Thank You England for the Amazing Pie Crust

When I was in college I leaned how to make pie crust. I thought I had found the best pie crust recipe out there. Then years of cursing following while I struggled to roll out the dough. It was always either too wet or too crumbly. Why couldn't it just roll out easily like it shows on the Food Network?! Was that seriously too much to ask? Not to mention that it took quite awhile to get the perfect consistency of butter before adding in the liquid. For years I have been searching for an easy and delicious pie crust recipe that would solve all of my problems. Well, the search is over!! One night Mike and I were sitting down to watch TV and when we turned it on it was on PBS. It was a cooking show! I didn't know that PBS had cooking shows?! Because we are food lovers and the #1 station watched in our house is Food Network we kept watching. It was a show call Great Britain's Next Great Baker (or something like that). They had several challenges and one was to make a three tiered stacked pie...WHAT?! Didn't they know that you can't stack pie! Well paint me sheepish...they did. Their recipe was very different. Instead of using cold butter and breaking it in to pieces they melted it with water. I had NEVER heard of this before. I thought for sure it was going to be rock hard, you can only get a flakey crust with cold butter. When it came time for judging they kept saying how flakey the curst was...they were picking these pies up with no tin, and they were saying the crust was FLAKEY? I was intrigued. I wasn't very hopeful that it was going to turn out but I had to try. So I went to my faithful Pinterest and started searching for some hot water crust recipes. Not may were found...I guess this wasn't a very popular thing... not a very good sign, if it was as good as they said on TV than EVERYONE would be doing it. I found this recipe and the directions were a little different than how they did it on the show. I used the recipe for the quantities but changed the method. It came together in minutes and was the MOST DELICIOUS crust I have tasted in my life!! I will never make another pie crust in my life! The search is over and I am in LOVE. I have no complaints, it's practically perfect in every way! So with no further adieu, here is the recipe (along with my chicken pot pie recipe).

I have had a few people say that their dough was so sticky that they couldn't roll it out. I have attached a video at the bottom for you to see the process of making the crust. You really need to forget everything you know about making a pie crust when you make this recipe, it goes against everyone that you know to be true. Trust me...it is amazing!

Chicken Pot Pie with Hot Water Crust

This recipe makes two pies (one for baking now and one for freezing and baking later)

For the Pie

carrots

potatoes

celery

frozen peas

frozen corn

1 stick butter

1/2 C. flour

4 C. chicken broth

2 cubes chicken boullion

salt and pepper

olive oil (EVOO)

poultry seasoning (or you can use herbs like sage, parsley, rosemary, oregano)

Chicken (you can cook your own but I like to get a rotisserie chicken and use the meat for the pie and boil the bones and skin for the stock. In this recipe I used left over turkey.)

For the Crust

2 sticks butter

1/2 C. water

2 1/2 C. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking powder

Directions

Cut the carrots, potatoes, and celery (you can also add onions too, but my husband doesn't like them so I don't usually put them in.) into half moon shapes. I don't usually do an exact count of these veggies, I just cut up enough to fill one sheet tray. You want to cut the veggies thin so that they cook faster. Zig zag down the pan pouring EVOO over the veggies. Season with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Toss all the veggies to coat and smooth into a flat layer.

 Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 min. until the edges of the potatoes are browned and all the veggies are nice and soft. I do it this way so the amount of time it spends in the oven is greatly reduced. When you take them out of the oven they should look like this.

Next start the gravy. Melt one stick of butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. When it is melted add 1/2 C. flour. Stir with a whisk for a minute and then add chicken broth and chicken bouillon cubes that have been mashed. Season with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning to taste. Cook until thickened.

Start the pie crust. Put the 2 sticks of butter and 1/2 C. water in a small pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Meanwhile add the flour, salt, and baking powder to a large bowl and stir to combine. When the water boils add to the bowl with the flour and stir to combine with a wooden spoon.

Divide dough in to 4 pieces and roll out. The dough will be oily, that is ok,(NOTE: the dough should not be sticky. If you look at the picture the dough has formed a ball and has pulled away from the bowl and the spoon. If the dough is still sticky add more flour. You don't want to add too much flour as it will create a drier, less flakey crust.). You should not need any extra flour to roll out the dough. I had to roll mine out pretty thin to get 4 pie crusts but it worked. Use a piece of parchment paper when you roll them out so you can easily move the crust to the pie dish. When I transfer the crust I take the parchment and turn it upside down and peel the parchment away from the crust. The crust is very forgiving so if it tears you can easily mold it back together.

