Wonderful pie

I have a sweet tooth and usually when something is too sweet for others, I love it. But, pecan pies have always seemed sickingly sweet to me. A lady I work with told me she found a recipe for a pecan pie that used oatmeal to cut down on the sweetness. I decided to give it a try for Thanksgiving.

My best friend, Sandy, and I always have Thanksgiving at her house with her family and mine. We split the cooking up. Since she was making pumpkin pies, I decided to bring a pecan pie. I ended up making two. I used the Oatmeal Pecan Pie recipe and a pecan pie recipe that didn't use any corn syrup.

Here is the recipe for the Oatmeal Pecan Pie:

Ingredients:
1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
Cooking spray
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup regular oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325°.
Roll dough into an 11-inch circle. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Fold edges under; flute.

Combine brown sugar and remaining ingredients, stirring well with a whisk. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely on a wire rack.



I was all ready to make the pie when I noticed that the recipe called for regular oats. I had bought the Quaker quick oats. I hoped that it would turn out okay. I also added to few pecan halves on top of the pie to make it look prettier. BTW, this is the first time I fluted the edges of a pie like that. Not too bad for a beginner!

The pie was absolutely delicious! It was a hit and has now been added to my Thanksgiving recipe collection. The pie was sweet, but not too sweet.

The pecan pie without the corn syrup was also very good, but the other one was much better.

Fall fun and a late Octoberfest

Wow! We had another beautiful fall day. Morgan, Jim, and I went outside. Jim was tending to the garden while Morgan played. Here she is wearing a pair of sunglasses that she received at the party yesterday. She is also sporting a Dora tattoo on her left arm. She told me I could have one of her other tattoos, so I had a Dora tattoo on my arm as well!



I keep telling Morgan that this pear tree is not a climbing tree, but she keeps trying!



Morgan and I sat on the porch with spoons of peanut butter. We love peanut butter.




So does Dee Dee! She tried her best to sneak some!





Morgan played on her "playground" for a while. She took one of the dogs' balls away from them and wouldn't give it back. She played with it instead of throwing it back to the dogs.




Then her and Cocoa played in a pile of leaves. Morgan played in the sand after that and we went inside to rest.

At 5 p.m., Jim, Morgan, and I went over to Sandy's house for a late Octoberfest.



Sandy outdid herself as usual. She made everything from scratch and it was a fantastic feast! I love German food. Sandy made schnitzel, gravy, spatzel, brotchen, farmer's bread, red cabbage, German potato salad, rouladen, apple strudel, stollen, and black forest cake. I ate and ate and then I ate some more. I took a lot of leftovers home! We also had some German wine and Octoberfest beer.






Morgan only tried the cake. I knew she wouldn't eat anything else, so I fed her before we left for Sandy's.



But, Morgan had fun playing with Sandy's dog and cats. She also colored and played with dolls while we ate.

Jim and I enjoyed Sandy and John's company as well as another couple that was there. It was nice for all of us to enjoy the evening together for a change.

Timbuktu

Morgan and I went to my best friend's (Sandy) house for our monthly luncheon. This month's luncheon consisted of foods from Timbuktu, which is in west Africa.

Instead of serving each course individually, we had a family style lunch with all of the food on the table. We had so many dishes, it would have taken quite a while to serve it any other way.

Here was the menu:
Yam Foo Foo - This was made by Paula. It was mashed yams that were seasoned with salt, pepper, butter, and sugar. I love yams and this was a nice dish.

There was a Rice bread made by Debi. This bread can be used as a coffee cake or a bread since it is not very sweet. It stays moist for a week. It consisted of cream of Rice, mashed bananas, sugar, nutmeg, salt, baking soda, water, and oil. I think I was the only one who ate this bread. I think most people had a problem with the consistency. It kind of reminded me of a firm flan texture. I thought it was okay, but I wouldn't make it.

I made an African coal-oven shortbread. I really liked this bread because it was very easy to make. The consistency was kind of like a firm cornbread. It was made with flour, margarine, eggs, sugar, and milk.

