Jane Henegar

Welcome to Fare Exchange on this week of sweet things. (Consider some spice, too.) Today there are many requests: banana pudding, banana cream pie, Crock-Pot pork and beans, Crock-Pot black-eyed peas, no-bake fruitcake, tater tot casserole, any good and easy casserole dishes, any good easy crock pot recipes, grape salad and, finally, easy chicken and rice.

Harvey L. Hogan, who enjoys playing in the kitchen, would like to try your best recipe for banana pudding and banana cream pie. The rest of the requests came from B.J.M. of LaFayette, Ga., sending a gracious plenty of challenges in a graceful handwriting.

Mildred Everett's version of Amaretto Pie has cream cheese and a hint of coconut flavor. She credits her sister-in-law, Jo Everett, who shared it often - "different but it sure is good. Her daughters and family always liked it."

A. Cookston of Dunlap sent the same recipe, "given me several years ago by a friend, which was given her by another friend who worked at one time at Mount Vernon Restaurant. I couldn't prove this to be the Mount Vernon recipe. However, it is an excellent pie."

Amaretto Pie

1 stick melted butter or margarine

1 cup plain flour

3/4 cup chopped pecans

8 ounces softened cream cheese

3 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur

1 cup Cool Whip

1 cup powdered sugar

2 packages instant coconut pie filling (3 ounces each)

Toasted almonds

Combine butter, flour and pecans. Press into pie pan and bake 12 minutes in a heated 350-degree oven. Then cool.

In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese, Amaretto, Cool Whip and powdered sugar. Spread over cooled crust and refrigerate.

Prepare coconut pie filling according to package directions in another bowl. Spread over cream cheese mixture and top with Cool Whip and toasted almonds.

It's always fun to see what a famous person cooks, and this one from Harvey L. Hogan was taught to country music singer and songwriter Porter Wagoner by his mother. Note particularly the last sentence.

Porter Wagoner Fudge

2 cups sugar

2 heaping tablespoons cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup Log Cabin syrup

Milk

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1/2 cup English walnuts

Mix sugar, cocoa, salt and syrup in saucepan. Add enough milk to make it soupy but very thick. Bring to boil and boil until sugar is dissolved (4 to 5 minutes).

Test by dropping a spoonful into a cup of cold water until it forms a soft ball. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Stir until it begins to cool. Add peanut butter and walnuts. Pour into large platter until it cools and hold a gun on yourself until you taste it.

Nancy Seale sent an impressive cookbook, "Rustic Shop Centennial Cookbook," from Dowling Park, Fla. (It may, by the way, be ordered from RusticShop@acvillage.net.) We will visit this book more than once, beginning with today's offerings.

Crabmeat Delights

1 can crabmeat

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon onion, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon prepared mustard

2 English muffins cut in half

Combine crab, mayonnaise, cream cheese, egg yolk, onion and mustard and mix well. Split English muffins and place on broiler pan. Top with crab mixture and broil 3 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Williamsburg Brunswick Stew

1 stewing hen (6 pounds) or 2 broilers (3 pounds each)

2 large onions, sliced

2 cups okra, cut in pieces

4 cups fresh or canned tomatoes 3 medium potatoes, diced

2 cups lima beans

4 cups corn, canned or fresh

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

3 teaspoons salt

Cut chicken in pieces and simmer in 3 quarts water for a thin stew, or 2 quarts water for a thick stew. If canned vegetables are used, include can juices and reduce water to 2 quarts. Cook until meat can easily be removed from bones, about 2-1/2 hours. Remove from heat, cool and pick meat off bone, discarding bones and skin. Cut into bite-size pieces. Reserve broth. Add raw vegetables to broth and simmer, uncovered, until beans and potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Add chicken back into mixture. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

In tidewater homes, the stew was made one day and eaten the next day, to allow flavors to blend.

Lynn Carroll, whom I know to be an artist, makes an easy composition that is also easy on the budget. "On cold bleak days I like to think warm and make my Easy Tropical Tuna."

Easy Tropical Tuna

1 can tuna, drained

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1/2 bag Dollar Tree tropical trail mix

Mix and enjoy alone or in a lettuce leaf wrap. Add a little pepper for spice.

The 6-ounce package of trail mix, which costs a dollar, is a perfect blend of dried dates, pineapple, bananas, raisins, papaya and coconut.

Just a Dash...

Our intrepid correspondent K.F.N. runs a precise kitchen with tomato-red accents, and works with care therein. Her latest discovery is Cover Mate Stretch-to-Fit Food Covers. "These elastic-edged plastic disposable covers will remind you of the shower caps that hotels sometimes supply, or used to supply, to their guests. I remember long ago reading some clever person's repurposing of those covers on the tops of dishes bound for the refrigerator. The person who turned these into a useful product for the kitchen, no repurposing needed, was probably cleverer than the one who had the original idea."

Shall we continue the discussion of Most Useful Kitchen Items, then? Here are a few more:

• One good Cutco knife.

• A second refrigerator.

• Nested glass bowls with plastic tops, microwave-safe instead of the plastic ones.

• Good Grips Pop plastic storage canisters, easy to open simply by popping the top, and stackable.

Now it's your turn. We will eagerly await your nominations.