Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad

My mom makes this great Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad/Dessert - I have tried other people's variations of this, but I still like my mom's the best.  It is creamy and cool and the pretzel crust pushes it over the top.  It is perfect for a 4th of July BBQ.

Every time my mom makes it, my brother-in-law Joe and I get in to a mini debate about if it is a salad or dessert.  He likes to call it dessert, and I like to call it a salad.  I like to call it a salad because that means I can have it with my main meal and still have dessert. Or I can have it the next day for lunch and call it healthy since it is a salad.  But lets call a spade a spade... this is totally a dessert (although it is trying to disguise itself as a salad).  Just don't tell Joe I said so.

Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad
From: My Mom
Prep time 20 min
Cook & Cool time: 5 hrs


Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 cup pretzels, crushed
4 Tbsp sugar
12 oz (1 1/2 8oz containers) cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cool whip
1 1/2 cup cold water
2 cup boiling water
1 qt (4 cups) sliced strawberries
1 large strawberry jello (cook and serve)

Directions:
1. Mix melted butter, crushed pretzels and 4 Tbsp sugar together and press firmly into 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 6-10 minutes.  Let Cool

2. Beat cream cheese, milk, and 1/4 cup sugar.  Stir in cool whip and spread over cooled crust.  Refrigerate.

3. Stir boiling water into gelatin at least 2 minutes until completely dissolved.  Refrigerate 1 12/ hours o until a spoon drawn through leaves an impression.

4.  Stir strawberries into jello and spread over cream cheese layer.  Refrigerate at least 3 hours.