Sandy made a Mango jam to go with the bread. She also made a spiced butter. The butter consisted of turmeric, cardamom, fenugreek, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, butter, garlic, onions, and ginger. Unfortunately, after all of the work (and ingredients) she put into the butter, no one liked it. I thought it tasted like a chicken stock base instead of butter.

We also had honey yeast bread and cornbread that Sandy made. They were delicious! Sandy redeemed herself! LOL! I will keep both of these recipes.

I made Chicken Yassa.

This is one of Africa's most famous dishes and was a favorite of several of us at the lunch. The fowl in Africa is usually tough. So, the chicken is marinated overnight in lots of onions, lemon juice, cider vinegar, bay leaf, garlic, Dijon mustard, and a sauce (I used a chicken bouillion).

After marinating, I baked the chicken, then put it under the broiler to get the skin browned. The onions were removed from the marinade and sauteed until carmelized. Then the marinade was added to the onions and cooked some, the chicken was then added back to the pan.

Cheryl made a West African black bean and sweet potato burrito. The filling included onions, garlic, peanut butter, sweet potatoes, black beans, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. The burritos were pretty good.

Sandy made African goat stew that was eaten wrapped in a flat bread (that she also made). I knew that the stew was made with goat meat, but waited until everyone else had tried the stew (and said they liked it) before I said to Sandy, "Isn't this the goat stew?" I think our group knows to expect anything, so no one seemed bothered that it was goat meat. The stew was good and so was the meat. It was very tender and not stringy liked Sandy had heard the meat can be.

Sandy also made the greens with smoked bacon which was very good.

Cheryl made a West African fried slaw that was delicious. It had cabbage, green onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, yellow corn, white corn, honey, cider vinegar, toasted coconut, peanuts, hot pepper sauce, and salt and pepper in the dish.

Sandy made Jolluf rice which everyone liked. The rice had meat (I don't remember what kind), yellow onions, green peppers, ginger, tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, thyme, and crushed red pepper in it.

Whew! I'm not done yet!

I made baked sweet plantains. I took a bite and didn't like them. The plantains were cooked with white wine, sherry, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I guess plantains are an acquired taste. I think half of us liked them.

Sharon made a Monrovian coconut pie. The pie was not like a custard pie. The filling was primarily coconut and it soaked up the butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla that was also in the filling. The pie was very good and I think everyone liked it.

Sandy made a passion fruit Bavarian cream that was a gelatin dessert. It was delicious. She also made a peanut butter candy, even though she doesn't like peanut butter! Sandy also made Benne cakes which is a cookie made with sesame seeds. I liked the cookies as well.

I think that was all of the food. We certainly had a lot of dishes to try. Sandy also made an iced mint tea and White Elephant drinks.

Entertainment was provided by Morgan, who played the piano for us!

Next month, Cheryl will be hosting us as we eat foods from Poland.

Morgan and I had a lot of fun at the lunch. We were the last ones to leave!

Iraqi Luncheon with the gals

My best friend, a few other friends, and I started having monthly luncheons about a year ago. Each month, we choose a country, study about their cuisine, and make dishes with recipes from that country. We meet on a Friday afternoon at someone's house and everyone brings the food they cooked. We have made dishes from: Italy, France, Greece, Russia, Ireland, and Mexico. We went regional a few times and made dishes from Louisiana, Texas, and Hawaii. In July, we started calling our little group "The Global Gourmets". LOL

Here we are:

Here I am enjoying the luncheon

This is my best friend, Sandy

This is Cheryl

Paula is on the left; Debi is on the right

This is Lori, who joined us for the 1st time

This is Susanne, Morgan's Godmother

The 29th was the day of our monthly luncheon for August. The country we chose was Iraq, in honor of our troops.

The national name of Iraq is: Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah

Their motto is: "Allahu Akbar" meaning "God is [the] greatest"

Iraqis are known for being very generous and polite, especially when it comes to mealtime. Meals are more often a festive, casual experience than a formal one. Many Iraqis were raised to feed their guests before themselves, and to feed them well. Most Iraqis hosts feel that they are failing in their role as hosts if their guests have not tried all of their dishes. In fact, proper appreciation is shown by overeating.

