I watched my petite 5 year old daughter running around the school track, she, not knowing in the least that she stuck out like a sore thumb. At the “race/walk” fundraiser for her elementary school, the kids were asked via memo to show spirit by wearing their bright blue school t-shirts. This memo went unread and swiftly into the trash by moi, and in turn, my daughter proudly wore…pink and white stripes.  No blending into the crowd there. Any other age, and we might have had an angst ridden mother embarrasses her daughter brew ha ha. But, thankfully she hadn't noticed she was the Hawaiian shirt at a black tie affair on this particular day.

I couldn't help but flashback to some of my own Mother’s school snafus. There was the elementary school field trip to Philadelphia, and after walking around the city all morning, we finally sat in a park for lunch. Starving, I eagerly opened my Kermit the Frog lunchbox with the weird smelling thermos, fought with the fold over baggie to finally get my hands on my sandwich. After a few bites, I quickly realized I was chewing on nothing but two pieces of bread. A white, spongy, pasted to the roof of your mouth bread sandwich. You know, that bread of our youth. 200 slices for 49 cents. A loaf as long as a bus. 

So my Mom was a little distracted that morning. I get it. Making lunches for four children was no doubt hard to keep up with. At one point she got clever, and started making our lunches ahead of time. She’d assemble tuna sandwiches, stock up on yogurts and juice boxes and put it all in the freezer. The problem here, is that NONE OF IT WAS EVER THAWED OUT BY LUNCH. One by one, I’d go through each item in my lunch bag, hopeful that something wouldn't be hard as a rock. It played out like this: Tuna sandwich with icicles, pass. Plastic spoon finally cracks in half desperately trying to scrape ice shavings from top of yogurt, pass. Manage to shove straw into juice box brick but quit sucking due to lightheadedness, pass. One by one, the frozen feast goes back into my lunch bag. I get in line to buy a taco boat.

I squint as the sun emerges from behind the clouds, hindering my view of the great blue sea of children making their way around the race track. I lose sight of my daughter for a second, and I quickly play “Where’s Waldo” scanning the crowd for pink and white stripes. Bingo! I see her running towards me with a big smile on her face and her dark ponytail bobbing.  My thoughts float back to my Mom, and I think of all the band uniforms and dresses she dutifully hemmed for us the night of an event, projects helped with, errands run, or baked goods she made at the ninth hour thanks to her Last Minute Lucy children. She gets a pass on the occasional bread sandwich. 

Receiving my Mom's encouragement in the present, and reflecting on memories from the past really frees me to relax, and just be. Be the mother who keeps throwing out important school papers. Be the mother who will probably forget to pick up her kid after some practice(s). Be the mother who will get locked out of her house during the morning rush and walk up to the high school in an orange and purple bathrobe to get a key from a horrified child (yup, she did that). But also be the mother who will create warm memories for my children like soft pumpkin cookies on a crisp fall day.    

As we are deep into the autumn season, there are a plethora of recipe collections in glossy magazines that are beautiful and perfect looking. I’m not sure about you, but little intricate cut out leaves adorning lattice pie crusts, and wine poached pears just aren't fitting into my culinary repertoire right now. That’s okay. Just be where you are right now. Life throws a lot at us to juggle, to remember, and to organize. It is hard. So, let’s put on some pink stripes and have dessert, and oh yes, make it EASY. Enjoy!

Turtle Pumpkin Pie -10 Servings
A delicious no-bake pie that comes together in a snap! Can be made ahead and frozen.


Ingredients:
1/4 cup + 2 T caramel topping, divided
1 graham pie crust
1/2 cup + 2 T pecan pieces, divided
1 cup cold milk
2 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tub (8 oz) whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

• Pour 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans.
• Beat milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin, and spices with whisk until blended. Stir in 1 1/2 cups whipped topping. Spread into crust. Top with remaining whipped topping.
• Refrigerate 1 hour. Top with pecans and drizzle
  remaining caramel with fork. Store leftovers in refrigerator.
  Recipe Source: www.kraftrecipes.com

Spicy Pumpkin Cookies
These "cakey" cookies are not spicy as the title indicates, but super moist, and never last long in our house! With 4 basic ingredients, they are seriously the easiest cookies I've ever made.


Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 raisins (optional)
1/2 cup pecans (optional)
Cream Cheese or Vanilla Frosting
          
Directions:

• In a large bowl, beat cake mix, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin, & butter with an electric mixer on low speed  for 1 minute. Stir in raisins and nuts if using.
• On a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet, drop dough
  by generous tablespoonful's. I use my OXO medium cookie scoop to make extremely quick work of this step. It's the perfect size!
• Bake at 375 degrees for 10-13 minutes, until set and light golden brown around the edges. Cool 1-2 minutes, remove from sheet and cool on cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
• Frost with cream cheese or vanilla frosting. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, or decorate them with fall colored sprinkles and candy pumpkins like my kids enjoy doing.  Store loosely covered.

Recipe Source: www.bettycrocker.com

Notes:
No pumpkin pie spice handy? Use 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger instead.

Homemade frosting (especially cream cheese) is SO much yummier than canned. If you have extra time, make this and keep it in your fridge to top cakes, cookies, cupcakes, or quick breads: In a mixer beat 1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened, 2 T milk, 4T butter, softened, 1 tsp vanilla. Pour in 1 cup 10X sugar, mix well. Add 1 more cup 10X sugar until smooth & fluffy. Add more milk if necessary.

Easy Cranberry Cake 
Serves 6-8
This cake is sweet, tart, bright, and so delicious warmed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. It's also lovely served at breakfast or brunch - especially at Christmas time.