Next take your chicken (or turkey) and put it on top of the sheet pan of veggies along with your frozen peas and corn. Stir to combine (you can use a bowl to stir everything together, but I am lazy and didn't want another dish to wash) then add to the two pie plates. Add gravy on top of veggie meat mixture and top with another piece of crust. Crimp the edges and poke a hole in the center for the steam to vent. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Real Belgium Waffles

This year our friends Katie and Reed introduced us to a little place in downtown Salt Lake called Bruges. It is a little hole in the wall place across the street from Pioneer Park. Since then I have fallen in love with the "Waffle Monster."

Thanks to Urbanspoon for this photo.

After trying this delicious treat I had to find a recipe and make it. Although I haven't made it yet I was able to find two of the most important ingredients, Belgium pearl sugar and speculoos.

Thank you Trader Joe's and Gygi's for these great finds.

Cool, Crunchy, Chicken Tacos

One of Mike and my goals this year is to eat healthier. I don't know about you but when you hear something is healthy the first thing that comes to mind is "flavorless, boring, gross." This is not one of those recipes. This recipe is packet full of texture and flavor. I adapted the ingredients to make it more healthful. The original recipe is from The Pampered Chef.

I Know this isn't the best picture but I was really hungry and didn't want to get out the nice camera.

Ingredients

Whole wheat tortillas (original recipe calls for hard yellow taco shells)

1 small head romaine lettuce

1-2 limes

1/2 C. plain yogurt (original recipe calls for mayonnaise)

2 t. ground cumin

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

1/4 t. salt

3 C. diced grilled chicken breast (I use some of the sauce as a marinade)

1/2 small jicama

1 small mango

1/2 C. cilantro

Directions

Sauce: mix 1 t. lime zest, 1 T. lime juice, yogurt, cumin, and cayenne pepper. 

Salsa: Peal jicama and mango and cut them into 1/4 thick strips. Chop cilantro. Combine jicama, mango, cilantro, salt, and remaining lime juice and toss to coat. 

Set 1/4 sauce aside to used as a garnish. Coat the uncooked chicken breast with 1/4 of sauce and then grill the chicken. Once the chicken is grilled cut into strips. Pour the remaining sauce (1/2 of the amount) over the chicken and stir to coat.

Chop lettuce.

Get tortilla and put some of the reserved sauce. Add chicken, salsa, and lettuce. Wrap and enjoy.

Healthy Dinner and a Recipe

So after all of the holiday partying and goodies it is time to stop eating out and fix dinner at home. Last night we had a STELLAR dinner! It started out with a new recipe from one of my favorite books.

I have tried close to 15 recipes in this book and have not only liked them but loved and devoured them...and loved devouring them. ;)

We made Chicken Pene Pasta Toss.

I didn't have pene so we used another pasta we had on hand. It also called for whole wheat pasta (which by the way I love) but we only had spaghetti whole wheat noodles left.
The sauce is light and delicious it is made from the juice of grape tomatoes that have burst, onion, garlic and some parmesan cheese. It has a great pepper flavor with some fresh arugula added tossed in at the end. I had it for lunch today and it was just as tasty reheated.

One trick is that instead of adding the arugula into the entire batch and tossing it together we reserved it and just put it in the portion that we were going to eat so when you reheat it you don't have slimy, soggy lettuce which is not good eats.

For dessert I made this:

My brother had the fixings for yogurt parfaits on Christmas morning and I have been craving them ever since. How can you beat layers of homemade granola, berries, and low fat vanilla yogurt.

The recipe for my Mom's famous granola

1/2 C. oil
1/2 C. honey
1/2 C. water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
6 C. oats (I use regular oats, not steal cut or quick but you can use what you like.)
1 C. coconut
1 C. wheat germ
1 C. almonds (I use a variety of nuts depending on what I have on hand. This batch also had pecans.)

