Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze

Strawberry Pie.....so good it's criminal!  I use Jello for the easy glaze! 

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze...don't ya want a bite? Yes, you do! 

I love fresh strawberries and I had a ton I got from the  market for $2.00 a package! What a deal!!  So I made a strawberry pie. This recipe is so easy and it was deeeeeeelish.  You make the glaze with jello! It is SOOOOOO easy peasy.  

     
I'm gonna do another one in peach as soon as they are in season.

Peaches from my tree last year were so yummy. It is just now filled with pink flowery blossoms!

Well, not as pretty as this little Peach at her Spring dance recital! 

                                   Here is Miss Megan being her cute, little, joyful self after the recital. So cute!

I like to make my pie crust with real butter. It just tastes better to me, like a yummy crescent cookie. So try your crust with butter to see if you like it too.

PIE CRUST INGREDIENTS.....
 I used 1 cube butter,
 cut in 1 1/3 cup of flour.
 Add 1/2 teaspoon salt
 3 Tablespoons ice water
(I add ice cubes to the water before taking out the Tablespoons. 

The glaze is easy..just jello mixed with sugar water and cornstarch...

Then I like to whisk it up mold it into a ball and roll it out on a large zip lock baggie. It just makes life easier and I was out of waxed paper. :D  I rolled it out so it was about 1/2 inch bigger all around than the pie tin layed over it.  Then I cut around it. 

I rolled it out onto the gallon size baggie...you could use waxed paper too. 

cuttin' around the upside down tin...1/2 inch bigger for the cute edging...

It's so easy to flip the pie crust into the pan and peel off the baggie...then toss it!

Making the beautiful edging is my fav part. Just pinch between your left thumb and your right thumb and forefinger to make the pointy peaks around your pie crust edge.  Or opposite if you are a lefty.

Don't forget to poke forkholes in the butter pie crust...then bake at 475 for 8-10 minutes.

While the crust was baking I did the glaze and cut off the tops of the strawberries and washed and dried them. The glaze is super easy.

Mix 3/4 cup sugar withStrawberry Glaze Ingredients and Directions
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons cornstarch   Mix first 3 ingredients....

Put it in a saucepan on the stove till it is smooth and when it is bubbling....boil  for about 2 minutes. Then take it off the heat.
Add 1 small 3 oz. strawberry jello into the thickening syrup.
 Whisk it for a minute till it is dissolved and then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.

Boil the syrup for about 2 minutes....It's a little bit thick...

Take it off the stove and toss in the small box of jello....

J

Here's my glaze before I refrigerated it for 15 minutes....

Then arrange the yummy strawberries with the pointy side up in the cooled pie shell. By the time I had the green tops cut off and them washed and dried, the glaze was cool!  Pour the glaze over the top,  coating each of the top strawberries. Then pop it into the fridge for a 1/2 hour until set.

 It was delicious because the top of the crust was still crunchy cookie tasting. I hate pie crust that is all soggy Ug! So we ate that baby up so fast!!!  It was gone by morning. Yum is all I can say.  But I wish I had made 2 of em.  

Who says you can't have a piece of Fresh Strawberry Pie for breakfast...NOT ME!

I'll be dreaming of this Strawberry Pie  for awhile......mmmmm good!

Homemade Insect Repellent

Here is a cool recipe for INSECT REPELLENT that is all natural and you can make it yourself! 



Combine in a 16 oz bottle:
15 drops lavender oil
3-4 Tbsp of vanilla extract
1/4 Cup lemon juice.
Fill bottle with water. 

Shake it and spray it! Keeps the bugs off during gardening or a BBQ party. 

Deer Proofing My Yard?

I have been ignoring my garden for the past few months. Mostly because it was covered in snow. But yesterday the weather in Northern Utah got to be around 60 degrees. It was so beautiful and sunny out. Everybody started working in their yards. Look what is sprouting up in mine!!

 And I noticed a few of my bulbs were peeking out from the frozen dirt. I noticed hyacinths in pink. It is so cute!

 And here are my cute little Easter chicks on Easter Sunday. Below is my first daffodil coming up in the front yard.

And here is a crocus in purple below. I love this lonely little daffodil too. Some bloggers say they don't love daffodils. I wonder how long before the deer find mine?

 I'm waiting for this one to burst open before the deer find it!  Maybe I'll have a few days of color before it gets chomped on.

