It's the most wonderful time of the year

"It's the most wonderful time of the year" is a chorus from a Christmas song, and one of my favorites. I'm scanning through recipe books and magazines to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think I need to lose about 10 pounds so I can regain it through November and December.

The stores have tables with new and older cookbooks ready for Christmas sales. Some years there are recipes that come along and become yearly Christmas dinner favorites. One of my favorite family recipes comes from a stash of handwritten recipes that someone left behind in an airplane. There was no name on the recipes, so there was no way we could return it to it's rightful owner. This is a good reason to have extra copies of your recipes. My mom and dad moved to Florida in the 50's. I remember her looking for for favorite donut recipe and never finding it. I always wondered just how good that recipe was.

The following recipe is for Pistachio Torte, the recipe my husband found on an airplane. I had no idea it would turn out to be one of my favorite holiday recipes and one that almost everyone has asked for the recipe after eating it.

Pistachio Torte

This is the crust recipe: Preheat oven to 375o

Mix well with a fork or pastry cutter: 1 cup flour
2 Tablespooons powdered sugar
1 stick butter, but into pieces
1/2 cup chopped nuts, I use pecans
Press into a 9x13 pan, it fits the pan though it seems like barely enough dough to cover the bottom of the pan. Use your finger tips to pat the dough into the pan, completely covering the bottom of the pan.
Bake about 10-15 minutes, watch closely so it doesn't burn

Make the first layer to pour over the baked and cooled crust.
Mix 1 pkg of cream cheese, 8 ounce size, beat in 2/3 cup powdered sugar. Mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Fold in 1/2 of a large container of Cool Whip or store brand whipped topping.
Pour this over the baked crust and refrigerate as you make the last layer.

Last layer: Mix 2 small pkgs of pistachio instant pudding mix (or use 1 large) 2 1/2 cups of milk, Mix well and add 1 teaspoon almond extract. Fold in the remainder 1/2 container of Cool Whip. Pour over the previous filling and swirl with a spatula for decorative look.
Refrigerate preferably overnight, but can be made early in the day and served 5 hours later. It should be well chilled and served immediately after cutting serving sizes.

If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share, please email the recipe and I will include it in my blog.

Chocolate Pie (vintage recipe)

If you like a very rich chocolate pie, this recipe is smooth and rich in flavor.
I wouldn't be surprised if this recipe was at least 100 years old or at least as old as Hershey Chocolate cocoa powder is. My grandmother made this for my dad who was the youngest of 8 children and he is 90 years old. It was one of his favorite pies.

In a saucepan combine in this order, mixing ingredients well:

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir in very gradually 2 cups milk. (In other words stir in 1/2 cup milk and mix well, then add the remainder of the milk and stir until completely mixed.) Cook over low heat and stir constantly till thickened. Briefly remove from heat and stir in 3 well beaten egg yolks To keep your filling smooth pour a small amount of the chocolate filling over the beaten eggs and beat quickly, pour this into the remainder of chocolate filling in the saucepan,
stirring quickly or use a wisk to mix it well for a smooth creamy chocolate filling.
Cook on low heat for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Remove from stove, stir in 2 Tablespoons of butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Pour this chocolate filling into a baked pie crust and top with merangue.Bake in a 375o oven until merangue is lightly browned.

(If you prefer a whipped cream topping, allow the pie to cool and refrigerate first. Then top with whipped cream or add whipped cream to each slice of pie.

Merangue

3 egg whites beaten until stiff peaks form, it is very important that the bowl you
beat the egg whites in has no oil residue or the whites will not beat to the desired stiffness.

Gradually pour in 1/3 cup sugar, mixing thoroughly, last beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Spread the merangue over the chocolate filling, sealing the edges of merangue to the pie crust edges. The chocolate pie should be completely covered in merangue.

Apple Pie

I bought a beautiful bag of apples today and made an apple crumb pie. We recently had visited my daughter in South Carolina and I couldn't believe the difference in taste of fresh apples compared to the ones I get in Florida. I guess shipping apples to Florida takes a few days and the apples most likely are picked a bit sooner so they can be shipped before they spoil.

