Marilyn's Whiskey Pumpkin Pie

Honey and I both grew up with our moms fixing Libby's Pumpkin Pies for Thanksgiving dessert, but when I tasted my friend Marilyn's pie a few years ago and I just HAD to get the recipe! She said it was the pie her mom fixed when she was growing up and naturally fixed it for her family.  While my family generally doesn't like change, they did like this one. 

In doing some research, I've found a few similar recipes with the secret ingredient, whiskey, which I've seen is based off a Mennonite recipe, but Marilyn's only has a tsp of whiskey, while most of the other recipes has a 1/2 - 1 cup of it.  I am no expert on whiskey or liquor, people usually give us the whiskey or I have someone else buy it for me.  Most of the time I use Crown Royal or Jack Daniels, though I'm open to just about anything.

• Boozy Pumpkin Pie        
• Pumpkin cake with Whiskey Whipped Cream - Pioneer Woman              
• Whiskey Pumpkin Pie  

Ingredients: 

2 cups cooked pumpkin
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup cream or evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup whiskey
1 tablespoon cornstarch

 Pie Crust Shell - Here is the recipe I love to use

 Combine the pumpkin, the sugar, egg yolks (slightly beaten), and cinnamon and beat for several minutes. Quickly add the cream, butter and whiskey, mix well.

Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then sprinkle the cornstarch over the beaten egg whites and fold into the first mixture.

Pour into a 9 inch pastry lined pie pan  and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour in a 375 degree oven. Let it cool.

 Top with regular or Whiskey Whipped Cream (recipe below)


WHISKEY WHIPPED CREAM:   from Pioneer Woman      

• 1 cup Heavy Cream, Very Cold
• 2 Tablespoons (to 3 Tablespoons) Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Whiskey

Combine ingredients and begin mixing immediately on high speed until stiff, about 4 minutes. Spoon over cooled cake.  A little whiskey goes a long way on making this and the alcohol makes whipping the cream more difficult.  A harder process, but worth it.  

Eat extra cream with a spoon, if desired. Ree Drummond

 

Mini Cheese Meatloaves

Mini Cheese Meatloaves



There are a few things that I love to "collect" - books and cookbooks.  What I love even more are FREE books, which I sometimes get on my Kindle device on my phone. When I saw that a Gooseberry Patch Cookbook Circle of Friends Cookbook Meatloaf Recipes was offered for free, I had to download it  (it is no longer free).  While my meatloaf has been so-so, I really was looking for one that really made my family excited when I fixed it.  They were so VERY excited to taste my latest trial and LOVED it!  Here is the yummy meatloaf recipe that we fell in love with a few months ago.  I'd post a picture, but they ate it all!  


Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten
3/4 C. milk
1 C. Shredded Cheese (I use Monterrey Jack)
1/2 C. quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 C. onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. lean ground beef

Sauce for top
2/3 C. catsup
1/4 C. brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. lemon juice

1.  In a large bowl, whish together egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion and salt.

2.  Add beef and mix well.

3.  Form into 8 greased mini loaves (I use muffin tins or just put it in the crock pot for a big loaf).  I like to take the left over mini loaves, freeze them, and use them whenever I'm in a pinch for something to fix.   

4.  Combine remaining ingredients for the sauce and spoon over the mini loaves.  Bake at 350º for 45 minutes.  I like to put this in the crockpot in the summer and save on heating up the kitchen.

Homemade Pizza Dough

Crust

• 3 cups  Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Making and rising the dough:



1.  Pour the water into a mixing bowl and dissolve the sugar and yeast.  Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

2. Add the oil and salt, mix well then stir in 1 cup of the flour.  Add the rest of the flour, a cup of flour at a time, mixing well.  

3.  Turn it out onto a floured surface, knead and let rise until doubled in size in a bowl, covered with a towel. (this helps keep the cool air off and allows it to rise properly).  —till you've made a soft, smooth dough.    ** If you're in a pinch and are making pizza at the last minute, it will still work without rising, but the texture may be different.