Mix first 5 ingredients in a large bowl (if you want to add a little extra sweetness you can add some brown sugar. When I add brown sugar I put the "wet" ingredients in a sauce pan and heat it up to melt the sugar.) Then add dry ingredients. Stir altogether to coat the dry ingredients with the "wet" ingredients. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Add dried fruit after baking.

Make sure to check the granola 15 minutes in and stir if needed. I always double my recipe and it fits perfectly in one of those cereal tupperware you get at the store. When you double the recipe you will need to use two baking sheets. I bake both sheets at the same time and switch positions 15 minutes through. I then put both the pans into the big bowl that I mixed it in and stir and then put on the sheets again and bake for an addition 10-15 minutes. I have also baked the granola in the large metal bowl that I have. It takes a lot longer but it does have a little bit of a different texture.

Peach Summer

Last year I bough peaches at Allred Orchards and I jarred them. They didn't last long. I had to tell Mike to stop eating them because we were going to run out before winter actually set in. This year I bought double the amount. I was able to try two different kinds of peaches. I jarred peaches again but we also had enough to freeze for smoothies and enough to make two of the most delicious fruit pies ever!

My bother Merlin always makes fresh fruit pies and they ROCK! I forget the recipe every year when I go to make this peach pie. This is the recipe.

Fresh Peach, Pear, or Strawberry Pie

(Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book)

8 cups medium strawberries or 6 cups sliced peeled peaches or pears

2/3 C. Water

2/3 C. Sugar

2 T. Cornstarch

Baked pie shell

For glaze, in a blender container or food processor bowl combine 1 C of fruit and water. Cover and blend until smooth. Add enough additional water to equal 1 1/2 C. In a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in blended berry mixture. (My bother also adds a dash of kosher salt and a squeeze of lemon). Cook and stir over medium heat till mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Cool for 10 minutes without stirring.

Spread about 1/4 cup of the glaze over bottom and sides of baked pie shell. Arrange half of the fruit in the shell. Spoon half of the remaining glaze over fruit, thoroughly covering each piece of fruit. Arrange remaining fruit over first layer. Spoon remaining glaze over fruit covering each piece. Chill for 1 to 2 hours. Garnish with whipped cream ( I add a little almond extract in the cream and it pairs with the peaches wonderfully!).

Last weekend Mike and I was able to go to the Farmers' Market. I LOVE going each year. One of the things I look forward to getting is the fresh flavored lemonades. This year we tried peach and strawberry. They have blended fresh fruit and they spoon that over the ice and them fill it with fresh squeezed lemonade. We also got two crepes with the same fresh strawberry topping. SO GOOD! I typically don't enjoy fruit drizzle over crepes because it just tastes like sugar and nothing else. This tasted like fresh strawberries. Not too sweet at all.

Aren't those BEAUTIFUL!

Birthday Cake Fame-dom

I love to bake and decorate cakes, cookies, and sweets. I don't so much like to eat them but I LOVE to make them. This year I made Mike's birthday cake and was so happy with how it turned out. Mike works in construction and I saw something similar to this on Pinterest so I had to give it a whirl.

Pretty cute don't you think? He also got a big toy to go with the mini ones.

This track hoe moves forward and backward and the hoe moves as well. Mike loves his toys and now they decorate his desk at work. I love having such a fun husband who still loves to play with toys:)

Zupa Toscana

One of my favorite places to have lunch is Olive Garden because they have my favorite soup! My co-worker Cyndi made it for a faculty luncheon and I have made it every time I have had kale. Again Bountiful Baskets provided most of the ingredients. When I saw kale in my basket I instantly knew what I was going to do with it.

If you haven't ever tried it you are missing out. Get the recipe, go to the store, get the supplies, and make it! I promise you won't be disappointed.

Adventures in Baking

One of my passions is cake and cupcake decorating. I love looking in magazines at the different decorating ideas. This Christmas Mike bought me my own set of tips and bags.

Of course I had to test it out right away and made a chocolate layer cake with a cheesecake center for our family bake-off. I was pretty proud of my first attempt at a flower.

These are Paula Deen's Red Velvet Cupcakes. The frosting is AMAZING! It is now my go to cream cheese frosting and it is so simple/low fat as all of Paula's recipies are. ;)
2 packages (8oz.) cream cheese softened
2 sticks butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
~whip the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and combine.

