Dorothy's Chocolate Meringue Pie

Over Easter, I was on a baking roll! (pardon the pun.) I got this recipe from a dear friend of my in-laws'. She is known far and wide as a pie maker. Everytime she comes to see my boys, she brings a homemade banana meringue pie because that is my boys' favorite. Dorothy grew up in a very large family, and her job was to make the pies for the family as a young girl. I sat and picked her brain before Easter, and this is the recipe she gave me. I made it and it turned out WONDERFULLY! Not quite at pretty as hers, but just as tasty. I need to practice on the pretty part. This recipe makes 1 pie.

Crust:

1/2 stick of crisco

1 cup of flour

Dash of salt

2 Tbsp of sugar

3 to 5 Tbsp of ice water

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a small bowl. Cut in the crisco and add the ice water. Roll out crust and put it in your pie plate. Poke holes in the bottom of the crust to keep it from bubbling up. Bake at 350 degrees for abotu 20 minutes until lightly brown.

Pie Filling:

3 Tbsp. of cocoa

Dash of salt
1 C. of sugar

1/4 C. of flour

2 C. of milk

3 egg yolks, beaten (save the whites for the meringue ... leave at room temperature)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 stick of butter, cut up

Mix all of the ingredients in a pan (if you have a double boiler, you can use this, but I just used my hard anodized pot) adding the butter last. Continually stir it until it comes to a boil and bubbles. Turn the heat down, continually stirring it, until the mixture thickens up like pudding. If you are using an electric cooktop, you may want to remove the pan from the burner while you stir the mixture and it thickens ... I'm used to cooking on gas which I like much better, but for the time being, we are in a house with electric burners and it is taking some getting used to.

Pour the hot mixture in the baked pie shell.

Meringue:

With your mixer (stand mixers are best for this), beat three egg whites, 2/3 cups of sugar, 1 tsp. of vanilla, and 2 tsp. of cream of tartar. Beat it until it forms stiff peaks. Smooth the meringue on top of the warm pie filling, smoothing it all the way to the edge of the crust to prevent shrinking. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 8 to 12 minutes ... watching to make sure you don't burn it but that the peaks are delicate brown.

A BIG thank you to the anonymous poster who asked how much sugar was needed in the filling!!! I forgot to put that ... I surely hope no one tried to make this without the sugar. I would feel TERRIBLE! My sweet mother-in-law made a pumpkin pie one year and forgot the sugar ... not so good ... actually pretty AWFUL. Anyway, a big thanks to the commenter who noticed!

Tossed Spinach Salad

This is a wonderful recipe I got from my mother-in-law. It is one of our family's favorite salads, it is easy to make and always a crowd pleaser.

Salad Ingredients

1 package of baby spinach (10 oz.), torn

1 pound of mushrooms, sliced (I bought mushrooms already sliced ... I don't like them, but the slices were big enough that I could pick them out)

1/2 pound of sliced bacon, cooked & crumbled (I used about 1/2 cup of Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon ... I got a big bag of this at Sam's and love it! So easy to use!)

3 ribs of celery sliced (I "stripped" my celery before I sliced it ... I took a veggie peeler and peeled all the strings off of it and get it down to the tender white part ... it is much tastier and easier to slice this way)

1 c. of shredded cheddar (I used about a cup and 1/2 of Kraft Sharp Cheddar Crumbles)

3 hard boiled eggs, chopped (I love egg in my salad)

3 to 4 green onions, chopped


Dressing Ingredients

1 Cup of Ketchup

3/4 c. of white vinegar

3/4 c. of vegetable oil

1/2 c. of sugar

1 tsp. of salt

1 tsp. of Worcestershire Sauce

In a LARGE salad bowl, combine the salad ingredients and toss. You'll need a large bowl to start out, but once you add the dressing you could transfer it to a smaller bowl.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together or put them in a jar with a tight lid and shake. Wait to toss the salad with the dressing on until you are ready to serve the salad. And, when you do, only put about 1 and 1/2 cups to 2 cups of dressing on it at the MOST. The recipe makes about three cups, but that is WAY too much dressing!

Creamy Italian Noodles

I get in a side dish rut. My "go to" is always instant brown rice cooked in chicken broth. It is good, but it gets boring after a while. So, I found this recipe and adapted it a little bit. All three of my little boys LOVED it and asked for seconds. You could add cooked chicken to it and make it a main dish.

