Custard Pie

From Martha

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 3 Comice or Bartlett pears, peeled, halved, cored, and sliced
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter a 9-inch pie dish. Peel, halve, and core 3 Comice or Bartlett pears; slice 1/4 inch thick lengthwise. Arrange slices, overlapping slightly, in dish.
2. In a blender, process 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, 1/3 cup each granulated sugar and all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3 large eggs, 3/4 cup milk, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until smooth.
3. Pour batter over pears; bake until golden and firm to touch, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Polynesian Chicken

1 fryer chicken cut up
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp ginger
2 Tbsp minced onion
1/2 cup flour
1 can pineapple chunks
1 can mandarin oranges
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1.4 cup water
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

Arrange chicken in shallow pan. Combine soy sauce, oil, ginger, onion and marinate chicken for one hour. Shake chicken in flour and brown oil in fry pan. Drain fruit and set aside. Add fruit juices to soy marinade. Combine cornstarch and water and add to soy fruit sauce. Place chicken in casserole. Pour soy fruit sauce over and bake in a 350F oven for 45 minutes. Shortly before serving, add fruit and almonds.
Serves 4.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

Crumble Topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick of margarine (stick form is necessary), cold from the fridge

To make crumble topping, sift the sugar and flour together in a large bowl. Place the margarine in the center of the bowl and sprinkle a little of the sugar and flour mixture over it. Place all 10 fingers on the stick and start crumbling it by making cat-kneading gestures with your fingers so the margarine turns into little pea sized bits. If you need a visual, refer to this little fella. Keep crumbling until the stick is completely whittled down. Keep the bowl of crumbles in the fridge until you're ready for it.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

2 cups flour
1 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup margarine, melted
3 cups strawberries, sliced

Sift the first four ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the milk, eggs, vanilla, and melted margarine together in a bowl. Add the mix of wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients. Beat together with a handheld mixer until well incorporated. Pour into a pre-greased 13×9 pan. Arrange the sliced strawberries on top of the batter. Sprinkle the crumble toppings. Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes.

Frozen Yogurt Pops

2 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
1 12-ounce can frozen juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 tsp vanilla
8 5-ounce paper cups
8 wooden sticks

Combine yogurt, juice concentrate, and vanilla; divide among paper cups. Cover with foil. Cut slits in foil and insert sticks. Freeze overnight or until firm. Peel away paper cup and let your kiddos enjoy!

For sweeter pops try grape, raspberry or fruit concentrate. For tart, use lemonade or orange juice.

Berry Cream Muffins

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries or blueberries
2 cups sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add berries and toss gently. Combine eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredeints just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin ups two-thirds full. Bake at 400ºF for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.