Roy's Rockin' Pecan Pie

Needing a southern pecan pie recipe yesterday, I contacted our friend Roy, a man of many culinary talents. Roy, a Southerner through and through, really knows his stuff when it comes to southern cooking. I knew I could count on him to come through with a great recipe, so I fired off a quick email. He wrote back saying he a had a perfect recipe and, even better, it didn't have Karo syrup! I'm not exactly sure what the big scare is about Karo syrup these days. I know, I know, it's high fructose corn syrup and it's in everything from fruit juice to ketchup to crackers. And for some reason, it is now to be avoided at all costs unless you want to die a sticky, slow death,

...or something like that.

"Fine, no Karo. I'm cool with that. But what I want to know is, will this provide THE Southern Pecan Pie Experience? Can it deliver? I have a girl here who is spending her last Thanksgiving at home with her family before she marries and moves two million miles away from me. And she has requested a true-blue, gen-u-ine Pea-Can Pie. This is serious business! I can NOT let her down."

At this point, Roy starts to get a little nervous. He begins to question whether his recipe is going to live up to the high expectations being placed on it. Will it be THAT good?? What if she is....disappointed?

Well, I'm happy to say that The Pie came through for us. It delivered. It hit the spot. It brought a big smile to my girl's face. It was perfect.

Yes, it was THAT good!

So, of course, now I have to share this recipe with all of you. I had faith that it was going to be a rockin' good recipe, so I even made photos while I was assembling it. You'll just have to try it out and see for yourselves.

Thanks, Roy. Your pie has earned a permanent spot on our Thanksgiving dessert buffet. And we're going to call it:

Roy's Rockin' Pecan Pie

(makes 2 pies)

1 Box (16 Ounces) Brown Sugar

1 Stick Butter

4 Eggs

2 Tablespoons Corn Meal

2 Tablespoons Water

2 Tablespoons Vanilla Flavouring

1 Pinch of salt

2 Cups crumbled pecans

2 unbaked deep dish pie shells

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Pour 1 cup of pecans in each pie shell
Mix all ingredients and pour over pecans
Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes

The chopped pecans go in first.

This is almost a Paula Dean....Lots-o-butter and brown sugar!

There's Roy's Rockin' Pie, down front, before my girl attacked it.

Well??....The suspense was killing us!

What more can we say??

Hope you all had a rockin' good Thanksgiving Day!

Love,
Laura Lee

Peanut Butter Pie

OK, I want to know who doesn't love chocolate and peanut butter? I mean, be real! I believe it must be a combination created in heaven. No, I'm certain of it. And this simple dessert adds in a chocolate chip cookie crust to boot! So, it's about as close to peanut butter-chocolate-heaven as you can get.

Sharon sent me this recipe. A lot of my super awesome recipes have come from her. So do yourself a favor and trust me on this one. It is simply divine!

Peanut Butter Pie

• 1 roll chocolate chip cookie dough

***

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup water

***

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press cookie dough into bottom of spring form pan. Bake for about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar, and water. This will be STIFF. Spread over cooled cookie crust.

Melt chocolate chips with butter. Spread over peanut butter. Cool in refrigerator.

Dinner's Ready When the Smoke Alarm Goes Off

Abby and I are in Morton, IL visiting Jonathan, her fiance'. On Saturday night we thought it would be fun to do a little cooking so we ventured out to Wal-Mart to purchase all the necessary ingredients for Blackened Chicken Pasta.

This is a recipe his mother put together for him modeled after a dish they had once at Steak and Ale. He assured us we would love this and he was right. This is really, really good! The Blackened seasoning is very spicy and he used a LOT of it. Cooking over a high flame, it was blackening all right, and also smoking up the whole apartment. But it was worth it. Try this one out!

Heat butter in the skillet and fry the seasoned chicken.

Sprinkle on a LOT of this.


You pretty much want to cover the chicken in this stuff.


Get the noodles started while the chicken is cooking.


Working on the sauce.


Cover the surface of the sauce with more seasoning...


Oh, that's starting to smell really good!


Garlic bread...most definitely.


Pop the bread under the broiler. (That chicken is starting
to really smoke now! Time to open the doors and windows!)

You look pretty comfortable in here, Abby.
Better get used to it!

Putting on the finishing touches. Your mama would be proud!

Welcome to J&A's Bistro. Lovin' that black china, Jonathan!
Very impressive!


Mrs. St. Clair's Blackened Chicken Pasta

• 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 pint half and half (or just use three cups milk)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 stick butter
• salt
• pepper
• Blackened or Cajun seasoning
• garlic powder
• 1 lb fettucine or linguini, cooked and drained

Sauce: Put milks, cornstarch, and 1/2 stick butter in saucepan. Add salt, pepper, garlic, and blackened spices to taste. (We decided it was at least 2 tsp of blackened seasoning in the sauce.)  Cook on medium heat until thickened.

Wash chicken and coat with blackened seasoning. Fry in butter in HOT pan until cooked through. Slice into thin strips. Serve pasta topped with chicken, pour, sauce on top. Serves 6 or 7.