4.  While the dough is rising, ready your 14" deep-dish pizza pan. Grease it with non-stick vegetable oil spray

5.  When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down with your fist (it will appear to deflate).  Turn the dough out on a floured surface and roll out thinly (remember the dough will rise slightly while baking.   Stretch the dough to make as large a circle as you can. I use a rolling pin but you can simply stretch the dough in your hands.

6.  Lay the dough in the pan, and stretch it towards the edges till it starts to shrink back. Cover, and let it rest for 15 minutes. Start preheating the oven to 425°F while the dough rests.   Many times I don't have time to let the crust rest in the pan for 15 minutes and it works wonderfully if you don't. 


Make sure you preheat your oven to 400º. 

Making the pizza:  On the prepared dough, add a thin layer of sauce, shredded mozzarella or Monterrey Jack cheese, your topping(s) of choice, and top with a sprinkling of cheese. 



Here is the link for my homemade pizza sauce

Fake Febreeze

Lady, our big stinky dog

 I love saving money, especially when it's for a pricey cleaning product.  We love Febreeze at our house - two stinky boys and a big stinky dog call for extra means to make it smell better. 

When I came across this awesome idea to Make Your Own Febreeze over Fake-It Frugal, who found it at Homemade Mamas, and I just had to it out. I used an old Zout spray bottle and found it worked just as well.  Here is how Heather at  Fake-It Frugal did it. 


I changed their recipe up a bit to Refill my already existing 32 oz Febreeze Spray Bottle:

1/8 Cup of Your Favorite Fabric Softener
2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
Hot Tap Water - To Fill the Bottle to the Top

Shake it up in your Spray Bottle and you're ready to go and fight those Stinky Dog Odors!

I found that Fake Febreeze actually has a bit more "staying power" than regular Febreeze, too!


Fake-It Yourself Breakdown:

Fake Febreeze ($0.15 or less for 1 oz Fabric Softener)

Total Fake-It Cost: $0.15 Each

Compare to Actual Febreeze ($5.59 Each, seriously?)

Total Fake-It Savings:  $5.44 Each*

*Let's say you purchase 1 Bottle of Febreeze per month, that's a Savings of $65.28 per year!

PS - If you've never visited Homemade Mamas before, go check out their incredible catalog of DIY household and beauty products, among all of their other great tutorials!



I hope you have a chance to try this! Thanks for stopping by!

How to make rich chocolate milk

 I know, who in their right mind wouldn't just go down to the store and BUY a 1/2 gallon or gallon of the rich chocolate milk, but have you noted the price of milk lately?  A 1/2 gallon of regular chocolate milk from the grocery store is almost as much as a gallon of 2% milk, plus there is something just delicious about drinking some thick rich chocolate milk.


This actually started because our local grocery store was REALLY low on milk - no chocolate milk, strawberry milk, 1/2 gallons of any type, and the gallon section was really chintzy. My family has been begging me this week to make some more Frosty Ice Cream, and I'm not planning on running to Walmart or Braums (they have the thickest chocolate milk) at this moment, I figured there HAD to be a way to make some right? 


Do you wonder why chocolate milk is so udderly thick than it's white counterpart?  Looking at the label, I found they put a thickener, cornstarch, in it!  With a little research, I found a recipe for  Spanish Hot Chocolate - Chocolate Caliente and made a few modifications based on those results. (I found it was a tad too sweet).  I would be easier if Honey would just buy me that chocolate cow I've been asking for, but until then...

Total Time: 20-30 minutes

Yield:  2 Cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa
• 1/3 cup sugar (a tad less is good)
• 3/4 tsp. cornstarch 
• dash of salt

Preparation:

1. Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and add the cornstarch and salt. Whisk to dissolve the cornstarch.  I actually like to double this and use 2 cups whole milk and 2 cups heavy whipping cream for an added richness, especially when I'm making ice cream. 
   
   
2. Once the cornstarch is dissolved, heat the milk on medium heat just until it boils. Keep whisking it because you're milk will stick if you don't.
    
3. Add the chocolate immediately and begin stirring until the chocolate is completely blended and uniform in color. Turn down heat to medium low.
   
