Fried Apricot Pies

Happy hump day. :o) I hope everyone is having a great week. I was told one of my concoctions for supper on Monday night was "odd". I had a chik'n patty, fresh corn out of the freezer (always yummy), baked apples (I added some cinnamon and maple syrup to them as they cooked), and jasmine rice. I felt like I needed a little green, so I cooked a large handful of fresh spinach and added it to my rice after I put it on my plate. Now is that odd or weird? I thought it tasted very good...my husband just doesn't know what he is missing....ha


Have you ever had Lundberg's Risotto? I spotted this at Kroger the other day for the first time, so I grabbed it to try. I'm glad I did, because it was really good! I saw a couple of different kinds, but the spinach mushroom was the one that got my attention. We have 4 Krogers in Jackson. Two of them have a fairly large health food section. Well, I say it's fairly large only because the other two don't have much at all. I have to try to remember which Kroger has what when I get ready to go shopping. I think this is why I hate grocery shopping. That's right....I do not like to grocery shop!


Anyway, last night for supper I had the Risotto Florentine, and fried eggplant. I topped my eggplant with some of my homemade green tomato salsa. The first salsa that I made is sweeter than the second. It reminds me more of a relish, so that's the one I used. I coated the eggplant in some Italian bread crumbs. There's not much color on my plate is there...a little bland looking isn't it? Don't let that fool you though, because it was good!

Okay, so I saved the best part for last. For my entire life, my mom has made fried apple and peach pies. You may make them where you live, but call them something different? I've always wanted to be able to make them like my mom, but the few times I've tried in the past, they never turned out anything like hers. I guess you could say they were a flop! Anyway, last night I decided to try again. I went with making apricot though, only because a lady that goes to our church made some Saturday night that were out of this world. She told me step by step how to do it. I wrote it all down on a paper towel, so I wouldn't forget. :o) They turned out great. The two changes that I will make the next time though, will be to put less filling in them and to roll the biscuits out a little thinner if I can. You want the dough to be thin as possible and with just a thin layer of filling. I did a medium layer of filling, which was a little too much. I thought they were great this way, but Tony thought less filling would be better. His grandmother makes some of the best pies also, so he is used to her way....very little filling. You know nothing is ever as good as grandmas! :o)

Here's what I did: For the filling, put an 8 oz bag of dried apricots in a sauce pan and cover with water (about an inch over the apricots). Bring the apricots to a boil and simmer. When half the water has evaporated, add some cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup and a teaspoon of brown sugar. I didn't measure the spices and maple syrup....sorry (just spice and sweeten it up to your liking). Continue simmering until almost all the water has evaporated. Once the mixture has cooked down, mash the apricots a little and set aside to cool. While the filling is cooling, open a can of biscuits, and set the biscuits out at room temp for about 15 minutes. Once the biscuits are room temperature, roll each biscuit out, onto a floured surface, as thin as you can get them. Once you have your biscuit rolled out put a thin layer of filling onto half of the biscuit. Be sure to leave about 1/2 inch space around the outside edge for sealing the pie. Fold the other half of the biscuit over the filled part and pinch around the side to seal it so the filling doesn't run out. Once you have all the pies made up, it's time to fry them. :o) I used Wesson's Best Blend oil to fry the pies in. Heat a moderate amount of oil in a nonstick skillet. Place pies in hot oil and brown on each side (around a minute per side). You may have to add more oil as you go along. You must eat these warm! They are delicious!

Oh, BTW...thank you all very much for all the cookbook suggestions. I now have new cookbooks added to my Christmas wish list. Your suggestions were great!

~Peace~