Ingredients

1 (8 oz.) package of whole wheat pasta (the original recipe called for wide egg noodles, but I used whole wheat penne pasta)

1 package of dry Italian salad dressing mix

1/2 cup of milk (I used whole milk but you could use whipping cream or fat free milk)

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook noodles according to package direction and drain. I didn't rinse mine ... just drained it.

2. Cut the butter into chunks so it melts easier. Stir that up in the hot noodles. Add the remaining ingredients and stir.

3. Serve hot.

Best Light Salad Dressings

I cannot tell you how many light and fat free salad dressings I have bought only to end up throwing them away because they tasted SO bad. I know one good tip is to water down your favorite dressings ... that at least cuts the calories down a little and you get the taste.

Anyway, I thought I would share five of my favorite light dressings, and therefore I think the best. I have not found a good light ranch dressing, yet. I don't like the bottled full fat ranch dressings, though ... so that may not be possible. The ranch dressing you make from the package of dry mix is my favorite.

My favorite light salad dressings in no particular order:

1. Wishbone Balsamic Breeze Spritzer ( I have not tried the others, but this dressing is fabulous ... even my husband who will eat NOTHING low fat - he's skinny and hates low fat stuff ... go figure - likes this dressing.)

2. Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard (I just found out they even have recipes at this site using this dressing ... I'll have to give those a try)

3. Ken's Steak House Lite Ceasar

4. Ken's Steak House Lite Honey Mustard

5. Ken's Steak House Fat Free Raspberry Pecan

Crockpot Thai Chicken

Here is a new recipe I tried today, and my family loved it. It was easy and different than the usual, and I was getting stuck in a rut!

Ingredients

6 chicken breast halves
1/4 C. of smooth peanut butter
1 C. of hot salsa (I used 3/4 of mild picante sauce and 1/4 cup of Thai Garlic Pepper Sauce)
2 T. of lime juice (I had lemon juice, so that is what I used)
3 T. of lite soy sauce (it called for one, but it needed more)
1/4 c. of lite corn syrup
2 T. of chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)

1. Put chicken in a cooking sprayed crockpot. I put mine in frozen.

2. Mix together salsa, peanut butter, lime or lemon juice, soy sauce and corn syrup. (Note: if you are using just plain salsa you may add a little extra garlic ... I got that taste in the Garlic Pepper sauce)

3. Pour the sauce over the chicken.

4. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

5. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro if you would like. My kids don't like cilantro, so I left it off of theirs but added it to mine and my husband's.

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

Quiltermama, this recipe is for you. You requested some veggie side dishes for a Christmas dinner ... I have several good ones already listed here (check the labels to the left). But, here's another one that is very impressive when served but very easy! You will probably want to double this recipe. As listed below, it serves 4 to 5 people.

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) of WHOLE green beans (make sure you get the whole green beans, the long ones ... not the cut or French cut)
4 to 5 slices of breakfast bacon
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
Course ground black pepper to taste

Drain beans. Arrange beans into 4 to 5 bundles and place each bundle on a slice of bacon. Wrap bacon diagonally around beans and tuck ends under or secure with toothpicks (remember to remove the toothpicks before you serve them). Put the bundles in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle vinegar over bacon and grind course ground pepper over the bacon. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until bacon is brown.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

This is one of my favorite salads. When my mom's family used to get together for a Thanksgiving and Christmas meal (before all of her siblings ... all 6 of them ... started having grand babies), one of my aunts would make this every year. My mother is working on a family recipe book and got this recipe from my aunt. We were thrilled to get it. It makes a large batch so make it when you know you are going to have a big group or you are going to your next potluck.



Ingredients for Salad

1 head of raw cauliflower, diced
3 to 4 crowns of raw broccoli, diced
1 onion chopped or one bunch of green onions chopped (I prefer green onions ... in the picture, my mom used red onions and green onions)
1 large stalk of celery, cut up
2 cups of shredded cheese (Longhorn or Cheddar is the best because of the stronger taste ... you can also buy crumbles at the grocery store that works well, too)

Toss the above ingredients together in a large bowl.

Dressing for salad:

1 cup of mayonnaise (not salad dressing like Miracle Whip ... you could probably use low fat mayo if you wanted)
1 Tbsp of Salt
1 Tbsp of sugar

Toss the dressing with the salad ingredients. Let is set overnight before serving for the best taste ... but when my mom made a batch the other night, we just had to eat some right away and it was still yummy ... though it was better the next day. :o)