Cranberry "Pie"

I don't think that there is much to be said about my love of all things pie. I love pie. I love desserts. I love pie. So so much.

Pie is easy once you know what you're doing, and the real variation comes in for the filling. I mean, the perfect pie crust needs no variation... other than how many I make in a week. Except, when I discovered this pie that wasn't really a pie at all. Because, well, no crust. At all.

If you like cranberries you'll love this pie. It's more like a cobbler, but since you can slice is I guess that's why it's considered a pie.

You'll Need:

Softened Butter, For Greasing
2 cups (heaping) Cranberries
¾ cups Pecans, Chopped (measure, Then Chop) (or just use less because I bought pre-chopped)
⅔ cups Sugar
1 cup Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 stick Unsalted Butter, melted
2 whole Eggs, Lightly Beaten
1 teaspoon Pure Almond Extract
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar For Sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Start by buttering a standard size cake pan. Please use butter, not any sort of spray thing. You're cooking here, not being lazy. Butter the pan. Next you'll add the cranberries and smooth them out so they are in a single layer on the bottom. Oh, I forgot to mention something, this is the easiest pie/whatever you'll ever make. It tastes wonderful though, so people will think you're awesome.

Next, add the nuts. If you don't like nuts don't worry, you can't taste them really. Pecans are pretty good as far as nuts go. I really only like peanuts and pecans. Or candied walnuts. But not regular walnuts.

 This is where if I was one of those annoying bloggers who had music accompanying their sup par writing you'd be hearing "pour some sugar on me! In the name of love..." however I am not annoying and just write the words letting your inner voice sing it to you. You're welcome. Here you use the 2/3 cups of sugar, pour it on and you can shake it down or not, just try to get it everywhere.

 Time for the top part. Combine flour, 1 cup of sugar, melted butter, eggs, almond extract, and salt. Stir gently to combine.

 Pour it over the filling and smooth it out.

yup, that's my marching band sweatshirt. be jealous

Next you can either sprinkle it with the remaining sugar like I did or follow the directions and wait till there are only five minutes of cooking left  to do it. Either way finish it off with the sugar.

 Bake it for 45 to 50 minutes

Or until it looks like this! Hello lover, get in my mouth!

Eat this with nothing, whipped cream, ice cream, or whatever you think would be good. I suggest if you're bringing it to a family event hoard your can of boozy whipped cream and smother it. Boozy whipped cream is from heaven.

Merry Christmas!

Zucchini Cakes

Food blog, you live?

How funny... I figured you'd have died from all my neglect. Please forgive me.

Today, I am sharing my favorite appetizer type dish. Zucchini cakes, from The Pioneer Woman and Pastor Ryan. I feel that if you use this basic form for any vegetable really you'll have good "cakes" and therefore happy eaters.

You will need:

1 or 2 Zucchini

2 cloves of minced garlic (1 tbsp)

1/2 cup (seasoned) bread crumbs

3 eggs

1/2 cup of Cheese (Romano, Parmesan, Italian blend, whatever)

salt and peppa to taste

enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a skillet

This makes enough for 4 people.

  

Start by grating the Zucchini. If, you were to say, be doing this for potato pancakes, I'd vote using frozen hash browns because that's just easier and you're frying it so does it really matter if it's fresh?

Well, I am the one who cuts potatoes when I am making chili cheese fries.. so I don't know what I'm talking about. Normally fresh is best, but grating this takes a long time. I don't think I would if it were potatoes.

 Grate the zucchini (after you've cut off the ends thankyouverymuch) and put it in a towel.

This stuff is wet, you need to basically ring out the towel with the zucchini in there. Use a not white towel, because the liquid is green. Once it's drained throw all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix it till it's thick enough to form cakes. Start out with two eggs, and, if things aren't getting together like they ought to then add the third. I've always needed the third egg, but, you never know.

The cheese choice is sort of important. I used pre grated and the crap Parmesan in the green tube because I get too tired after grating all that zucchini to bother with doing the same for cheese. Fresh cheese is always better, but, I'm not super in love with grating so I won't get mad (for this recipe only) if you use the stuff from the store. Here, this time I used Romano and Parmesan and I love what Romano does to it. It's good with the Italian seasoning in the bread crumbs.    

Once the mixture looks like this you're set.

Make the patties about two inches in diameter and a centimeter thick.

Heat the oil over medium high heat. Using olive oil makes this healthy.. and counter acts the cheese or something. Basically it's calorie free and you can eat it on all those diets we're all about to start come January one.

When everything is hot and bothered add the cakes to the oil, and let them cook on each side for about 5-8 minutes

Till they look about like this. On each side of course.

Serve them with ranch. If you like things with a bit of a kick you can sprinkle red pepper flakes over the top, I, however, hate red pepper flakes so I don't do it. But, that doesn't mean I won't encourage you to do so, I'm all about adversity here in my Kitchen. As long as you clean up when you're done.