Heddy's frozen pumpkin pie

Delicious! The best tasting (and simplest to throw together) frozen pumpkin pie!

For 1 (* or maybe two) pie(s):

1/2 gallon New York vanilla ice cream
1 can pumpkin (normal size can)
1/2 cup brown sugar (to give that molasses-y flavor)
2 Tablespoons pumpkin pie seasoning
1 purchased graham cracker crust in a foil pan for one mountainous pie (*or divide this recipe between two graham cracker crusts for two prairie-style pies!)

First, take ice cream out of package and soften in a bowl until it can be stirred.

Stir in the canned pumpkin, pumpkin seasoning, and brown sugar.

Mix with a large spoon to the best of your ability without melting the ice cream entirely.

Put mixture in graham cracker crust.

Cover and freeze.

Enjoy!

egg in zucchini nest

Here's a fun dish --

5 servings

In one saucepan,

Hardboil 5 eggs.

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While the eggs are cooking, combine in a separate saucepan:

2 cups rice
2 zucchini squash, sliced
1 yellow summer squash, sliced
4 cups water
1 cup tomato juice
2 tablespoons butter

Cover and simmer until the liquid in absorbed and the rice is soft.

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Drain the hard boiled eggs.
Serve the rice and zucchini mixture into plate bowls.
On top of each "nest" of zucchini and rice, place an unshelled hard boiled egg.
(Put dishes for eggshells near diners' plates on the table so each diner can shell their own egg.)

***

Review:

4 forks -- good to eat and to generate conversation

enzymes make the difference

One area of remarkable advancement in the food industry is the use of enzymes to improve manufactures food products. Checking into the use of enzymes in cheddar cheese, one thing led to another and I eventually stumbled over Novozymes, a Danish company that researches, designs, and manufactures almost 50% of the enzymes added to food products worldwide.

In food manufacturing, enzymes are most often added to baked goods.

In the biofuels industry, enzymes are used to improve the efficiency of chemical conversion of raw materials to finished product. Novozymes is engaged in second generation biofuels research and application.

surprise pie

Last summer we put up lots and lots of gallons of sliced, fresh peaches from our peach tree.
Lots.

Today, I pulled the first gallon bag of frozen, sliced peaches from the freezer.
Surprise Pie was in my mind.

First, I peeled off the plastic bag and threw it out. (Microwaving plastic can release harmful chemicals into food, I understand.)

Then, I washed out the largest Pyrex bowl and placed the block of frozen sliced peaches in it.














Next I microwaved the peaches. For several minutes. Then several more minutes. Hmmmmmmm. Still frozen solid.

So I improvised an ice pick with a table knife and drove it with a wooden rolling pin as a mallet. Drove the table knife into the frozen fruit, . . . sort of, not really.

Kelly came to the rescue with a blow dryer.














After about ten minutes of serious blow drying, I could finally break the gallon of frozen peaches into smaller chunks. That was good enough to pile into pie tins lined with frozen pie crust.











After cooking about 14 minutes in the oven, the pie tins looked like they were about to overflow with excess pie liquid.

So we got out a large glass baking dish and turned the Surprise Pies upside down into it.

We made lunch, ate lunch, and cleaned up afterward while waiting for the Surprise Pie to finish cooking. About the time everyone else had forgotten about it, I remembered to glance in the oven. Looks good!











Baked at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour 40 minutes (or until the crust is brown and juice thickened.)

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Review:

5 forks -- All the fun is in making the pie (actually, a peach cobbler in the end). Tastes good, too.

definitions: tried and true cooking

Now that plain cooking has a definition, we went back to define "tried and true" recipes.

My diners' definitions of "tried and true":

"Old standby recipe."

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"Something without salt added."

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"Something you've done before and everyone likes."

Glad I have the lingo down!

definitions: plain cooking

We had a delightful but oft-repeated entree today -- rice with chili beans. When I called it "plain food", my diners objected. Boo asked me to define "plain".

"Tried and true," I said.
"There is a difference between plain, and tried and true," said Boo.

***

So, what is plain cooking?

My diners said plain cooking is:

"Where the deer and the antelope play."

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"One vegetable and one salad on the plate."

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"Anything without salt added."

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"Something without color."

Do you agree?

deluxe mashed potatoes

Serves 10 people.

Peel and quarter:

• 8 lbs russet potatoes

Boil potatoes in very large pot until soft (at least an hour).

Mash with hand-held potato masher.

Add lots of butter (about two sticks). Or add one package cream cheese.

Add milk to make creamier, if desired.

Whip with hand-held or electric beater to desired consistency.

Fold in 1/3 cup chopped parsley or cilantro.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Review:

5 forks -- totally delicious!