Love Greek food? You're going to love this one!

No, it's not a recipe, it's ready made spanakopites, baklava and tiropites!!! There are two catches though. First, you have to wait until MARCH to pick them up (think of the wait as an appetite builder) and second, you have to live somewhere near Peachtree City as that's where you have to go to pick them up. Fortunately, there are a lot of people within driving distance of the Church... Tyrone, Fayetteville, Newnan, Sharpsburg, the list goes on... if you're in Fayette County, Coweta County, Meriweather County, Spalding County or Clayton County, you can get to Peachtree City fairly easily, do a MapQuest on the address below).

Here's a bit about the good things they're doing at the Church, plus how to get your Greek favorites (homemade, too):

The Ladies Philoptochos (Friends of the Poor) Chapter of the St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox Church in Peachtree City held its third annual Valentines Tea-Luncheon Fundraiser last weekend.

Attendees were treated to a variety of American Indian teas, Greek appetizers and other delicacies. Entertainment was provided by Ali Ramsaier, who sang and accompanied herself on keyboard. Philoptochos Chapter President, Julie Skouteris, gave a brief introduction to the accomplishments of the chapter and how it serves local and international charities. All proceeds from the event will be given to charity.

The next fundraiser is the bake sale of Greek favorites: tiropites (cheese filo triangles, $6 per dozen), spanakopites (spinach and feta cheese filo triangles, $6 per dozen), and Baklava (layered filo, nut and honey dessert, $18 per dozen), all handmade by the members. To place an order, contact Helenngeorge@comcast.net or call 770-487-1004 prior to Feb. 29th.

St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox Church is a member of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta and serves Orthodox Christians of all nationalities throughout the south and west areas of Atlanta. The church is located at 313 Dividend Drive in Peachtree City and was established in October 2003.

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One banana, two banana, three banana, four...

One good banana recipe deserves another. I very much enjoyed trying the Banana Split Pie posted a few days back. Here are a few of my favorite sweet banana recipes:

No Cook Banana Cream Cheese Pie

1 pie shell - 9 in.
1 can (1 1/3 c) sweetened condensed milk
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese
3 medium sliced bananas
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Let cream cheese stand at room temperature until it has softened. Slice two of the bananas and layer in the pie shell. Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy; gradually beat in the condensed milk. When the mix is smooth, stir in lemon juice and vanilla extract. Pour the mixture over the layered bananas. Refrigerate for around 2 hours. Just before serving slice the third banana and layer on top. You may also want to add whip cream or Cool Whip to the top. If you happen to have any maraschino cherries, pop one in the center!

I have also layered blueberries and other fruit with the bananas.

Banana Fruit Pie (makes 3 pies)

Cool Whip
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 pkg. orange jello
1 can sour pitted pie cherries, drained
1 can (large) crushed pineapple (do not drain)
1/4 c. flour
5 sliced bananas
1 c. nuts (optional)
3 baked pie shells

Bring pineapple, sugar and flour to a boil. Add jello and remove from heat. Cool. Add sliced bananas, cherries and optional nuts. Pour mix into pie shells and chill. Top with Cool Whip.

Microwave Peanut Butter Banana Pie

1 9 in. pie shell
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. chunky peanut butter (add more nuts if you'd like!)
2 (3 1/4 oz.) pkg. vanilla pudding mix
3 c. milk
2 - 4 bananas (depending on how well you like them!)
1/3 c. lemon juice
Cool Whip or whipped cream

Mix powdered sugar and peanut butter together until mealy. Spread 2/3 of the mixture over bottom of BAKED pie shell (see pie shell instructions). Place pudding mix in microwave safe bowl and stir in just enough milk to dissolve the pudding smoothly. Then stir in the rest of the mix using a wire whisk (or fork if you don't have one). Cook in microwave on high power for 6 - 9 minutes until thickened (may not take as long depending on your microwave). Stir every 2 - 3 minutes to mix well and to gauge needed cooking time. Pour into pie shell on top of the peanut butter mixture. Slice bananas. Pour lemon juice over the bananas and mix lightly to coat (lemon juice will keep the bananas from turning brown). Layer on top of pie. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 peanut butter mix on top. Chill. Serve with Cool Whip or whipped cream.

A variation is to add a layer of your favorite jam before adding the bananas.

All right ladies, those are my favorite of all favorite banana dessert recipes. I've added the Banana Split Pie to the list.

Absolutely love those blueberries!

Found a great link with some wonderful blueberry recipes: http://www.trueblueberry.com/en/products/blueberry_recipes/default.asp

I'm thinking about trying a few of the cocktail recipes. My kind of cocktail --- a little bit of bad for you with enough really good for you to ease the conscious!

I'll take blueberries any way I can get them.

