Contests and Recipes

Last Thursday night was the annual Blount County Farmer's Federation Cooking/Sewing/Tablescape contest. You may remember me entering it last year.

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Before I get into the cooking contest and recipes, here's the tablescape I did this year.

The rules are to pick an Alabama commodity and decorate a 3 foot table space. I always pick cotton of course! I tried to do it different than what I did last year, and I think I succeeded! I have a 100% cotton tablecloth/placemat/napkin, John Deere plates/silverware/glass, 2 diecast cotton pickers, a cotton book, 2 mini bales of cotton, an antique vase full of cotton, 2 antique fruit jars full of cotton bolls, and a 6 foot cotton pick sack. Once again, no one in Blount County seemed to know what a tablescape was, so I was the only entry! In other words, yay! I won! haha. That means I get to go to the Alfa Farmers Federation Commodity Conference in August.

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This was our winner for the sewing contest.

She will also be bringing this to the Commodity Conference.

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Now, on to the cooking contest!

This year's theme was pie.

The winner was (L-R) Barbara Poole with a Peaches and Cream Cobbler, I was 2nd with Chocolate Fried Pie, and my aunt-in-law Nell came in 3rd with a Lemon Pie.

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Here's a close up of my Chocolate Fried Pies.

Excuse the missing piece. The judges got to the pie before I did with my camera, lol. These are sooooooo good. Everyone tells me "my grandmother used to make these". I oughta change the name to "The Fried Pies Grandma Used To Make". haha. These have been really popular on holiday get-togethers with my family, and usually theres a fight over them. Whoever normally makes them hardly ever makes them anymore, and I was having withdrawals, so I asked for the recipe. Well, no one could tell me what it was. Nice. Anyways, I invented my own recipe, and it tastes just as good! So here it is...

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Chocolate Fried Pies

1 Refrigerated Rolled Pie Dough

(I tried to make homemade crust, but the consistency never turned out right, but this is just as good!)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1/4 cup butter, melted

Canola Oil

Cover bottom of skillet with oil, heat on medium-high heat. Roll out pie dough, cut into fourths. Mix sugar and cocoa in bowl, add 2-3 tbsp. butter. Mix until moist. Spread 1/4th of cocoa mixture onto half of 1 pie crust wedge. Brush all edges with rest of butter. Take empty half of wedge and fold on top of half with chocolate forming smaller wedge. Pinch all edges together. Use fork to flute top edge. Repeat with all wedges. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Cool on rack lined with paper towels.

If you want to make a complete "pie" like I did in my picture, you'll have to double this recipe!

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I also have a few more recipes that I've been behind on sharing!

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Strawberry Pizza

2 sticks margarine, softened
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 (12oz) carton non-dairy whipped topping

2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups water
6 tbsp. strawberry gelatin
Few drops red food coloring
2 pints fresh strawberries, sliced lengthwise

In a mixing bowl, combine margarine, flour, brown sugar, and pecans. Mix well. Press into 12 inch pizza pan. Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until lightly brown. Cool completely. In large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar, fold in whipped topping. Spread over cooled crust, working filling to build a "wall" around the edges of crust. Set aside. In saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and water. Cook, stir until clear and thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in gelatin and coloring. Mix well. Cool completely. Stir in strawberries. Pour over filling. Chill.
YUMMY.

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Cheesecake Brownie Bars

1 (16.5oz) tube refrigerated triple chocolate chunk brownie batter
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 (21oz) can pie filling of your choice (I used strawberry)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9" square baking pan with foil, leaving 2" overhang; coat with cooking spray. Spread brownie batter in pan. Bake 25 min. or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Beat room temperature cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy. Spread over brownie. Bake 20 minutes or until cream cheese topping is set in center. Cool on rack 30 minutes. Refrigerate until chilled, 1-2 hours. Use foil to help lift from pan. Just before serving top with pie filling.
I cut my brownie bars apart to make them easier to grab!

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Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits

2 cups biscuit mix

1/2 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese

2/3 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Stir together the biscuit mix, cheddar, and milk until a soft dough forms. Beat with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds. Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Smooth down the tops to prevent hard points from forming. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the tops are brown. While the biscuits are baking, melt the butter in a pan and stir in the garlic powder. Once the biscuits are done, brush the butter on the tops, sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.

These taste just like the Red Lobster biscuits. You can make these and stay home. Thats the only reason people go to Red Lobster anyways isn't it? haha.