Butter Flaky Pie Crust

What can I say? Everyone loves pie, right? Believe it or not, homemade pie crust is SUPER easy and SUPER fast. I swear this took me maybe all of 10 minutes to make the dough. Then you chill it and roll it out whenever you're ready. It's really simple. I mean, 4 ingredients - that's simple, right? And it's ingredients that almost everyone will have on hand.

will say that you really need one little tool for this - a pastry cutter. It's a little hand-held thing that looks like a half moon, or a capital "D", with the straight part being the handle, and hard wires or metal slats making up the curved part. That's for "cutting" the butter into the dough. They say you can use two knives, but I've never been able to master it that way. You can get a pastry cutter anywhere they sell cooking gadgets. I think I got mine at Target. Not the best quality, but it works.

So, if you want to really impress your friends with your homemade pie crusts - try this recipe. It's awesome! As usual, I got it off of AllRecipes.com. AND REMEMBER, IF YOU ARE GOING TO NEED A TOP CRUST, YOU NEED TO DOUBLE THIS RECIPE and split the dough into 2 halves before you chill it.

By the way, I've been bad about taking pictures. I promise to take some soon. I hate recipes without pictures. :-(

Butter Flaky Pie Crust

(As always, my notes are in blue)

This Recipe Makes 1 pie crust

INGREDIENTS: (Keep in mind – it’s VERY important that the butter and water be chilled)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced

1/4 cup ice water

1 lightly beaten egg white (optional – for a top crust. If you’re making a top crust, brush it with the egg white before you bake it to help the crust brown nicely).

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. (If you're making 2 crusts, just cut the dough in half at this point and form 2 balls). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight (actually, even an hour seemed to be fine for me).

2. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. (I have noticed that the edges of the crust seem to shrink a bit, so make sure you go out over the edge of the pie plate just a tiny bit, or at least go right up to the edge).

Baking a crust empty (for the “empty shell”):

In order to get the best bake of empty shell... prick the shell with fork, line the crust with parchment, and then fill to the top of shell with either dry beans or dry rice. I use the beans because they are cheaper so I don't feel bad about throwing them away.

How to Make a Lattice Crust:

Okay. First of all – don’t freak out by how complicated this sounds. If you just read one line at a time and do what it says (especially for the “real lattice”), you’ll be able to do it. It’s actually very easy – just a bit complicated to explain in writing. Remember – just take it one step at a time. Read and do what it says. Ready? Go!

Lattice crusts are a top crust design made by literally weaving strips of pastry dough on top of pie filling. There are two ways to accomplish this: making an actual woven lattice, and making a 'fake' lattice.

To make the 'fake' lattice, simply roll out the top crust to a 12" circle. Then, using a sharp knife or a pastry wheel, cut the circle into 1/2" strips. Starting with smaller strips at the edge of the circle, place every other strip on the pie, leaving a 1" space between each strip. Then simply place the remaining strips on top of the first, perpendicular to the first layer, again leaving a 1" space between each strip. You may not use all of the pastry strips. Then tuck the strip edges under the bottom crust, flute, and bake.

For a real lattice, roll out the top crust again and cut into 1/2" strips. This time, start with the center strips. Working from the center outwards, lay every other strip from the circle 3/4" apart on the pie filling. Now, fold every other strip on the pie in half back upon themselves. Starting at the center, lay one strip perpendicular to the rest. Unfold the folded strips over the perpendicular strip. Now, moving towards the edge of the pie, fold the unfolded strips back over themselves and over the first strip, lay down another perpendicular strip, and unfold the strips. Continue to the edge. Now repeat this process on the other side, starting again at the center. Tuck the strip edges under the bottom pie crust, flute, and bake.

* I noticed that after the prescribed baking time at the prescribed temperature, my pie crust was browned at the edges, but not in the middle, so I covered up the edges with tin foil (or you can buy tin “pie crust protectors”), and cranked up the heat to 425 for another 15 minutes , just to brown the top better.

