Grandma Pat's Pie Crust

3 C. flour
1 C. lard
1/2 C. water
dash salt

This makes enough for a very thick double-crust pie crust.

Aunt Kim's Macaroni Salad

My sister Kim made this during Beach Week this year, and it was a big hit with everyone. Nanny especially liked it--and she's very picky about pasta salads. Doubled, it fed 15 of us as a side dish with some left over.

1 8-oz. box macaroni
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 medium carrots, grated
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 C. chopped celery
1 small cucumber, seeded and chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, cut in small pieces
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. flour
1/4 C. tarragon vinegar
1 egg, beaten
1 C. mayonnaise

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water. Combine macaroni and next 8 ingredients. Melt butter in pan. Blend in flour. Combine vinegar and egg. Cook, stirring constantly until thick. Cool. Blend in mayonnaise. Combine with macaroni mixture and chill. Serves 8-10.

How Nanny Cooks the Turkey

And here's one small example of the millions of ways my sweet husband makes me laugh and smile every single day...

I asked him one year, very early in our marriage, to find out from my mother how she cooks a turkey.  He called her and jotted it down for me in a loose notebook lying around.  This is what I found lying on the counter when I got ready to prepare the bird:

Aunt Kaarin's Moo Shu Pork

Yield: 20 moo shu "pancakes" (serves 10) - Not sure if this is accurate... will update after I make it.

1 2-lb. boneless pork loin roast, fat trimmed, quartered lengthwise
1 C. hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
6 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 1/2 cups bagged shredded carrots (I used the Cuisinart.)
1/4 C. sliced scallions
3 Tbsp. rice-wine vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
20 flour tortillas, warmed

Put pork, 1/3 C. hoisin sauce, and the ginger in a large slow-cooker.  Turn pork to coat.

Cover and cook on low 6-9 hours or until pork is very tender.  Turn off cooker.  Remove pork to cutting board and pull meat into shreds using two forks.  Return pork to cooker.

Toss cabbage, carrots, scallions, vinegar, and sugar in a bowl to mix.

Spread each tortilla with about 1 1/2 tsp. remaining hoisin sauce.  Top with about 1/3 C. cabbage mixture and 1/4 C. shredded pork.

Serve with hoisin sauce and chopped scallions on the side (optional).

This is also good with a side salad topped with oriental dressing.

Leftovers Turned Mexican Lasagna

This meal was the result of a creative use of leftovers.  If you want to try to recreate something like it, here's a description of what I did.  My friend Kathy ate some at our homeschool co-op where I served it for lunch, and really wanted the recipe.  So, here it is...

The first meal was homemade pintos and cheese.  (Recipe here.)  This is a staple in our home, near weekly, because iivo loves it and it is very cheap.

Also, for Evie's birthday, she wanted these burritos I used to make a lot when we were home for lunches.  I would turn the leftover pintos from pintos and cheese into refried beans by coarsely mashing them in a pot on the stove over medium heat and melting in some mozzarella or monterey jack cheese.  The burritos she requested involve those homemade refried beans with sauteed zucchini and onions (seasoned with SPG) on homemade whole wheat tortillas.

Those were the preliminary meals which resulted in that Crock Pot leftover meal, which was as follows:

I sauteed some finely chopped onions and peppers in olive oil and SPG.  Then I took the extra leftover rice and cooked it, fried-rice style, with that veggie mix and a little, little bit of chicken broth.  I also remember throwing in some very finely chopped leftover Hebrew National hotdogs we had from a grill-out earlier in the week, too, and some frozen corn.

I then took those raw ingredients and layered them, lasagna style, in the Crock Pot as follows:

sprayed with Pam to prevent sticking
placed a flour tortilla (store-bought, as it is exactly the same circumference as my Crock Pot)
spread it with a combination of some of the leftover homemade refried beans blended with some salsa (just enough to make it more spreadable)
a layer of the rice blend
a layer of sour cream mixed with chopped green chiles
a layer of grated Mexican/cheddar cheese mix

I then repeated those layers two more times.

I then cooked it all morning on low--about 4 hours, I guess.