Auburn resident Jason Munson, 41, has won the Great American SPAM Competition, carrying a first place finish at the Puyallup Fair all the way through the nationals. His Mini Maple Spam Doughnuts beat out Spam Rangoon, Spam Chilaquiles, a "Sunrise Spamabelle Quiche," and other regional finalists. It was the seventh -- yes, seventh -- year he'd entered the contest.

Mini Maple Spam Doughnuts

Makes 24 mini doughnuts

1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk + 1 tablespoon buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 (12-ounce) can Spam Hickory Smoked, Spam With Bacon or Spam Classic
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon maple flavor

For Dough: In large mixing bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in 1/3 cup buttermilk, egg and melted butter. Beat together until well blended. Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a round tip or a resealable plastic bag. Chill mixture for 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare Spam Rings and glaze.

For Spam Rings: Remove the Spam Classic from the can and slice from the lid side to the bottom into 12 slices (each slice about 1/4-inch thick). Using a 1-1/2-inch round biscuit cutter, cut each slice of Spam Classic into two rounds (you should have a total of 24 rounds from the can of Spam Classic ). Using a straw, knife or small pastry tip, cut a small circle out of the center of each piece of Spam Classic to make a ring. Place rings into a large skillet and fry until golden brown on both sides (repeat as necessary with spam rings); set aside. Take the remaining scrape pieces of Spam Classic and finely dice. Place the diced Spam Classic into the same skillet and fry until golden brown; set aside.

For Glaze: In small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple flavor and remaining 1 tablespoon of buttermilk until well combined; set aside.

For Doughnuts: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Spray a mini doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pipe batter into the mini doughnut tin; filling 2/3 of the way full (if using a resealable plastic bag snip the corner of the bag and pipe batter into the mini doughnut pan). Place the Spam Classic Rings on top of the dough. Bake for 10 minutes or until the doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow the doughnuts to cool slightly and then carefully remove from the pan. Spread the prepared maple glaze over the doughnuts and top with the diced Spam Classic for sprinkles. Repeat as necessary with the remaining dough and Spam Rings. Serve doughnuts slightly warm.

Two words that should never go together - "spam doughnuts"

Bill Gates doesn’t even have enough money to pay me to taste that

Anyone have a good Bangers and Mash recipe? There is a local restaurant that makes excellent Bangers and Mash, but I want to make it at home for St Patty's Day (yes, I know it's an English dish, sue me).

The only thing I do differently is I don't cut the potatoes up so finely, and I just cook them longer. That way they don't absorb as much water.

...
And today I tried it. Yep, it mixed up very easily and I let it rise for 2 hours. What I learned was that I probably should have refrigerated it before I tried to whack off a piece. It really was sticky and I made a mess. But I did manage to make two loaves with a grapefruit sized pieces of the dough. I also learned that a grapefruit sized piece of dough will only make a loaf about 7” x 5”. Next time I’ll try a bigger hunk. I also learned that using cornmeal will change the taste a bit. But the crust was indeed perfect, it was pretty, (except for the one that got stuck to my hands) and it tasted good. Next time I’ll refrigerate first, go bigger, and use parchment paper.

Anyone else ever tried this?

On the pecan pies that didn't set:

Trisha Yearwood on Trisha's Southern Kitchen says she has made runny pie and a friend told her not to use a mixer, just whisk until combined. She says since she quit using the mixer, no more runny pies.

I have never made a runny pecan pie and I never use a mixer.

What do y'all use and how do your pecan pies turn out?

I'm fixing this for tonight's dinner:

Leg of lamb prepared with Meyer lemons, olive oil, garlic, fresh thyme and rosemary
Roasted Potatoes
Greek Salad with French feta
Greek spanakopita
Strawberries macerated in Chianti and served with Chantilly whipped cream.

Gosh, that sounds really fantastic. My son wants to go out for sushi tonight.

We're having:

Rice spaghetti (from the chinese store, 1st time.)
Tomato sauce with baby bella mushrooms, diced zucchini, onions, and garbanzo beans.
Garden Salad
W2 gets parmesan.

The rice spaghetti says boil 2 minutes, then take off heat and let sit in water for 20 minutes.

Vegan and gluten-free. So far lost 3 lbs. Snyder's of Hanover makes a gluten-free pretzel that isn't horrible!

I.made an eggplant marinara sauce last night. The eggplant adds a nice non-meat meatiness to it. Lots of mushrooms, green pepper and onion also. It was yummy.