Diane - A word of warning on the pecans...they will not keep long if they are cracked unless you freeze them. Of course that may not be a problem, if you are eating them that fast. LOL The reason that I know this is that my niece gave me a bag of cracked ones one time and I left them in the bag for a little too long. One day I opened the door to the room where they were and I had about a thousand littles moths flying around. They had hatched out and been well fed in the bag of pecans. Diane - You have come to the right place for the piecrust. I cannot even stand the thought of using lard and I think it would be way to much trouble if I had to do the frozen chipped butter thing, or the ice water thing that some people do. Warning: You are going to think this ingredient list looks funny, but give it a try. Make sure you have waxed paper. 2 cups flour (scant) 1 teaspon salt 1/2 cup cooking oil 1/4 cup buttermilk You can stir this with a spoon and it should be a soft dough. It will be much softer to roll out than most pie crusts. The trick is in handling the crust, so read this part carefully. Take out a little more than half for the bottom crust and place it between two sheets of waxed paper. Roll out with a rolling pen. After you have rolled it to the proper thickness, remove the top sheet of paper by carefully pulling it from one side. Lay it back down on the dough again. That was just to release it from the paper and make it release better later on. With both sheets back in place, flip the entire thing over so the bottom piece of paper is now the top piece. Remove the paper that is now on top and set it aside. Now here is the tricky part. Pick up the dough, still on the paper, by using both hands placed about 2/3 back on the crust and your pie pan in front of you. Let 2/3 hang toward you and let the 1/3 drop back over your hands. Starting with the 2/3 part, place it in your pan with the paper still attached. As you lay it down, the paper is now on top. Now slowly peel off the paper. This sounds like it slow process, but it really isn't after you get the hang of handling the dough. If you have a problem, just patch it. Since you didn't add more flour in the rolling out process, you can throw the scraps back into the bowl and use them as part of the next crust. I have quadrupled this recipe several times without any difficulty but I would suggest you make it as a single pie the first time so you know how the dough should feel. I predict you will never go back, once you have tried this one. Very little mess to clean up since the rolling pin never touched the crust, and there is no flour mess to contend with.

Possibly this is the recipe you mean, Linda............... Lori's Chicken Strudel 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced 3 chicken breast halves, boned, skinned and thinly sliced 3/4 cup water 1/2 teaspoon salt pinch of pepper 1/2 bay leaf 2 tablespoons minced onions 1/4 cup vermouth or dry white wine 4 tablespoons butter 1/3 cup flour 1/4 cup milk 2 egg yolks 1/2 cup whipping cream 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese 1 tablespoon pimiento 1/4 cup chopped parsley 1/2 pound phyllo dough leaves 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs In a saucepan, place mushrooms, chicken, water, salt, pepper, bay leaf and onions. Bring to a boil, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove mushrooms and meat with a slotted spoon and place in bowl. Boil down the cooking liquid to 1/2 cup. Remove from heat, add wine, and set aside. In a separate saucepan, melt butter, add flour, and stir constantly over medium heat for 2 minutes. Slowly add cooking liquid and milk; stir with a wire whisk until thick and smooth. Remove from heat. Slowly stir in egg yolks, whipping cream and cheese. Add chopped pimiento and parsley. Then add chicken and mushrooms, stir well and correct seasoning. On a dry kitchen towel, lay 1 phyllo sheet, brush lightly with melted butter, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon dry bread crumbs, top with another phyllo sheet, brush again with melted butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Repeat until 1/2 pound phyllo leaves are used. Pour chicken mixture in a band lengthwise down center of prepared phyllo sheets. Roll sheets up as you would a jelly roll. Carefully transfer roll to a greased baking sheet, seam side down, and brush top with remaming melted butter. With a sharp knife (a bread knife works well here) divide roll into 6 or 8 portions*, cutting halfway to two-thirds through the roll. Bake at 375 F. for 35 minutes until golden. Lori

Strawberry Tartlets The wonton "cups" can be made in advance. Serves 12 and can easily be doubled. 12 wonton wrappers 3 tbsp butter, melted 1/3 cup packed brown sugar ¾ cup Mascarpone cheese 2 tbsp honey 2 tsp orange juice 3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced Whipped cream and fresh mint, optional Brush one side of each wonton wrapper with butter. Place brown sugar in a shallow bowl; press buttered side of wontons into sugar to coat. Press wontons sugared-side-up into greased muffin cups. Bake at 325° for 7-9 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack to cool. In a bowl, combine the cheese, honey and orange juice. Spoon about 1 tablespoon into each wonton cup. Top with strawberries. Garnish with whipped cream and mint if desired. ******************************** My niece once made this concoction in phyllo bundles and I'm sure it would work in wonton cups too. It was rich but very, very good... and I'm not a cheese lover but really loved this. She made a dark nut brittle ahead of time. She put some cranberry sauce in a saucepan with a little butter and some red cabernet sauvignoc, and reduced it a little bit. For the assembly, she place a piece of brittle in center of cut phyllo strip, then placed a piece of brie on top of the brittle, then poured a little bit of cranberry sauce mixture on the brie. Bring up the ends of the phyllo to form a "bundle" and sprayed it with PAM. Place on cookie sheet and put in the oven for a number of minutes to crisp up the phyllo. She then placed it in the microwave for a few seconds to make sure the brie melted or whatever (I think she did this cuz it wasn't in oven long enough..not sure). It was rich but the taste and texture was awesome! You had the crispiness of the phyllo, the crunchiness of the nut brittle, the creaminess of the cheese, and the savoury taste of the cranberry/wine sauce.

I do like chicken pot pie, and AnnT's green enchiladas. We had a version of chicken ala king too, served over biscuits, but Grandma just called it "creamed chicken" and it contained whatever leftover vegetables we had, the leftover chicken, some stock and milk, flour to thicken if necessary. My girls loved anything that contained chicken and rice, so that made it easy to make fried rice with leftovers. I've also taken leftover chicken, pulled it apart, added BBQ sauce and made sandwiches, and the girls always liked ramen noodles, so I'd throw some chopped chicken in there for some protein and I've made chicken croquettes with leftover chicken as well. I've even put leftover chicken on pizza crust with other ingredients, whatever sounds good. Like Peppi, Elery and I are fans of legs and thighs instead of breasts, and because we raise our own chicken, there are always wings and breasts available. I just dumped a bag of wings into the roaster and made chicken stock, as I'm down to 4 quarts, and Amanda will always take the breast portions for chicken nuggets. Annie