This is the second attempt at my coconut cake. The first attempt fell apart and we had cake cumbs instead. I bought the tropical pack from Bountiful Baskets and it had a coconut in it so I wanted to make a cake with it. As it turns out I didn't even have a piece but Mike and my other family loved it! My niece even helped me make and decorate it!

Nature's Bounty

So this past week has been a week of firsts for me as far as cooking goes. On Saturday I got a flat of raspberries from Bountiful Baskets. I was so excited for them to come because I have been wanting to make freezer jam for YEARS. Ever since I met Mike i have been wanting to make some of my own. My wonderful Mom Olson has raspberry bushes in her backyard and always has a nice supply of homemade jam. One time in college Mike had some of his mom's jam. He brought it over to our appartment and the group of us proceeded to eat the entire container of jam...slice after silce the sticky goodness just got better and better.

I made two batches of jam and we even had berries left over to freeze for smoothies. I couldn't believe how much sugar is in this jam. I bought the Sure Jell pectin and followed the recipie inside. 3 C. mashed berries to 5 1/4 C sugar!!! It is delightful though:)

Last week I went to Provo with my besty and her two little ones. We went down for a Down East warehouse sale and stopped by at a local farm to get peaches. Because it is just Mike and I at home we could never eat a half a bushel before the peaches went bad. So I had my first experience canning. I did can tomatoes but I can't really say that I did it...it was mainly my mom. I boiled the tomatoes and helped put them in the jars but my super hero mom took care of the canning process and even woke up multiple times thoughtout the night to take care of it.

So pretty! I only had one of my 10 jars break and I'm pretty sure it was my first jar which I filled too full.

Summer is so fun with all of the fresh fruit that is available. I have been trying to make more of my food from scatch and stay away from all the nasty preservatives in store bought canned food. Plus it makes me feel good to serve my hubby something that I know every ingredient that went into it. No more silly names that I can't pronounce that are on the back of a can!

Bountiful Basket Goodness

I have recently started participating in the bountiful basket co-op. To find our more go here. What you do is on Monday at 10:00 AM (for Utah) you get on the website and order your fruits and vegi's and any other packs you want. Then on Saturday you go to your assigned location and pick up your basket. This is what I have done so far.

One week they offered organic heirloom tomatoes. Yumm! I ate a lot of BLT's that week. I also made fresh tomato basil soup. This is when I made a fresh marinara sauce. I chopped up all of the tomatoes, some garlic, fresh basil, and some other herbs and spices and simmered it down to this...

I added a can of tomato paste to give it a little more flavor and then blended it up. froze some of it and used the rest in a lazagna.

I used the lazagna recipe that I posted a long time ago but added the fresh sauce and zucchini. In our conventional basket the same week we got zucchini. Both Mike and I are not huge fans of just plain zucchini as a side dish so I added it to the lazagna.

Can I just say it was the best lazagna I have every had in my life!

You also get a tone of fuit with your basket. I have loved getting mangos every week because I get to make this smoothie. I keep it pretty much the same but add different fruits each time. This one had:
2 freshly squeezed oranges.
1/2 carton blueberries
2 mangos
handful of strawberries
1/2 cup peach sorbet
handful of ice.
All of the produce came in my basket. One week they offered an 8lb. box of strawberries for $10. I got it and froze them. Now we have them for smoothies or ice cream.

We have family dinner at my mom's house once a month. This month I was in charge of bringing a salad. Usually my families idea of salad is jello with a thick layer of cool whip on top. I decided to use my offerings from my BB. I used a head of romain lettuce, 1 apple cut up, 3 cherry tomatoes, 1/2 lb. strawberries cut up, 1/2 carton blueberries. All of that came in the conventional basket. The star fruit which you see on top came in a tropical pack that was offered that week. So tastey and beautiful. That was the first Sunday that ALL of the salad was gone! I made a simple poppyseed dressing to go with it.

Some other favorite meals that I have made:
Fresh vanilla bean ice cream (we added some strawberrys to half and it was delicious also! I got the recipe off of Food Network)
Chyote squash pasta. (Found this recipe on Food Network and LOVED it. Like I said eailer Mike and I are not huge squash people...this was delicious. Plus I got to try a new vegitable that I have never had before.)
Mango Salsa (Emily's recipe)
Fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream (oneperfectbite.blogspot.com)
Fresh coconut cake (Food Network)
Apple pie
Banana crunch muffins (Paula Deen)

I don't know if we are eating healthier but we are cooking at home and eating out less...and the best part spending less on our groceries. It is nice to have fruits and vegitables as a part of every meal. Try it...I know you'll love it!

