Crockpot Pecan Pie

I found this recipe for Pecan Pie on Pinterest. Those girls at crockingirls.com are simply amazing! They created a sure-fire winning recipe that literally requires no alterations! After successfully making this, I am going to go back to their website and see what other jaw-dropping recipes they got over there. Be sure to check out their website! What sold me on giving this recipe a try was that it is completely cooked in a crockpot! Perfect for our hot and humid summers where turning on the oven is against our summer house rules, lol! It was so simple to make! There’s very few ingredients yet the end result is a very decadent Pecan Pie that will satisfy your nutty, sweet cravings! Make this today and folks just won’t believe it came from a crockpot!

Printable Recipe: Crockpot Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 uncooked pie crust

• 3 eggs

• 1 cup sugar

• 2/3 cup dark Karo syrup

• 1 cup pecans, broken up

• 1/2 cup margarine, melted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Line your crockpot with a crockpot plastic liner or foil that has been generously sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. The gals over at crockingirls.com just sprayed their crockpot with non-stick cooking spray.

After reading several comments on the recipe’s original website, I decided I wanted some sort of liner to make it more easier to lift the entire pie out of the crockpot. Probably the best way is to use specially made plastic bags that are meant to be put in the crockpot. I didn’t have any on hand and went with foil. It worked out just fine for me with foil.

Press the uncooked piecrust into the slow cooker (on top of the liner or foil) and up the edge about one inch.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Whisk till yolks are broken and all ingredients are well distributed.

Pour into the center of the pie crust slowly. If your pie crust is more than 1/2″ above the pie filling, gently push down the pie crust to 1/2″ or little less above the pie filing. I learned this the hard way with the first pie I made (yes, I’ve made a couple in the past week alone). If your pie crust is way above the filling, it will fold over into the pie filling itself while cooking up. The problem is that the sticky, sweet pie filling then spills over the pie crust and gets down between the foil and the pie crust up underneath the pie. This makes it almost impossible to slip the foil out from under the pie when it is cooked. I am guessing you will have the same problem with a crockpot plastic liner. Even when heavily sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, it was very hard to separate the foil from the crust when the filling got between them. Cover and cook on high between 2.5-3 hours on high. Mine took 2 hours and 40 minutes exactly.

Lift the pie out of the crockpot by grabbing the foil corners or the edges of the crockpot plastic liner and gently place in a pie plate. This really is a two person job with each person grabbing 2 corners. Allow to cool and for the pie filling to set before trying to slip out the foil or plastic liner. Store leftovers in the fridge. Wondering about the crust? I was simply amazed at how perfectly “baked” the pie crust was. Golden brown and cooked throughout. Solid on the bottom and flaky around the edges!

Note: I used a standard round crockpot that was 5-6 quarts in size. If using an oblong crockpot, then allow the pie to cool inside the crockpot. You will probably have to cut the slices in the crockpot and gently remove each slice. Placing the oblong pie onto a cookie sheet may cause the sides to collapse. I can just tell you that a pie made in a round crockpot fit perfectly in a 9-inch glass pie plate.

Love our Kids

Most of you know I have PH. My list of limitations grows each year. The one that breaks my heart is not being able to pick up my youngest son…but we make do. Spencer climbs into my lap for hugs or stands on a chair for a big hug. Lifting more than 10-15 lbs gives me chest pains, just par for the course. Today he wanted to go downstairs to be with his bubby and his friends but we keep a permanent gate up to keep the dog from going down. I told Spencer I would lift him over the gate in a second. He put his little hand on my knee and said, “You’re my best mommy but your arms aren’t strong enough” with the sweetest smile. I love that tiny kid of ours, he just gets me! Oh and Stevie came up the stairs to get his baby brother, love that big kid of ours too! 🙂

Grilled Peanut Butter Sandwich with Caramelized Bananas

I was watching the Food Network…or maybe it was the Travel Channel? Oh well, I don’t even know what show it was but someone made a deep fried PB&J with bacon and bananas. It was over the top and looked quite divine! I was in the mood later in the day for something sweet and salty so I came up with a Grilled Peanut Butter Sandwich with Caramelized Bananas. All I can say is…WOW! Sweet caramelized bananas on top of a warm puddle of peanut butter and smashed between grilled cinnamon-buttered bread slices. Yep, I went there and it was fantastic!

Printable Recipe: Grilled Peanut Butter Sandwich

with Caramelized Bananas

Ingredients:

• 1 Banana, peeled and sliced

• 2 full teaspoons of brown sugar

• 1/4 cup butter/margarine, melted

• 1.5 teaspoons sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 slices of bread

• Peanut butter

Directions:

In a small skillet, add bananas. Sprinkle brown sugar on top.

