Baptist Sangria

Ingredients:

• 1 2 lt. bottle of lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
• 1 16 oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 16 oz. can frozen lemonade juice concentrate, thawed

Directions:
1.  Mix together and serve in a punch bowl or pitchers.
2.  Excellent with lots of fruit cut up in it: oranges, grapes, pineapple, lemons.
3.  Serve very cold.

Buttermilk Pie

Ingredients: 
· 3 eggs, beaten 
· ½ cup butter, softened 
· 1 ½ cups white sugar 
· 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour 
· 1 cup buttermilk · 1 teaspoon vanilla 
· 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice 
· 1/8 Tablespoon cinnamon 
· 1 9-inch deep dish pie crust


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat eggs until frothy; add butter, sugar and flour. Beat until smooth.
3. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla, lemon juice and cinnamon; pour into pie shell.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until center is firm.

Broccoli, Grape and Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
· 1 cup chopped pecans
· 1/2 (16-oz.) package bow-tie pasta
· 1 pound fresh broccoli
· 1 cup mayonnaise
· 1/3 cup sugar
· 1/3 cup diced red onion
· 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 2 cups seedless red grapes, halved
· 8 cooked bacon slices, crumbled

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
3. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
4. Meanwhile, cut broccoli florets from stems, and separate florets into small pieces using tip of a paring knife. Peel away tough outer layer of stems, and finely chop stems.
5. Whisk together mayonnaise and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; add broccoli, hot cooked pasta, and grapes, and stir to coat.
6. Cover and chill 3 hours.
7. Stir bacon and pecans into salad just before serving.

For the love of the Vidalia

So some things in life come around once in a lifetime ... true love, birth of your first child, a trip to the Swiss Alps, a Super Bowl ticket, Georgia winning the SEC.  Well okay, some things we are blessed to experience more than once in a lifetime.  Some once a year in the spring and yes, friends, it's that time again!   What we've all been waiting for ...(cue the drum roll please)  the arrival of the first crops of the Vidalia Onion straight from the fields of Toombs County, Georgia!  I, for one, am extremely excited when I hear that those big beautiful onions have arrived at J&J Foods!  Woohoo!  Over the next couple of weeks,  I'll be posting some great recipes using those beauties!  After all, they are the state vegetable of Georgia.  So let's have some Southern pride and eat a Vidalia today!  They won't last long...

Vidalia Onion Casserole

Ingredients:
5 medium Vidalia onions, sliced
1 stick butter
1 stack of Ritz Crackers, crumbled
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Melt butter and sauté onions until limp, not brown.
3. Place half of onions in a 9x13 casserole dish; sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Top with ½ of Ritz crackers.
4. Repeat layers.
5. Bake at until brown about 20 minutes.

Serves 6-8.  Enjoy! 

Key Lime Cream Cheese Crumble Cake

Ingredients for the Base:
· 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® vanilla cake mix, reserving 1 cup for topping
· 1/2 cup butter, melted
· 1 egg

Ingredients for Filling:
· 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
· 1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
· 3/4 cup Key lime juice
· 2 eggs, beaten

Ingredients for the Topping:
· Reserved 1 cup cake mix
· 1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or combination of both
· 3 tablespoons butter, softened
· Powdered sugar for garnish


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
2. In small bowl, reserve 1 cup of the dry cake mix for the topping; set aside.
3. In medium bowl, mix remaining cake mix, 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 egg until well combined. Press in bottom of pan; set aside.
4. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and 2 eggs with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Pour filling evenly over base in pan.
5. With fork, mix reserved cake mix with pecans and 3 tablespoons softened butter until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over filling.
6. Bake about 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan at least 20 minutes.
7. Before serving, sprinkle individual servings with powdered sugar.