Ingredients:
12 oz fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems (I usually cut back to about 8 oz to lessen the tartness.)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced.
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 orange
1 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
2 extra large eggs, or 3 large
1 cup +1 T sugar
1 stick butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
1/4 kosher salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  
• Combine the cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, juice, and 1 tsp of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs on medium high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt. 
  
• Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10 inch round pie plate or baking dish. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 T of sugar and 1/8 tsp of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter. 
• Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Recipe Source: Adapted from 2010 Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?

Strawberry season is upon us – one of my favorite times of year. No more buying gigantic, mutant, tasteless strawberries shipped in from planet Fruitopia (a place I imagine all out of season genetically manufactured fruit is from). Grocery stores are finally fully stocked with sweet berries at low prices, and thankfully I live in an area with an abundance of roadside stands and farmers markets selling freshly picked berries from their patches. There is no taste like strawberries picked right from the patch, warmed slightly from the sun. Or better yet, sliced over some good, creamy
vanilla ice cream. My mother is now getting up from her computer after reading that line, and getting the ice cream and berries out as we speak. This is her favorite thing in the world to consume (actually her most favorite is a vanilla soft serve cone from the McDonalds drive thru). Sorry Mom, I let your little secret out…

I could go on and on singing the praises of fresh picked blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. They are glorious. However, I have a confession. I HATE picking berries. Even as a kid. I think I always hated it. Is that right? Let me think. Yep, never really liked it. Is there something wrong with me? It’s supposed to be some dreamy summertime activity. And I keep thinking it is, as I keep going. I seem to idealize it in my head and forget the misery it always ends up being. As a child, my mother would take us to pick berries to use for her annual batch of strawberry jam. We seemingly always went to pick on the one day in June when the weatherman gleefully reported, “you could fry an egg on the sidewalk!” That, or apparently we only visited patches near the equator. 
The whining in unison from us children must have been such a peaceful
backdrop for my mother who basically did all the picking by herself. For a few years, my mother tended her own strawberry patch in our garden. But she claims that didn't yield much as us kids would pilfer and eat the berries before she could pick much! She couldn't win...

Even now, no matter how early in the morning we go, it is sweltering. My back hurts. My legs are falling asleep from crouching. Sweat is dripping into my eyes and blurring my vision. Am I picking a strawberry or a weird bug cocoon?? Eww! Yucky fingers!! When my eyesight clears up, I realize I have put approximately 48
rotten strawberries in my bucket. Dang it. 

I must acknowledge how grateful I am to live in such plentiful and bountiful farm country. My children will know and see where their food comes from. But, the other day I stopped at a little Amish roadside stand selling produce. I bought a fresh picked overflowing quart of strawberries for $3. Buy Fresh. Buy Local.  This feels so right. And I didn’t even have to sweat through my clothes to enjoy them.

 Homemade strawberry jam is like potato salad, Thanksgiving stuffing, or rolls, everyone thinks their family recipe is the best. To this day, our freezer is always fully stocked with this jam, because, well, it’s the best. I remember a family we were friends with coming to pick up jelly at our house because that’s the only kind they would eat! Rock on, Mom. I saw my mother giving this jam away to others countless times. So her labor in picking and making the jam was of love. I now help her with this little tradition, and follow her example in sharing it with others. It makes a pretty little gift wrapped in a cellophane bag, along with a freshly baked loaf of country bread (baked or bought!). Add a bag of coffee, a fun flavored creamer, put it all in a basket lined with a pretty cloth or paper napkin, and you’ve got a lovely little breakfast themed gift to drop off to someone who just moved, had a baby, is getting through the first days of school, or needs a "just because" gift. Those are the best of all. And now you think I’m going to share our secret family recipe for Strawberry Freezer Jam, don’t you? Nope. Because it’s the recipe on the Certo box! Find it here.

Instead, here is a delicious dessert shared with me by my sister Janelle. It’s a great dessert to make with a group. Someone can be slicing strawberries; another can be crushing graham crackers, and so on. And all the while talking, laughing, and connecting. Fight the urge to bark everybody out of your kitchen (I’m talking to myself). I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Strawberry Delight

Crust: 
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cups sugar
1 stick margarine or butter
Cream Cheese Filing:
1 cup 10x sugar
2 T milk
8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
8 oz carton whipped topping (cool whip)
                                        Strawberry Glaze Topping:
                                        1 box strawberry Danish Dessert*
                                        1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
Directions:
Melt margarine or butter. Combine with graham cracker crumbs and sugar and spread in the bottom of a
9x13 inch pan. Set aside. Follow package directions for Danish Dessert. Cool 10 minutes and fold in strawberries (mix in berries before it gels up). Beat 10x sugar and milk together. Add cream cheese and beat again. Fold in cool whip. Spread carefully over crust. Spread strawberry mixture over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

*Danish Dessert is a powdered mix that makes a strawberry glaze. It can be found with the gelatins/pie fillings in the grocery store. Not every store carries it, so either buy already made strawberry pie glaze or try this recipe as substitute if you are not able to find it:
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 (3 oz.) package strawberry flavored gelatin
3 Tbsp. cornstarch.
In medium saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil.  
Mix jello with cornstarch and gradually add to boiling mixture. 
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until mixture is clear and thickened slightly. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. 

On The Side:  Serve this dessert (or any sweet ending) with something salty like a bowl of pretzels, snack mix, or roasted salted cashews. Add a pot of Decaf coffee, a pitcher of ice water, and you've got a simple, but lovely dessert spread to offer your guests.