Mom's Coconut Custard Pie

1 (9 inch) unbaked refrigerated pie crust 

3 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 full tablespoon vanilla extract

1 more egg separated (total of 4 eggs in recipe)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Separate one egg…keep the yolk for now and save the white for your egg wash later in the recipe. 

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and heavy cream. Heat until just starting to boil – be sure to watch it because it will go from barely simmering to heavy boiling rather quickly. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, combine the one egg yolk, the three whole beaten eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix well. Now slowly (it is important to pour very slowly) add in the hot milk mixture continuing to whisk vigorously and continuously so that the egg mixture already in the bowl does not cook. Once the hot milk mixture is completely blended in, add in the coconut and mix well. 

Place the unbaked pie crust on a cookie sheet lined with a silicon mat. Brush the insides (bottom, sides and top) with that egg white you put aside to help prevent the crust from getting soggy. Carefully pour the custard mixture into the pie crust.

Bake for 35 minutes then carefully place strips of aluminum foil over the exposed crust to prevent it from getting too dark. Reduce the oven temp to only 250 degrees and put pie back into the oven to bake for about 20 minutes or until the filling is just about set. It should not be wet and jiggly but not completely firm or solid.

Remove from oven and cool on rack. When pie is just about room temperature then place in refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Delish!

Stuffed Eggplant Bolognese

Ingredients:

3 medium size eggplants

2 lbs chopped beef and pork mix

4 cloves chopped garlic

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

3 cups prepared tomato sauce

Extra virgin olive oil

Italian seasoning , salt, pepper and some hot pepper flakes

Directions:

Peel the eggplants skin off with a peeler and cut them down the middle lengthwise. Rub with evoo and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Scoop out the all the middle of the eggplant halves with a large spoon. Take the eggplant and chop into pieces, put it aside.

Place the halved eggplants in a bake dish sprayed with non-stick spray, cover with foil and bake on 375 for 30 minutess.

Meanwhile, sauté the meat in olive oil, then add in chopped garlic and eggplant. Pour in 1cup of the tomato sauce and stir to mix together. Season to your preference with the spices.

Fill the eggplants with the meat/eggplant mixture, pour the rest of the sauce all over the tops and top with the mozzarella and a little more of the seasoning mix.

Put back in the oven until the cheese is melted and just starts to brown.

　

　

　

　

Moist Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground turkey

1 ½  cups plain panko crumbs

2 eggs

½ cup milk

1 packet onion soup mix

3 Tbs tomato paste

½ large white onion, chopped   

1 tsp thyme

1 Tbs butter 

3 Tbs parsley

Salt, pepper, paprika

Olive oil

Directions:

In a small pan,  cook the onions with the butter, a little salt and pepper until translucent.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together with the onions , reserving  1 Tbs of the tomato paste. 

Form into loaf in a bake dish sprayed with non-stick spray.  Spread the tomato paste and 1 Tbs olive oil over the top of the loaf evenly.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes- 1 hour or until just starting to brown slightly around the edges. 

Also, during the cooking process, I poured a ½ cup of water all over the top 3 times. It absorbed right into it and it made  it a very moist meatloaf!