Strawberry Cake

I have always liked the thought of strawberry cake but every time I make one, I cringe when I finally taste it because it tastes nothing like strawberries and usually leaves a weird after-taste. I am talking about a boxed strawberry cake. I am always so disappointed whenever I make one (which is usually twice a year for both my girls birthdays because they always want a pink cake). So when Allison's birthday rolled around again the hunt began for an actual edible strawberry cake recipe. I liked the ingredients in this recipe but I have one complaint -- it was a little crumbly. If you plan on freezing it than it shouldn't be a problem. I froze mine and they worked great. This was simple to make and tasted great. I only have a picture of the whole cake...not the inside but take my word for it...under that awesome white frosting is three layers of strawberry deliciousness.

2 cups white sugar

1 (3 oz.) package strawberry jell-o

1 cup butter, softened

4 eggs, room temperature

2 3/4 cup sifted cake flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup whole milk

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup strawberry puree made from strawberries (frozen or fresh)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bottom of 2 or 3 nine inch round pans. ( I used round parchment paper and 3 pans).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Combine the flour and baking powder. Stir the flour mixture and milk into batter, alternating between them. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes (depending on if you use 2 or 3 pans) or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before tapping out to cool completely.

Serve with every one's favorite frosting. (Everyone who I have made it for anyway.) :)

1 8 oz. cream cheese (works better with cold cream cheese)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix until no lumps remain in cream cheese

Slowly add in 2 cups whipping cream, scrapping sides of bowl, and mix on high for another 5-10 minutes until thickened. Frost and enjoy!

Grilled Veggie Pizza

Everything Zucchini...that is what I will be posting for the next couple of weeks. As a kid, I did NOT like zucchini; but then again, few kids do. When I finally decided I was brave enough to try zucchini bread I decided that if I had to eat zucchini at all than I guess I could get it down masked by lots of sugar in zucchini bread. As I got a little older, I tried fried zucchini and decided you could get anything down by drowning it in ranch dressing. After I got married, I saw my mother-in-law put raw zucchini in

the salad and thought, "gasp, what is she doing, I can't eat that!" But I very slowly and quietly put the first bite in my mouth and thought...this isn't actually all that bad. Hmmm, maybe zucchini isn't as bad as I always thought it was. Then fast forward a few more years and people started bringing me zucchini as a friendly gesture but little did they know that I would usually look at it for a week wondering what the heck I was going to do with it...then feel guilty for another week because I didn't really want to deal with it and then eventually throw it out. After this happened a couple of times, I thought, "what a waste, I can't keep doing this." So I was determined that the next time I had zucchini I was just going to make some dang zucchini bread because that is what everybody does with i

t, right? So that is what I did. I made zucchini bread. And it was good. And I made bread again and then again. But after a couple of times, I thought...there has got to be something else you can do with zucchini. Then I remembered about putting it in salads. So I did that. And it was good...a little like cucumber but not as wet. My kids didn't know the difference...they still don't. :) This year was the first time I thought...I want to try and make something even more exotic with zucchini. There has to be something else out there. And I was right...there is so much you can do with zucchini! I LOVE zucchini. It is so versatile. And yummy! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Well enough background...and onto the recipe. My kids actually love Pesto. Pretty much anything that I make with Pesto is a family hit and even though this is covered in all kinds of veggies that they usually think twice about they loved it because of the Pesto. This pizza doesn't even have meat in it and the whole family agreed that it might be the new favorite family pizza. Now that is definitely a winner in my book.

Pizza Crust

1/2 tsp. Active dry yeast

3/4 cups warm water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

3 tbsp. olive oil

Store-bought pesto (or you can make your own)

Toppings

1 medium zucchini (or two small), cut into diagonal slices

1 large Summer squash, cut into diagonal slices

olive oil for brushing

2 whole bell peppers (preferably 2 different kind of yellow, red or orange)

fresh mozzarella (12-16 oz), sliced

Basil leaves

Fresh Parmesan for grating on top

In mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass. Coast a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in fridge until you need it.

To make the toppings: Place whole peppers on grill turning every 10 minutes or so until blackened (about 30-40 minutes). Remove from grill and immediately place in a large Ziploc bag. Allow to sit for 20 minutes or so, then remove peppers from bag and peel off blackened skin. Deseed peppers, then slice into strips. Set aside.

Brush cut veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill over medium heat until veggies are tender and have nice grill marks. Set aside.

To assemble the pizza: Roll out pizza dough on a floured surface; get it it as thin as you can. Spread a generous amount of pesto (the whole jar) all over the surface of the crust. If you have any left over, store in the fridge.

Lay slices of mozzarella all over the pesto. Arrange grilled zucchini, squash and peppers in a pretty pattern on top of the mozzarella. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle with the basil and Parmesan. Enjoy immediately.

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman