Apple Pie

The first time I attempted pie I vowed I'd never go through the torture a second time. Obviously, I lied. I stuck it out, had many disasters and countless pie crusts were 'pieced' together. You know what? When it's baked and smelling absolutely divine, who really cares?! This recipe fits a 10" pie plate.

Pie Filling

6 - 8 apples
1/2 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp milk
1-2 tsp cinnamon

1. Peel, core and slice the apples. I use Mac, Spartan, Granny Smith but stay away from Red Delicious because they shrink too much when they're baked. 
2. Toss apples in remaining ingredients. For the sugar, I usually eat an apple slice and determine how tart or sweet the apples are and then adjust the added sugar accordingly. I never measure the cinnamon. I just keep sprinkling until it looks like apple pie filling. 

Pie Crust
I got this off a box of Tenderflake Lard years ago. When I made this particular pie (I hadn't made one in years), I noticed the recipe on the box was different. I've also used Crisco Shortening, but I find the dough harder to work with. Maybe I was having a bad day? Sometimes pie crust does that. It could be raining in Kazakhstan and all of a sudden your pie crust freaks out. Can't help you there.

5 1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp salt
1 lb (1 package) shortening or lard
1 tbsp vinegar
1 egg
Cold water

1.  Mix together flour and salt
2. Cut in shortening. You can use a pastry blender, a large fork or a potato masher. Usually part-way through I give up on utensils altogether and use my hands. A faux pas, I realize, but I'm just not that coordinated. When it's finished, it should be crumbly.
3. In a measuring cup, mix the vinegar and the egg. Add enough water to make one cup.
4. Add about 3/4 of the liquid to the dough and mix together. If its not sticking together, keep adding small amounts of liquid. You want it to just barely stick together. If the dough is too wet, you'll end up with a tough crust. The less liquid you use, the flakier your crust will be.
5. Divide the dough into 5 equal-sized balls. You have enough dough for 2 double crust and one single crust pie. If you're really good, you can divide the dough into 6 portions. I'm just not that good ;)
6. At this point, you can wrap the extra dough in plastic and then put it into a freezer bag and throw it in the freezer in the event you ever want to attempt to make another pie.

Rolling out the Dough
So far so good, right? Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. This is where, after the first attempt at pie-making, many people give up and run to Safeway. There are countless tricks and different ways of rolling out the dough and successfully getting it into the pie dish. This is how I get the dough from Point A to Point B.

1. Run a dampened cloth over your countertop and immediately spread a piece of wax paper over it. It keeps the wax paper from sliding all over the place.
2. Sprinkle flour over the wax paper. Roll the rolling pin over the flour you just sprinkled. Make sure the rolling pin is well-coated in flour. 
3. Place the dough on the wax paper and give it a good slap. You know you want to. You're about to get very angry with it. You might as well slap it at the beginning and be done with it. Seriously, flatten it with your hand and sprinkle flour over the top.
4. Begin rolling out the dough. Don't use a back and forth motion. Always start from the centre and roll towards the edges. Lift the rolling pin off the dough and start in the centre and roll out each time. Sprinkle more flour along the way, over every inch of the counter, your face, the cutlery drawer, the kitchen floor and halfway down the hall. In other words, never bake pies after you've cleaned the house. Pies first, then clean the house. 
5. Keep rolling the dough until it's several inches bigger than the pie plate. Fold it lightly in half and then in half again. Lift it gently into the pie plate, centering your 'triangle' of dough in one 1/4 of the pie plate. Unfold the dough, and voila, your dough has made if from Point A to Point B. Put a few slits the bottom of the crust with a knife. This should keep it from blowing bubbles when it bakes.
6. Add your pie filling and then start all over again at Step 1.
7. Fold the top crust under the bottom crust all the way around the edges and then flute them. You can clarinet them if you like, but it might not work as well. I don't know how to explain fluting. Google it!
8. Stab your pretty pie crust with a knife. Not because you hate the pie crust and want to kill it. It needs some steam vents.
9. Take a pastry brush and brush water over the top and then sprinkle sugar.
10. Bake at 350 F (180°C) until it's golden brown. Can't give you a time. Anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours? Just keep watching it.
11. Try to let the pie cool a little bit before slicing to let the filling set.

Sugar Cookies

Okay, so I totally stole this from Martha Stewart, so the link is below. If you're wondering what a stick of butter is, I'll save you the googling time: 1/2cup. I used margarine instead of butter, and I certainly didn't follow those high maintenance instructions. Cream margarine and sugar. Add the wet stuff followed by the dry stuff. I think I made them smaller, but her picture looks like my picture in terms of size. I baked them for ten minutes. Martha's oven must not be very efficient.

Giant Sugar Cookies

Potato Salad

Nothing says 'summer picnic' like potato salad. You could, of course, leave out the bacon...or you could jump in the lake and swim a little longer! This recipe makes enough dressing for a rather large salad - enough to share with your sister-in-law who doesn't like potato salad, but thinks this one is divine!

Ingredients

5 lbs red baby potatoes

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

1/2 package bacon, fried and crumbled

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped

1 1/2 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

3 tbsp grated Parmesan

3 tbsp ranch dressing

2 tbsp mustard

4 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Salt & Pepper, to taste

1. Boil the potatoes until they are tender; cool.
2. Cut potatoes in halves, thirds or quarters, depending on how big you want the pieces.
3. Throw in red onion, bacon, parsley and dill.
4. Mix together remaining ingredients to make a dressing and stir it into the salad.
5. Chill before serving. It's best if you leave it overnight to let the flavours blend.

Grilled Corn

I experimented with grilled corn last summer and was pleasantly surprised. It takes longer than the traditional boiling but I think it's worth the extra time. I did find that the leftovers the next day were a little tough - an excuse to eat it all up for dinner!







Ingredients
Corn on the cob, husks removed
Butter or margarine
Salt and pepper

1. Place the corn on a piece of foil.
2. Spread butter on the corn and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Wrap up the corn in the foil.
4. Grill 45 to 60 minutes, turning every 15 to 20 minutes.

I kept burning one side of the corn because when I was turning it, I couldn't figure out which side was already cooked. The solution to my dilemma was to label the sides of the corn from 1 to 3 with a sharpie. It's okay if you think I'm weird.

Vanilla Syrup

You know those bottles of syrup lining the shelves at your favourite coffee spot? (Unless you're a redneck and the most exciting thing at your favourite coffee spot is roll up the rim.) I accidentally made it one day while I was making baklava. It's a long story. You can use whatever flavour you can find. Vanilla, of course, is the easiest get. However, if you know someone who sells Watkins products, the sky's the limit! I use this syrup to sweeten homemade yogurt.

4 cups water
8 cups sugar
1/2 cup vanilla

1. Boil water and sugar to 100°C (use a candy thermometer)

1. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

1. Pour into glass bottles. This recipe will fill two bottles like the one shown below.

Chocolate Crinkles

I found many different versions of this recipe on my favourite recipe websites. This version is my favourite because it uses oil instead of margarine, butter or shortening. (Just because oil is quicker to measure and my life is too busy.) Sometimes, substituting oil for margarine changes the taste and makes cakes or cookies bland in comparison. This is an exception.

Ingredients
1 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) for coating

1. Mix together cocoa, sugar and oil.
2. Beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Stir in vanilla,
4. Add flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Chill two hours.
6. Roll dough into balls and coat with icing sugar.
7. Bake at 350 F (180°C) for 8 to 10 minutes. It's difficult to tell when they're done because of the chocolate colour. Take them out the oven sooner rather than later or they'll be hard.

Rejoice for Winter is Past

My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.

Song of Solomon 2:10-11

For someone who loves to write, I seem to be the absolute worst blogger when it comes to finding the time to write down all the things in my spirit. My silence over this past winter is not because I have nothing to say. I am simply speechless listening to what God is saying. So for the two or three people that actually read this blog, have patience with me. I shall return to write it all down. For now, just know that God is far from silent. I start to write it down and then something happens:

I stop. I pause for just a moment. And then I am overwhelmed.

Selah.

At the end of March I was driving home and looked up to see Canada geese flying overhead. Tears filled my eyes and I whispered, "winter is past". As the words escaped my lips, I knew that I had just declared something far more significant that the seasonal transition from winter to spring. 

Aslan is on the move...