Banana Split Pie

Hey ladies, where are you? I know, I know, I'm just as bad and haven't added anything to our blog either! You would think with so many of us contributing that we'd be able to add something daily. Ah well, the busy lives we lead.

I came across this old recipe and thought it would be a perfect submission. If you're a sweet lovin' person, this is dynamite in a piecrust.

Banana Split Pie

2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 stick margarine, melted
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 - 5 bananas
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. bottled lemon juice
1 (#2) can crushed pineapple, drained
Cool Whip (12 oz.)
1 c. pecans, chopped
Flaked coconut (frozen or in the bag)
1 qt. strawberries
Sugar to sweeten strawberries

Combine 2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 1 stick melted margarine and 2 tablespoons sugar. Mix and press into bottom of a large 12 x 14 inch casserole. (You can buy a couple of graham cracker piecrusts if you prefer)

Slice bananas onto crust.

Mix quickly condensed milk and lemon juice. Pour over bananas (lemon juice keeps banana from turning brown). Layer crushed pineapple on top of banana / milk mix. Add a layer of Cool Whip - be sure not to use it all. Add a layer of pecans (or other nuts if you prefer). Sprinkle coconut over top to taste. Cover and place in refrigerator.

Just prior to serving clean and hull strawberries. Crush and add sugar to taste. You can also use the frozen already prepared strawberries if you prefer to crust out this step. However, there' s nothing like fresh strawberries! Add to top of pie along with remaining Cool Whip and more nuts if you'd like.

This will keep in the refrigerator for a few days but it's best on the day you make it!

Now, for some variations!

Substitute ice cream for the layer of Cool Whip! Put a layer of ice cream, then the bananas, then the pineapple, and then more ice cream. Add a layer of Hershey's chocolate sauce on top of the ice cream layers and drizzle more on top of the concoction.

Some members of my family have an aversion to nuts so we always leave them off.

This is a recipe you can have FUN with! Get the kids involved in putting on the layers. Take a trip to the grocery store and let them pick out what they'd like on it.

It's definitely not good for the hips, but it is good for the soul. Use fresh fruit and tell yourself you're eating your daily fruit allowance!

For those who DO want to cut back some Cool Whip now makes some sugar free and fat free versions. Also, you can sweeten your fruit with Splenda or your no-calorie sweetener of choice. You can also find pineapple in a can now that is fruit juice sweetened or Splenda sweetened so you have options there, too.

A story to make us appreciate all of our choices!

CC Note: Some years back my ex-husband and I started our married life together in the military (he served - 82nd Airborne as in the story below, I supported). Money was often short and MREs helped to fill in the gaps when it was a choice between groceries and rent. Ah, the good old days of canned foods with whatever I could find to dress it up and make it palatable. Yum. So thankful to be able to run to the grocery store or stop at a local restaurant or drive through! The days of MRE banquets are long gone, but this story brought back memories and helped to make me appreciate today's many culinary options!

Soldier Cooks up Morale in Afghanistan

Soldiers on the front lines are used to meals, ready to eat -- high-energy, high-calorie packaged meals with little emphasis on taste.

Army Spc. Dairo Orozco, of the 82nd Airborne Division's Company F, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, is the cook for paratroopers here, and his skills bring an extra touch to the MREs and unitized group ration meals the soldiers eat.

"A (UGR) is just precooked stuff you put in boiling water for about 45 minutes to an hour, and presto," said Orozco, a 25-year-old Queens, N.Y., native. "You just set it and forget it."

Orozco, called "Roscoe" by the soldiers, arrived at this firebase in the south of Afghanistan's Ghazni province in November.

"I was selected to come out here to do the big Thanksgiving Day meal, because the brigade commander and command sergeant major were coming out," Orozco said. "I never got replaced, so I did the same for Christmas and just stuck around."

Even though it's not hard to please a platoon of paratroopers used to dining on MREs, Orozco has culinary arts in his blood. "My father and uncle are chefs," Orozco explained. "My father is the food production manager at Gate Gourmet, an airline catering company, and my uncle is an executive chef at Intercontinental Hotels."

While Orozco doesn't have the facilities and resources to create gourmet meals, the soldiers at Nawa appreciated his efforts during the holidays.

"Christmas dinner was great," said Army 1st Lt. Mordechai D. Sorkin, 3rd Platoon leader, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. "He's pretty creative; (he) makes do with minimal resources and makes some pretty good stuff."

With a UGR as the canvas for a culinary masterpiece, it's usually difficult for Orozco to constantly rise to the challenge, the Army cook said.

"Pizza-baked spaghetti is the No. 1 product right now, but not by choice," Orozco said. "One of the better UGR meals is the buffalo chicken and lemon chicken, but most of our food stock consists of pizza bake."