Best-Ever Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake

I got this recipe a long time ago and have made it a coupld of times but there was always something about it that my husband didn't like. The original recipe is from Kraft and they use a tub of Cool Whip for the fosting and it gave the frosting a waxey texture that bothered my husband. On my next attempt I tried just making a regular chocolate frosting and I didn't like it because it turned out too sweet. This is the final attempt and the best by far. I ended up making it twice in one week and both times it was a huge success!

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 box (8oz.) Bakers semi-sweet chocolate
1 box (small) chocolate pudding (the instant is fine)
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 pint whipping cream
Sugar
Vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350. Mix cake mix, pudding, sour cream, oil, and water together until well combined. Cut up 2 of the ounce blocks of semi-sweet chocolate (I am lazy so I just added semi-sweet chocolate chips) and add to the cake batter. Stir to combine. Place cake batter in 2, 9 inch round pans. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. (I live in a high altitude area and I didn't need to change anything to make it turn out.) Take cake out of the oven when a toothpick come out clean when poked into the center of the cake. Let cool in the pans on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from the pans and let cool completely before adding the frosting.

Frosting
Whip the entire pint of whipping cream. Add the sugar and vanilla to the whipped cream to taste. Melt 6 oz. of the semi-sweet chocolate (either in a double broiler or in the microwave). Add the chocolate to the whipped cream and mix together.
**I have made this frosting twice and the first time turned out wonderful. I used a hand held blender to mix the cream. The second time I used my kitchen aid mixer and the cream came out lumpy. I did another variation of this frosting for another cake and I used the hand held mixer again and it turned out smooth again. I think when I used the kitchen aid I over whipped the cream so be careful if you decide to use one.

Worlds Easiest and Best Lasagna!

So yesterday I made my husband’s favorite...lasagna! I secretly think this is how I got him to marry me;)

1 large can Ragu *the biggest at the store
1 lb. hamburger
1/2 of an onion, chopped
lasagna noodles
cottage cheese
mozzarella cheese
salt
pepper

In a deep skillet brown the hamburger and onion. Add salt and pepper to taste. When the hamburger and onion are cooked add the can of Ragu. Let heat through and add a layer of the sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 pan (1/3 of the mixture). Cover with a layer of lasagna noodles (uncooked! Trust me it's better this way). Cover the noodles with a layer of cottage cheese. My husband likes a lot of cottage cheese so I make sure that I can't see any noodle. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese on top then add another 1/3 of the sauce. Top with another layer of noodle, cottage cheese, and mozzarella. Then before you put the sauce on add another layer of noodle, then the sauce and then some more cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. And ENJOY! If you want the cheese to not be brown and crunchy on top cover you lasagna with alluminum foil before baking either way is equaly delicious!

**The more cottage cheese you add the runnier your lasagna will be.
Thanks to my mom for this great recipe!

Cheaper Than Fast Food

Yesterday Mike and I participated in The Old Spaghetti Factory's 41st Anniversary 41% off sale. This is what we were able to get for a total of $14 (including tip). Two Manager's Favorites, two salads, two milks, a loaf of hot bread, and two scoops of ice cream. I hope they have this event again next year. It was so delicious! If you haven't ever been to The Old Spaghetti Factory you should go. It is one of our favorite out to eat spots. It is inexpensive (even without the 41% off), you get a lot of food, and it is so nummy! Thanks to favorites and things for the heads up!

Cooking For My Hubby

Goal #1
I want to make a nutritious meal at least 5 times a week.

Goal #2
I want to learn how to pipe decorations for cakes and cupcakes.

I recently bought an amazing book called Hello Cupcake. I decided to make the punkpkin cupcakes for my family dinner tomorrow. They didn't turn out half bad. I need to work on my coloring for the frosting though. I used the recepie in the book for their punpkin spice cupcake. It is delicious and very easy. Most of the recepies in the book start out with a boxed cake mix and then you just add in a few other flavoring. This is how my cupcakes turned out.