Cherry Delight

Holidays always make you reminiscent.  Certain food and desserts can take you back to your childhood.  When I remember Easter dinner at Grandma Patty's I remember Cherry Delight.  While that wasn't the only dessert served, it was one of my favorites. I always wondered if she made it again, I didn't see it displayed with the rest of the food.  She would magically bring it out from the refrigerator in the garage when it was time to serve dessert.

Not only have I been reminiscing about food, but family.  My cousin and his wife just welcomed their second child into the world, and named him after our Grandfather Charles.  I knew they were going to name him Conner, but when they made the announcement of Charles Connor it was a nice suprise.

It may seem like there are plenty of steps to this recipe, but it was very simple, and Macie helped me with the crust.  Rolling pin, baggie full of graham crackers, best project for kids.  She finished the project by pressing the crust mixture into to pan.  I won't let the kids handle pans in and out of the oven yet, but she also helped with the filling and spreading the cherry pie filling on top.

 

This is a delicious dessert that needs to be made more than once a year for Easter.

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 cups crushed graham crackers
• ½ cup melted butter
• ¼ cup white sugar

Filling

• 1 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 large can of cherry pie filling

Instructions

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Prepare crust.  Use a 11x7 baking dish.  Crush graham crackers in a gallon bag with rolling pin, or use food processor.  Mix crushed graham crackers, melted butter and sugar together.  Press evenly into 11x7 baking dish.  Bake in oven 5-8 minutes. Let the crust cool while you prepare the filling.

Prepare filling.  Use an electric mixer and a large bowl and whip the heavy cream until it forms small peaks.

In another bowl, mix cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Then fold in the heavy cream by hand.  Pour filling over cooled crust and use spatula.  

Spread cherry pie filling on top.

Refrigerate overnight for best results.

PRINT RECIPE HERE

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Meal Plan Monday

Corned Beef and Cabbage & US History

As we celebrated National Agriculture Day this week, it made me think back to a trip I made to Washington D.C. in 2010.  

Touring Washington D.C. can be a great lesson on US History, if you take the time to take in the sites.  We attended a USDA lockup in the Department of Agriculture building.  There were older pictures hanging up in the Department of Agriculture building that have always stuck with me. I love this picture! At that time, the area seemed more of a swamp area, and cattle around, with the Nation's Capital in the back ground.  I bet it would be hard to find pasture in those areas today.  

The first masonic stone for the US Capital was laid on September 1793 by President George Washington. It was a large building to complete, and it passed through a few architect hands.   The US Capital building was opened on November 17, 1800.

Not only do we celebrate National Agriculture Day this week, but also St. Patrick's Day.  Even if you are not Irish, you have to at least appreciate the food that is served on this day as a tradition.  The first thing that comes to mind is Corned Beef and Cabbage.  We decided to make a special meal for the guys at work.  We did cook the cabbage separately, because cabbage was not a crowd favorite around here.  They were told they had to eat cabbage to get dessert, still didn't sway them to try the cabbage.

The corned beef was cooked all morning long on the stove.

The carrots and potatoes were cooked separately.

And of course, the cabbage was boiled in a separate pot.  We try to keep everyone happy.

 

The final result with everything together was delicious.

Ingredients:

3 lbs corned beef       

16 oz cabbage

2 lbs small carrots

5 lbs potatoes

Garlic, sea salt, onion powder, and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat skillet on stove.

Add corned beef, onion powder, sea salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

Chop up 16 ounces of cabbage to add to boiling water until cooked down.

Add carrots and peeled and chopped potatoes to a separate pot of boiling water.

When the cabbage is starting to cook down, keep stirring occasionally. Add to corned beef if you prefer, or keep separate.  Add some sea salt and pepper to season. Make sure to taste test, corned beef has plenty of seasonings.

PRINT RECIPE HERE 

Happy National Agriculture Day 2016!

Make sure to thank a farmer today!  Spring will be here before we know it, and planters will be back in the field.  Everyone have a safe spring! 

 

Ag Question: What direction is the markets moving?

Markets have been moving slowly.  By the end of February, farmers are looking at the grain markets scratching their heads, wondering when the market will move in their favor.  Cash grain prices in Central Indiana have not changed much since fall delivery prices.

By the end of Friday, March 4, grains were higher.  Brazil had heavy rains towards the end of the week delaying their harvest progress. Political news in Brazil is also weighing in the markets. Their former president is under investigation.

A strong job report was reported this week. US employers added 242,000 workers in February, higher than then 200,000 expected.  US unemployment rate held steady at 4.9% in February.

Next week we are looking towards the USDA S&D report that will be released Wednesday, March 9 at 12 Eastern time.  I don't think we will see numbers change that much, bigger report will be on Thursday, March 31st for the USDA Prospective Plantings Report.