Orozco said pizza-bake spaghetti, a meal consisting of meat chunks, noodles and pizza sauce, tops the soldiers' list of worst entrees, but added that he tries to make the meals as enjoyable as possible.

"Roscoe puts a lot more effort into the food than just dropping it in the water, so we're not really eating the same thing every time," said Army Spc. Jeremy A. Clark, 4th Platoon, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. "He's done the best he can with what we have."

Luckily for the paratroopers in Nawa, Orozco has enough knowledge about the local food and spices to make a meal from scratch.

"Probably about once a week he goes out to get local food and cook it up," Clark said. "He's a real good cook, and I think it helps out a lot with the guys' morale."

Orozco said he originally joined the Army for culinary arts, but the service dropped that military occupational speciality and changed everyone in it to food operations specialists.

"The Army hasn't been exactly what I was expecting, but it has made me more mature," Orozco said. "I may not have learned much more about culinary arts than I already knew, but I know I'll make better decisions once I get out because of my training."

(Author: Army Spc. Nathan W. Hutchison serves with 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)

Flavor of Georgia food contest accepting entries

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia
Inspired by the coastal low country, Michael Simmons of Savannah, Ga., put concept to plate and created a winning combination of flavors. It was such a good mix that his Low Country Pastry earned Simmons, of Bradley Creek Seafood, the grand prize at the first Flavor of Georgia food competition.

Simmons was one of the 2007 winners. On March 18, the University of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and Department of Food Science and Technology will reveal the winners of the second Flavor of Georgia contest. Gov. Sonny Perdue will present awards for the top products in each category and a grand prize for the best overall product at Georgia Ag Day in Atlanta.

Winners earn the right to have their products stamped with the Flavor of Georgia 2008 logo.

Georgia residents can submit entries through Feb. 1 and semifinalists will be announced Feb. 18. Entries for the 2008 contest are already coming into UGA laboratories for testing.

This year, the judges are looking for market-ready foods – whether commercially available or prototypes – from across the state.

Categories this year are barbecue and hot sauces; confections; natural or organic; meat products; wine; snack foods; jams, jellies and sauces; and other. Entries will be judged on flavor, best use of Georgia ingredients, Georgia theme, unique or innovative qualities, commercial appeal and originality.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Simmons said of last year’s contest. “We put something together that highlighted all-Georgia products.”

Simmons’ strategy worked. CAED marketing analyst Kent Wolfe says the pastry dish stood out because of the Georgia products it included. “The Low Country Pastry was a unique product because it incorporated Wild Georgia shrimp, Georgia’s famous Vidalia onions and locally produced Roger Wood sausage,” Wolfe said.

To register a product, visit www.areg.caes.uga.edu and scroll down to Flavor of Georgia. For more information, go to www.caed.uga.edu or contact Sharon Kane at (706) 542-2574 or spkane@uga.edu.

The annual food contest is sponsored by the University of Georgia, the Governor’s Agricultural Advisory Commission and the Georgia Rural Development Council.

Norwegian Crab Bisque - Great Clam Chowder substitute!

I'm not sure which one of my food-loving fellow contributors left the review of Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request Clam Chowder, but I'm glad you did. I saw it on the shelf and had contemplated trying it. I'll stick to what I know is good thank you very much!

Here's a recipe you might want to try when you're craving clam chowder or fish for that matter. This is a great soup, healthy and fairly low cal. I'm sure you'll be able to make a few modifications to cut back on the calories even further! I substitute clams from the can for the crab for a great tasting clam chowder.

Norwegian Crab Bisque

2 cups water

1 small onion, diced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 medium potatoes, diced

2 carrots, sliced*

1 cup frozen peas**

6 - 8 whole allspice

1 tsp. dried dill weed

1/2 tsp. white pepper

2 cans (13 ox. each) evaporated skim milk

1 lb. imitation crab***

1 Tbsp. parsley

Dash of tabasco or other hot pepper sauce

Place water, onions, celery, potatoes, carrots, peas, allspice, dill and white pepper in 4-quart saucepan. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and discard allspice.

Add mile and simmer (do NOT boil). Gently stir in imitation crab. garnish with parsely and tabasco.

Makes 6 servigns. 229 calories, 0.3 gram fat, 629 mg. sodium, 38 mg cholesterol per serving.

*I use the shredded kind in bags as I don't care for large pieces of carrots
** I usually leave these out as a few in my family don't like peas. I like having veggies in it though so I might put some brocoli on occasion. I tried spinach and loved it, but I was the lonely owner of a whole pot of bique as no one else would try it.
***I prefer not to use the imitation crab as it has a distinctive flavor and it has sugar in it. I have substituted clams, shrimp, and/or boneless fish. You need to simmer long enough to make sure the seafood is cooked if you use fresh, something you don't need to worry about with imitation crab. I usually just use frozen cooked shrimp or canned clams so I don't have to worry. However, the flavor is SO much better with fresh. Sometimes I'll precook the fish in the microwave to save a minute or two. I have also made this with scallops, real crab, shrimp and clams all together, for a great seafood gumbo.