I used a plain pie crust, poked it with a fork to prevent the pie crust from bubbling up out of shape. I baked the shell (empty) for about 5 minutes. This prebaking before adding the apple filling prevents a soggy bottom crust.



My basic apple pie filling is

Five or six apples, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch
1/2 cup sugar, granultated or half brown and half granulated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons of water or lemon juice
Mix the apple filling ingredients well with a wooden spoon . You can also cook this mixture on the stove for 2 to 5 minutes and it makes the apples a bit softer. I usually do not do this, but I like it either way.

Pour the apple filling into the partially baked pie shell and top with a crumb topping. See crumb topping recipe below.

Crumb Topping
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar (granulated sugar is "white" sugar)
3/4 c flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix with a fork until crumbly or use a food processor to mix just till a crumbly mixture forms.

Bake pie in 375 degree preheated oven for about 30- 45 minutes or until bubbly and light brown. If the outer edges start to brown too quickly, place thin strips of foil over pie crust edges only.

Pork Chops and Rice Casserole

I used my slow cooker more in March than anytime in my life. Due to family emergencies, I pulled out my Crock Pot and tried new recipes that I could only hope would turn out to be half edible. I grew up learning to cook from scratch. Fast food was not as available then as it is now. Slow cooking is far better, cheaper, and more nutritious than most fast food. Most prep time is fast and best of all dinner is ready with a minimal of time spent in the kitchen.



I prefer to use recipes that have been vouched for by another cook which is for me recipes that are recommended by friends and relatives. Cooks Illustrated magazine is a great reference for trying "tested" recipes. Their test kitchen staff has contributed helpful comments on the recipes they've tested. The comments are quite detailed to a point of explaining why foods react certain ways in certain condtions.

I was a bit reluctant to try this pork chop recipe without an endorsement from another cook. I think "eat at your own risk recipes" are safer to be tried as appetizers, then you can take them or leave them. If it's your dinner, you could be looking for a fast food take out. A family member recently told me of a funny experience they had while eating at a friends home. The family member doesn't eat seafood. This being that he really does not like seafood in any form, shape, or fashion. The main course was fish. They politely passed by the main course plate without offending anyone. The next serving bowl that was passed is a nice bowl of pasta. My relative is thinking this is great, I can have a nice healthy portion of pasta salad instead of the fish. As his wife serves his plate with Pasta Salad, the host verbatim lists the ingredients as it is served to his plate...clams, shrimp, and ?? (whatever it was, it wasn't chicken or beef. ) The humorous part of the story was the look passed between the wife and husband as she served him Seafood pasta salad. Love bears all things, even seafood salad. (My next question was "didn't they have a family dog near the dining table?") I'm getting old and some of these family experiences give me quite a laugh. My dad used to say when you chew food that you don't like, it just seems to grow in your mouth. How fast can Pasta Seafood Salad grow?



The following recipe surprised me. It was quite good, simple, fast, and my family liked it. I adapted it from several recipes.

Pork Chops and Rice Slow Cooker Casserole

6 pork chops, lightly brown in skillet

Lightly spray crock pot with Pam or oil.

Place pork chops in crock pot

In a bowl mix 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 2 3/4 cups of water,
1 cup of white rice. (If you use brown rice, use about 3 1/2 cups water or as needed.)
1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, dash of oregano, parsley, or
your favorite spices. Wisk these ingredients to break down the lumps in the soup. I do not frequently use canned soups in recipes and can honestly say it doesn't taste like a recipe made with canned ingredients.

Pour the mixture over the pork chops in the crock pot.

Place lid on and cook on high about 3 hours or less. (When rice is
cooked, the pork chops will also be done.) You can cook this on low for
about 6 to 7 hours. If brown rice is used it could take an additional 30 minutes in cooking time.

I haven't tried this yet but I think finely chopped green bell peppers and a few spices would also enhance this recipe.