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Bread

I know, I know – who out there is really going to make bread from scratch? Well, if you DO feel like taking on the challenge, this is a REALLY good recipe. I found it on a KitchenAid forum where someone credited it to Epicurious.com (just for the record). I haven’t made a ton of bread in the past, but I have made enough to know that it’s hard to make bread taste as good as some of the store-bought stuff. The texture is hard to get right. They use special ingredients and special ovens. I have gotten some clues from expert home bakers as to what cool ingredients I might add to make this EVEN BETTTER. Maybe I’ll share those ideas with you another time. But for now, this is definitely an amazing recipe just the way it is. It comes out somewhat similar to The Cheesecake Factory’s dark, sweet bread. It’s not really “sweet”, but just has a hint of sweetness from the honey. And after a few days, I stuck it in the fridge so it would last longer. Since it was in the fridge, from that point on, I toasted it when I wanted a slice. OMG! So good toasted! It’s like a whole ‘nother level of deliciousness when it’s toasted….”we bother” (if you don’t get the reference, read here).

My loaves did kind of collapse, so the tops fell in, but it didn’t affect the taste or the texture. They’d just look prettier if that hadn’t happened. I’m pretty sure I know why, too. I let them rise too long on the second rise (for those who don’t know, most (or maybe all) bread needs to rise twice). My oven was on the fritz and it took me an extra long time to get the temperature up to where I needed it (good thing I have my super cheap, super handy oven thermometer to keep me on track. Anyhow, by the time I got the temperature right, the loaves were like exploding out of the loaf pans. Clearly, too much rise. On the other hand, like I said, the texture was incredible overall.

One more note for you. Kneading bread is fun and there are definitely techniques involved. There are probably a million websites that will tell you how to do it “properly”, if there is such a thing. I just got my new MIXER (or hadn’t you heard?). So, for me, that was one of the great joys of having the top of the line mixer. It kneaded the dough for me – like a champ! Don’t lose heart, though, if you don’t have a mixer. Bakers have been kneading dough by hand forever and it’s totally fine. It just takes a little time and a little elbow grease.

OATMEAL WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups whole milk (or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk, plus 4oz. water (put evap. Milk in measuring cup and add water to make 16oz.)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking) 1/2 cup warm water (105-115°F)
2 tablespoons active dry yeast (from 3 packages)
1/2 cup mild honey
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 cups stone-ground whole-wheat flour
About 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (it may take up to another cup)
1 tablespoon salt
Vegetable oil for oiling bowl
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water

DIRECTIONS:
• Heat milk in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan over low heat until hot but not boiling, then remove pan from heat and stir in oats.
• Let stand, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooled to warm.
• Stir together water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon honey in a small bowl; let stand until foamy, 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.)
• Stir yeast mixture, melted butter, and remaining honey into cooled oatmeal.
• Stir together whole-wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour, and salt in a large bowl.
• Add oat mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead with floured hands, adding just enough of remaining unbleached flour to keep from sticking, until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 10 minutes (dough will be slightly sticky).
OR if using KitchenAid mixer, add flour/knead until dough pulls away from sides of mixer (but not bottom – it will be a slightly sticky dough)).
• Form dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled large bowl, turning to coat.
• Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel; let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Lightly butter loaf pans.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times to remove air.
• Divide dough in half and shape each half into a loaf, then place 1 loaf in each buttered pan, seam side down, tucking ends gently to fit.
• Cover loaf pans loosely with a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly brush tops of loaves with some of egg wash and sprinkle with oats, then bake until bread is golden and loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 35 to 40 minutes.
* Here's one way you can "go the extra mile" with this recipe. Not necessary, but something I heard about once and decided to try. I heard that professional bakeries have ovens that "steam" the bread. You can immitate that by placing a cookie sheet on the bottom of the oven (preferably not your nicest cookie sheet, as it will be exposed to a lot of heat). After you put the bread in, pour a little bit of water in it (a cup or so). It should steam like crazy. Then it calms down and steams steadily while the bread cooks. You can add water if it seems like it's dried up. I added water a couple of times during the process. Again, totally not necessary, but it may have contributed to the overall texture of the crust and it really wasn't very hard to do.
• Remove bread from pans and transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

Just a Funny

Not really about cooking, but still funny - Supposedly a transcript of an actual conversation between a hotel guest and a hotel employee somewhere in South America. It’s even funnier if you read it aloud.

