Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar (June 2011)

16 oz. fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled and sliced
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

Place strawberries in a bowl.  Drizzle with vinegar.  Sprinkle sugar over top and stir gently to combine.  Cover and let sit at room temperature for at least one hour but no more than four hours.  Serve as is or over vanilla ice cream.  Serves six.

Note:  Don't make more than you think you'll eat.  These do NOT keep over night.  I will occasionally make a single serving using 2.5 oz. strawberries, 1tsp. balsamic vinegar, and 2 tsp. sugar.

Fluffy Raspberry Squares

1 1/2 cups crushed vanilla wafers (about 45 wafers)
1/3 cup chopped pecans
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 pkg (3 oz each) raspberry jell-o
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 pint raspberry sherbet, softened

In a small bowl, combine the wafer crumbs, pecans and butter; set aside 1/4 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into an ungreased 11 x 7 dish. Cover and refrigerate for 30 min.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form; set aside. In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add pudding mix; beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Add sherbet; beat on low for 1 minute or until soft-set. Fold in whipped cream.

Spread over crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set.

**My notes: I only had half as much jell-o as it called for, but it seemed to work. The usual recipe is to use lemon jell-o, lemon pudding, and lemon sherbet. I like raspberry better, so that's what I used. I also don't have an 11 x 7 pan, so I doubled the recipe and made a 9 x 13 for dinner group and an 8 x 8 pan for my family. **