Cherry Salad/ Dessert

As its been a while since I posted a recipe from the apron, here's a quick recap: for Christmas, my folks made my brother and I the coolest present. They asked some of our family members to write up some of our favorite recipes, and they ironed the recipes onto the apron. Over the past few weeks I've been sharing various dishes from the apron... and today, I'd like to show you Grandma G's Cherry Salad/Dessert!
NOTE: Though she's my cousins' grandma (and not mine), I still call her Grandma G. She's known me since I was born, and I have so many wonderful memories with her.

And without further adieu, here is Grandma G's Cherry Salad/Dessert. It begins with this cast of characters: I started by crushing the pecans. I was being lazy, so instead of using a knife, I just put them into a Ziploc and rolled them with my marble rolling pin a few times!
After I set those aside, I got down to the business of the salad. First, I poured a can of crushed pineapple into a mixing bowl.
Then I added a can of cherry pie filling. (I couldn't find the right brand, Grandma G, so I went with the generic version my grocery store carried.)
Then I added a can of condensed milk.
Next came the "chopped" pecans.
And finally, the Cool Whip! (Are you dying over these ingredients? So yummy!)
Once all the ingredients were in the bowl, I got to stirring!
After things were homogeneous, I poured everything into this adorable Jadite dish.
It's not required that you use a dish like this, but it sure makes things look extra scrumptious!
And after a few hours in the freezer, look what I got:
Doesn't this look cute and tasty?
Let me tell you- after I bit into this tangy yet sweet treat, I was instantly transported to Grandma G's house: I think the first time I tried this was at a party in her backyard!
If you'd like to try this delish dessert, here's the recipe:

Cherry Salad/ Dessert
1 regular size can of Crushed Pineapple in own juice
1 can Thank You cherry pie filling
1 8 oz. container of Cool Whip
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 regular size can of condensed milk

Instructions: Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Keeps for days- also can freeze!

There you have it- thanks for recipe Grandma G!!
Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great Wednesday!

Cherry Time!

Well, the family reunion photos are going to have to wait for a bit... because I can't hold on to these yummy cherry pictures any longer! I spent last week in Elk Rapids, MI... and to get there, you have to drive through the heart of cherry country! There are cherry orchards everywhere, and the sour cherries are JUST ripening... aren't they beautiful?
On the way up North, we might have stopped the car on the side of the road so I could get out a take a few photos of the cherry trees...
Towards the end of the week, my dad, aunt and uncle headed to a U-Pick farm for some cherry goodness. Here's my Uncle RT...
And my Aunt JVL... aren't the strap-on buckets a great idea?
So pretty... and SO yummy!
My dad ended up picking 13 lbs of cherries... so my mom and I got to work making them into yummy treats! First, we rinsed them...
Then it was time to pit them. My parents have this nice pit-er...
And this not as nice pit-er. Also, please note how pretty my mom's nails are- what a great hand model!
After a while (a LONG WHILE), we had pitted all the cherries... this is what we got:
Yep- that green bowl is full of pits!

After the pitting was done, it was time to get to the canning of CHERRY JAM! First, we put the jars on to boil- each one is half filled with water, and there's also water in the pot.
To make the jam, we used my parents' trusty Cuisinart. As I learned, some people (my dad) prefer their jam to be a little junkier...
So I pulsed the cherries in batches, and only very briefly!
According to the recipe, I combined the cherries, sugar (there was a little more than the two cups that this picture shows)...
And lemon juice.
Then, I put it on the stove and stirred until it was a rolling boil. After adding the pectin (again, per the recipe), the jam was ready to can.
But first, you have to scrape off the foam... we got lucky and there was hardly any to scrape!
This stage of the canning is a two person operation at our house, so my mom filled the jars...
While I sealed them them...
And flipped them over. I'm still a novice canner, so I'm not sure exactly why we do this, but after 5 minutes we flip them back up.
Here are the jars just after flipping... if you look in the upper left corner, you'll see we still had some cherries left over (those will come up later).
Miracle of miracles, every jar SEALED! PLEASE NOTE: This is the first time I have been so involved in the canning process, so I was l a little worried that my first time canning would be a bust, so I'm super thrilled!
Yep- we made 18 and a half jars of yummy, homemade cherry jam!
It's pretty in the jars, but even prettier on a slice of bread, displayed on a Fire King Jadite dish!
Mmmm.... delish!
But as I mentioned above, there were still lots of cherries leftover! So, my mom made a pie! She used some extra dough to make these pretty little leaves for the crust.
I just love the look of this!
Unfortunately, I had to catch my plane back to NYC, so I didn't have a chance to see the final product... but it sure looked yummy going INTO the oven!
Phew... that was a lot of photos! I had a blast making the jam- I can't wait to can MORE stuff someday! Thanks for stopping by- have a great Tuesday!

... just a bowl of cherries...

Guess what I did last night? I'll give you a hint- it included these lovely things:
Yep... I baked... AGAIN! If you read this blog with any regularity, you probably think that I bake ALL the time. I really don't... I just think it's the time of year (parties, vacations, etc), and the fact that I've discovered some of the most AMAZING baking website/blogs I've ever seen!

So, what was my excuse this time? It's two fold: on one hand I wanted to make a little goody to take with me to Minneapolis (more on that in a minute), and on the other hand, I wanted to take advantage of the sweet cherry season. After a little Internet sleuthing, I decided to make Cherry-Ricotta Muffins. Sounds interesting, right? I saw the recipe on Joy of Baking, and thought I might be able to handle it!

First, I washed the cherries (I purposefully picked some double-cherries because they looked so funny).
After I whisked all the wet ingredients and set them aside, it was onto the dry stuff. (Thanks to my Grandma for the microplane zester- look at the lovely lemon zest!)
After the wet/dry was barely mixed, I folded in the cherries (how does PW do her action shots- it's hard to shoot with the right hand and work with my left).
Almost there...
After baking, this is what I got! (Per the picture on the website, I threw a whole cherry on each muffin a couple of minutes before I took the pan out of the oven. I wanted them to be baked into the muffins a little- unfortunately, it kind of singed the cherry stems... oh well- live and learn!)
And check out that cake plate! It was a gift from SFS's parents... I just LOVE it! And it proves that my cake plates have MULTIPLE uses... like MUFFIN plates! :)
A view from the top!
Aren't they the cutest?
(I just hope they taste good!)
So there you have it- another attempt at seasonal baking! I'm headed to Minneapolis this weekend to hang out with my family, and these babies are all wrapped up and ready for the X-ray machine at Newark Airport! I hope you have a WONDERFUL Memorial Day!