Room Service: “Morny. Ruin sorbis”
Hotel Guest: “Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service”
RS: “Rye … Ruin sorbis … morny! Djewish to odor sunteen??”
HG: “Uh … yes … I’d like some bacon and eggs”
RS: “ Ow july den?”
HG: “What??”
RS: “Ow july den? … pry, boy, pooch?”
HG: “Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please.”
RS: “Ow july dee baychem … crease?”
HG: “Crisp will be fine”
RS: “Hokay. An san tos?”
HG: “What?”
RS: “San tos. July san tos?”
HG: “I don’t think so”
RS: “No? Judo one toes?”
HG: “I feel really bad about this, but I don’t know what ‘judo one toes’ means.”
RS: “Toes! Toes! … why jew Don Juan toes? Ow bow singlish mopping we bother?”
HG: “English muffing!! I’ve got it You were saying ‘Toast.’ Fine, an English muffin will be fine.”
RS: “We bother?”
HG: “No … just put the bother on the side.”
RS: “Wad?”
HG: “I mean butter … just put it on the side.”
RS: “Copy?”
HG: “Sorry?”
RS: “Copy … tea … mill?”
HG: “Yes. Coffee please, and that’s all.”
RS: “One minnie. Ass ruin torino fee, strangle ache, crease baychem, tossy singlish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy … rye?”
HG: “Whatever you say.”
RS: “Tendjewberrymud.”
HG: “You’re welcome.”

A Mixer and A Muffin

Well, folks. I’m still cooking. I swear. In fact, I’ve been cooking and baking SO much that I haven’t had time to stop and write about it. I promise to do better!

First things first. I got the best present EVER for Christmas. Not a car. Not a diamond tennis bracelet. Something a foodie like me can really get excited about - a brand new, shiny, KitchenAid mixer! And if that weren’t enough, it’s not just any mixer – it’s THE BIG ONE – the 6 quart professional! It’s a cook’s dream. At least 5 or 6 times a day, I tell my hubby much I love my new mixer and how excited I am about it. Needless to say, he’ll be glad I’ve found someone else to tell it to. So, Hey! All you readers out there – I LOVE my new mixer!

How much do I love my new mixer? I love it so much that I did minor construction on my kitchen so that it could accommodate the new giant. The thing is really BIG, I’m telling you. I made cat food in it the other day (yes, I MAKE catfood). It’s not because I’m a crazy cat lady. My cat was on the verge of death and the food thing saved his life. So, enough said. I’m not nuts. Anyhow, I put 6 pounds of raw meat in there and some other ingredients. That mixer handled it like a pro. I was very impressed.

So, we know it can handle cat food. What about people food? Yes, yes, yes! The first thing I made with it was blueberry muffins. They’re called “To Die For Blueberry Muffins”, and they are…to die for! Incidentally, I got the recipe from AllRecipes.com . I LOVE that site because not only can you find multiple recipes for just about anything you’d ever want to cook or bake, but there are dozens (even hundreds) of reviews posted by other people who’ve tried the recipe. You can get great tips based on other peoples’ experiences – what works and what doesn’t.

And while we’re on the subject of great websites – I’ve been visiting KitchenAid’s forums on their website – www.kitchenaidconversations.com . It’s like an ocean of fun that I could swim around in for months and never get bored or even begin to skim the surface of what’s there. And it’s not just fun stuff, but really practical stuff about your KitchenAid products and recipes that you might make with your KitchenAid products. Very cool. Fair warning though – it might make you want to get more KitchenAid stuff. If you already have the itch to buy something KitchenAid, this will definitely take you over the edge.

So, here’s the “To Die For Blueberry Muffins” recipe I mentioned. They’re great!

