Pecan Lattice Tart from the Pampered Chef

Image provided by Marci Vanover via Pinterest

Years ago, I was a Pampered Chef consultant. This recipe was always a hit. Flaky, chocolately, fudgey goodness paired with pecans. Of course, it's a favorite!

We love pecans. We always have a 2 pound bag from Costco in our freezer and tub of toasted pecans ready for use at any given moment: in oatmeal, cookies, muffins, or just as a snack.

I had to make one change to the recipe, and that was to toast the pecans. Toasting the nuts intensifies flavor, making it a Super Pecan!

You can do it dry in a skillet or on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350°F. I use the oven method, since I do a large batch. Stir occasionally. You'll know they're done by the smell. It'll be heavenly! 

Pecan Lattice Tart
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup pecan halves
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 package (15 ounces) refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on package
Optional:
Additional pecan halves
vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
Chocolate Drizzle

Finely chop pecans using a knife, food chopper, or food processor. Heat a medium skillet to medium heat. Add the nuts, and keep them moving, by tossing the nuts or turn them over with a spatula or wooden spoon several times while cooking. Keep stirring until the nuts become darker and fragrant.

Preheat oven to 375° F. In large bowl, combine chocolate morsels and butter. Microwave on HIGH 20-40 seconds until melted and smooth, stirring after each 20-second internal. Add pecans, brown sugar, egg, corn syrup and vanilla to chocolate mixture; stir using a rubber spatula and set aside.

Unroll one pie crust onto a lightly floured surface and roll to a 13-inch circle using rolling pin. Gently roll around rolling pin and unroll onto a lightly floured pizza pan or baking stone.

Unroll second pie crust and gently fold in half. Starting in center, cut folded crust crosswise into twelve 3/4" wide strips.

Spoon pecan mixture over center of crust and spread to a 10-inch circle in center of crust. Carefully twist six of the pie crust strips and place evenly over filling in horizontal rows. (Place longest strips across widest point.) Twist remaining strips and lay over filling in vertical rows, forming a lattice pattern.

Firmly press ends of strips onto edge of crust. Fold edge of crust over ends of strips, pinching edges to seal. Place additional optional pecan halves between lattice strips, if desired.

Bake 28-30 Minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes.

Optional Chocolate Drizzle:

Place 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels into a small microwave-safe bowl; microwave on HIGH 40-60 seconds or until melted, stirring after each 20-second interval. Pour melted chocolate into a small resealable plastic food storage bag; close and seal bag securely. Cut a small tip off corner of bag to allow chocolate to flow through. Pipe chocolate onto top of BAKED tart.

To serve, cut into wedges and serve with ice cream or whipped cream

Source: Pampered Chef

My Grandma's Baked Beans

So canned baked beans are OK, but not great. Unless you use them as a basis for "cheater" beans! My wife's brother had these as a family gathering and asked me for the recipe, so here it is.

• 2 (29 oz) cans of pork-n-beans
• 2 large chopped onions
• 2 large chopped green peppers
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pound bacon, cooked, cut up

Combine ingredients in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Bake 2 1/2 hours covered with foil at 325.

Uncover, bake another 30 minutes.

Super Saturday: Freezer Dinners

My workplace is moving farther away from my house in a few weeks, so I will be getting home from work later. This means I will probably be unable to help make dinner, leaving my wife to do it all herself. Making dinner whilst taking care of 4 boys is a real challenge, so we decided to make a bunch of freezer dinners, making it easier to get dinner on the table when the kids are a challenge!

Notes:

• I like to make beans in a crock pot, but I only have one crock, so I do some of them on the stovetop. If you have two crock pots, you can do the black beans the same way as the red/white beans.
• Brown rice has more fiber and nutrients, but you could use white rice if you prefer.
• Make sure your kitchen, stove, sink, and dishwasher are clean/empty before starting, and clean up messes as soon as you get a chance!

Master Schedule

Preparation (the night before):

Prepare 1 pound of black beans for cooking

• Pick through the beans, looking for bad/broken beans, rocks, etc.
• Rinse the beans
• Soak in salted water overnight

Prep your aromatic vegetables:

• Chop 6 onions and 6 bell peppers
• Mix together and divide in two (large bowls or plastic bags)
• Mince 12 cloves of garlic and divide in two (keep separate from the other veggies)
• Peel an additional 9 cloves of garlic, but do not mince them. Put them in a plastic bag
• Refrigerate everything until needed in the morning

Showtime!

Step 1: Crock Pot Beans

• Prep one pound of dried red beans and one pound of dried white beans as described above, omitting the soak
• Quarter a large onion like you would an apple. Smash 6 of the cloves of garlic (but do not pulverize)
• Put the beans, onion, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, and 12 cups water in a crock pot on high.Cover and cook for 4-6 hours or until the beans are creamy.

Step 2: Black Beans

• Drain and rinse the brine from the black beans
• Quarter a small onion like you would an apple (or use 2 or 3 quarters of a big one). Smash 3 of the cloves of garlic (but do not pulverize)
• Put the beans, onion, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 bay leaf, and 6 cups of water in a cooking pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to low, cover, and cook for 60-90 minutes, until the beans are creamy.

Step 3: Brown Rice

• Cook 3 cups of brown rice (enough to make 9 cups cooked) according to the package directions
• Do this whilst the beans are cooking.

Step 4: Spicy Meat Sauce

• Keep an eye on the beans and rice cooking on the stove whilst doing this step. Both the rice and beans benefit from cooking slowly, so keep the burners low to prevent burns.
• Make a triple batch (3x) of this blog's Spicy Mexican Meat Sauce.
• You will use one of the batches of onions/peppers and one of the batches of minced garlic that you prepped last night.
• I did this over two stovetop burners in my turkey roasting pan.
• Instead of using the canned tomatoes and paste as described in the recipe, I bought a Costco-sized can of crushed tomatoes in puree (106 ounces)
• I also used 3 ounces of lime juice from the green squeeze bottle instead of fresh limes
• After cooking, let cool and portion into freezer bags. Freeze!
• This meat sauce is great for sloppy joes, taco salads, tostadas, topping baked potatoes, and baked in the oven with cornbread mix on top!

Step 5: Lime Refried Beans and Rice

• By now, the black beans and the rice should both be be cooked. Drain them.
• Pull the onion and garlic chunks from your beans when draining them!
• Make a triple batch (3x) of Lime Refried Beans and Rice
• We used the reserved tomato juice from the canned tomatoes instead of broth as described in the recipe
• The recipe says to sprinkle half of the beans with cheese. This is because half of my kids can't eat cheese. I didn't notice this until after posting the recipe card on the blog. You can just put cheese over all of it.
• We bought 6 5-inch by 7-inch disposable aluminum baking pans and portioned the recipe into them. Don't bake them today, just freeze them. (Bake them when you want to eat them).
• You can use this whenever you would eat beans and rice: in burritos, with grilled chicken or fajitas, or with the meat sauce above!

You're almost done!

Step 6: Ham and Barbecue Bean Skillet

• By now your crock pot beans should be complete. Drain them.
• Make a triple batch (3x) of Ham and Barbecue Bean Skillet.
• You will use the remaining onions/peppers and garlic from last night.
• I used the widest cooking pot I had for this.
• Be gentle when mixing in the beans so you don't mash them up too much.
• After cooking, let cool and portion into freezer bags. Freeze!

All done :) Congratulations!