 Here is a purple hyacinth above and a paperwhite below. They are such delicate little bulbs. I'm going to plant a few more of them. I have also heard that cayenne pepper in a water spray on the flowers can deter deer. I'm going to try it.

 Maybe I'll try this stuff from Sams Club if I get desperate! 

I have read that yarrow, coneflowers, lavender, blue salvia, and a few others are not loved by deer. Also that you can get wolf urine and hang it up in bags on trees and that will scare them off your property. I am thinking of trying it, as weird as that sounds. My hubs is against it. Haha. I might have to resort to something drastic.  Anybody got an idea to keep deer out of the flower bulbs?

Organizing My Garden Tools in an Indoor Potting Cabinet

I was rearranging some furniture in my den the other day and had this little end table filled with DVDs and cassette tapes if you can believe THAT! (tells you how long since I've done any spring purging inTHAT room!) 

My Indoor Potting Shed to get ready for gardening season! This is right next to my glass door in the kitchen. 

Anyway, I decided to move it up to the kitchen and fill my little "Potting Shed Cabinet"  with my gardening supplies, so I have it super handy when I go out onto the backyard deck or go out to prune or plant on my garden terraces.

I put my hand shovels and my gardening gloves in the top drawer of the potting cabinet. I'll have to find the rest of my tools  when this frozen wasteland we call Utah thaws out. LOL  The top drawer of my indoor potting cabinet I'll use for gardening hand clippers, small shovels and garden gloves.

I got this sprayer after the summer on clearance for $4.00, what a deal!   The middle drawer is for hose sprayers and dry sprinkle-on fertilizer.

The beginnings of my Indoor Potting Shed.....it's just starting to take shape!  I'll eventually have jars of seeds on the top shelf.  The cupboard is for liquid fertilizers and my small pots and leftover bulbs and seed packets.

Look at this cute herb garden I saw in a kitchen recently. I HAD to take picture. How would it be to be able to cut fresh herbs anytime you cook? I have GOT to try this one.  Be sure to keep your herb seeds in an airtight container. She also had her granny's favorite recipes framed. So sweet! 

Always put your leftover seed packets in an airtight container like a lidded jar or  Rubbermaid container. 

Now the thing about seed packets is you need to keep them away from heat or moisture or any kind of fluctuating temperatures. So it is best to put them in a lidded jar. If you just leave your packets out in the garage or in drawers, they will lose their vigor and maybe won't germinate quickly, or may die.

 So keep them in an airtight jar. I just used a Ball jar and lid I had in my canning supplies.

I'm going to try to start an herb garden in indoor pots even though it is only February. I can keep it inside for the cold winter months and see what it does. Maybe I'll try some cilantro. I LOVE that stuff!

Decorating for Valentines Day

Valentines is coming soon so I got out my bins of February Valentines Decor and got busy today...

It's amazing how much stuff I've got stashed in those flippy white and red bins! 

This is my coffee table.....I love this little stained glass heart box....

This is great little pillow for a Hot Potato Game....for a kid's Valentines Party

I can't believe how much stuff I've accumulated.....This fake plant I put different stick decor in it for each holiday and different ribbons. 

Living Room Valentines Table decor.....All my candleholders I just change out the color of candle for each holiday.

 I worked at Kohls while getting my Master's Degree in Education....so I got great discounts
on lots of their fun decorations at holidays..... It's hard not to go overboard though....:D

So anyway, here's inside my front door......

My dining room picture wall....each season I change the black metal cone contents.....and
hang some new ribbons or a swag of some sort on the wrought iron bar.....

Great Room entry......I love this jingle bell heart.....

Hanging from the dining room chandelier...lots of hearts here....

I got some heart suckers for my grandbabies....

Kitchen table....I love placemats and runners.....and I change out the candle colors each season....

This little plate rack in my kitchen I've got Holiday plates for every season now....
Well....except for 4th of July...Maybe I can find some red, white and blue ones....hehe....

Valentines Picture Wall of my family and grandkids....

Outside on the front door I hung a heart ornament on a beaded wreath....I'm so crafty...hehe....

Front entry table....I love this light up LOVE lamp....it stays on all season long.....

My 3 sons and my darling first granddaughter....some of my fav peeps.....

My grandkids love all of my candy dishes...only thing is....these conversation
hearts are like a year old....I buy them after the season...they are for looks only! I actually think they might break your teeth if you chomped down on one of em......

I love this little cupid lamp.....Got it at Kohls after Valentines Sale.  

 I've got Valentines Decorations all up now! Ye Haw!