Blueberry & Pear Pie

A group of ladies at work purchased some fresh blueberries and one made a comment to me about taking them and making her a pie. So, I brought them home and did just that.

I made a crust and then followed the below to assemble the pie.

Filling:
6 cups of fresh (or frozen) blueberries, rinsed and stems removed (if using frozen, defrost and drain first)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (for thickening)
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter (unsalted), cut into small pieces

Egg wash:
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

Roll dough out & fit it over a 9-inch pie pan, and trim the edges to a 1/2 inch over the edge all around the pan. Put into the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.
Gently mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Transfer them to the chilled bottom crust of the pie pan. Dot with butter pieces. Roll out remaining dough to the same size and thickness as the first. Place on top of the berry filling. (As you can see from the picture, I cut the dough into little flowers & placed on top!) Tuck the top dough over and under the edge of the bottom dough, and crimp the edges with your fingers. Transfer the pie to the refrigerator to chill until the dough is firm, about 30 minutes. Heat oven to 425°F.
Whisk egg and milk together to make an egg wash.
Remove the unbaked pie from refrigerator. Brush the top with egg wash. Score the pie on the top with 4 cuts (so steam can escape while cooking). Place the pie on the middle rack of the oven with a parchment paper or Silpat lined baking pan positioned on the lower rack to catch any filling that may bubble over.

Bake for 20 minutes at 425°. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 30 to 40 minutes more or until juices are bubbling and have thickened.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely before serving.
Makes 8 servings.

The reason the title is Blueberry & Pear Pie is because I didn't have enough blueberries so I added equal amounts of Pears. There were several who made it clear they did not like pears but loved the pie! I think the pears pulled the tanginess out of the blueberries and the blueberries added flavor to the pears! Super combination!!

Possum Cream Pie

Also known as....4 Layer Delight! At this same little restaurant we ate at last week, they served up Possum Cream Pie! One look at it and I knew it was what we always called 4 layer delight and I've made it tons of times.
I decided since I was making the Pig Picken' Cake (see below) that I'd make this as well to take to work and share with my co-workers. One other time when I made this, I used coconut pudding so it was like a coconut cream pie! I think you can make it any flavor and it'd be just as good!

Ingredients...
c. flour
1 stick butter
1 lg. container Cool Whip
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans
2 tsp. vanilla
Grated chocolate
1 lg. pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1 lg. pkg. instant chocolate pudding
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese

CRUST: Mix flour, 1 cup chopped pecans and butter. Press in bottom of an 8x13 inch pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool crust completely.

Layer 1: Mix cream cheese, 1/2 cup Cool Whip and 1 cup powdered sugar. Spread evenly over crust.
Layer 2 & 3: Mix puddings separately according to directions using a little less milk so pudding will set thicker. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla to vanilla pudding. Add 1/4 cup powdered sugar to each pudding. Gently spread each bowl of pudding over cream cheese filling.
Layer 4: Spread remaining Cool Whip over pudding. Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans and grated chocolate on top.
Refrigerate long enough for pudding to set.

Pig Picken' Cake

Last week, a co-worker and I ate at a local restaurant we'd heard good reviews on. It was a little out of our way but the food was good. They serve Fried Green Tomatoes and that was the reason I was going!!! We'd heard about this Pig Picken' Cake so of course, we had to give it a try. One bite and I knew I could duplicate it! So, after work, I went by the store and came home to put together my version.

It goes a little something like this...

1 box yellow cake mix

1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges

4 eggs

1/2 c oil

Mix cake mix, oranges (with juice), eggs & oil with an electric mixer until oranges are "blended" and better is fluffy. Divide evenly into 3 round cake pans & bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 mins. Cool.

Icing...

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple

1 (8 or 9 oz) container of Cool Whip

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding mix

Blend pineapple (with juice), Cool Whip & dry pudding mix until well blended. When cake is cooled, ice between layers, sides & top of cake. Keep cake refrigerated.

After I made this, I thought it sure would be good to sprinkle coconut & pecans on top & maybe even decorate with mandarin oranges!

Enjoy!

That Sauce

I am hesitant on calling it a seafood sauce or maybe it should be just a cream sauce...for now, I'll call it...That Sauce. It is a very versatile sauce can be coupled with just about anything. The original sauce calls for crabmeat with rockfish or striped bass fillets. Well, I used crawfish tails and combined it with pork chops. I think it would be good to use shrimp (or crabmeat or scallops) on top of steaks!
I served corn on the cob, twice-baked mashed potatoes and Hawaiian rolls. I think the side items will vary depending on your meat choice. We ended up dipping our rolls in the sauce and even placing it over our potatoes. I think the fish would be awesome served over rice with this sauce. Endless possibilities!!!
The original recipe calls for 1 ½ lbs rockfish or striped bass fillets but I used 8 center cut pork chops and there was PLENTY of sauce! I prepared the pork chops by coating them with flour that I seasoned with “Slap Ya Momma” Cajun seasoning, Garlic pepper & Cayenne pepper.

On to the sauce…
2 ½ tsps McCormick Old Bay with Garlic & Herb Seasoning, divided. (I omitted this since I had seasoned my flour)
3 Tbsp butter, divided (I used butter flavored Crisco)
2 Tbsp white wine (I used white wine cooking sauce)
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 c heavy cream
2 tsp Dijon mustard (I used horseradish Dijon mustard)
8 oz backfin or lump crabmeat (I used crawfish tail – can be purchased in the frozen section at Wal-Mart with the other frozen seafood items) & I added some Cajun seasoning to the tails

Heat large skillet on medium-high heat 3 minutes. (I used my electric skillet) Melt 2 Tbsp butter in skillet. Place pork-chop or fish in skillet. Cook until both sides are browned and when meat is done, remove from skillet; keep warm. Reduce heat to medium.

Stir wine into skillet, scraping bottom to loosen browned bits. Add remaining butter and green onions; cook and stir 1 minute. Gradually stir in cream. (Because I used butter flavored Crisco, there was not a need for me to add more butter.)

Stir in mustard and remaining Old Bay with Garlic & Herb Seasoning. (Again, I omitted this step since my pork chops & crawfish meat was seasoned) Simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in crabmeat (or crawfish, shrimp, scallops, etc…). The original recipe suggests to return the “fish” back to the skillet & cook 3 minutes longer until fish flakes easily with a fork. Because I used pork chops, I cooked the sauce about 3 minutes after I added my crawfish and then used a ladle to top my pork chops on the holding platter!

In case you are wondering about the potatoes… I used the bagged potatoes that you stick in the microwave for 10 minutes and added a little cream cheese, green onions, garlic & shredded cheese and done! Talk about DELISH!