PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM PIE

This may be my all time favorite dessert. I found the recipe over 30 years ago in a Pine Bluff Junior League cookbook called 'Southern Accent'. I don't know how many printings this wonderful cookbook has had to date, but it may be available still today. I carried it in my antique/gift shop in Old Town Hampton, Virginia, in the early 1980s.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie

Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup whipping cream, whipped

Mix crumbs, sugar and butter, press into 9" pie pan. Chill.

Filling:

1 quart vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup whipping cream, whipped

Beat ice cream and peanut butter until soft. Fold in whipped cream., Turn into prepared crust, freeze until firm.

Serves 6 to 9

CHICKEN SPAGHETTI

This recipe is form Cathy, pictured with her family in St. Louis this past Thanksgiving. Cathy is related by marriage and I always love when she serves this for a family get-together. It has become a family favorite around my house. Not your usual to dry chicken spaghetti, this one is moist and has a southwestern flare.

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Chicken Spaghetti

3 pounds frozen chicken tenders or fresh boned chicken breasts

1 large onion to cook with chicken

1 large onion chopped for recipe

2 large celery stalks, diced

3 cloves garlic minced or to taste

1/2 pound of fresh white mushrooms, sliced or 8 ounces canned mushrooms

28 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 can Rotel

2 bricks of chili, found in grocery near lunch meat*

4 ounce can chopped black olives

1 pound package of grated cheddar cheese

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Cook chicken in water with large onion quartered until just done. Dice cooked chicken and set aside.

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Saute onion, celery and garlic in butter or oil. Mix in fresh mushrooms and cook a few minutes. Add tomatoes, Rotel and chili. Cook spaghetti separately. Add cooked spaghetti to mix and put into greased roasting pan. Add olives and chicken and toss.

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Top with cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot and cheese melts..

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*Some of my friends from other states other than Arkansas, have had trouble finding brick chili, at this writing, I can't remember the brand, I'll find that out. I did google brick chili and found several recipes for brick chili, a possibility, more to come on this.

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To freeze, I leave off cheese. After freezing, I bake for about 1 hours (or until hot) and then add the cheese and bake for 30 minutes longer.

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This serves a bunch, at least 12. I have made it up and divided into two pans and frozen one pan for future use.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS SALAD WITH VINAIGRETTE

Mary, a good friend and fellow volunteer at Community Meals gave me this recipe. She has brought it to potlucks and it is always a hit. I made it for dinner last night, served it with poached salmon and fingerling potatoes, a simple but tasty supper. I did find the chopping to be a little slow, but since everything else was fast, that was okay. You could chop everything except the apples and toss with the vinaigrette a few hours ahead. Add apples half an hour or so before serving.

Mary is in our group going to a spa in Mexico this month. With all the snow and cold weather, I'm looking so forward to this trip. We'll be in the mountains, 6500 feet, southwest of Mexico City. The weather is usually in the high 70s and dry this time of the year. A lot of fruit, vegetables and flowers are grown in this area, a nice place to eat and enjoy the wonderful vegetation.

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Brussels Sprouts Salad with Vinaigrette

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Prepare a vinaigrette the following ingredients:

1/4 cups olive oil

3 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

(if the flavor is a little sharp for you, add 1/2 teaspoon sugar)

Mix with a whisk and set aside.

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8 large Brussels sprouts, ( 2 cups) remove the cores by cutting in quarters and julienne

1/2 cup of julienned red peppers, 1 inch long

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion strips, 1 inch long

1/2 cup julienned apple strips, 1 inch long

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

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Mix together with vinaigrette. Transfer to serving bowl or platter. Garnish with apple wedges.

Serves 4

WHITE CHILI

For those that are following this blog, you may not realize that I have started a second blog called 'Recipes from the Past'. It is sort of a family thing, but the recipes are just as good as the ones on this blog. I just posted a recipe for 'Grand Prize Chili', I also served this along with 'White Chili' at our super bowl party. I have listed this blog under favorite blogs, so just click on the link found on the upper right side of the recipe.

