Coconut Pineapple Squares

Any of y'all that know us know that we're minor fans of a show called Castle (and by minor I mean we get together every Monday night, no matter what, to watch the newest episode.) Anyway, it's been one long summer waiting on new episodes to come back, but it's finally here! And, in honor of the Castle Season Five Premiere (don't know Castle? Now you do.), we’re making something that’s just as sweet as Nate ‘N’ Kate...Coconut Pineapple Squares...mmmmmmmmm… J

Now, this recipe comes to us from Ms. Linda Livolsi, another friend of Ms. Claire's. Her handwriting is much easier to decipher than sweet Ms. Ruthane's, which helps. Here goes!

What you’ll need:

• 1 ¼ cups sifted flour
• ½ cup shortening or margarine
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 cup strained crushed pineapple
• 1 Tbsp. soft butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• A pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups coconut
• 1 tsp. vanilla

What you'll do:

Mix flour and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Cut in shortening until fine, like cornmeal.

Pat into a 9x9 pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Combine the butter, the rest of the sugar, egg, and salt.  Beat well. Add coconut and vanilla.

Put 1 cup of strained crushed pineapple on top of cake. Spread coconut mixture over pineapple and pat in. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

So, not only is Ms. Claire a fantastic cook, but apparently she surrounds herself with good cooks as well.  The more of these recipes we make, the better they get, so thank you, Ms. Linda!  Like a pina colada in a pan. J  Warning, however, these things are rich. Pace yourselves.

Gameday!

So, remember when we said that we reserved the right to addto the recipes in the box?  We’re invoking that right riiiiight now. J In honor of SEC football (GO HOGS!! J), we’re making tailgating food, and we thought we’d share it with you folks today. 

Onion Dip

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 cup frozen onions

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Transfer mixture to an oven safe dish (we used corning ware).

Cook for an hour.  I know…it’s gonna be a loooooong hour. Let cool and serve with wheat thins.

Pretzel Bites

What you’ll need:

• Auntie Anne’s Pretzel making kit
• 1 ¼ cup water

Dissolve yeast in 1 ¼ cup of lukewarm water.  Let stand for 2 minutes.  Add yeast mixture to the dough packet and knead with your hands.  Put dough into a large mixing bowl and let rise for 30 minutes.  Take dough out of bowl and twist or break into bites.  Bake for 5 minutes at 425 degrees. 

We also made Garlic-Citrus Edamame (see Ms. Ruthane’s Sweet and Sour Chicken), pizza rolls, and hot wings, but we trust you can follow directions on respective packages. J 

Finally geared up for a lot of eating and a lot of football, we’ll see y’all later.  We’re going to watch our Hogs play!!  Whooooooooooooooooooo!!!! PIG SOOIE!!!!!!! J

Y’all come back now, ya hear! 

Sweet & Sour Chicken with Garlic-Citrus Edamame

Hey, folks!!  Sorry, we’ve been a little, well, absent as of late.  Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut we’re back!!  And to make up for our prolonged disappearance, we’re posting TWICE today!  J So, here goes.

We opted for a recipe written by Ms. Claire's friend, Ms. Ruthane. Several things to note about Ms. Ruthane:

1. Her writing is REALLY hard to read
2. She takes liberties when it comes to spelling...like with her name...and the word "appricot"
3. She is also an excellent cook

In addition to the chicken, we decided to re-create Ghengis Grill's Garlic-Citrus Edamame ('cause we fell in love with it the last time we were there and need to know how to make it on demand). We ended up making the recipe up as we went, but it worked out! Yay!

We had a great time cooking these recipes - with our one complaint being it took WAY longer than we wanted it too cause we were really hungry. It was worth the wait, however. We also made a video. Yeah...a video. It was, um, interesting. We're posting a link below if you're REALLY interested. Just be aware, it was our first attempt.

Also, we've heard from a few followers that commenting wasn't working - that issue should be fixed now. So comment away!

Now, without further ado, the recipes!

Ms. Ruthane’s Sweet and Sour Chicken

What Ms. Ruthane said you need:

• 2 chickens cut up
• 1 bottle Whishbone Russian dressing
• 1 jar apricot preserves
• 1 envelope of onion soup mix

So, we made several adjustments to the ingredients in this recipe.  Firstly, we’re just two girls.  We couldn’t eat two whole chickens if we tried…..plus we didn’t want to deal with the feathers, so we used two chicken breasts and cut everything else in half as follows.

What we used:

• 2 chicken BREASTS cut up
• 1/3 bottle of Whishbone Thousand Island Dressing
• 1/3 jar of apricot preserves
• 1/2 envelope onion soup mix
• 2 cups of rice 

What we did:

Mix all ingredients together and base on chicken.  Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.  Cook rice.  Pull out of the oven, serve over rice.  

Garlic-Citrus Edamame

What you’ll need:

• 1 bag of frozen Edamame
• Just a leeeeetle bit of water
• Juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime
• Webber’s Zesty Lemon Seafood and Chicken seasoning

What we did:

Put the juice from one lime and one lemon in the bottom of a large pan with a lid.  Add edamame.  Steam until the juice is gone.  Toss occasionally so that all of the vegetables are covered in the juice and they cook evenly. 

Sprinkle generously with seasoning.  If you need a little more juice to make the seasoning stick, squeeze a little more lemon/lime juice onto the edamame.  Season to taste.  Remove from heat and serve. 

So, you think this all sounds perfectly easy, right?  Well.  You’d be exactly right.  This is among the easiest of recipes that we’ve ever made, and also among the tastiest.  Even using just two chicken breasts, there was plenty of food left over.  We both ate on it for at least two days afterward.  So, all in all, I think our third Ms. Clair cooking adventure was a success. J

PS: If you want to see the video...here you go. Enjoy! Til next time!