Random things before Pi Day

Pi Day is Sunday and I'm going to have to submit a pie photo to Serious Eats pie bake off, but I'm not sure what to go with yet. If you've got suggestions, then let me know, otherwise stay tuned...

And a bit of pie humor for all you Mac aficionados. I love the idea, but I can guarantee I would never have the patience.

Pretty Pie for the Oscars

Strawberry Blackberry Pie

Why? Because strawberries and blackberries were cheap and had to be used that day.
The crust was a basic butter crust but came out particularly flakey. I also felt like being artistic with the top.

As to the Oscars...well let's just say I've never seen so many cut shots to so many bored and clueless actors. It was priceless.

Quick meal

I've been very busy with school lately, and most nights when I get home I don't have the energy or time to cook. This of course conflicts with my desire to stop eating out as much. I put this together the other night in less than the time it took to listen to a half hour of Jeopardy. I thought I'd share because it is such an easy meal.

Easiest Mushrooms and Snow Peas

1/2 lb of snow peas
8 oz of fresh button mushrooms
1 tbs. of butter
3 tbs. soy sauce
2 tbs. rice wine vinegar

1. Saute the mushrooms in butter until about half cooked. Add the snow peas
2. Cook for a couple of minutes than add the soy sauce and rice vinegar.


Honey Mustard Chicken

1 can of low fat Cream of Chicken soup
3 tbs brown mustard
3 tbs honey

1. Brown the chicken in a pan, remove
2. Mix soup, honey and mustard in pan. Return chicken to pan, cook until chicken is fully cooked through
3. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes

Happy Purim!

I have never liked hamentaschen. I like the idea of hamentaschen and I've always loved making them. This year I decided to try to create a hamentaschen dough that I actually liked. Since my favorite filling was always canned cherry pie filling, I figured that a hamentaschen is really just like a mini pie. Therefore, I'd base the dough on a sweetened pie dough and the filling would be real fresh berry pie filling.

They went into the oven looking very well:


Unfortunately they didn't hold together as well as they should have:

They tasted good but there's work to be done next year when I try again to try to make slightly more eye pleasing cookies. I have an idea of what went wrong so hopefully next time will go better. For a first real made up dough baking experiment I'm not displeased with the taste anyway.

I also attempted a large hamentaschen pie which sadly was a true baking failure. The berry juice went everywhere on the baking sheet, and it didn't cook as evenly as I would have liked.

Next year I try again!

M&M Cookies

I used to have store bought versions of these all the time as a child. Last weekend my family came to visit and I made them these as a Valentine's Day treat. The recipe is straight off the M&M website, with the addition of chocolate chips. We added three or four M&Ms on the top of the cookie before they went into the oven to make them pretty. It was so much easier making these cookies now that I have 2 more cookies sheets. I will never have to try to make four dozen cookies using only one cookie sheet again.

My mother also gave me a cookbook featuring 400 soup recipes since that seems to be my new thing to do to make sure I have lunches through the week. You can expect to see more soups on the blog soon.

Cauliflower Mushroom Soup

In honor of the bit of snow that the television keeps calling the blizzard of 2010 I decided to make a pot of soup. At first I was just going to make a cream of cauliflower soup, but then I decided to use mushrooms as well.

Cauliflower Mushroom Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 package of fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cauliflower, chopped
1 sprig of rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 tbs. dried thyme
2 tbs butter
4 cups of chicken/mushroom stock
1/2 cup of light sour cream
1/2 cup of heavy cream
salt
pepper

1. Saute the onions in the butter for about two minutes, then add the mushrooms.
2. When mushrooms are half cooked add the cauliflower, bay leaves, rosemary, salt and pepper cook until cauliflower begins to soften
3. Add broth and simmer until cauliflower is tender enough to be pureed.
4. Allow soup to cool and blend soup in blender or food processor.
5. Stir sour cream and heavy cream into blended soup.
Serve with sliced scallions and biscuits if you want to bake them!

Happy Tu B'Shvat

Tu B'Shvat is a minor Jewish holiday that is considered the birthday of the trees. By Jewish law this is important in terms of knowing when it is permissible to eat the fruit of the trees. Typically it's celebrated by eating dried fruits and nuts and is the start of spring, which was sort of funny when it was 20 degrees out yesterday. In particular I always think of almonds because of one of the more well known songs for the holiday about the flowering of the almond tree. I have always associated the holiday with eating the Shivat Haminim or Seven Species of Israel. These include wheat, barley, pomegranate, grape, dates, figs and olives. Next year I fully intend to try to make a pie or pies that incorporate all of these, but for this year I stuck with two pies: Pomegranate Berry with an almond crumble top, and Apple Grape.

Pomegranate Berry Pie Filling
3 Tbs Pomegranate Juice
6 cup mixture of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries
4 Tbs Tapioca
1 cup of sugar

Almond Crumble Topping
1 cup of flour
4 Tbs butter
1/2 cup of slivered almonds
3 Tbs of brown sugar

Normally I would melt the butter to combine but this time I just worked it in with my hands like I would the pie dough itself.

Apple Grape Pie Filling
4 Golden Delicious Apples
2 cups of sliced green seedless apples
1 cup of sugar
3 tbs of corn starch
1 tbs of tapioca (because it was all I had left!)