RECIPE SWAP: READERS SHARE FAMILY FAVORITES, SEARCH FOR LOST RECIPES

This has been a very busy week for the Recipe Swap column. The Pie in The Sky contest and readers sharing their favorites has made for an exciting week of recipe reading. We will be sharing at least one recipe from each person who wrote in, and will try to get all the others in as soon as possible.

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Dorotha Strack of Cape responded to our Mincemeat Pie request by sending in her mother's recipe. Dortha tells us that her mother, Evelyn Borgfield) always made her mincemeat pies using commercially canned mincemeat.

Mincemeat Pie

Line a nine-inch pie plate with any preferred pastry (cheese pastry is especially good). Fill with mincemeat. Wet the edges of the crust, adjust the top crust, press edge firmly together and make several slits in top crust. Bake in hot oven (450 degrees) for 10 minutes, then decrease to moderate oven (350 degrees) and continue baking about 30 minutes longer. Delicious served warm.

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We have had a request for the good ole Gooey Butter Cake recipe from Margaret Waller of Sikeston. This was a very popular cake several years ago so I know you will have fun looking back in some of your older recipes to find one for Margaret.

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We have that request for No Bake Cookie Cottage from Wanda Ramsey on the table. Could anyone help her find this recipe? I'm very curious about the recipe, too. At my work at the Cape Senior Center, I've asked some of my favorite cooks there if they had the recipe and I have not come up with one yet. So, I'm going to keep trying.

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Mary Burton of Anna, Ill., is looking for a recipe for French Potato Soup. She says it contains sour cream with flour mixed in for thickening. Chicken bullion is placed in the water while boiling the potatoes. This recipe was printed in the Miami Herald in the early '80s. Readers?

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Bev Lorenz of Cape is requesting a caramel cookie recipe that was in the Southeast Missourian Cookie contest last year. She made the recipe and said her family loved it but has misplaced the recipe. I'm sure she would like to make these again for Christmas this year.

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Diane Buescher of Jackson was fortunate to have a recipe added to the 1996 Southern Living Cookbook that she's sharing with us today. Her recipe for Grandma Ruth's Grilled Pork Loin was given to her by her mother-in-law, Ruth Buescher of Chester, Ill. She says it is a wonderful way to prepare a pork loin and it works well for a family dinner in place of ham or turkey. Diane also noted that she always marinates the pork overnight to get maximum flavor.

Grandma Ruth's Grilled Pork Loin

1 (3- to 4-pound) boneless pork loin roast

1 (8-ounce) bottle Italian salad dressing

1 cup dry white wine

3 garlic cloves, minced

10 black peppercorns

Pierce roast at 1inch intervals with fork; set aside. (piercingallows marinade to penetrate the meat better.)

Combine salad dressing and remaining ingredients in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Reserve 1/2 cup mixture in refrigerator for basting during grilling.

Add roast to remaining mixture in bag; seal bag, and chill 8 hours, turning bag over occasionally.

Remove roast from marinade, discarding marinade.

Coat a grill rack with cooking spray, and place over medium-hot coals (350 to 400 degrees); place roast on rack. Cook, covered with grill lid, 35 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion reaches 160 degrees, turning and basting with reserved 1/2 cup dressing mixture after 20 minutes. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

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Mildred Mesenbrink of Cape Girardeau sent in some very delicious sounding recipes to share with you. I will probably try the Crab Pate' at our annual Christmas Eve "Kinsey Food Emporium" at my mother's house on Christmas Eve after candlelight service. There is something about this very special evening that makes me a cooking fool and I just don't know when to stop.

Crab Pate'

1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

3 T. cold water

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (6 1/2 ounce) can crabmeat, drained and flaked

1 small onion, grated

1 cup finely chopped celery

Parsley sprigs for garnish, optional

Heat soup in a medium saucepan over low heat; remove from the heat. Dissolve gelatin in cold water. Add to soup, stirring well.

Add next 5 ingredients and mix well.

Spoon into an oiled 4 cup mold. Chill until firm. Unmold and garnish with parsley. Serve with assorted crackers. Yield: 4 cups.

Shrimp N'Sour Cream

Saute' 1 bunch of green onions in 2 T. margarine. Add one pound of fresh cleaned shrimp, cooking on low heat until heated through.

Add: 1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream

1 t. dill weed

1/2 cup white wine

Simmer this mixture to heat through and serve over rice.

Mildred tells us that this is delicious with a green vegetable and a salad. It makes a delightful meal and the recipe can be adjusted to suite the number of servings needed.

Poppy Seed Dressing

1 1/2 cups vinegar

2 T. dry mustard

2 t. salt

2/3 cup sugar

3 T. onion juice

2 cups oil

2 t. poppy seeds

Mix vinegar, mustard and salt. Stir well. Add sugar, stirring thoroughly. Add onion juice and slowly stir in the oil. Continue beating until thick. Stir in poppy seeds, adding more to taste if desired.

Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 3 1/2 cups.

Thanks to everyone who sent in recipes and requests this week. I think we are off to great start! Remember to watch for the entire pie recipe contest entries to be printed in next Wednesday's edition of the paper.

~Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Senior Center. Her cookbook collection tops 2,000 books.