TO DIE FOR BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 25 Min
READY IN 40 Min

SERVINGS: 16

INGREDIENTS:
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¾ cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla (optional)
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter (room temp)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). (If you’re not sure about the temperature of your oven, err on the low side. It’s not going to kill these if the temp is slightly less than 400.) Grease muffin cups and/or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine first four ingredients. Place vegetable oil into a 2 cup measuring cup; add the eggs and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture and add vanilla. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups ¾ full, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture. (don’t overfill the cups because they’ll run over the top and get burned. I know because I tried it. The sugar and butter in the topping can’t take that kind of heat – they burn quickly when they touch the pan.)
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together last 4 ingredients. Mix with fork (or a pastry cutter), and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Molasses Cookies

In the spirit of the holidays, here's an incredible cookie recipe. Seriously, I LOVE these cookies. There's not a lot of stuff that I eat and immediately fall in love with. When I smelled them baking, I thought someone was baking a homemade pie. They have such a great (but pleasantly MILD) spice essence. They're NOT like ginger snaps. They're much more mellow. They're like sugar cookies with a Christmas-y twist. And the best part is, when I made the recipe at home, it came out just as good (no offense, Carrie - it was your baking of these that inspired me)! And the recipe is really quite easy. You MUST try them....

MOLASSES COOKIES

Note - this recipe card came with the "history" of the recipe, so I feel like I should include that here...in honor of those who made this recipe what it is and were kind enough to share it with future bakers: (Liz McFaul)->Mary Underwood->Carrie Valentine->Kat Michaels

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar plus more for rolling
¾ cup shortening
1 egg
4 Tbsp molasses
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves

Directions:
Using an electric mixer, first mix all ingredients except flour, then add in flour and mix a bit more (doesn’t take much mixing…probably about a minute, but I don’t suppose it would hurt to mix more – as long as all the ingredients are well combined). Place a couple of Tablespoons (or more) sugar on a small plate. Take the dough, and make into balls (about rounded Tablespoon sized). Roll each ball in sugar and place into a bowl. Chill the dough balls for about an hour (this prevents the cookies from coming out really flat).Then bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes (my oven is pretty accurate and it took 15). This recipe made 28 cookies for me, but of course, it depends on how big you make the dough balls.

Chunky Tomato Chicken Soup

Is it cold where you are? Well, it's...."cold".....here in LA (I had to put that in quotes because I realize it's extremely subjective). For us wimps on the left coast, it's a bit colder than it was a few weeks ago, so I guess we can call that fall. Anyhow, if it's at all cold where you are, then you'll really enjoy this one. Warning - it's a bit spicy. You can forgo or greatly reduce the chili powder if you don't like spice. And you can thank Julz for this one - she's my artsy, craftsy, cooking-ey, baking-ey friend.

CHUNKY TOMATO CHICKEN SOUP

Description:
Shredded chicken is added to a soup that combines canned tomatoes, tomato paste, black beans, and green chilies in a well-seasoned chicken broth. (It's basically a cross between chicken soup and chili).

Ingredients
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Nonstick cooking spray
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used a lot more (like 6 large cloves) because I like it. Tasted good to me!)
4 cups chicken broth (32 ounces, which is usually the size of a carton at the store)
Two 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
One 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
One 6 oz can tomato paste
One 4 oz can diced green chilies (I got Ortega fire roasted mild. Use whatever kind you find - it's loose)
1 tsp chili powder (I used "Arbol" chili powder from the Mexican market. Julz used Cayenne pepper. Either way, I think it turned out quite spicy, so if you're not into spicy, either skip this ingredient, or just put a little dash)
1 tbsp ground cumin, or to taste
1 tsp white pepper (Whatever. I just used regular pepper. I'm not sure of the difference)
1 tbsp basil, dried (I used fresh, since I have a plant. In this case, I think the dried might be a better choice. With fresh, you have to use 3 times as much (literally - that's the conversion rate), and I don't think that in a soup, it really makes a difference).
1 tsp kosher salt (Again, a big "whatever" here. I used regular salt)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (this may be the last ingredient, but it REALLY adds a lot of yummy flavor, so don't skip it!)

Instructions:
Lightly spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Cook chicken breasts until no pink remains. Remove chicken from pan and set aside to cool. Add onion and garlic to pan and cook just until onions start to sweat (I would cook them longer. I found that even after the recipe was totally done, the onions were not entirely soft. I don't like crunchy onions in my soup, so I would just go ahead and cook them until they're translucent, which will make them softer); remove from heat. In large stock pot combine onions, garlic, chicken broth, tomatoes, black beans, tomato paste, green chilies, chili powder, cumin, white pepper and salt. (The instructions seem to have left out the basil, so I went ahead and added it here with all the other ingredients. I'm not sure if that's the right time to add it, since the flavor cooks out of herbs so easily. It tasted good, so I guess the timing was okay). Stir well. Bring to a boil. Shred chicken into bite sized pieces and add to soup. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes then turn off heat. Stir in fresh cilantro before serving. (I just stirred the fresh cilantro into the individual serving bowls. Really adds a great fresh flavor).

