THE COOK IS IN THE KITCHEN

I would like to share this column with you that was printed in the 'AVERY POST" newspaper, edited by Ms. Birdie Cantrell, on the 5th day of December, 2001. It features Kentucky Pie which is one of my most very favorite recipes ever. It is a breakfast pie and the recipe came from the 'Dickson Cottage' in Linville Resorts where I have worked for many years. Enjoy!

THE COOK IS IN THE KITCHEN...whipping up breakfast...made up of Granny Smith apples, hot sausage, fresh orange juice, cheddar cheese, nutmeg...won't you please join us? The coffee is brewing and smelling divine...
Breakfast: The most important meal of the day.
"Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."-Adelle Davis

Well, here is a breakfast fit for a King and his Queen and the full entourage.
This breakfast pie will delight and impress even your most discriminating holiday guests. It is the perfect pie to 'wake up to', as it can be prepared a day ahead of time and then simply removed from the fridge and placed in a ready oven. All you need to accompany it is a baked egg, sliced tomatoes and (if you please), a toasted biscuit. Purchase the little frozen biscuits in the aluminum pan in the grocery store for easy, yet flaky, fabulous fair. Bake them the night before, allow to cool, then place in a zip-lock bag. When the eggs are removed from the oven at breakfast, slice the biscuits in half, butter, and then slide under the broiler until lightly toasted.
                                                             
THE MENU:
Kentucky Pie
Baked Eggs
Sliced tomatoes
Little toasted biscuits with jelly
Hot coffee
Fresh squeezed orange juice

KENTUCKY PIE
1 lb. hot sausage
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 stick melted butter
5 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
2 deep-dish pie crusts
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Fry sausage, drain well, using paper towels to soak up the excess grease, set aside.
In a saucepan, mix everything but the apples, sausage and cheese. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring occasionally. Remove sauce from heat. Add apples and stir until coated. Pour into pie shells, sprinkle with sausage and top with cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes then at 325 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.
Serves 6 to 12.

Note: If you don't need both pies, freeze one before baking.

BAKED EGGS

After the pies come out of the oven, set the temperature to 350 degrees. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray. Break an egg, use however many eggs you will need into each cup. Dot with butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add about a teaspoon of cream (milk, ect.) over each one. Bake for 10 minutes or so minutes just until set. Remove from the oven and toast the biscuits. Do not over cook the eggs. They will continue to cook when removed from the oven.

"And please don't cook me kind sirs! I am a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you see what I mean. I'll cook for you, a perfectly beautiful breakfast for you, if only you won't have me for supper."-Bilbo Baggins to the Trolls in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit"