Coconut Custard Pie

Coconut Custard Pie. There is nothing quite like it in the entire world. It's Amazing. With a capital A.

It takes 5 minutes to prep. One bowl. It forms it's own magic crust.  It's Coconut. Coconut people. Coconut.

Creamy, gooey, divine coconut. It's like coconut tapioca, but in pie form. And so much better than tapioca, because it doesn't have that really gross texture.  Coconut. Mmmm...

Coconut Custard Pie
By Perry's Plate (Check her out. She's amazing!)

2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
3 Tb melted butter
1 teas vanilla
1 cup milk
4 Tb self-rising flour/Bisquick
3 ½ oz sweetened flaked coconut
Mix well. Pour into 9-in buttered glass pie plate. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

And that's all folks. Really. Oh, did I mention this pie has coconut? ;)

Have a fabulous day!

Peach and Strawberry Cobbler

Peaches are not a huge hit in my house, but I like them. So, when the urge hits, I buy a whole bunch and try to eat them before they go bad! Last weekend, I bought some specifically for a cobbler. I also had strawberries, and wondered if I could put both fruits together.  I asked on Facebook, and the answer was Yes!

So, here is my cobbler. I used roughly 2 cups (1 pint) of cut strawberries and 6 peaches. When it came out of the oven it looked so pretty with its golden brown crust and red juice around the edges.  The only change I'll make next time is to make more topping.  The recipe here has the doubled topping amounts.


Peach and Strawberry Cobbler

2 cups sliced strawberries
6 peaches, skinned and sliced thinly
3/4 - 1 cup granulated sugar  (depending on sweetness of your fruit)
1 Tb flour
1 teas ground cinnamon
1/4 teas ground nutmeg
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 teas baking powder
1/2 teas baking soda
1 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the sliced fruit in a bowl. In a small bowl, mix the granulated sugar, 1 TB of the flour, the ground cinnamon, and the nutmeg.. Sprinkle over the fruit.Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine oats,  2 cups flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and melted butter. Stir to combine, then place 1/2 of the mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.  Spread the fruit over the top, and then crumble the rest of the topping evenly over the fruit mixture. Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the fruit is tender.

MUST serve warm with vanilla ice cream! :)

Enjoy!

Strawberry Walnut Chicken Salad on Pie crust

 

I really like chicken salads. Every kind from traditional chicken salad to teriyaki chicken salad, to Good Life Eats Santa Fe Chicken Salad that I featured last week, I love them all!

This salad is a wonderful Strawberry Walnut Chicken Salad. The salad itself is just divine with moist chicken, flavorful sauce, and the bite of fresh fruit. The fun part? Serve it on baked pie crusts for a cool appetizer or fun lunch! 

It's also fantastic in a lettuce wrap, or on bread. Use your imagination! 

Strawberry Walnut Chicken Salad on Pie crust

 The salad is adapted from bettycrocker.com

Pie Crust

1 box refrigerated pie crusts, softened. 

Remove crusts from pouches and spread out. Cut crusts into 2-inch squares; place on ungreased cookie sheet. (I actually just cooked the crust whole, and then cut it. It might be better to pre-cut so your pieces don't crack afterwards.)

Bake 5-7 minutes at 350 or until golden brown. Cool completely before topping. 

Strawberry Walnut Chicken Salad

Lemon-Ginger Dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

1/4 cup Lemon burst yogurt (1 small container)

1/2 teas sugar

1/4-1/2 teas ground ginger

dash salt

Salad

3 cups chopped rotisserie chicken

3/4 cups chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup sliced or quartered strawberries

1. In a small bowl, mix all of the dressing ingredients.  Let the mixture sit while you make the salad. 

2. In a large bowl, mix chicken, celery, and walnuts. Add dressing; toss. Fold in strawberries.  Serve on pie crusts, or as a salad or sandwich. 

Enjoy! 

Tamale Pie

We love tamales in our house, but who has the time to make them?  When I saw the idea to make a Tamale Pie, I jumped on it. It was surprisingly good!  Next time I'll add more filling, including cheeses and veggies.  I used the leftover pork from my Sweet Pork Tacos, but you can use any meat, veggie, cheese combo you wish!  I decided to use a different dough for the corn then what was in the Mexican Kitchen cookbook.  The one from Tasty Kitchen just sounded better. It was was little sweet, so next time I'll add some more spice.



