Chocolate Mousse Angel Pie

Meringue Shell:

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• One-fourth teaspoon cream of tartar
• Dash salt
• Three-fourths cup sugar
• One-half teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

• One cup (6 ounce package) semisweet chocolate chips
• One-fourth cup water
• One-fourth teaspoon almond extract
• One and one-half cups whipping cream, whipped
• Sliced almonds, toasted

Heat oven to 275 degrees. Generously butter nine inch pie pan. In small bowl, combine egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla, beat well.

With metal spatula, spread meringue in bottom and up sides of buttered pan, building up sides as high as possible. Bake at 275 degrees for one hour. Turn oven off and let stand in oven with door ajar for one hour. Remove meringue shell from oven.

In small saucepan, combine chocolate chips and water. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Cool 30 minutes.

Fold chocolate mixture into two cups of the whipped cream. Spread filling in cooled meringue shell. Store in refrigerator. When ready to serve, garnish with remaining whipped cream and toasted sliced almonds.

To toast almonds, spread on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes or until light golden brown, stirring occasionally.

Pie serves 8

Chicken Tetrazzini

Saute in 3 tablespoons butter:

• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 to 8 ounces mushrooms

Cook and drain 8 ounces spaghetti

• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1 small can chopped pimento
• 2 cups diced, cooked chicken
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Combine all ingredients and bake in a 9" x 13" pan at 350 degrees for 30-60 minutes or until bubbly. Serves 5-6.

If you need to serve more people, one and a half recipes will completely fill a 9" x 13" pan. You can also make this ahead of time and freeze it. Then just bake it the day you are serving it – but remember, if it is frozen it will take a lot longer to bake. More than once I’ve been surprised how long it takes to bake a frozen dish (you know the routine…keep turning the oven hotter, keep feeding the guests appetizers!).

Grilled Jerk Flank Steak

• Three tablespoons teriyaki marinade and sauce
• One tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
• Two teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• One-half teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• One-half teaspoon salt
• One-half teaspoon pepper
• Two cloves garlic, finely chopped
• One and one-half pounds beef flank steak

1. Place all ingredients except beef in heavy duty re-sealable plastic food storage bag. Add beef steak; seal bag and turn to coat beef. Refrigerate at least 4 hours but not longer than 24 hours.

2. Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat (can also be broiled). Remove beef from marinade; discard marinade.

3. Cover and grill beef 4 to 5 inches from high heat about 10 minutes, turning once, until slightly pink when cut in center. Let stand 5 minutes. To serve, cut across grain into thin slices.

4-6 servings

Lemon Graham Freeze

• 1 can evaporated milk (12 oz.)
• 1 cup sugar
• One-fourth cup lemon juice
• Graham crackers

Line bottom of 9" x 13" cake pan with whole graham crackers.

Pour evaporated milk into a glass or metal bowl. Add the beaters from your mixer. Put the bowl with milk and beaters into your freezer. Leave in freezer for one-half hour, or until ice crystals form around the edges of the milk. Beat milk until stiff peaks form. Gradually add in the sugar and the lemon juice. Spoon whipped mixture on top of graham crackers. Sprinkle additional graham cracker crumbs on top.

Freeze. Serve frozen.

Grandma Meier’s German Potato Salad

• 5 pounds potatoes. Peel, cook, and cool.
• Fry 12 oz. cut up bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan. Set aside.
• Add one-fourth cup flour to the bacon drippings. Stir.
• Mix in a separate bowl until the sugar is dissolved:
• 2 cups white vinegar
• One half cup water
• One and a half cups sugar
• One teaspoon salt
• One eighth teaspoon pepper
• Add the vinegar mixture to the pan with the bacon fat and flour. Boil until it thickens. It should be the consistency of gravy. If it doesn’t seem thick enough, thicken with a mixture of cornstarch and water.
• To the cooled, sliced potatoes stir in:
  • 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
  • Crumbled bacon.
• Pour the warm sauce over the potato mixture and stir.

Serve warm. If it needs to be refrigerated overnight, rewarm before serving.
(you can microwave it to rewarm – or some people like it cold, too)

Serves 10-14