The Ranch Kitchen's Granny's Pecan Pie

My Granny's Pecan Pie is one of those recipes that I would probably grab first after my family if my house burned!  We love it and think it's the perfect consistency for a pecan pie. As pecan pies go, there are several variations.  You have your thick ones, more fluid ones, and then you have more of a tart variety.

I made this pie for my staff at school the other day and got a honest compliment from a friend telling me, "I love this pecan pie because it's not too runny!"  People like different things in their desserts, and I can safely say not a crumb was left of this pecan pie that I made two of for that day at school, AND it wasn't runny!

This recipe comes from my Granny Louise Wilson Young's collection of recipes from probably back in the early 1950's.  On my green smudged recipe note I keep on my refrigerator (because this recipe stays out at all times), it says that this was from an old Ford Magazine circular and was called a New England Pecan Pie.  If you've never looked through an antique stores recipes books or old recipe circulars you are missing out.  It gives a you a taste of Americana that you can't get anywhere else! On of my plans is to organize these one day as I have a small fortune of them.

I do have to say that wherever this pecan pie recipe came from it's our family favorite.  There's something about an old recipe and where it came from.  We want to make sure to always give credit to the creator, but after almost sixty years  in your family it becomes your own and is now solidly what I call my Granny's recipe!

Today, on my first day off for spring break I actually got up to fix this pie at 7 a.m.  What is it about a day off and you can't sleep?  However, with a visit to see my mother-in-law, haircut, bull sale and husband sweetly asking with a smile for this pecan pie for our big luncheon at the sale today, I had a lot to do! 

It's glorious being off as an educator for a full week!  My little Audrey and I plan on taking full advantage of it; see the sisters and cousins hopefully, spend time with Nanny, work cattle and then show and do a speaking contest a little at the Houston Livestock Show!  Whew!  We will be ready for school to start back for a break!

This recipe is pretty much a two bowl wonder.  You'll notice I didn't make my own pie crust!  As someone said, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

Give it a try and I hope you'll love it like we do.


Granny's Pecan Pie

1 cup pecan pieces, halved four times or kept whole
2 tbsp. corn starch
1/2 cup sugar (white)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup soft unsalted butter (leave it out to get to room temperature or microwave until just softened, but not hot or boiling - I've done that...don't do that & if you do cool it before adding it!)
dash of salt (about 1/8 teaspoon)
1 cup light corn syrup (Karo Syrup)
1 tsp. vanilla (I use the good Mexican variety)

Mix cornstarch and sugar together.  Beat eggs in a separate bowl.  In a large mixing bowl place eggs, adding butter, salt, corn syrup and blending on a medium speed.  Add cornstarch and sugar gradually to the wet mixture and continue to mix on a medium speed. Add vanilla at the end and mix until blended well. 

Place 1 cup pecans face up (pretty side up) in your pie crust shell.  Pour filling over pecans gently scraping the sides of you bowl to get it all of the wet mixture out and into your crust. 

Now this is the kicker!  Make sure you do this! ***Bake your pie on a baking sheet for 10 minutes on 375 degrees.  I use my timer to do this. Beepers work great for my absent mind.  Then immediately turn your oven down to 350 degrees and continue cooking for 50 minutes and no more using your timer!  Take you piesout of the oven and allow to cool.  Once your pie is completely cool or warm enough handle it is ready to eat and enjoy.  Make sure you keep leftover pie in the refrigerator. 

***I made doubled this recipe. 

I especially love my Granny's Pecan Pie with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!  It really brings back memories every time I cook and eat it. 

There is not usually a day that goes by that I don't miss my Granny.  She was every one's cheerleader, wonderful mother, grandmother, great grandmother, daughter, sister, friend, aunt, fabulous cook, and as my husband says the perfect Granny.  She loved her community that she grew up in and her family like no other. 

Love you and miss you Granny and I know you are smiling down on all of us proudly. 



With love,

Alise @ The Ranch Kitchen

Ham Steak and Brown Sugared Pineapple

One of my very favorite dishes to make as a young wife twenty five years back was ham steak and brown sugared pineapple because #1. I love brown sugar, #2. I love pineapple by itself, to drink, in a cake, or on ham, and #3. because and most importantly I can get this meal on the table in under thirty minutes flat! 

If you've read my blog you realize I love to cook, but most importantly my life does not revolve around cooking.  Cooking, yes is an outlet for me, but most importantly it's key that whatever I prepare has both ease and convenience. attached to it.  Because ultimately as much as I love to cook, I love spending quality time with my family even more.

To make this dish an easy clean up, make sure you foil line your casserole dish before you place your ham and brown sugared pineapple on it and then in to the oven to cook. 

For sides, I like to serve baked sweet potatoes with this main dish.  Along with a salad and rolls, dinner is a done deal in no time.


