixture over filling.

·         

      3- Bake 34 to 41 minutes or until edges begin to brown and center is set. Cool 

    completely, about 1 hour. Cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator.

I imagine these might be great with almost any kind of preserve...perhaps mango!!!

To get your own recipes, sign up at www.pillsbury.com!

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/strawberry-filled-lemon-cream-cheese-bars/3af854c5-ef01-41b8-9268-15bdfcff88cc

Ruby Tuesday - Complete Chaos - September 20, 2011

I got a new India book yesterday and all I want to do is sit and look at it
but, alas, time is running out and there is so much yet left to do.  My
friend, Joanne Olivieri, aka Poetic Shutterbug, gave up her whole day
yesterday to come and help me get started on organizing for my "estate
sale" this weekend which will be from 10A to 4P at 67 Canterbury
Avenue in Daly City, CA, right near Hickey Boulevard and
Skyline ( just in case any of you are in the area! )!  I have so much
packing left and things to move to storage, not to mention that all
the furniture still has to go - and I have a friend coming from
Switzerland tomorrow.  He'll spend a few days here with me when
he isn't at his conference in San Francisco.

Jo and I did manage to get out to lunch with my friend, Silvia ( I
had liver and onions which I love - I know that most folks don't -
I even wrote a poem, "Liver and Onions"! ) and, on the way to take
Jo home, we saw a chance for some nice photos so, of course, we
had to stop!

This book is filled with so many marvels, I could easily never get packed
or moved out of my house!!!

Many years ago, my dear friend, Santos, my very first Indian friend, gave
me this beautiful cookbook.  It is filled with incredible marvels and the
most glorious pictures.  Santos, Lorna, his mother, May, and so many of
their relatives and friends made my one week stay in Mumbai so warm and
welcoming when I went back in 1997.  It is there I will begin this visit to
India.

These are my two Ruby Tuesday posts for today.  Check out the site and
add you own and join in the fun!

I'm also adding some photos of my home so you can see what my life
is like these days!!!

Sadly, almost every room is like this - boxes in every stage of being

packed, upstairs and downstairs.  I've given hundreds of things to Good

Will, before Jo talked me into an estate sale.  Over fifty pairs of my

shoes are out there somewhere in the world and, at least, two hundred

books!  I could never bear to part with a book.

 

 

I'm keeping my ancient Marantz receiver and the speakers though my

turntable died years ago.  I'd like to get another because I love all my

33-1/3 records...but, if someone wants to buy them, I'll woefully say

farewell.  I have over a hundred VHS movies I hope someone will

want.  Some nursing homes and other facilities still have videorecorders

and players.

This was my mother's owl collection - I brought it home with me from

Georgia but none of my boys, of course, wanted it and I'm not an owl

collector.  I decided it should go to someone who loves owls.  I'm having

a hard enough time parting with things I've loved all my life - like that

ferm coffee set!

Every book in here goes - they're all cookbooks ( you should see the

number I'm keeping.  About thirty years ago, I used to do some

catering but I never charged enough to make it worthwhile.  Cookbooks

were also the souverneirs I brought back from my travels.

Everything in here goes as well.  I'm not sure why but I used to collect

teapots, some of them with a hundred dollar price tag...and they were

never used for tea!  Okay, I'm crazy but I know it. 

Years ago, when a son didn't occupy my guest bedroom, it was all done up

in unicorns!  I have dozen of unicorn pictures and knick knacks.  They're

not important to me anymore.

I used to do a lot of needlework, decoupage and various arts and crafts.

I love Christmas, too, and tried to make each one different and special. 

All those books are for sale now and so is the legal book case that I

ruined by painting a cheerful yellow.

I won't say that this whole experience of  going through my life and

marking things I've treasured for sale hasn't been a really painful

experience.  Every thing I touch spawns so many memories and I've

shed more than a few tears.  I've left off the eye makeup and mascara

or I'd really look a fright.  I know my boys don't realize how traumatic

this is for me.  "Junk," they call it - a lifetime of joy it's been for me.

It's a good thing my years are numbered.

I just want to say a very big thank you to Joanne Olivieri, aka Poetic

Shutterbug who is the best of friends and always the greatest help to

me whenever I need her ( which is constantly! ).

Returning From the Library

Since my children have grown up, I haven't been a frequent user of the library.  With my forensic nursing job, I would be at the hospital all hours of the day and night, taking care of victims of sexual assault and, when I wasn't, I would try to grab a little sleep in the odd moments that I could. I absolutely love libraries but most weren't conveniently open to suit my neeed ( 4AM, midnight ).  I learned about new books via the internet - so conveniently available ALL the time.  If I saw something I liked, I would order it.  Now with the loss of my job of twenty-one years, in the horrible budget cuts to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, my retirement, and the major decrease in my annual income, I cannot afford to order books the way I once did.  Woe is me!!  Adjustment is not easy for an old lady!  However, it has forced me to rediscover libraries and what wondrous places they are.  I spend hours at the one closest to my house.  When it doesn't offer what I need, I venture further afield to downtown San Francisco, an absolute mecca of volumes to keep one entertained indefinitely. 

This poem was penned after one such visit.

Returning From the Library

An afternoon well spent,

In avid search of books,

From myriad various stacks,

And hidden little nooks.

I’m anxious to get home,

My treasures to peruse,

Viewing all the volumes,

Which one will I first choose?

For two weeks I will be,

Enmeshed in many tasks,

Mastering Balinese cooking,

Illustrated by exotic masks.

I have the new bestseller,

A favorite mystery sleuth,

Who keeps me waiting breathless,

As he searches for the truth.

I’ve a book on herbal medicine,

I hope that I can learn,

To halt the aging process,

And help my youth return!

There’s a travel volume,

With scenes of glorious Greece,

And a book of meditations,

To help find inner peace.

That will keep me busy,

But if I need a few days more,

I can do online renewal,

Without walking out my door!

Carmen Henesy

Copyright © 2009 Carmen Henesy. All Rights Reserved