I served this soup with big chunky bread and butter. It definitely needs some sort of carbohydrate to go with it, in my opinion. You could also put some Fritos Corn Chips on it (my friend Mary makes a great "Taco Soup" that uses Fritos on top).

So, bundle up and enjoy this hot (in every sense of the word) soup! Farewell from frigid Southern California. ;-)

Learning By Osmosis?

Well, I'm still no expert, but I have to say, I've had a couple of "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" cooking sessions lately and they both turned out great! And, some old classics that I was never good at have started to suddenly come out right. I'm thinking maybe all that watching of the Food Network has left some random knowledge in my brain.

So my latest exciting experiment that TOTALLY worked out was soup. Yes, soup - seems easy - seems boring - but it's NOT. It's always been an enigma to me. I'm just not a soup maker. I did make that tomato basil bisque a few months ago, but that was strictly following a recipe. And I think of bisque more like it's own category - as opposed to soup. I think of soup as liquid, vegetables, maybe some kind of grain or beans or something, and maybe some protein. I have never made soup, for whatever reason. It turned out SOOOO yummy - I was totally surprised, since I really didn't have any idea what I was doing. It was hot and savory, thick and chunky with veggies, and with a little parmesan grated over the top, it was DELICIOSO!



It all started because I had all these vegetables that I wanted to use up before they went bad - and I also had an opened container of chicken broth, which also needed to be used up. I didn't have onions, which would have been nice, but I did have garlic (always easy to keep around the house, because it lasts forever). So here's what I did ... mind you, I can hardly call it a true "recipe", since there aren't amounts, but consider it a guide.



Vegetable Soup with Orzo (all amounts are really approximate):



Into a large soup pot, I put 2 VERY large cloves of crushed garlic (probably the equvalent of at least 4 regular sized cloves). I added 3 Tbsp butter and melted it over very low heat, stirring constantly (garlic burns so easily). I added about 3 Tbsp (maybe a little more) of all purpose flour and stirred the mixture constantly while still over a low flame. Even though the flame was low, the mixture was sizzling pretty good the whole time (probably because the pot I used is fairly thin-bottomed. After about 3 minutes, I started adding the chicken broth (NOTE: I really don't have any idea how much chicken broth I used, but it doesn't really matter anyway. It depends on how chunky or liquidy or prefer your soup to be). So, I added the broth a little at a time, and mixing it in with the roux (FYI - roux is the flour/butter (and in this case, also garlic) mixture)). Once the mixture is all liquid, just pour the rest of the broth in.



Now for the veggies. I added what veggies I had (any number of veggies would work). I added 2 large carrots (sliced medium thick), celery (sliced pretty chunky - and you can also add the celery leaves...they add flavor), and a crown of brocolli (cut up into large bites). At this point, you should turn the heat up to high to heat up the liquid. I decided at this point that I should add some sort of grain or pasta, so I poured in a little orzo (about 1/3 cup, I think). Remember, orzo is pasta and it expands, so you don't need a ton of it. You're not making an "orzo dish". You just want a bit of pasta in your soup to add texture and substance. I also didn't feel like I had enough liquid in the pot, so I added about 2 or 3 cups of water. Stir as needed to mix up all the ingredients. You should be over high heat at this point to get the liquids hot again.



Flavoring - it's totally up to your taste, but I added some garlic salt, the crumbs on the bottom of my "Bay Leaf" spice jar, dried parsley, salt, pepper, seasoning salt, and a tiny bit of Worchestershire sauce (random, I know - it just struck me as tasty). And, I had some fresh cilantro that I wanted to use up as well, so I threw in about 20 to 30 whole cilantro leaves. Once the mixture boiled, I turned the heat back down to low and put a lid on the pot. I let it simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.

To serve, you can grate fresh parmesan or other cheese over the top. I also threw some of the fresh cilantro on top. Yummm!