Ham and Brown Sugared Pineapple

Ham steaks (these are large thick slices of ham found in your deli or meat section of your grocery store)

16 ounce can of sliced round of pineapple, drained with juice reserved

1 cup of brown sugar, light or dark (I prefer light)

Place ham on top of foil that has been lightly sprayed with cooking oil or Pam cooking spray.  Lay pineapple rounds on top of your ham.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and place in your oven uncovered.  Cook at 375 degrees until your ham begins to curl up on the ends and is slightly browned.  Use left over pineapple juice from the can  for my favorite dinner cocktail below and enjoy! 

Alise's 'Everything's Better on the Beach' Cocktail

1/4 cup of Bacardi Rum
1 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup strawberry ddaiquiri Mix (liquid), non alcoholic

Place Bacardi Rum in the bottom of your glass.  Add pineapple juice, stir.  Top with strawberry daiquiri mix.  You can either allow the strawberry daiquiri mixture to ooze down into the glass or stir it in to the Bacardi and pineapple mixture. 

***I like to make this times ten and in large pitchers for parties! 

Enjoy! 

Alise

Spaghetti Sauce Goulash

                                 

August....hot, busy, work, both daughters back to jobs and college, and school about to start. Life is full and busy around our house and ranch. We've been blessed and our guardian angels have watched over us this summer as I totalled out my car while sitting at a stop sign (God love that little 88 year old).  We were all unharmed along with the other three cars. Later in the summer we made the nine hour drive home from our National Jr. Hereford Show to yet drive another 5 hours the next day after the youngest had braces put on after teeth removed..(my plan was to do laundry and nurse her and her mouth back to health)!  But an emergency appendectomy was on the slate for our oldest daughter so what does any parent do? You hop back in that car and get there asap! All went well and home again the next day to help both girls recuperate and allow both the parents and the suburban rest! A special thank you to her best childhood friend Kalyn for taking good care of her until we got there!

So now as school begins and I've been so far to a wonderful 3 day writing training with Abydos Literacy Learning.  Only after teaching four days of new and returning teacher inservice last week I've tried my best to cook dinner!  The dish I made a couple of nights ago was with what I had in left my pantry out of desperation. I'll have to say it turned out pretty darn good and will now become a regular until the hubby says to stop making it!  It's pretty economically priced using Italian seasoned frozen ground turkey meat and a dollar can of Hunt's Four Cheese Tomato Sauce with cooked elbow macaroni. As we are still getting fresh zucchini from our garden, I cooked that on the side with a can of Hunt's Chopped Tomatoes with Onions and Bell Peppers.  Using this last of tomato can on the zucchini recipe below is why I had to get creative by using the spaghetti sauce!

Hope you'll try this not so expensive recipe idea.  I layered grated cheddar cheese on at the end on this goulash resisting the urge to pour Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning on it! If you are regular on my blog you know how I love Tony C's!!

Spaghetti Sauce Goulash

1 pound Italian Ground Turkey Meat
1 onion chopped
1 -16 ounce can of Hunt's Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce
2-3 cups water
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning spice
1 bell pepper chopped, optional
3 cups grated Cheddar Cheese

Brown ground turkey meat and chopped onion in skillet. I prefer to use a Teflon coated skillet. Drain off excess grease. Add elbow macaroni noodles and then Hunt's Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce and 2 -3 cups water.  You'll want just enough water to cover your noodles and mixture by 1/2 inch. Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce to a low fire (low boil). Cover mixture and stir occasionall.  Cook for about twenty minutes until noodles are fork tender.  Turn off heat, uncover and add 3 cups of cheddar cheese. Allow cheers to melt and then serve with the zucchini recipe below.

Dinner in under minutes!  Yes!  Hot, filling and twice as good the next night!

                                    

Zucchini and Tomatoes

1 small to medium sized zucchini, chopped in one inch quarters
1/2 onion, chopped
1 - 8 ounce can of Hunt's Tomatoes with Bell Peppers and Onions
Garlic salt and Italian seasoning to taste

Slice zucchini and onion and place ina small sauce pan. Add Hunt's Tomatoes and 1/2 cup water.  Cook on medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low, season with Italian Seasoning and garlic salt, and continue cooking uncovered for 20-30 minutes or until zucchini and onions are tender. Serve as a side vegetable with any meal.  It's is especially good spooned over cornbread. 

Alise

New Years Eve Onion Swiss Cheese Bake

**** This is from an old post that I guess I never posted!  LOL!  This Vidalia Onion and Swiss Cheese Bake is really good...but the post is a year old....gotta love blogging and random post I didn't know I pushed.

