Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook Part 73

Use a good grade of champagne. It doesn't have to be awfully expensive, but do choose a medium-priced brand that has a good reputation. I used Korbel.

5.

I used Martinelli. If you can't find that where you live, use sparkling apple juice and add raspberry concentrate, raspberry juice, or raspberry syrup until the resulting c.o.c.ktail is a pretty pink color.

6.

If you don't have sherry, dry white wine will work just fine. Dry vermouth is also an option. If you don't want to use liquor of any type, you can simply add another cup milk.

7.

If you can't find salted sunflower nuts, use chopped salted cashews, or even crushed potato chips.

8.

If the cheese selection at your grocery store is limited, just use shredded Monterrey Jack for the first cheese, and shredded sharp cheddar for the second cheese to melt on top of the Fritos. If you can't find Monterrey Jack, use mozzarella or Swiss.

9.

Check the weight on your can of salmon. It should weigh between 7 ounces and 8 ounces red salmon is best, but pink will do.

10.

If you use regular hamburger instead of lean, you'd better buy 2 and or 3 pounds, because there's a lot of fat that'll cook off. If you buy extra lean hamburger, it probably won't have enough fat and you'll have to add some.

**** Don't worry about the ounces on the water chestnuts anything from 4 ounces to 8 ounces will do.

11.

If you think your eggs might be too small or too large, you can easily check them by mixing them up in a measuring cup. Four eggs should measure approximately one cup. If yours don't, adjust by adding more egg or pouring some out.

12.

Orange zest is finely grated orange peel only the orange part, not the white part.

*** Lemon zest is finely grated lemon peel only the yellow part, not the white part.

13.

Marge says that when she makes these biscuits for Herb, she uses fresh herbs from her kitchen window herb garden. If you want to do it Marge's way, use 2 Tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley, 1 Tablespoon finely minced fresh sage, 1 Tablespoon finely minced fresh thyme, and 1 teaspoon minced fresh basil.

14.

You can use fresh and peel and slice your own, or you can buy them already sliced and prepared in the ready-to-eat section at your produce counter, or you can use canned peaches.

15.

If you don't have lemon zest, DO NOT subst.i.tute lime zest, especially from regular limes it can be very bitter, and the little flecks of green aren't very appetizing.

16.

Key limes are difficult to find. If your store doesn't have them, look for frozen key lime juice. If you can't find that, just buy regular limes and juice those.

17.

If you're in a hurry, you can use two frozen pie sh.e.l.ls just thaw them and use one for the bottom and one for the top.

18.

You can use any flavor of frozen juice concentrate and jelly that you wish. You are only limited by the frozen juice concentrates and jelly or jam that your store carries. My small grocery store stocks frozen grape, frozen peach, frozen pineapple, frozen orange, frozen lemonade, frozen limeade, frozen pink grapefruit, and frozen apple.

19.

The lemon zest adds a little zing to your pie.

20.

If you don't like canned pie filling, make your own with canned or frozen cherries, sugar, and cornstarch.

21.

If you can't find raspberry syrup, mix cup seedless raspberry jam with cup light Karo syrup and use that.

22.

That's about 1 and cups of crushed pineapple and a scant cup of juice.

23.

If you can't find chocolate cookie wafers in the cookie aisle of your grocery store, try the section where they keep ice cream toppings and ice cream cookies that's where Florence Evans at the Red Owl in Lake Eden keeps them.