Oh yes I did

Chocolate Buttermilk Pie
The Ugly Binder from Food TV (Sandra Lee)

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 pre-made store-bought (9-inch) deep dish pie crust
Pre-made whipped cream, for garnish

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

Place the chocolate chips in a double boiler and melt over low heat, stirring constantly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt until well combined. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the sugar mixture and mix with an electric hand mixer or whisk vigorously. With a rubber spatula, stir the melted chocolate into the batter.

Pour batter into the piecrust; you will have about 1 cup of left-over batter. I put my crust in a 10-inch pie plate and didn't have any leftover filling. Place pie in oven on middle rack. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until the pie is crisp on top and a knife inserted in the center comes out with just a bit of moist chocolate on it. Mine was done in about 1 hour.

Remove from oven and cool completely. Let stand at least 1 hour before serving. If not eating immediately, refrigerate pie. This pie can be served warm or chilled. Garnish with store-bought whipped cream just before serving.
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Yes, I made a Sandra Lee recipe. I'm not ashamed to admit that I made a Sandra Lee recipe. Seriously, I haven't seen her make too many recipes that I felt the need to try myself but I do watch her show. She may not be a from-scratch cook but she's certainly enthusiastic about what she does. I know many people poke fun at her but I'm sure she's too busy counting her money to care.

I don't own any of her cookbooks but after I saw her make this pie I printed the recipe off of the Food TV site and stuck it in my ugly binder. I had a pie crust and some buttermilk so I decided I would take this for a test run, to see if it was worthy of making the Thanksgiving line up.

This was a good pie (heck, I ate about half the pie over the course of the weekend) but I think it may be too intense for my Thanksgiving crowd. It's a great pie for chocolate lovers but I think I'll look for something else in the chocolate category for Thanksgiving.

My dishwasher is fixed! Thankfully, the repairman is a genius. Even he was shocked by what he had to do (basically tear the entire thing apart and fix the motor) but it's fixed. He was there for a while so I'm not looking forward to the bill but it was either that or replace a 2-3 year old dishwasher.

A Blast From the Past: Key Lime Pie from June 2006. I'm considering this one for Thanksgiving although I would probably use bottled key lime juice instead of fresh, for convenience.

Question of the Day: What's your favorite pie?

Yummy pork chops

Mom’s Smothered Pork Chops
Delicious and Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes Copyright 2002

¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
4 to 6 pork shoulder butt chops, about 2 to 3 pounds I used loin chops
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup tomato-based chili sauce
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard

1. On a plate, combine flour, salt and black pepper. Dredge pork in mixture, coating both sides.
2. In a nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add pork, in batches, and brown on both sides. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware.
3. Add onion to pan, adding more oil if necessary, and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for minute. Stir in chili sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Bring to a boil.
4. Pour sauce over pork. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours. (for loin cut reduce cooking time to 4 to 5 hours on LOW or 2 to 2 ½ hours on HIGH)

Serves 4 to 6.
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Pork loin can be risky in the crockpot but the author said I could use loin chops so I did. It was a close call. It was almost too dry but it didn't quite pass the point of being enjoyable. The sauce was excellent so that helped a lot.

I'm really enjoying this cookbook. The author also wrote 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes. I have to get my hands on that one.

I'm still washing dishes and I'm tired of it! Hopefully it will get fixed Saturday.

P.S. I'm posting this early because I'm still having trouble with my other computer. Have a nice weekend!

A Blast From The Past: Barbara's Pork Chop Dinner from September 2005. This was one of my first recipes and the probably my biggest success cooking pork loin chops in a slow cooker.

Question of the Day: Do you have a dishwasher?

A quick post before this computer croaks

Oven-Fried Lemon Marinated Chicken
Fry Light, Fry Right! Copyright 2004

1 tbsp. soy sauce
¾ tsp. salt, divided
¾ tsp. pepper, divided
1 ½ tsp. minced garlic (or 2 cloves garlic, minced)
1 tbsp. canola oil
3 tbsp. condensed chicken broth
½ c. lemon juice
2 tbsp. grated lemon peel I just added slices of the rind to the marinade and then discarded them before cooking
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts I used tenderloins
canola cooking spray
½ c. unbleached flour (plus more if needed)
1-2 tsp. paprika to taste
Fresh parsley and lemon slices for garnish (optional)

1. Combine soy sauce, ½ teaspoon of the salt and ½ teaspoon of the pepper with the garlic, canola oil, broth, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a large zip-top plastic bag. Mix with a spoon; add the chicken breasts. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9x9-inch pan with cooking spray and set aside.
3. Combine the flour, paprika, and remaining salt and pepper in a medium b owl or another plastic bag. Remove the chicken from the marinade, setting the marinade aside. Add the chicken to the flour mixture, coating each breast completely. Arrange the chicken in the prepared pan and spray the tops of the pieces with cooking spray.
4. Drizzle ¼ cup of marinade over the chicken and bake for 20 minutes, uncovered. Pour the remaining marinade over the chicken and bake for 20-30 minutes more, until done. Garnish with lemon slices and fresh parsley, if desired.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 200 calories, 29 g protein, 9 g carbs, 5 g fat, 68 mg chol, 3.5 g fiber, 811 mg sodium
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This is supposed to be a healthy knock-off of Lemon Chicken that would be ordered in a typical Chinese restaurant. I've never had that version of Lemon Chicken but, from my experience with Chinese food, I doubt this is very similar. However, it was very good. It didn't have the crunch that real fried food has but it still worked for me. It was quite tangy so I paired it with some sweet glazed carrots, which balanced the sharpness. My son really enjoyed this too.

This cookbook offers healthier versions of many 'bad' foods. I'm looking forward to trying more of these recipes.

That's it for today. This computer is hosed. I'll probably be computer-less for the rest of the day from the looks of things.

And the winner is.............

Anette! Congratulations, Anette. You won the October cookbook giveaway. I'm e-mailing you right now.

As for the rest of you, there's always the next one. I should be posting the November cookbook in a few days.

Cluck cluck

Hunter-Style Chicken
Living The G.I. Diet Copyright 2004

¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 pound skinless chicken drumsticks
1 pound skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms, quartered I used sliced mushrooms
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
¼ cup dry white wine or chicken broth
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes

1. Sprinkle the salt and black pepper over the chicken pieces. Heat half of the oil in a large, shallow pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until brown on both sides. Remove to a plate.
2. In the same pot, heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, oregano, and basil, and cook until the vegetables are beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Pour in the wine and stir the vegetables to deglaze the pan. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pot. Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is starting to fall off the bone, about 45 minutes.

6 servings.
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You might know this as chicken cacciatore. Apparently cacciatore means hunter in Italian. What an odd name for a veggie-packed dish. And do they hunt chickens in Italy?

This was really heavy on the vegetables which was great. I had leftovers for lunch of just pasta (I made some Dreamfields penne with this) and the vegetables. This was supposed to be my ARF/5-A-Day submission this week but I dropped the ball and didn't get this post loaded yesterday.

How do people get by without a dishwasher? I had a ton of dishes to wash last night. You can bet we'll be using fewer dishes until the dishwasher gets repaired. I don't really mind washing dishes but I only have one small dish rack.

I almost forgot. I have to do the cookbook drawing today. Stay tuned for the winner's name.

A Blast From the Past: Butterscotch Pie from November 2005. I'm starting to think about Thanksgiving pies. I know this one is a definite (it's my brother's favorite).

Question of the Day:? Are you responsible for any cooking on Thanksgiving?