Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart

Ingredients:
1 Savory Tart Shell, below, or recipe of your choice, in a 9-inch tart pan and ready to fill
1 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
1/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled (about 3/4 cup)
1 tablespoons finely chopped herb or herbs of your choice, such as a mixture of thyme and rosemary
Fine sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium saucepan, cover potato slices with water by two inches. Simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. If the potatoes don’t seem very dry, pat them dry with towels.
Arrange potato slices, overlapping slightly, in concentric circles around the tart pan. Sprinkle blue cheese over potatoes. Whisk cream and egg yolk together and pour into tart shell, then sprinkle tart with herbs of your choice and salt.
Bake tart on a baking sheet until bubbling and golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on rack and serve warm or cold. With a big green salad, for balance.

Savory Tart Shell

Ingredients:

1 1/4 (5 1/2 ounces) cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter, diced
1 large egg

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and salt. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or two knives until it is in very tiny bits. Add one egg and mix with a fork until a dough forms. If this does not happen easily, toss it out onto a counter and knead it together. This dough is rather tough but with a little elbow grease, it does come together nicely.
This dough can also be made a food processor, or in a stand mixer, though I’ve only tried it in a food processor.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate or tart pan and press to remove any air bubbles. Level the edges, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Proceed with a filling of your choice, no parbaking required.

From: Smitten Kitchen

Toll House Pie (AKA Chocolate chip cookie pie)

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell *
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

• Directions

  PREHEAT oven to 325° F.
  
  BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.
  
  BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.
  Enjoy :)

Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:
1 9-inch frozen unbaked pie shell, baked and cooled
1 1/3 cups creamy peanut butter (do not use chunky)
1/2 cup half-and-half
2/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup cold whipping cream
2 Tablespoons chopped peanuts

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix peanut butter with half-and-half and 2/3 cup of the powdered sugar until smooth.
2. Spoon into pie crust.
3. Beat 1/3 cup granulated white sugar with butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the melted chocolate.
4. Spread mixture over peanut butter filling. Refrigerate 1 hour.
5. Beat whipping cream with remaining 2 tablespoons powdered sugar until peaks form. Spread on top of pie, garnish with chopped peanuts.

Baked Brie Bites

Rose and Eric made up this recipe based on our favorite baked brie!

Ingredients

- brie

- Pillsbury pastry sheet

- jam or topping of your choice (we used a fig-walnut jam and cranberries sprinkled with brown sugar)

Directions

- Cut brie into bite sized pieces

- Place brie on a laid out pastry sheet and cut squares of dough around each piece

- Top brie with a 1/4 tsp or less of jam

- fold up and press corners of the pastry sheet squares together to form a little closed pocket

- Place on a sprayed cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 375 F.

- Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Moussaka

 Directions:

• Fry 2-3 large eggplant in 1/4 inch slices 
• Saute 1 chopped onion and lots of garlic
• Add 1 lb lean ground beef and cook 
• Add 3 tbsp tomato paste (one tin)
• Add 1 can broth  (15 oz)
• Add dried oregano 
• Add salt
• Add pepper
• Add 1/8 tsp cinnamon(opt)
• Bring above to boil, cook 5 min until thick and set aside
• At the same time:Combine 1 1/4 milk, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp nutmeg with wisk
• Boil, reduce heat and add 1 egg - stir in with wisk
• Arrange 1/3 eggplant on pan, sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp parmesan cheese, top with 1/3 meat... Repeat twice.
• Pour milk mix over layers
• Sprinkle with cheese
• Bake @ 350* for 25 min  until sauce is set 
• Broil 5 min if you like or not.

 Serves 4-6 

Mediterranean Penne with Sausage

Ingredients

·         2 red bell peppers, chopped

·         1 small bulb fennel, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced

·         1 large onion, chopped

·         1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into small chunks

·         1 clove garlic, minced

·         3/4lb Italian-style turkey sausage, casings removed

·         1 jar (25.5 oz)pasta sauce (any flavor)

·         2 cups water

·         2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed

·         ½ teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes 

      8oz penne pasta

 Directions

1. Coat large skillet with cooking spray. Add bell peppers, fennel bulb (made without bulb and added more seeds which worked fine), onion, eggplant, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, over medium heat 5 minutes, or until fennel starts to soften. Add sausage. Cook, breaking up sausage with back of spoon, 3 minutes, or until no longer pink.

2. Add pasta sauce, water, fennel seeds, and red-pepper flakes. Stir to mix. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 to 25 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Place pasta in serving bowl. Top with sauce. Add up to 1/2 cup of reserved cooking water, if needed, for sauce to coat pasta.

Serves approx 6

Apple Pie with Oatmeal Streusel

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) pie shell
• 5 cups apples - peeled, cored and sliced
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup butter

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Fit pastry shell into pie pan and place in freezer.
2. To Make Apple Filling: Place apples in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine 2 tablespoons flour, white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Mix well, then add to apples. Toss until apples are evenly coated.
3. Remove pie shell from freezer. Place apple mixture in pie shell and dot with 2 tablespoons butter or margarine. Lay a sheet of aluminum foil lightly on top of filling, but do not seal.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
5. While filling is baking, make Streusel Topping: In a medium bowl combine 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar, oats, and lemon peel. Mix thoroughly, then cut in 1/2 cup butter or margarine until mixture is crumbly. Remove filling from oven and sprinkle streusel on top.
6. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until streusel is browned and apples are tender. Cover loosely with aluminum foil to prevent excess browning. 

If you’d rather make your own pie crust:

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cups butter
• 1 tsp salt
•  4 Tbsp ice water (1 at a time, up to 8 depending on weather, temp, etc)

 Directions

Add first 4 ingredients in food processor, or cut with pastry knife. Add water until dough is mendable. Put in fridge for at least 20 minutes before adding filling.
For top and bottom crust, cut in half if just making bottom

(We cut the recipe in half because we only made the bottom crust - the top is the oatmeal streusel!)