Pretzel Jell-O

2 1/2 cup crushed pretzel
3 Tbsp. sugar
3/4 cup butter (oleo or margarine will work as well)

1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 (8oz) container Cool Whip
1 (6oz) pkg Strawberry Jello-O
2 cup boiling water
1 (16oz) pkg frozen strawberries (sliced if you can find them)

Combine crushed pretzels w/ sugar and melted butter. Press into 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool COMPLETELY (very important!)

Blend cream cheese, sugar, and Cool Whip together. Spread on top of crust. Combine water with jello until dissolved. Add frozen strawberries and stir until almost set. Pour mixture over cream cheese and put in refrigerator until set (overnight).

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Let me start out by saying that this is my very first attempt at making a dessert that isn't a s'more, so I knew from the get go that this was going to be interesting. I wrote down all the things I needed to buy, which included measuring utensils and a whisk, since I didn't have either of those things, and headed out to the store. I have to say that I had anticipated spending a LOT more than I did, but I got out of there paying EXACTLY $14!! That's the ingredients and utensils (I didn't even have sugar...that's the fun part about starting completely new in a house, you've got nothing).
As you can see the recipe calls for a 9x13 inch pan. I don't have one of those and figured I could use my pie dish, but I haven't learned how to split a recipe yet (math, also not one of my strong points) so I just made the whole thing. I definitely had some left over and had a little Pyrex dish and just made a small size, big enough for two people as well. Now there are a couple things that I would have done different. First of all as you can see by the two photos below the top one is the one I made in the pie pan and the second one is the one I made in the smaller dish. The next time I make this I will use a Glass Footed Trifle Bowl because I had an issue with the Jell-O spilling over the edge in the pie dish. Also when it spilled over, it leaked into the pretzel layer and they got a tad soggy. But with the taller bowl you can make it in layers so the whip cream/cream cheese/sugar layer will act as a seal against the Jell-O.
The other thing I'd do differently is buy a had mixer and a chopper. Crushing up the pretzels by hand took forever and would have been much better with one of those chopper things. But I think the hardest part of the prep was mixing the whip cream layer with a whisk. It ended up being a tad lumpy. A friend of mine let me whip the left-overs in her mixer and it helped tremendously, so that's definitely an investment I need to make in the future. Other than those two issues everything else was good and it tasted awesome too!! 

Recipe from my derby friend: Jenn O. Cide