Banana Creme Pie

How do we get fat in the Winerholler home?! PIES! Just kidding! Laurel actually wanted to make this for a neighbor, and it was successful. I L-O-V-E bananas, so this is right down my alley! Once more, thanks to Laurel for teaching me her yummy pie-making skills! I am going to be a pie pro by the end of the summer...Enjoy the recipe.

From: Laurel

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks

2 Tbs. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 9-inch baked pie shell

1 cup whipping cream

1-2 bananas

Find the Yellow Pie Shell recipe here.

Mix sugar, flour, and salt in a saucepan. Add milk gradually, stirring to blend throughly. Make sure to scrape the sides of the saucepan after adding the milk to prevent the flour mixture from scorching to the side while cooking. Bring mixture to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly (about 12 minutes). Reduce heat to a low boil and continue to stir for 4 minutes (mixture will be pudding texture). Temper the egg yolks gradually then add to the cooked filling. Bring again to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Cool about 5 minutes.

Pour a small amount of pudding into pie shell and top with a layer of bananas. 

Repeat 3 times or until desired amount of banana is in pie.

When layers are complete, refrigerate for approx. 1 hour.

Remove the pie from the refrigerator and top with sweetened whipped cream!

Apple Cider Chicken

Sorry about the picture, it's so good I only got a shot of the leftovers!

This such a yummy recipe, we love it!

Apple Cider Chicken

3/4 T olive oil

1/2 t minced garlic

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 apple, peeled and diced

3/4 C apple juice

1 1/2 T butter

-Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat, add garlic. Cook until translucent. Add chicken breasts. Cook on 1st side until white shows 1/2 way up {4-5 minutes} Flip chicken and cook another 2 minutes. Add apples, saute for 2 minutes. Add apple juice and reduce liquid by half. Mix in butter and salt and pepper to taste. remove chicken, pour sauce over chicken and serve over rice! Enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Laurel, my mother in-law, and I made a lemon meringue pie! We had a lot of fun making it because neither of us has made this kind of pie before! It was fun to experiment and put our heads together to see what we came out with...however, it was pretty much just Laurel's head because this is only the second pie I have made in my ENTIRE LIFE! It was pretty much delicious! And, once more, the credit goes to...WENDY! Thank heavens for amazing sister in-laws!

Yellow Pie Crust Recipe From: Laurel

Meringue and Filling Recipe From: Wendy Winterholler

Yellow Pie Crust:

1 1/8 cup flour

1 Tbs. sugar

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup butter flavored crisco

2 Tbs. cold water

Combine flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in crisco like so:

When all mixture is crumbly, add water, 1 Tbs. at a time, and toss with fork after each addition. Mix lightly. After dough is throughly mixed, press dough into a loose ball. DO NOT TIGHTLY PACK DOUGH. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

After refrigeration, roll dough out until approx. 1/4 inch thick. Place into pie pan. Leave 1-inch rim of dough along outer edges of your pan. Form a  rim on edge of pan by pinching with fingers. Prick bottom and side thoroughly with a fork. Bake at 475 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool prior to adding filling.
Meringue:

3 egg whites

2 t. cream of tartar

1/2 t. vanilla

6 Tbs. sugar

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar and vanilla until foamy and about double in volume. Soft peaks will begin to form. Gradually add sugar one Tablespoon at a time, beating at highest speed until sugar dissolves and meringue forms firm peaks. The color at this time will also change from white to glossy.

Filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 Tbs. cornstarch

3 Tbs. flour

dash salt

1 1/2 cups HOT water

3 slightly beaten egg yolks

2 Tbs. butter

a light 1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice (aka...not quite 1/3 cup)

Mix the sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a sauce pan and gradually add hot water, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over high heat until mixture boils. Reduce heat and continue to cook and stir for 2 minutes more. (Make sure that you do the full 2 minute cooking times, this allows the fillings to cook and hold its shaped when cooled).

After the mixture has cooked for the above 2 minutes, crack eggs yolks into a DIFFERENT BOWL. Add a small amount of hot mixture to gradually temper the eggs. (Temper=slowly warm up the eggs before adding them to the boiling mixture, if they are added while cold they will immediately cook, yuck!) Then add the eggs to the boiling mixture and bring to a boil again. Cook and Stir for 2 minutes. Remove the hot mixture from the heat and add butter and lemon juice. Stir until well blended (the butter will be melted).

Pour the hot mixture into the pie shell.

Spread meringue over pie fillings making sure to seal the edges completely to the shell to prevent shrinking. We used a small spatula and plopped ping pong ball sizes of meringue on top, then smoothed so there were no holes. I felt like we were getting TOO close to the edges, I was wrong! Exaggerate sealing the meringue to the shell!

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until meringue is a delicate brown. Allow pie to cool for AT LEAST 4 hours on rack away from a draft.

Serve and be amazed!

Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad

Let's face it, in the summer if I don't have to turn on my stove or oven, I'm a happy girl. So we eat a lot of yummy salads and BBQ! Here is a recipe for Oriental Chicken Salad that tastes very similar to Applebees, yummy!

Romaine Lettuce

Mandarin Oranges

Sugar toasted almonds

Crunchy Asian Noodles

Red Cabbage (we don't usually do this one)

Diced chicken breasts

Dressing:

3 T. honey

4 tsp. mayo

1/2 t. dark roasted sesame oil (this makes the salad, can be found at Walmart in the Oriental aisle, but it's just called sesame seed oil, not dark roasted....anyways....)

1 T. dijon mustard (we used normal yellow mustard and it tasted fine)

1 1/2 T white vinegar

-in a small bowl mix, chill, makes enough for 2 salads.

-I usually grill or saute my chicken in a little bit of the sesame seed oil for the extra taste, then basically construct your little salad on your own little plate with as much or as little salad toppings as you want, then pour dressing over and enjoy! So good!

Cinnamon Stack Biscuits

Delicious, impressive, easy. What else is there to say! These little treats look like they are SO difficult to make, and they taste so yummy! I thought that they would be great for our first post on our Family Food Blog. Even Grandma Beverly is going to make them...they must be good! Melissa, my sister-in-law, made them for us for breakfast, I made them the other day for dessert, they are delicious both ways. Basically, they are a substitute cinnamon roll, but much simpler and still just as tasty. 

From: Melissa

2 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbs. sugar

1/2 cup butter flavored shortening

Combine all of the dry ingredients, then cut in shortening with a pastry cutter until mixed well and slightly crumbly.

Then, slowly stir in:

2/3 cup milk

When dough begins to clump, knead with hands for about 30 seconds, or until dough forms a ball. Flour your surface WELL to prevent sticking, and roll out your dough in a rectangle. Cut off edges to make perfectly straight sides of your rectangle. 

Next, apply the filling:

3/4 stick butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1 HEAPING Tbs. cinnamon

Spread filling evenly to each edge of the rectangle. Cut rectangle from left to right (long-ways) into 5 strips and stack directly on top of one another like so:

Cut into 12 equal pieces and flip each individual piece into a cupcake tin.

Bake for 12-14 minutes at 400.

While they are in the oven, make icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbs. water

Mix together. It should be fairly thick.

Drizzle each biscuit with icing while still warm to enable it to melt. Serve and enjoy!