Apple Crisp

4 cups - sliced apples
1 cup - sugar
1 cup - water
2 tbsp - flour

Topping:
1/2 cup - margarine
1 cup - brown sugar
1 cup - flour
1 cup - oatmeal

Put apples in the bottom of an 8″ x 12″ pan.  Mix sugar, water, and flour together; bring to a boil.  Pour over the apples.  Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

From the southern kitchen of Burma Davis Posey

Serves 8 as a Side Dish

Prep Time: 30 minutes if your rice is uncooked

Cook Time: One hour

Difficulty level: Easy!!!

1-1/2 cups cooked rice

7-1/2 Vidalia onions, chopped

1 stick butter (1/4 pound)

2 cups Swiss Cheese, grated

2/3 cup cream

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Sauté onion in butter until transparent but NOT browned.  Allow to cool.  Mix with remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour into a 2-quart buttered casserole.  Bake uncovered for one hour.  Serve and enjoy.

This is one of my all time favorite and easiest recipes!  It is delicious, never fails, and it a delight for your family and guests. 

People are always curious about the ingredients and their LAST guess is onions! 

This was served to us when Jim and I judged Miss Idaho several years ago and was definitely everyone’s favorite dish at that meal.  Our hostess was very pleased that no one could guess the ingredients!  But let’s think about it… have we EVER tasted anything made with those fabulous Vidalia, Georgia onions that was not yummy?!? 

I think all of us in Georgia took them for granted while growing up and now the entire world has discovered them!  Did you know it is not the onion, but the soil they are gown in?  The farmers in Toombs County started with only 600 unique low sulfur acres.  They now have 15,000 acres and people outside Vidalia can’t duplicate the sweet taste!  They are still harvested by hand between late-April and mid-June.  Make sure you use only sweet Vidalia onions!

Lemon Tart

 Shortbread Crust:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
Place dry ingredients into food processor. Add the butter and pulse until mixture comes together in clumps with butter. Press evenly into tart pan with fingers. Prick bottom. Cover and place in freezer for 15 minutes. Bake at 350 sitting inside another pan until shortbread is golden brown.

Lemon Filling:

5oz. cream cheese
½ cup sugar
½ cup fresh-squeezed real lemon juice
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest

In the food processor, process cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and blend until incorporated. Add eggs one at a time- thoroughly process, scrapping the sides of food processor. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth and well blended. Pour in cooled shortbread and bake 25-30 minutes at 350 until filling is set. Chill at least an hour and garnish with sugared lemon curls.

 Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

 Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

 Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

and Apple Butter Sauce

From the kitchen of Burma Davis Posey

Inspired by a recipe from Bobby Flay in 2008

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 5 hours 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 1 Hour

Level: Only for experienced cooks…  Cook this on a day when you have plenty of time and no distractions!  Grandchildren should be in another state!  It is a process to prepare, but truly worth the effort and work. 

Serves: 6 People

Ingredients:

1 (2-1/2 to 3 pound) boneless pork loin, trimmed of fat

Apple Butter:

·     2 tablespoons canola oil

·     1/2 small Spanish onion, finely chopped

·     1 clove garlic, finely chopped

·     2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

·     1/4 cup water

·     3 tablespoons light brown sugar

·     1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·     1/4 teaspoon salt

·     2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

Molasses-Mustard Glaze:

·     1/4 cup Dijon mustard

·     2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard

·     1/4 cup molasses

·     Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pork Marinade:

·     5 cups water

·     1 container apple juice concentrate, thawed

·     1/2 cup salt

·     1/2 cup brown sugar

·     1 Spanish onion, peeled and quartered

·     10 black peppercorns

·     10 mustard seeds

·     8 sprigs fresh thyme

·     2 bay leaves

Sauce/Gravy:

2 tablespoons olive oil or bacon drippings

·     Salt and freshly ground black pepper

·     3 shallots, finely chopped

·     2 cups whiskey (Recommended: Jack Daniels.  For my Baptist friends, all of the alcohol cooks away.)

·     5 cups homemade chicken stock

·     1/4 cup light brown sugar

·     2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

·     2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus parsley sprigs for garnish

Directions…  Make the marinade first and allow the pork to marinate while making the Sauce, Apple Butter, and Glaze.  It will seem that the sauce has to cook forever to reduce…

Pork marinade:

Bring the water, apple concentrate, salt, sugar, onion, peppercorns, mustard seeds, thyme and bay leaves to a simmer in a large stock pot and cook until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Allow to cool completely. Submerge the roast in the brine by placing a plate on top, cover with plastic and refrigerate for up to 4 hours.  I have a 25 year-old Tupperware marinating container that is a treasured item in my kitchen!  They probably still make it. 

While the pork is absorbing all these yummy flavors, make the sauce…

Sauce/Gravy:

Heat the bacon drippings in a Dutch oven.  Add the shallots and cook until soft. Add the whiskey, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon and cook until almost completely reduced. Add the chicken broth and brown sugar and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a gentle boil and cook until reduced to a sauce consistency.  When the sauce has reduced, whisk in the apple butter.  Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the parsley.  (Make the Apple Butter and Glaze while the sauce is cooking and reducing.)   

Apple Butter: (This is so delicious I could sit down and eat it with a spoon!!!)

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the apple, water and brown sugar and cook until the apples are very soft. Stir in the cinnamon and salt and cook for 1 minute. Remove the mixture from the heat and allow to cool.

Transfer the mixture to a food processor along with the butter and process until slightly chunky. Scrape into a small bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend.

For the glaze:

Whisk all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl.

For the Pork:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the pork from the brine, rinse under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Season the pork on all sides with salt and pepper and cook on all sides until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes total. Transfer the pork to a baking sheet, brush with some of the glaze and bake in the oven, brushing with the glaze every 10 minutes.  Cook until the tenderloin has an internal temperature of 150 degrees F on a meat thermometer, about 30 to 40 minutes, Remove from the oven, and allow to rest loosely tented with foil for 10 minutes.

Slice the rack into chops and place on your favorite serving platter.  Drizzle a little of the sauce around the pork chops and over the top.  Garnish with parsley sprigs and butter. The pork is so tender and has an unbelievably rich and delicious flavor.  My family RAVED about this dish. 

Frozen Cheesecake

1 pkg - graham crackers, crushed
1/4 cup - margarine, melted
1/2 cup - sugar
2 pkg - 8 oz cream cheese
3 tbsp - sugar
1 can - sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp - vanilla
8 oz - Cool Whip

Combine crackers, margarine, and sugar.  Press into the bottom of a 10″ springform pan.  Put in the freezer while you make the filling.  Mix the rest of the ingredients, folding in the Cool Whip last.  Pour over the crust.  Freeze.  Serve with fruit or pie filling on top.