White Chili

1 pound dried white beans, I used small navy beans, any white will do
14 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt, if stock is salty, add salt according to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (4-ounces) can chopped green chilies, drained
2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, I used 1 tablespoon dried, but fresh when available would be better*
2 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen white shoepeg corn, if unavailable, use small, sweet corn
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and diced
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4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
4 green onions thinly sliced
Chopped cilantro

Combine beans, stock, half the onions, garlic and salt in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beans are very tender. Add more chicken broth as needed.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add remaining onions, chilies, cumin, oregano, coriander, cloves and cayenne pepper. Mix thoroughly. Cook 10 minutes. Fold corn into mixture. Continue cooking 12 minutes. Combine corn mixture. Continue cooking 12 minutes. Combine corn mixture, bean mixture and chicken.

I took out a cup or two of chili and mashed up beans to provide a little thickening, this optional.

Serve with cheese, onions and cilantro sprinkled on top.

This recipe is from 'Stop and Smell the Rosemary', one of my favorite cookbooks. It was put together by the Junior League of Houston.

GREEK LEMON CHICKEN SOUP

Green Lemon Chicken Soup is my daughter, Melissa's favorite soup. The soup's formal name is Augolemono, I assume that is Greek and therefore not easy to pronounce.
When we lived in the village of Oberursel, Germany at to foot of the Taunus Mountains, Melissa was 7 or 8 years old and loved to go to the top of the Taunus and eat in the restaurant at the ski resort. One of the soups they served was chicken with egg (Huhnsuppa mit Ei) or something like that . This recipe is close. My uncle Harry from Kentucky was quite the gourmet and in a men's cooking group. I found the recipe in a cookbook this group put together.

Chicken Soup with Egg

12 cups chicken stock (homemade is the best, but store bought will work)
1/2 cup white rice
4 eggs
Juiced of 4 lemons
Grated zest of 2 of the lemons
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Bring chicken stock to a boil. Gradually add rice and slowly cook for about 30 minutes or until it is very soft.
Separate the egg whites and the yellows. Mix the egg yokes with lemon juice and zest. *
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Slowly stir 2 cups of hot chicken stock into egg and lemon mixture. Pour this slowly into the hot stock, stirring rapidly to prevent curdling.
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Beat egg whites until they are stiff, but not dry. Fold into the soup. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
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My preferred method is to beat the eggs, without separating, with the lemon juice and zest, then mix with hot soup, and beat into the soup. There my be some bits of cooked white.
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I sometimes add a cup or so of cubed chicken breasts. This makes a hardier soup.

BLACK-EYED PEA SALSA

This appetizer is often called Texas Caviar. I really don't have a recipe for this, but when I serve it I'm often asked for the recipe. So I'll write the basics. Actually that is a good way to cook. Learn the basic ingredients of any recipe and go from there. One of my favorite cooking shows on Food Network was 'Jamie at Home' with Jamie Oliver. He uses a knob of butter and handful of something else. If you practice measuring with your hand, such as how a teaspoon of salt looks and feels in the palm of your hand, you will never have to measure salt in a teaspoon again. Baking is a case where measuring is required, at least for me, but for most recipes, taste is the way to go.

This is a great Super Bowl dish.

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Black-Eyed Pea Salsa

1 large bag (about 4 cups) frozen black-eyed peas or purple hull peas

1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

1 clove garlic minced

cumin to taste ( try 1 to 1/2 teaspoon)

Olive oil

Lemon or lime juice

Salt to taste

Tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

Cilantro

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Cook peas according to package directions (don't over cook). Drain .

Mix together, peppers, garlic, cumin, olive oil, lemon or lime juice, and salt.

Add to peas and blend.

Add tomatoes, green onions, cilantro and more salt, oil and/or lemon or lime juice to taste.

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Optional additions:

Black olives, sliced, chopped avocados and cooked fresh or frozen corn.

Serve at room temperature or chilled with corn chips or serve as a salad on lettuce.

PATE BRISEE

This French pastry is ideal for tarts and quiches. It freezes beautifully, so when preparing the dough, make extra and freeze single recipes in zip-lock bags to have on hand. Set out dough to thaw and roll when cold but not frozen. This recipe is a more generous portion than our normal pie dough, which allows for fitting into a 10 or 11 inch tart pan. It can also be used to make small tartlet shells, approximately 6 shells.

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Pate Brisee

1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
pinch of sugar
5 1/2 tablespoon (2/3 stick) chilled unsalted butter
3 tablespoons chilled shortening
1/4 cup ice water

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Sift the flour, salt and sugar together into a bowl. Add butter and shortening and cut them into dry ingredients with a pastry blender.*

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Blend in enough water to make a workable dough. Turn dough onto floured surface, work dough by smearing away from you several times, scrape into a ball put in plastic bag and refrigerate for 2 hours or longer.*

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Place chilled dough on floured board or between two sheets of waxed paper. Pound dough several times with a rolling pin to soften. Roll out 1/8 inch thick or desired thickness.

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Put dough carefully over pan, pat into bottom and sides, trim off excess and crimp edge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

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Preheat oven 400 degrees. Remove chilled dough and line with foil and fill with beans or rice to weight the crust. Bake 10 minutes, until dough is set and beginning to color. This crust is ready for a quiche or tart. For a completely baked crust (like a fresh fruit tart), bake 10 minutes, remove foil and beans and continue to bake until golden brown and crispy flaky, about 25 minutes. Cook before filling.

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*I use a food processor and skip the shifting, cutting in butter and shortening and smearing dough. I think this is a good and fast way to make all pastry dough, just be sure and not over process, just until the dough forms a bowl in the machine.

CHICKEN-DIJON QUICHE

Allyson, a friend from my old neighborhood, offered this recipe for Stone Cottage Kitchen. We tested it last night and it it delicious. Allyson's quiche was featured in our local newspaper a few years ago. I am thrilled to offer it here.

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Chicken-Dijon Quiche

1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust (one crust from 15-ounce package)*

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I used white mushroom caps)

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup cubed cooked chicken

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup (1-ounce) shredded fresh Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup (1-ounce) shredded Gruyere or good Swiss cheese

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 eggs

*I prefer to use a home made pie crust, in this case I use a French pastry called 'Pate Brisee'. Recipe will be posted.

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Preheat convection oven, if you have one, to 400 degrees.

Prepare pie crust as directed on package for one crust baked shell using 10 inch tart pan with removable bottom or 9-inch pie pan. Place prepared crust in pan, press in bottom and up sides of pan. Trim edges if necessary. DO NOT PRICK CRUST.* Bake 400 degrees for 9 to 13 minutes or until crust appears dry and is very light golden brown.

Meanwhile, in medium skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat, add mushrooms, onions and garlic. Cook and stir until tender. Stir in chicken, Italian seasoning and wine. Cook over medium heat until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.

Spread chicken mixture over bottom of partially baked shell. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons each of Parmesan and Gruyere cheese. In medium bowl, combine cream, mustard and eggs, beat well. Pour over cheese, sprinkle with remaining cheeses.

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Bake at 400 degrees for 23 to 28 minutes or until quiche is golden brown and knife inserted near center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

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*I line a pie crust with foil, and weight down with dried beans, this keeps crust from puffing. I store the beans in a bag and use them over and over, just don't try to cook the beans after baking. Cook about 10 minutes and remove the beans, at this point the crust should be set and if desired further cooking and browning will not puff the pastry. This works for all pastry.

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A vegetable addition, such as broccoli or spinach, could be added to this recipe or substituted for the chicken for a vegetarian dish.