A typical Iraqi meal starts with a mezze (appetizer), such as kebabs, which are cubes of marinated meat cooked on skewers. Soup is usually served next, which is drunk from the bowl, not eaten with a spoon. A simple main course, such as lamb with rice is served, followed by a salad and khubaz, a flat wheat bread served buttered with fruit jelly on top.

Iraqi food is strongly influenced by its neighboring countries, Turkey and Iran. It is one of the few nations of the Middle East to lack a unique cuisine. Like the Turks, Iraqis like to stuff vegetables and eat a lot of lamb, rice, and yogurt. Like Iranians, they enjoy cooking fruits with beef and poultry.

We started our meal with kebabs and rice that my best friend, Sandy, made.

This was everyone's favorite dish of the day. She used beef and veal that were marinated in soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, ginger, pepper, and garlic. The meat was so tender and flavorful. Thekebabs also had tomatoes, mushrooms, green peppers, red onions, and sliced ginger on them.

The rice was Jasmine rice. It was delicious and a perfect compliment to the kebabs.

Next we had the cold yogurt and tomato soup that I made.

The soup was made with tomato juice, yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, chili powder, salt and pepper, and garnished with coriander leaves.

We followed tradition and drank the soup from the bowls. The soup was okay, four out of the seven of us liked it. I realized afterwards that I had not stirred the soup before serving it. I made it the night before, but should have stirred it again. The yogurt and tomato juice was separated in some of the bowls and that made a difference.

Next we had the main course which was a baked dinner made by Debi.

The dish consisted of eggplant, potatoes, ground beef, tomatoes, onions, and tomato sauce that was seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, and allspice. I think everyone liked the dish except for Debi (who made it). I am a meat and potatoes gal and I really liked the dish.

The next course was a salad made by Paula, and a flat bread made by myself.

I could have eaten a whole plate of the salad which was simply cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, parsley, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. The flat bread was pretty good. I made it with whole wheat flour and it just tasted like a piece of wheat bread, nothing fancy.

The final course was dessert. We had quite a few:

Cheryl made the Dates Halva which was kind of between a cookie and cake. It had chopped dates, walnuts, almonds, ground cinnamon, and allspice. Then it was dusted with powdered sugar. This was a nice treat.

Sandy made candied orange and grapefruit peels and rose petals. You'd never know the peel of these fruits could be SO good unless you tried it! I'm not sure what she did to the rose petals (that she got from her rose bed), but I do know they were coated in sugar and were good.

Sandy also made the Cardamom cookies. They had cardamon and almonds in them. I liked these as well.

My dessert turned out terrible! I knew when I was making the vanilla cake that it was going to be a very heavy cake. It is heavier than a pound cake and very dry. I followed the recipe, so it was not my fault. You need the pomegranate sauce to get it down. BUT, I messed up the pomegranate sauce! It was over-cooked and became thicker than molasses. It had a very good flavor, but it was stuck to the plate. We had to heat the plates in the microwave before we could wash them! Oh well, live and learn. I had an off month with my dishes. I usually make great food. Maybe this will teach me not to use my friends as guinea pigs, but to try them beforehand.
Selling and drinking alcohol is still legal in Iraq, but since the rise of religious parties in this predominantly Muslim country, the trade has come under severe pressure.

Aside from legal restrictions, many liquor shops have been bombed in the past four years. Some who dared sell alcohol from their homes have been killed by religious militias, which use fear and intimidation to keep liquor out of areas they control.

The Iraqis drink more tea per capita than the Irish or British. They also drink a lot of coffee. So, we had coffee with our dessert.

Sandy was very sweet to host the luncheon with a few days notice. We had someone new join us this month, Lori, who is Cheryl's daughter. I have more pictures of us posted in an album, so check them out.

This month, we will be making Brazilian food. I need to start searching for some recipes!