The recipe is from "Light-Hearted Seafood - Tasty, Quick, Healthy" by Janis Harsila, R.D. and Evie Hansen. It's from way back in 1989 and was published by the National Seafood Educators, P.O. Box 60006, Richmond Beach, WA 98160 (206-546-6430 is the phone number listed, but who knows if it's still good). I'd suggest doing an Internet search if you're intersted in trying to find a copy.

It's a great little book if you love seafood like I do!

Judy

Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request New England Clam Chowder... m' m' bad...

I love New England Clam Chowder. Being on a perpetual low-fat, low sodium diet I was very happy to run across Campbell's Chunky Healthy Request New England Chowder. Until I got home and took a bite.

It is 97% fat free and has 45% less sodium, which is a good thing. However, either the can I purchased is getting ready to be on the recall list, or it simply tastes bad.

I tried a bite and grimaced. Knowing Campbell's soups I thought it must be MY taste buds. I sipped some water and tried again. Then I tossed the bowl down the disposal.

I can't begin to describe the taste. It was not good. I drank some soda to get the taste out of my mouth it was that horrible.

I know not to expect a taste that matches the 'real deal' which has so many calories just looking at it adds inches to my hips. But I did think it would be palatable. Especially since I've had other Healthy Request soups and thought they were great.

My suggestion if you're craving New England style clam chowder? Make it yourself and cut whatever corners you can or eat a smaller portion of the regular clam chowder.

Turner Field's 755 Club

Yes, you really couldn't call this a Fayette County restaurant! However, we KNOW how many sports fans there are in the area so we thought we'd toss this in. Looks like a great place to have a business meeting, too.

Take an Eye-Opening Virtual Tour of the 755 Club

The 755 Club at Turner Field, Atlanta’s most unique meeting and event facility, recently debuted a virtual tour showcasing the club’s most spectacular assets and characteristics. The eye-opening virtual tour appears on the 755 Club’s website as a portal to experience all the facility has to offer.

A stunning grand lobby featuring cherry wood and brushed stainless steel welcomes customers to the Club, ushering them into the contemporary, cool atmosphere of the venue. Viewers are able to access the facility’s floor plan and observe the unrivalled views of Turner Field from the 755 Club. The virtual tour displays the numerous venue options available for functions within the 755 Club. Focusing on the club’s special atmosphere, the interactive online tour is the perfect introduction to the 755 Club’s unique ambience. The 755 Club will beckon you to experience the sublime, again and again.

Fernando Saenz, Sales Manager at the 755 Club, states, “The new virtual tour shows customers the elegant décor of the 755 Club, and demonstrates the breathtaking skyline and stadium views through floor-to-ceiling windows. With the world’s largest high-definition video screen, an onsite, state-of-the-art kitchen staffed with award winning chefs, a wine list to rival any in the city and access to the entire Turner Field Stadium, from Scout’s Alley to the Braves Museum, the 755 Club truly offers the ultimate experience.”

The 755 Club accommodates meeting for 75 to 500 guests and consists of five expansive rooms totaling over 24,000 square-feet. In addition to meeting space, the 755 Club offers event planning for trade shows and corporate events, team building activities, over 70 custom TV monitors, custom menus, wedding/reception planning and reception space for 75 to 3000. The 755 Club delivers the excitement of Turner Field and the storied history of the Braves with service and amenities to rival the finest venues in the city. For more information, visit www.755club.com or http://www.realviewtv.com/online/755club. Fernando Saenz, Sales Manager, may be reached at 404-614-2413.

Another Vegetable Bread!

While your pumpkin buiscuits sound good I think my yellow squash muffins have them beat! I'm not sure how many vitamins are left after the pumpkin and squash have been baked, but it seems like either would have to be healthier than regular breads doesn't it?

We always called these Murphy's Muffins, why I don't have a clue.

Murphy's Muffins

2 lbs yellow squash
2 eggs
1 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook the squash in a little water for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain then mash the squash. Beat 2 eggs slightly. Measure 2 cups of squash and combine with the squash. Add the butter and mix. Set aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the squash mixture stirring ONLY until moist. Spoon the mixture into greased muffin tins. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

It should make around 18 muffins depending on the size of your muffin tins.

These muffins are a little more work than your pumpkin biscuits Judy, but they are worth the effort. I tried using frozen squash once but didn't like the results as much as fresh squash. I like to add grated cheese to the mix sometimes.