Pecan Pie Bars

• Yay fall. I made these last week for a Statistics study session. Only 4 people came, so there were plenty of leftovers for me to take to Tuesday Night at my friends' house, where the boys quickly devoured them. As you can see, I barely managed to get a picture before these bars disappeared!
• Pecan Pie Bars
  Adapted from Southern Living's Utterly Deadly Pecan Pie
• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4-6 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 8 large eggs
• 3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup milk milk
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 3 cups pecan halves
• Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour and salt into a bowl, add oil; mix with a fork. Sprinkle water 1 tablespoon at a time until moistened and dough forms a bowl. If it seems to wet (should be the consistency of a pie crust dough), add flour; too dry, add water. Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan until the bottom is completely and evenly covered. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

• Remove crust/pan from oven and let cool. Turn oven to 325°.  Whisk eggs in a large bowl until foamy; whisk in brown sugar and next 6 ingredients. Pour mixture into pan (on top of the crust), and top with pecan halves. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 300°, and bake 30 more minutes. Turn oven off, and let pie stand in oven, with door closed, 3 hours.

Corn, Tomato and Crab Salad

So my oven was taken away from me for the two weeks after memorial day. During that time, I had to rack my brain for no-cook recipes. If I am going to do no-cook recipes and rely primarily on the bold flavors of raw foods, it only makes sense to go with fruits and veggies that just scream "summer is here!" That led me to this tomato and corn and crab salad. It was so hard to find good lump crab in KY that I had to go with imitation, which greatly displeased me, but I am a bit picky when it comes to seafood (I grew up in Florida, after all).

I think that this dish would be awesome with shrimp (no shells, no tails), if you cannot find real lump crabmeat.

Also, I must admit, I was feeling lazy and there is a Red Lobster just up the street from me (literally, it is on the same street as my house). Their cheddar biscuits are 6 for $1.99! I couldn't say no. They go sooo well with this dish. The addition of the biscuits is so worth it, but if you are feeling ambitious, you can always make your own using the food network's almost famous recipe.

Corn, Tomato, and Crab Salad

Adapted from Southern Living

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 4 ears)
¼ cup thinly sliced basil leaves
1 chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
½ pound lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed, cooked
4 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, sliced into eights or tenths
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup shredded Parmesan

Combine rind, 3 tablespoons juice, and next 5 ingredients (through black pepper) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Reserve 1 ½ tablespoons juice mixture. Add remaining 2 tablespoons juice, corn, and next 4 ingredients (through crab) to remaining juice mixture; toss gently to coat.

Arrange slices of beefsteak tomatoes and ½ cup cherry tomatoes on each of 4 plates. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon reserved juice mixture over each serving. Top each serving with ¼ of corn and crab mixture. Sprinkle each plate with 2 tablespoons of parmesan.

Suggestion: replace crab with 1lb of chopped shrimp and/or serve with cheddar biscuits

Mac N Cheese

The last few days have been ones of change: packing up my belongings, starting a new job, and beginning a 3-week period of couch surfing. Overall, the new job has been surprisingly pleasant and couch surfing isn't all that bad with an air mattress and some good friends.

Because I am staying in other people's houses, my culinary adventures are going to be fairly limited over the next few weeks, but I am going to do my best to eat more than just scrambled eggs and peanut butter sandwiches. This week, the Tuesday night get-together was a potluck, so I decided to make the classic potluck entrée, mac n cheese. I bought all of the ingredients on the way there, showed up an hour early, and made the dish at my friends' house. Let's just say that there was none left at the end of the night =).

Baked Mac n' Cheese

Adapted from Southern Living

1 pound uncooked pasta -I used penne, the original recipe calls for cellentani

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 (12-oz.) can evaporated milk

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded smoked Gouda cheese

1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper, divided

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 (8-oz.) package chopped cooked, smoked ham

2 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare cellentani pasta according to package directions. Transfer hot pasta to a large bowl.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour until smooth; cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and evaporated milk; cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in Gouda, cream cheese, salt, and 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper, and nutmeg until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in chopped ham.

Combine pasta and Gouda cheese mixture, and pour into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Stir together 2 cups crushed cereal, 2 Tbsp. melted butter, and remaining 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper; sprinkle over pasta mixture.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.