spiced pecan pie



1 1/2 tbs butter
1 c packed dark brown sugar
1 c cheap original flavor pancake syrup
3 eggs, well beaten
1/4 tsp each: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom
1 tbs vanilla
1/2 large bag of pecan halves, broken a bit
1 unbaked 9" pie shell

cream butter and sugar. add beaten eggs, salt, spices, and vanilla. mix well, then stir in pecans. pour into the pie shell and bake in preheated 350 oven until center of pie is set (doesn't jiggle when you wiggle it). mine took about an hour. let pie cool for about 4 hours before cutting into it.



stuffed mushrooms


8 oz package of large white mushrooms
1/4 c chopped pecans
3 tbs chopped cilantro
3 tbs chopped green onion, white and light green parts
3 tbs soft butter
1 large clove chopped crushed garlic
2 tbs finely chopped green olive
3 tbs crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c cream

de-cap mushrooms, saving the stems. place caps in baking dish stem side up. heat oven to 400. chop stems and add all other ingredients except cream to chopped stems, mix well. stuff the caps w/ 2 tbs or so of stuffing, pressing stuffing into the cap. when all caps are full, repeat until all of stuffing is used and caps are over-stuffed. drizzle w/ cream and bake 30 min, until mushrooms are soft and stuffing starts to brown a bit. serve w/ cream sauce from bottom of baking dish spooned over stuffed caps.