Over medium heat, sauté bananas until warmed throughout and caramelized.

Set aside.

In the melted butter, add sugar and cinnamon.

Using a pastry brush, apply the cinnamon/sugar butter to one side of a slice of bread.

Place the bread slice buttered-side down in a medium-sized skillet. Spread a thick layer of peanut butter on top of the bread slice that was just placed in the skillet.

Using a pastry brush, brush the second slice of bread. Place the bread slice buttered-side down in the same skillet (next to the other slice, not on top of it). There will be left over cinnamon butter. Place it in the fridge to use in the near future; like on toast or biscuits. Grill bread slices over medium heat until light brown.

Using a spatula, carefully remove the peanut butter slice of bread on to a plate with the buttered-side down. Pile high the caramelized bananas on top of the melted peanut butter.

Place the other grilled slice of bread on top (buttered-side on top).

Guess the next time I make these I’m going to have to throw on a couple pieces of bacon for added crunch and salty goodness! I’m thinking crunchy peanut butter with peanut pieces would also make this even more awesome!

Worthy of Celebration

This is how I feel every morning when I wake up. I am thankful for one more day with my husband and our children. I go to sleep asking the same thing every night…One more day Dear God…

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Wishing all of you a happy and blessed weekend!

Extra Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken

If you personally know me then you know what a huge task it is for me to cook fried chicken. I don’t do bones. I detest bones. I get nauseated by bones and anyone eating something with bones in it next to me really freaks me out! I don’t know why, I’ve always been that way. So everything I eat is typically boneless. If it has bones, my super amazing husband will cut away the bone in another room for me. Yes, it is ridiculous. I realize that but I have never been able to handle bones. However, when it comes to fried chicken, you need the bone. Bone-in chicken makes the most moistest of meats. So once in a great, great, great while when I am absolutely craving fried chicken…this is the recipe I use. Our Extra Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken has so much flavor and the meat is super moist! I was craving this so much that I texted the hubby and asked him if he thought I could cut up a whole chicken. I was trying to keep costs down. He responded with one word, “nope”. He knows me so well, lol! I’m pretty sure if I cut up a whole chicken I would pass out, lol! So instead, I sent our 16-year-old to the store to get a package of chicken breasts and chicken thighs. No way on Earth could I do legs or wings. Way too many bones, ligaments and tendons. Oh dear, making myself nauseated, lol! Ok back to our recipe. Stevie came back with breasts and thighs alright. The breasts were as huge as our dinner plates! What kind of chicken is that?! The thighs were as big as normal chicken breasts! These chicks definitely were pumped up with steroids or something! They were that crazy huge! Anyhow, I made it through cooking ’em up and they were mighty tasty!

Printable Recipe: Extra Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 bone-in chicken breasts with skin & 4 bone-in chicken thighs with skin

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• 2 teaspoons garlic

• 1 tablespoon seasoned salt

• 2 teaspoons black pepper

• 2 teaspoons chicken or poultry seasoning

• 3 cups flour and 3/4 cup flour, separated

• 2 cups buttermilk

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Fill your deep fryer with vegetable oil up to the recommended line for your particular deep fryer. Heat oil to 350 degrees. Rinse chicken parts and pat dry with a paper towel. Set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, combine paprika, garlic, seasoned salt, black pepper, chicken or poultry seasoning and flour. In another medium-sized bowl, combine buttermilk, salt and pepper. Once oil is heated up to 350 degrees, dip one chicken part in the flour mix coating all sides. Then dip the flour-coated chicken part into the buttermilk mix coating all sides. Take the buttermilk-dipped chicken part and dredge it back into the flour mix. Carefully drop the chicken part into the deep fryer. Repeat adding as many chicken parts that the deep fryer can hold (all chicken parts need to be completely submerged into the oil). Deep fry until golden brown, all juices run clear and the internal temperature of the chicken is at least 165 degrees (approximately 15-18 minutes).

Remove from fryer and place chicken on a cooling rack (placed over a cookie sheet to catch any oil drippings). Allow oil to heat back up to 350 degrees. Repeat steps 5-12 with remaining chicken parts.

The flavor of this fried chicken is out of this world! It does make an extra crispy coating because it is triple dipped. If you don’t like your coating this thick and crunchy, omit the first dip in the flour mix. Instead go straight to the buttermilk mix, then to the flour mix and then to the deep fryer. Either way, you will love the flavor explosion!

