Raspberry Pretzel Jello Salad

While my Mom was sick her friend Suzie made our family the most delicious Jello salad ever! You can use different fruit flavors but I like raspberry the best. Be sure to start this recipe early so you have time to let the layers cool.

Crust:
2 cups crushed pretzels
2/3 cup nuts pecans (optional - they are really yummy in the crust but since Caleb is allergic to nuts we don't do them)
3 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup butter

Crush the pretzels into small pieces. Mix together with sugar and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan and bake for 10 minutes at 350. Let this cool for about 10 minutes before adding the next layer.

Cream Cheese Layer
8z cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 pt whipping cream, whipped

Mix the cream cheese and sugar and fold in the whipping cream. Layer on top of crust and refrigerate until this layer is set and cooled.

Jello Layer
1 pkg frozen raspberries, thawed
1 large raspberry jello mix
2 cups boiling water

Combine boiling water and jello and mix and add thawed raspberries. Gently ladle over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until jello is set, at least 3-4 hours.

Enjoy!

Brazilian Limeade

My friend Valerie made this for us and it became our favorite drink overnight. John recently told me he doesn't like limes but this recipe changed his mind! It seems like it would be too sweet but its actually really refreshing. A perfect summer drink!

5 limes
6 cups water
1 c sugar
6 Tbsp sweet and condensed milk


Juice limes and lightly zest skins into juice. (Most recipes have you grind the entire lime but Valerie told us that it made her batch bitter as time went on. With juicing and only using the zest it does not get bitter).

Mix with water and sugar. Right before serving stir in sweet condensed milk. Serve over ice.