It's Tomato Pie time!

One of my favorite summertime recipes is this Tomato Pie. When I first heard of tomato pie my initial reaction was "YUCK!" 

My friend Heather introduced me to this yummy savory pie a few years back.  It's adapted from Paula Deen's tomato pie recipe.  Somehow I managed to convince myself to try and I've been making it every tomato season. I've added bacon, corn and white cheddar to take this recipe up a notch.

This one is a true family effort.  Granny & PawPaw provided the tomatoes from their garden and my mommy plucked the basil leaves from her garden.

 Hopefully the tomatoes are plentiful so this isn't our only tomato pie of the season.

 So if your tomato cup runneth over this year, send them my way. I can think of a few ways to make sure they don't go to waste.

Tomato Pie
1 prebaked pie shell (deep dish)
4 ripe tomatoes, sliced

½  c. corn

4-6 slices of bacon (divided), chopped
1 c. shredded mozzarella
1 c. shredded cheddar

¼ c. shredded white cheddar

¾  c. mayonaise

½ c. green onions, chopped

10 basil leaves, chopped
Salt & Pepper

Slice tomatoes and place in a colander. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for at least 10 minutes.  Layer tomatoes, onion, basil, corn, and half of the bacon in a pie shell.  Sprinkle with black pepper. Combine mayo, cheeses, and remaining bacon in a medium bowl.  Spread the mixture over the tomato layers.  Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let pie set (10-15 minutes).  Slice and serve.

I like to sprinkle on a bit of parmesan on my slice.

Granny's Not Making Macaroni!!!

I had the perfect plan for Granny this week.  She was going to teach me how to make her mac & cheese!  (I had tried a few weeks ago and it turned out ... DRY.  Granny took one look at it and said I hadn't added enough milk.
I showed up at Granny's and told her the plan.  Granny replied "I don't know what to tell you, but I'm not making macaroni."  Granny proceeded to tell me what her dinner plans included.I pleaded that mac & cheese would accompany those items perfectly. Granny's reply: "I don't know what to tell you, but I'm not making macaroni."
So that meant I would have to attempt Granny's mac & cheese on my own...again!
CLICK HERE for a printable version of recipe for when the hankering for Mac & Cheese is just too overwhelming.

I gathered Granny's ingredients.

I boiled my pasta and buttered my dish.

What was next.... I had to guess because Granny was at church and I couldn't call to ask. So I just had to think WWGD? (what would Granny do?) So I guessed my way through by trying to call on my photographic memory (or lack there of) of how I had seen her do it so many times before.

Add the Cheese Whiz.

 

Stir the cheese in.

Layer the pasta, pepper, cheddar, and muenster cheeses.

Add evaporated milk. (I used the whole container. Didn't want a repeat of the desert mac & cheese)

Bake. (Make a note to use a deeper dish so I don't make a mess in the oven next time.)

 Eat.

Relish in Granny's comment "You've got it! Trial and error is how you learn!"

UPDATE:  The Girl and the other girls (Granny's other granddaughters) recently made dinner for the entire family.  Using the things we've learned from Granny since starting this blog.  It seems The Girl forgot that Granny also adds a layer of Velveeta cheese to her mac and cheese.  Luckily Granny was watching while we were making dinner and alerted us to the missing ingredient.