Pork Tamale Pie

(Dough from Tasty Kitchen, technique from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: Capturing the Vibrant Flavors of a World-Class Cuisine)

FOR THE DOUGH:
2 cups Masa
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
¾ teaspoons Salt (divided Use)
2 teaspoons Cumin, Divided Use
2 teaspoons Chili Powder, Divided Use
2-¼ cups Veggie Broth, Divided Use
1 stick Butter

FOR THE FILLING:

Fillings of your choice: You can use any meat, cheese, veggie, beans, etc. Go crazy!

Preheat the oven to 400.

In a greased pie pan, place ½ of the dough, and spread evenly across the bottom and sides. Fill the center with your filling foods. Cover with the remaining Masa dough.

Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.

Cover loosely with foil, and lower cooking temp to 350. Cook for a further 20 minutes. Pie is done with the crust springs back with touched, and is a golden brown.

Serve with salsa, sour cream, enchilada sauce, guacamole, etc. Enjoy!

Apple Pie and Apple Tarts!

Here is another "From Mom" recipe. I make Apple Pie every Thanksgiving, and always get rave reviews. The crust is so easy to make!

Now, truth time. I really battled myself over whether to make this recipe public. I mean, it's family tradition! But, the recipe is too good to NOT share!

I do usually make a full pie with this. This time, however, I thought that little pies, or tarts, would be fun to make! As you can see, they are far from perfect! But, they had just the right ratio of crust to apples. Add some ice cream... yum!

Apple Pie and Apple Tarts!

Pie Crust (Makes 2 crusts-one bottom, one top)
2 cups flour
1 teas salt
1 teas sugar

Mix ingredients together.

Add 1/3 c. Shortening.

Cut with fork or pastry cutter until it looks like cornmeal. Add another 1/3 cup of shortening and cut with fork until it looks like giant peas.
Add 4-5 TB COLD water.

**The cold water is important. The colder the water, the flakier the crust will be. So, before starting, put a cup of ice water in the freezer. By the time you get to this step, it will be cold enough to use! I also seem to need more than 5 TB of water- just use 1TB at a time until the dough forms a ball.

Mix until dough forms a ball.

Divide dough in half, and roll out on wax paper or flour covered surface.

For Pie: Flip dough in pie pan and press in.
Roll out second crust.

For Tarts: Use a round cookie cutter or glass and cut out circles about 1/2 inch bigger than your muffin tins. Try to get them as close as possible, as the dough gets tougher every time you have to re-roll it.

Tarts: Place dough circles in muffin tin, pressing against the sides. There should be some dough that overflows the tins.

Now for the Apples!

Now, here is my secret. I use 3-4 different brands of apples.
Why?
This adds texture, color, and different taste to the pies! Try it! You may get an odd look from the cashier when you hand her 3 bags full of 2 apples each, but hey, what do you care? You are making fabulous pie!

5-6 Apples - peeled or not, your choice. I leave the peels on cause I'm lazy.
Chop apples. I chop them very finely as you can see in the picture.
You need enough to heap in the pan; but don't put them in the pan yet!

Apple Topping:
1 cup sugar
3 TB dry Tapioca Pudding (Absorbs moisture, keeping your crust dry)
1 1/2 teas. cinnamon
1/4 teas. nutmeg
Mix all ingredients and pour over apples. Mix thoroughly.

Fill your pie crust(s) with apples- heaping it in the crust.

Place dabs of butter (pea sized) over apples.

Place second crust over the top, and seal edges.

Poke some holes in the top- or get creative and make a fun design.

For Pie: Cover edges with foil until the last 5-10 min. of baking.
(This insures that your edges won't burn!)
Bake at 425 for 60 min. or so. Check at 40 min.

For Tarts: Bake at 425 for 20-30 min. or until top is slightly browned.
Let cool in pan, then remove to serving plate.
Serve warm with Ice Cream or whipped cream!

Enjoy!