   
4. Pour the sugar into the chocolate milk mixture and stir until thoroughly dissolved.
   
   
5.  Continue to  stir slowly, but constantly. (Do not cook the mixture over high heat because it may cause lumping.)
   
   
6. Taste the chocolate for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary. The mixture should thicken quickly. As soon as you see it thicken, remove the pan from the heat so the cornstarch will not thin.  Poor  immediately into cups and serve piping hot or put it in a container and put in the fridge to cool for use later. 

Whole Wheat Bread

That flat rock is my first try

   I've searched for years for a delicious wheat bread recipe that would raise well.  Lets face it, wheat bread is usually heavy and slow to raise.  My friend Eva and The Momma's loaves are always tall and tasty, so I asked them for the recipe... Turns out I already have it (Marilyns Famous Bread Recipe), but my loaves were not that great - they were flat!  I'm not a horrible bread maker, so I was puzzled.  I don't use a bread maker or mill my own flour, but I use quality flour.  Turns out, The Momma has changed the recipe slightly... So here is the adjusted recipe from The Momma**.


 Hand Method: (yields 3 loaves)
1/3 C honey
1/3 C oil
3 1/2 C Warm Water
2 tablespoons yeast
1 tablespoon salt
3-4 C whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons TB Dough Enhancer
    (I made my own, but if you want, you can add lecithin (you can get this from a health foods store - use the same amount of yeast)

Combine the warm water, yeast, and 2 Cups of fresh whole wheat flour in a large mixing bowl. Allow to sponge for 15 minutes. Add the honey, oil, dough enhancer, salt and 4-5 cups additional flour until the dough begins to clean the sides of the mixing bowl. Do not allow the dough to get too stiff (too dry). Dough should be smooth and elastic. It is a common mistake for the beginning bakers to add too much flour.

Knead the bread by hand 7-10 minutes or until it is very smooth, elastic, and small bubbles or blisters appear beneath the surface of the dough.  Six to ten minutes of kneading  should be sufficient to develop the gluten if you are using fresh flour. If you are kneading by hand, be sure to add the minimum amount of flour to keep the dough soft and pliable by using a tsp of oil on your hands and kneading surface.

Turn dough out onto floured surface, shape loaves and place in prepared greased loaf  pans.  Cover with a towel and allow to rise in a slightly warmed oven or other warm place until doubled in size (about 30-60 minutes).

Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes in a 350º oven.  Bread is cooked through when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, and when the top and sides are a golden brown color. I like to take a stick of butter and run it over the fresh baked loaves. 

My family was thrilled to have good fresh wheat bread and I'm tickled to have a great recipe and wanted to share it with you.  If you need to see the recipe for a bread machine or are just curious, click the link above for Marilyn's bread.

**The Momma and Eva both use a Bosch or similar type bread machine for mixing and kneading. 

Lemon chicken with White Wine and Parsley

   I love to find a great recipe, using chicken, and when it incorporates lemon, it is an even bigger hit.  One of our favorite dishes is Lemon chicken with White Wine and Parsle, that I discovered in my autographed copy of Tyler Florence's Eat This Book, Cooking with Global Fresh Flavors , which I won from Debra at  Our Imperfect Life. It has so many wonderful recipes that I look forward to trying on my family (Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Bananas with Honey, Sauteed Feta Cheese, Crispy Potato Pancakes with Cinnamon Apples and Fresh Thyme, etc. ).

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, with rind, cut in thin rounds
• 1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/4-inch thick.

Put some flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, beat the eggs with 3 tablespoons of water to make an egg wash. Heat the oil over medium-high flame in a large skillet.

Dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden, turning once. Remove the chicken cutlets to a large platter in a single layer to keep warm.


Toss the lemon slices into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the wine, broth, and lemon juice, simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the sauce slightly.

Roll the butter in some flour and add it to the skillet, this will thicken the sauce. Stir to incorporate and dissolve the flour. Reduce the heat to medium-low and return the chicken to the pan; place the lemon slices on top of the cutlets. Simmer gently for 2 minutes to heat the chicken through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

 I hope you get the chance to try this tantalizing chicken dish, maybe some carrots, steamed snow peas, peasant bread, and Fettuccine Alfredo.