Grape Pie

I bought some sour grapes recently--so sour that I have trouble eating them enjoyably--so I decided to find a recipe to use them. Of course, leave it to the southerner to make a healthy food into a really unhealthy food, right? So, here you go, the grape pie:

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CRUST:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup Crisco shortening

1 egg

5 tbsp water (plus more to get right consistency)

1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Thoroughly mix the flour, salt, and shortening in a large bowl. You can do this with a spatula. In a separate bowl, mix egg, vinegar, and water. Pour wet mixture into dry mixtur

e. Use hands to knead into a dough. The dough should be rather dry--I added a little bit more water to make it more cohesive.

Take approximately 1/2 of the dough and roll it out. Place your 9" pie pan over the dough that you have rolled out and approximate 1 to 1 1/2 more inches to add to the diameter. With a knife, cut the dough in a circle with an 11 inch diameter. Remove excess dough. This is the hardest part of the whole recipe: you can a) use a large spatula to loosen the dough from the cutting board and quickly convert it to the pie pan, or b) put your pie pan on top of the dough

, and quickly flip the whole thing over to let gravity pull the dough into the pie pan. If there are cracks in the dough, simply press them together.

For the top of the pie, make another 9" wide circle and use the spatula method. Or, do what I did, and give up completely--roll the dough out and use a small cookie cutter to make little circles and use them to cover the top of the filling in an artistic way.

FILLING:

3 cups green grapes

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

1/3 cup flour mixed with water to make a loose paste

Chop up the majority of the grapes into relatively large chunks (that should look somewhat

mushy), leaving the a few of the smallest grapes whole. Place grapes in a sauce pan with water, sugar, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil. When boiling, add the flour paste and stir. Let boil for approximately 5-7 minutes, while stirring constantly. Turn heat on low and examine mixture--it should be more thick and syrupy, and if there are any clumps of flour, remove them or try to break them up. Remove from heat and add butter and cinnamon; stir. Put back on low heat for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.

Pour filling into pie crust that you prepared earlier. Add dough to top of filling. Sprinkle granulated sugar over top of pie, and add a few tiny pats of butter in various p

laces over pie. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Remove foil after 25 minutes, and let cook for another 20-25 minutes.

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I have never made a pie crust from scratch before, and it was literally the hardest cooking-related thing I have ever done to try to get that dough into the pan. My kitchen was a mess. But the pie is delicious, and I think it turned out beautifully despite the crust disasters!

Layered chili dip

This is the easiest and yummies dip that is quick to make for impromptu parties or gatherings. Just buy your favorite corn chips and serve it up in less than 10 minutes! For being so easy, it's addictive, so beware!

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Ingredients:

1 block of cream cheese

1 can of beef chili or bean chili (I like meat, so I get the meat)

1 bag finely shredded cheddar cheese

Method:

Spread the entire block of cream cheese at the bottom of a square baking dish. Then, empty the can of chili and spread it over the cream cheese. Empty and spread the bag of cheese over the top. Put dish in 300 degree oven for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Serve warm.

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Cinnamon Pie

'Tis the season for making lots of food! And, with a developing love for all things cinnamon, I am going to try out making a cinnamon pie today!

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• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 (10 inch) unbaked pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add the beaten egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix well and add the milk.
3. Pour mixture into an unbaked 10 inch pie crust (glass pie plate is best).
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for an additional 45 minutes. Let cool and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.

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The batter for this pie is extremely thin...I mean, we are talking straight liquid. Don't be alarmed, it will turn out fine. I even upped the flour and reduced the milk from the original recipe, and it was still very watery. The pie may even be jiggly when you take it out of the oven, but it will set. There will be three distinct layers of flavor and it will have a smooth, custardy texture.

It's an ugly pie, so think about serving it with ice cream or putting some Cool Whip on top! Yum!

Captain Crunch Chicken Tenders

I had some Captain Crunch coated chicken tenders at a Planet Hollywood and thought they were so amazing because they were sweet and salty and crunchy. I found the recipe online and definitely thought I should try to make them!

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2 cups Cap'n Crunch cereal
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 lbs chicken tenders (or chicken breasts cut into tenders)
Vegetable oil (for frying)

Thaw chicken breasts, cut each breast into 3-4 slim pieces, and dry strips with a paper towel before dredging.

Coarsely grind or crush the cereal in gallon size bag and set aside. Beat the egg with milk in separate bowl and set aside. Stir together the flour, onion and garlic powders and black pepper and set aside.

Dip the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour. Move around to coat well, then shake off the excess flour. Dip coated tender quckly in the egg wash, coating well, then place all coated tenders in the bag of crushed cereal. Shake bag until all the tenders are coated.

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet to 325 (or for a few minutes on low-medium heat). Drop coated chicken tenders carefully in the hot oil and cook until golden brown and fully cooked, 3 to 5 minutes depending on size.

_____________________________Pictured with a baked potato and green bean casserole. I heated the oil too high, so the coating began to burn before the chicken had cooked fully. They were very yummy though, maybe I'll get them perfect next time.

Wedding Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands
1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks.

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Christmas Sugar Cookies

I make these every year. They are a mess and probably are way more trouble than they are worth, but it is a tradition!

You must let the dough sit in the refrigerator for a long time. It's annoying, but it will make your life so much easier.

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Prep:

2 sticks butter
2 small eggs or 1 large egg
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 or 3 cups flour
scant teaspoon salt
scant teaspoon baking soda
teaspoon pure vanilla

After cooked:

1 cup confectioner's sugar
milk or orange juice

Mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg(s) and mix again. Add vanilla, salt, and baking soda and mix again. Finally, carefully mix in flour until well blended and sticky dough results. Let dough sit in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Take dough out of fridge and use flour very generously to spread it 1/4 of an inch and cut it into desired cookie shapes. Place cookies on greased bake sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 heat.

Take cookies out and let cool on wax paper. Mix a little no pulp orange juice or milk with confectioners sugar until a thick, smooth, white mixture results. Spread over cookies and place festive sprinkles on wet icing. Let icing harden for an hour, then place cookies in tins, separated in layers by wax paper. Keep refrigerated or frozen.

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Parmesan Dip

My friend George made me this EASY EASY EASY dip because he knew I would love it...So I thought I would write it down...because it is really good, and also REALLY EASY.

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1 block of cream cheese
1 small cup sour cream
1/2 cup powdered Parmesan Cheese
Pinch garlic powder

Mix sour cream and cream cheese, fold in dry ingredients and mix until distributed evenly. Serve with Plain Ruffles Chips.

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