**********************From New Years 2012*************************

As I have aged, New Years Eve has taken on a new perspective.  It is no longer about the huge parties, up all night and waking up late the next day.  It's now more about family, friends, and a quiet, nice get together at home where we eat too much, visit, watch the ball drop on the t.v. and the little ones play, and check in on our girls who are out enjoying their evening like we did for so many years.  This year will be no different.  I honestly think I am more excited about this new year than I have been in many years. With my oldest daughter graduated with her masters and determining her future, my middle daughter now classified as a junior at Texas A&M, our 'baby' now a fifth grader, my great job with fantastic administrators, teachers and staff, the great ladies I now serve with on the National Hereford Women board, my sweet husband, and our ranch, life hasn't slowed down and we are excited to see where life takes us all in this new year.  Blessings have been many in our lives and we are very, very thankful to God for his many gifts.

Just this past month I prepared a dish that I think is the perfect pairing with beef.  And if you read my blog...you know we love our Hereford beef on our ranch.  My husband also loves Swiss Cheese more than any thing else I think on this planet.  So with the Vidalia Onions we love and Swiss Cheese, we had the perfect combination of flavors that everyone really enjoyed.  My blogging has taken a back seat recently to my busy life and one of my resolutions for the new year is to post more in the next year and put a few more lower calorie versions or adaptions on the recipes I post.

I hope you'll try this new dish that we all now love.  Preparation time was a bare minimum and I can't wait to try this with steak on the grill or on the side of brisket.  And I have to give credit, where credit is due as I got this recipe off of a new site I found called Instructables.com and they call it Cheesy Onion Casserole.  

Vidalia Onion and Swiss Cheese Bake

Ingredients:

2-3 Tbs butter or margarine
3 large sweet onions or 4 medium white or yellow onions
2 c. shredded Swiss cheese (8 oz.)
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted**
2/3 c. milk
1 tsp. soy sauce
8 or so slices of French bread       

Slice onions and try not to cry. With this many onions, its hard.

Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat, and add onions. Saute onions until clear, a little brown is ok. In a shallow 2 qt. casserole pan, layer onions, 2/3 of cheese and pepper to taste.    

Assemble Casserole

Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat, and add onions. Saute onions until clear, a little brown is ok. In a shallow 2 qt. casserole pan, layer onions, 2/3 of cheese and pepper to taste.  In a sauce pan, heat soup, milk, and soy sauce, stirring to blend. Pour soup mixture in a casserole and stir gently to mix. Top with bread slices. 

Bake at 350 uncovered for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, top of bread should be nice and toasted.  Push bread slices under the sauce and top with the remaining cheese.

Finish Baking and Eat!

Place casserole back in oven and finish baking for 15 more minutes. 

Total prep time: 20 minutes.  

Total baking time: 30 minutes. 

Green Chili Sausage and Egg Casserole

 

 

 

 

Green Chili Sausage and Egg Casserole

 

At our school we enjoy eating.  Our visiting staff members, those that travel from campus to campus in our little small district say we eat better than the others and I agree! Our breakfast are probably one of my favorite meals we do.   Today I want to share with you a quick and easy egg dish that I prepared in a hurry at the break of dawn so that it would be piping hot and ready as soon as I got to school. 

 

This is my Green Chili Sausage and Egg Casserole and you probably have most ingredients in your pantry right now.  If you don't have the green chili's, you can omit them, but I do think it makes this casserole better than one without it.  If I have fresh (garden grown) green chili's or peppers that are sweet, I chop them in my mini food processor and use those instead of the canned variety.  With a good Greek Seasoning or my Tony Chachere's Creole Spice this egg dish turns out perfect every time.  It's great served as left overs for up to three days and you could even freeze individual servings in freezer bags and reheat later for up to 3 months.

 

Green Chili Sausage and Egg Casserole

 

12 eggs, beaten

1 large can of chopped green chili's, 6 ounce or larger

1 onion, chopped; white or yellow or even red is great (optional)

2 lbs. ground sausage, browned and drained
1 cup evaporated milk, or whole milk

2 teaspoons of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese ( reserve one cup for the top of your casserole or mix it in to your casserole - either way is good)

 

Brown sausage and drain all grease off. Cook sausage to just pink in color (medium well done).  Beat eggs and set aside.  Add evaporated milk or whole milk and blend.  Chop onion.  In a large bowl mix together eggs, seasoning, then green chili's and onions.  Add cheddar cheese to egg mixture.  Last add sausage mixing well.   Pour egg mixture into a prepared 9 x 13 inch Pyrex dish or baking dish that has been sprayed with Pam cooking spray/oil.  You may also just grease your dish with cooking oil so that it does not stick when you are cooking it.  Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until mixture is done when you place a toothpick or fork in the middle and eggs are set and not runny.  Sprinkle additional cheese on top and allow to melt.  Cut into squares and eat! 

 

These are great as leftovers and this is a dish I cook at night when we have breakfast for dinner. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Alise @ The Ranch Kitchen