Rum Drunk Peach Pie Pockets

One thing about being in the military environment is that you have the ability to make friends fairly easily and in many parts of the country and world for that matter.

Not only that but when you have varying interests other friends tend to recommend their friends to you! LOL! Did that just make any sense at all??

Let me try to break it down a bit more. My friend S knows that I love to cook. She has a friend, Schnookiemuffin, who loves to cook and homestead. So S introduced us through Livejournal and Facebook.

One day Schnookiemuffin posted a picture of some of the rum peaches she had just canned. I immediately had to have some. Luckily, she sent me four jars of those wonderful rum peaches!!

As soon as the peaches arrived I tore into the box and was extremely excited to have them. Then reality set in. What do I do with four jars of rum peaches??

Well, my thought was to make rum drunk peach pie. But the jars weren't enough to fill a whole pie. So I made pie pockets instead. Here's how:

Ingredients: 2 jars rum peaches (about 5 or 6 regular peaches), brown sugar, flour, salt, sugar, nutmeg and one recipe pie crust.

Start by slicing all your peaches and tossing them into a bowl.

Toss in your brown sugar, sugar, flour, salt and nutmeg.

And mix it all up.

Take your pie crust and roll it out in two large circles. Place one each on a baking sheet.

Place half of the peach mixture in the middle of each pie crust.

Fold up the edges of the crust around the peach mixture, like a little pocket.

Top with a few pats of butter.

Then throw in the oven and bake until they are a nice golden brown.

Slice them up like a pizza...serve and enjoy!

Rum Drunk Peach Pie Pockets
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman's Flat Apple Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 jars rum peaches (5 or 6 regular peaches)
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 recipe pie crust
• A few pats of butter 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Slice rum peaches (if using regular peel and slice).
3. In large bowl mix peaches, flour, sugar, brown sugar and salt. (If using regular peaches add a Tablespoon of lemon juice and set aside about 30 minutes.
4. Roll pie crust into two large circles, place each pie crust on a separate baking sheet.
5. Place half of peach mixture on each pie crust.
6. Fold edges over peach mixture; top with pats of butter.
7. Bake in preheated 375 degree F oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. 
8. Slice like pizza, serve and enjoy!

Grandma Wilson's Never Fail Pie Crust

Do you have someone who inspired you to cook? I do. It is my Grandma Wilson.

When I was little, me and my sisters would spend every summer at my Grandma's house in Oklahoma. We always had a blast and some of my best childhood memories are from those summers. My grandma passed away about 10 years ago and I still miss her (and her cooking) every day.

My older sister were talking on the phone recently about my Grandma's homemade pies. My sister ended up looking through my mother's recipe box and finding a few recipe cards that looked as if they had been written some time ago. One of those recipes she found was for my Grandma's never fail pie crust. I immediately ran into the kitchen to make this crust!

I don't know where the recipe originated from but I do know it is good. It's flaky and light and perfectly delicious and I want to share it with you!

The ingredients are simple! All purpose flour, salt, distilled white vinegar, vegetable shortening, and an egg. You will need a bit of water as well.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

Toss in your shortening...

Cut the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter.

It's supposed to look like a cornmeal consistency but it was way humid and for some reason I decided to do this right above a running dishwasher so mine was pretty moist. That's okay though. It still turned out yummy.

Put the egg in a separate bowl and beat it well.

Dump the egg into the flour and shortening mixture.

Now dump in the water and vinegar.

And mix it until it combines well into a sticky dough.

Now either separate it into 2 large or 3 small balls. Place the ball of dough (one at a time) between two pieces of parchment or wax paper.

And roll it out. If you are planning on using it later, just roll it out slightly, place it in a freezer bag and freeze.

But if you are planning on using it immediately, roll it out all the way and use as you will.

(NOTE: if preparing pie crust bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes)

Grandma Wilson's Never Fail Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup vegetable shortening (I used Crisco)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large, well beaten egg
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 5 Tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour and salt.
2. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter until well mixed.
3. Add egg, vinegar and water; mix well to combine.
4. Roll into 2 large or 3 small pie crusts.
5. Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Easy Party Pasta Salad

Today I realized something crazy. I realized...it's August! Can you believe it??? Yeah...me neither.

Seriously, where has this year gone? It's already halfway over. We are on the downhill slide.

However, Summer is still in full swing. And it is HOT.

So what goes best with Summer? Cook outs of course! And we all know that no cook out is complete without at least ONE pasta salad right??

It's actually kind of funny because my pasta salad has been made and requested at least 3 times in the last couple of weeks (that I can remember).

I first learned about this pasta salad from a friend back in my former life as a bookseller. Over the years I've adapted it and made it mine. I even had to teach my sisters how to make it because my family loves it so.

I think most everyone has a version of this pasta salad, but I'm going to share mine with you. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients: tri-color rotini (because it's pretty), Monterey Jack cheese, cherry tomatoes, diced pepperoni, black olives, Italian dressing seasoning and Italian dressing (zesty Italian if you prefer). You will also need a bit of extra virgin olive oil but I didn't take a picture of it.

Start by bringing some water to a boil.

Toss in your pasta and cook as per the directions on the package.

When the pasta is finished, drain it...

And rinse thoroughly with cold water. The point is to cool the noodles here.

Once the pasta is cool, toss it into a bowl (I chose one with a lid that I would serve the salad from later).

Pour just a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil on the pasta so as to lightly coat them. This will help them to not stick together.

Toss in the Italian dressing seasoning.

And stir the pasta until well coated with the olive oil and seasoning. Now put the lid on and toss this in the fridge to chill the noodles completely and let the seasoning stick to the pasta and make it nice and flavorful.

After a couple hours (right before serving) drain the olives and throw them in the bowl with the pasta...

Then dump in the pepperoni...

And tomatoes.

And stir it all up.

Cut your cheese into chunks...

Toss them in the bowl...

And mix it up again.

Finally...dump in the Italian dressing...

Stir it all up...

Serve and enjoy! This is best eaten with your favorite cook out foods or even by itself. It's way yummy!

Easy Party Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 lb tri-color rotini
• 1 packet Italian dressing seasoning
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 can whole black olives; drained
• 1 package diced pepperoni (if you can't find diced you can use sliced and just quarter the slices)
• 1 package cherry tomatoes
• 1 block Monterey jack cheese; cubed
• 1 bottle Italian dressing (regular or zesty)

Directions:

1. Cook rotini as per directions on package, drain and rinse with cold water.
2. Toss pasta with a bit of extra virgin olive oil so noodles don't stick together. Add Italian dressing seasoning packet and mix until rotini is evenly coated with oil and seasoning; refrigerate until rotini is completely chilled (about 1 hour or more).
3. Add black olives, pepperoni and tomatoes; stir until well combined.
4. Immediately before serving add cubed cheese and Italian dressing; stir until well combined and fully coated.
5. Serve and enjoy!