Irish Cream Pie

This one is from Karla, very light and delicious!
Irish Cream Pie
A chocolate pat-in-the-pan pie crust makes easy work of this special edition chocolate-plus pie!Prep Time: 25 minTotal Time: 5 hours 30 minMakes: 8 servings

Chocolate Pat-in-Pan Pie Crust
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
2 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

Filling
1/2 cup milk
32 large marshmallows
1/3 cup Irish cream liqueur
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
Grated semisweet baking chocolate, if desired

1. Heat oven to 400°F. In medium bowl, mix all crust ingredients until soft dough forms. Press firmly and evenly against bottom and side of ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely on cooling rack, about 30 minutes.

2. In 3-quart saucepan, heat milk and marshmallows over low heat, stirring constantly, just until marshmallows are melted. Refrigerate about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoo n. (If mixture becomes too thick, place saucepan in bowl of warm water; stir mixture until proper consistency.) Gradually stir in liqueur.

3. In chilled medium bowl, beat whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until stiff. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream. Spread in pie crust. Sprinkle with grated chocolate. Cover; refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours but no longer than 48 hours. Store in refrigerator.

Special TouchTop pie slices with chocolate curls for a restaurant-fancy finish.

SubstitutionNo liqueur in your house? Use 1/4 cup half-and-half plus 2 tablespoons cold coffee and 1 teaspoon almond extract (or 1/3 cup Irish cream-flavored nondairy liquid creamer) for the liqueur.

Irish Potato Soup

In honor of St Patrick's day we did an Irish themed dinner this month. Thanks to Kirsten who was the hostess and did a scrumptious corned beef! When I get the recipes from the other girls I'll post Kathy's delicious potato salad....and Janell's apple bacon salad....and Nora's quiche. And I can't forget about Karla's Irish cream pie....delish!! Jen made a drink with cucumber and honeydew, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it....can't wait for warm summer evenings to make that one! Connie was missed, but she has a good excuse....a new little guy in the house, congratulations!!

The soup:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 med onion, thinly sliced
3 leeks, white and pale green parts only, rinsed and thinly sliced
3 large potatoes, thinly sliced
2 cups of combination of kale, parsley and spinach, chopped
6 cups good quality vegetable stock/broth
salt and pepper to taste

1) In a heavy bottomed soup pot over low heat, melt butter and add onion and leeks. Cover and let "sweat" for 20 minutes.

2) Add potatoes, stirring to mix, then cover again and cook 15 minutes. Stir in broth and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes just until potatoes are tender.

3) Add greens and continue cooking 10 minutes or until well wilted.

4) Process soup in batches in food processor or with a hand-held immersion blender. Return to soup pot and heat through.

5) Top with chopped scallions, fresh chives or shredded sharp Irish cheddar cheese.

i'm baaack!

we're babysitting midas, ok dogsitting, but he's kind of like Katie and Robby's baby. jenna and tom wanted to take him to school, tom said 'look, he can even wear my backpack!'

aren't those beads pretty? i love the colors. mommy knows how much i like to help her sweep and when she wouldn't let me i decided that the floor must be too clean, that's why she wouldn't let me sweep. when she came in and saw the floor she wasn't laughing, i'll tell you that! there went all jenna's beads....in the garbage. mom did let me hold the dustpan this time though.