Recipes amassed from a number of places

I seem to get recipes in some of the funniest places. People give me recipes in the grocery store written on their shopping list, work, church, at family or social gatherings and restaurants. Recently, while enjoying a Wib's barbeque sandwich Tracy Taylor told me about this really great strawberry cake recipe she tried and some of the other wait-staff agreed that it was a very delicious cake. Tracy emailed the recipe to me and so I want to share it with you today.

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided

Zest of 1 lemon

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

12 ounces fresh strawberries, diced

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 10- inch Bundt pan (10 to 15 cup pan.) Sift together the 2 1/4 cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated. Toss the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Donna Telle of Uniontown has some great sounding recipes for you today. These muffins sound wonderful and yet simple to make.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/4 cups sour cream

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon mixed together for rolling the muffins in.

Cream the butter and sugar until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until each is incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately to the egg-butter mixture in the additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Scrape the bowl occasionally. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out muffin batter one at a time and drop into a shallow bowl filled with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the muffin around in the mixture until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar. Place muffin into muffin tin. Depending on the size of your tins, you should get about 12 to 14 muffins. Bake them for approximately 20 to 22 minutes in a 350- degree oven or until they are golden brown.

Big Boy Strawberry Pie

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/2 package strawberry gelatin

1 baked 9-inch pie shell, cooled

Whipped topping

Blend together cornstarch and sugar. Combine in saucepan with water. Cook, stirring until thick, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Mix berries in gelatin before placing in pie shell. Pour into pie shell and let chill 2 or 3 hours. Garnish with whipped topping.

Oreo Glory

A friend of mine made this recipe, but switched it up my using the vanilla or Golden Oreo cookies, lemon instant pudding and left out the mini chocolate chips and garnished the top with lemon zest and yellow sugar sprinkles. Use your imagination and try your own version.

1 package regular Oreo cookies (not Double Stuff)

1 stick butter, melted

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cold milk

1 (12 ounce) tub whipped topping, thawed, divided

2 (1.4 ounce) packages chocolate instant pudding

3 cups cold milk

1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Begin by crushing a bag of Oreo cookies in a plastic zip top bag with a rolling pin or mallet or use a food processor. Stop crushing when you have fine cookie crumbs. Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in melted butter and use a fork to mix well. When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan like you would a graham cracker crust. Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layers.

Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until fluffy. Add in 2 tablespoons of milk and sugar, and mix well. Stir in 1 1/4 cups whipped topping. Spread this mixture over the crust.

In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 cups cold milk. Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer. Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further. Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top. Place in the freezer for 1 hour, or the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving.

Elvis Presley Cake

1 box white cake mix

1 8 (ounce) can crushed pineapple

1 cup sugar

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 to 3 cups crushed pecans

Bake a white cake, cool and poke holes in it. Boil crushed pineapple with juice and 1 cup of sugar then pour over cool cake. In large bowl mix cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar. Add vanilla and crushed pecans, mix well and spread on cake.

Have a great week, and until next time, happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center. Send recipes to her at news@semissourian.com or by mail at P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702. Recipes published have not been kitchen-tested by Southeast Missourian staff.