Ham Pot Pie

Pie Crust
(makes enough for 3 pie shells or 2 pot pie shells)
1 cup Crisco shortening
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup ICE COLD water (add ice cubes to get water very cold)

1. Blend flour, salt and shortening with a pastry blender or fork.
2. Add water gradually and blend with fork until it reachs proper consistency. Do not over mix)
3. Roll out onto floured surface to fix desired size pan.

Ham Pot Pie

2 Tbsp butter
1 cup onion
10 oz package broccoli-cooked
1 lb. new potatoes
1 can cream of potato soup
8 oz sour cream
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-1/2 cups ham, cubed

1. Make pie crust. Divide into two crusts and roll to fit a casserole dish. Place one crust into bottom of casserole dish (reserve other crust to place on top).
2. Saute onion in butter. Cook broccoli. Cook potatoes in boiling water.
3. Combine soup, sour cream, cheese, milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir in broccoli, onion and potatoes. Stir in ham.
4. Spoon into bottom pie shell and place remaining pie shell on top.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Old-Fashioned Fresh Apple Cake

This cake is sooooooooooo good. This recipe comes from my Grandma Cothran, who was an excellent baker (and cook, for that matter). But, I think everyone's grandmother probably had some version of this recipe. It must have been a standard back in the day.

Old-Fashioned Fresh Apple Cake
1-1/2 cups oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 cups apples, peeled and grated
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins, optional
1 cup nuts, chopped
3 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

1. Combine oil, sugar and eggs. Add apples, coconut and nuts. Stir thoroughly.
2. Add soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla and stir.
3. Stir in flour until batter is very stiff.
4. Bake at 350 degrees in a bundt pan for 1 hour.

Strawberry Delight

I got this recipe from my sister and it is PERFECT for warm weather. I truly could eat the entire thing by myself.

Strawberry Delight
Crust:
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cups melted butter

1. Mix and press in bottom of 9x13 pan and refrigerate.

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 large cool whip, divided
1 pint strawberries, sliced
2 packages of 4 serving vanilla instant pudding
3-1/2 cups cold milk

1. Beat together cream cheese, sugar and 2 Tbsp milk until creamy. Fold in 1-3/4 cups cool whip. Spread over crust. Layer with sliced strawberries.
2. Mix pudding with milk and pour over berries. Top with remaining cool whip. Top with remaining strawberries. Refrigerate until set.

Panna Cotta

Scott and I went to a new restauant in Germantown called City House. We ordered panna cotta for dessert and it was so good, I looked up a recipe online. Basically, it is just cooked cream. You could serve it with fruit or caramel on top. Yum!

Panna Cotta
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
1/3 cup sugar
1 package powdered gelatin
2 to 3 Tbsp cold water
1 tsp vanilla

1. In a heavy saucepan, stir together cream, half-and-half and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Cook on medium to medium-high heat stirring occasionally, until scalding (the mixture will start to rise rapidly). Turn off heat and remove pan from heat.
2. Put the cold water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin into the water, allowing the gellatin to dissolve completely. Add a large spoonful of the cooked cream and stir steadily until the mixture is smooth and the gelatin completely dissolved. Add the gelatin mixture back into the pot of cooked cream and whisk out any remaining lumps. Add the vanilla.
3. Pour the warm cooked cream into a single large ceramic serving dish or several ramekins and chill for at least three hours. Serve as is or with your choice of topping.