Garlic and Herb Buttered Corn on the Cob

Who doesn’t love corn on the cob? A plump, sweet ear of corn is one of the best gifts from any garden! I think the yucky part of making corn on the cob is trying to butter a hot ear of corn. It’s always messy and the darn ears are always blazing hot. This is how we flavor up our corn and fix the buttering fiasco. The garlic and parsley just gives a hint of flavor and elevates our corn to the next level!

What you definitely do need is the Reynolds Wrapper. It is individual pieces of foil. The foil is thick and perfect. Great for quick clean up of leftovers and fantastic on the grill.

Printable Recipe: Garlic and Herb Buttered Corn on the Cob

Ingredients:

• 8 ears of corn, shucked

• 1 stick of butter/margarine, softened to room temperature

• 2 teaspoons of Spice World Minced Garlic

• 2 teaspoons of dried parsley flakes

• Reynolds Wrapper Pop-Up Foil Sheets

Directions:

Fill a large stockpot with water. Place on burner on high heat. In a small bowl, add butter/margarine. With a fork, stir vigorously to make butter/margarine creamier.

Add garlic and parsley flakes. With the garlic, I add the minced chunks but also make sure that the teaspoon has some of that great garlic liquid in it. Stir till well combined.

Generously smother ears of corn with garlic and herb butter. Look at all that butter smashed between the kernels! YUM! You can use a butter knife or small spatula to smear the garlic and herb butter. I used a pair of disposable kitchen gloves. I scooped out some garlic and herb butter and then smeared it across the corn on the cob with my gloved hand. Took me less than a minute to smother all 8 ears of corn!

Place in center of foil. Pull up long edges (going with the width of the corn) and fold down tightly several times. Twist foil ends tightly. If the foil is folded and wrapped tightly, water shouldn’t get into the foil packet you created.

Once water is boiling, add the foil wrapped ears of corn.

Boil for approximately 15-20 minutes. Rotate top ears of corn and bottom ears of corn every 5 minutes. Foil will turn a dark gray color. It won’t affect the flavor of the corn.

Carefully remove foil from corn (foil and corn will be hot). Best part of this recipe? Your ear of corn is already buttered and full of flavor! These ears are ready to eat so serve immediately! We love our corn on the cob this way! Wondering what else in on this plate? Well it’s my triple-dipped Extra Crispy Fried Chicken and Spam Fried Rice. Don’t judge, lol. Spam is fantastic with rice. Ask any Filipino, lol! I will post both those recipes in the next few days!

Bacon Fried Rice

Who doesn’t love bacon? Our family certainly loves it! Growing up, I had rice for every meal. I mean EVERY meal. For breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, for dessert…even for snacks! I’ve had rice every which way possible. Fried, steamed, sticky, cake and even chocolate. That’s what happens when your mom raises you and she is 100% Filipina. I was so sick of rice by the time I was a teenager that I pretty much boycotted it in my early adult years. Then here comes our son and he LOVES rice. He would eat it every night if I would just make it! It took a long time but I am back to cooking rice more often. Recently, we went to a graduation party and they served fried rice. It was bacon fried rice. Seriously?!? Why haven’t I thought of this before? My mom has put everything into her fried rice: steak, chicken, shrimp, pork and even Spam. Not once in my 40+ years on Earth have I ever eaten bacon friend rice or even thought about adding bacon. Doh! It’s such an obvious meat to add especially when you consider that bacon grease can be substituted for some of the vegetable oil for a serious flavor boost! So of course I had to play around with our Easy Fried Rice recipe to come up with our version of Bacon Fried Rice.

Printable Recipe: Bacon Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons bacon grease

• 1/2 to 1 small onion, diced small (depending on your preference of how much onion you want)

• 1 lb ground pork

• 2-4 eggs (depending on your preference of how much egg you like in your Fried Rice)

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup frozen carrots & peas (optional)

• 3 tablespoons of bacon grease

• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

• 6 cups of fully cooked white rice

• 6-8 strips of fully cooked bacon, sliced in thin sections

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Add two tablespoons of bacon grease to a large frying pan. Sauté onions over low to medium heat.

Add ground pork and cook until pork is no longer pink. Remove cooked and crumbled pork from pan into a bowl. If adding peas and carrots, add them frozen now. In a medium bowl, add eggs, garlic powder, pepper and salt. Mix eggs with a whisk breaking the yolks. Add egg mix to the frying pan. Scramble eggs lightly. When the eggs are halfway cooked, add 3 tablespoons of bacon grease and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Quickly add the rice. Stir continuously until all the little pieces of rice are lightly coated in oil, separated and eggs are fully cooked. Add sliced bacon and cooked ground pork. Stir till well combined.

Add soy sauce and stir till well distributed into the rice. Serve warm.