__nina Reyes Food

__KAREN DURRETT

Steps:

• I grew up in a large family--seven children--in a small town in Indiana," Karen Durret says. "It was great. My mother was the traditional homemaker, and my greatest memories growing up all relate to food. There was always a pot of something on the stove. My mom expressed love through food." The beuaty of American cooking is that a small-town Indiana girl can combine elements of Italian, Mexican and Midwestern cuisines to create a spectacular result that is pure American: Chicken and Black Bean Tostizzas.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__NINA REYES

Steps:

• When Nina Reyes came to the United States from Cuba to attend school in Pennsylvania, she knew right away that she had found her true homeland. When she returned to Cuba to marry, Nina decided, "I will never give up until I return to the United States and this time it will be for good. Because this is the country of my heart."Nina and her husband did return to the United States and raised their family in Miami. She entered numerous recipes in cooking contests. "Every time I entered, my son would say 'Mom, don't you ever give up?' and I said 'I'll keep on trying, and we shall see who laughs last.' Many times I lay awake at night, mixing up things in my dreams. If I can't go to sleep, l cook in my mind. Sometimes I get up and write the idea down, so I don't forget."One night Nina's dreams turned to what has been called Cuba's national dish, Picadillo. Picadillo is a special dish, almost like barbecue, or chili, in that every cook prides herself on her own version, with many variations. Some cooks use beef, eggs, wine, peppers, raisins or almonds others wrap their picadillo with a yeast bread instead of a pastry crust."I used to use so many people for guinea pigs," recalls Nina about testing her Bake-Off® Contest recipes, "and everybody feels differently. This time I thought, 'I'm not going to ask anyone how they like it. I'm just going to make it and send it in." Nina says she quit making her picadillo for years "because my crusts were nothing to brag about," but when she discovered refrigerated pie crusts she started making it again. Now Nina's Chicken Picadillo Pie is on its way to becoming an American classic. "That makes me so happy," says Nina.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.