Vyxxan's Virtual Venture

Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

Bought myself an amaryllis at Walmart back in October.  It was a special Pink Ribbon package.  The pot that came with it was as usual too small  but I had another one so that was okay.

Anyhow… it decided to bloom just in time for Thanksgiving.  Two GIANT blooms opened up:  they were larger than my face!

Everyone that came over did double-takes at the thing… is that a REAL plant?  Yep…  and pretty awesome.

Those blossoms have now wilted and been cut off, but it had 2 more buds…  So I’ll have flowers for at least another week.

Pies I made last week.  Yep, the blackberry pie on the left overflowed.  Made a big mess in my oven before I stuck a cookie sheet under it.  I forgot to take photos of the apple and pumpkin pies…. oh well!

This is all for now…  It’s daylight out now and commuter traffic should be easing up… I have shopping and errands to do.

hugs,

Vyx

Thanksgiving this year is going to be all about pie.  Some years I do a big dinner and then try to schedule all the family to come to eat it.  This year I decided that I won’t bother trying to get everyone here for dinner… just dessert!

I make a pretty darn good pie.  Heck, even when I use store bought pie crust I make a good pie.

Pie is my favorite.  Favorite dessert to eat, and make.  Fresh fruit is the best, but custard pies are also good.   Even stuff out of a jar, like mincemeat…  pie is good.  Savory pies, too…  I have a recipe for a tomato pie that is just lovely!

It’s time to share my pie crust recipe.  This was handed down to me from my mother… and my mother got it from a neighbor when I was a child.  I’ve known this recipe by heart since I was a child!  I’ve had to write it down a few times for friends… but I never have to look it up for myself.

I don’t remember what the original recipe was named…  I think it was just Diane’s Pie Crust.  I call it Never Fail Pie Crust.  It’s never failed me, not even when I made it with Crisco and Self rising flour!  LOL, that’s a story I’ll have to tell…

The BEST Pie Crust Recipe Ever.

5 1/2 cups flour

1 lb. lard

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons vinegar

water

Using a pastry blender, cut the lard into the flour until finely crumbled.

In a one cup measuring cup beat the egg, vinegar and salt.  Add water to make one cup.

Make a well in the flour and lard mixture and pour in the egg and water mixture.

Mix gently until it all holds together.  Turn out onto a floured pastry cloth and give it a couple good turns with kneading and adding a bit more flour until it quits sticking to your hands.  You can over mix this, but you’d have to knead it like bread for 10 min before it would get tough.

This recipe will make at least 5 single crust pies, and maybe more, depending on how thin you roll it.  I’ve gotten 3 single crust and 2 doubles from it.  You can roll out and freeze the crust for later use, which is best… or just smash the extra into a baggie and freeze that.  It thaws pretty quick, but will be sticky… so if you have extra pie pans it’s really just better to go that route.

Now, I know using lard is supposedly not healthy…  but a bit of fat in your diet is actually good for you.  How often do you eat pie anyhow?  Do you want yucky pie crust that everyone scrapes the filling off of and throws away?  Or do you want pie crust that everyone eats every bite of because it’s that good?  Even for a sweet pie, the crust should be crispy, flakey and slightly salty…  and for a savory pie, it’s even more important.   You can substitute vegetable shortening for the lard, but I don’t recommend it… flavor is why we use the lard.

My sister Val, who reads here and comments… she loves pie like I do.  Well, I think she does…. because I remember she wrote a poem about pie when she was age 5 or so.  ”I like pumpkin pie.  1,2,3,4, popeye”.

My daughter Sarah loves pie, too.  Her birthday this year is right on Thanksgiving… and pumpkin pie is her favorite.  I have actually made her a giant 10 inch pumpkin pie and told her it was all for her… lol!  We even put candles in it.  Birthday pie.

I can take or leave pumpkin pie.  Some years I try something different…  but mostly I stick to basic recipes.  Easier and no worries about oh… someone  can’t eat that.  I made a pumpkin cheesecake type pie one year and another year it was a combination pumpkin and pecan pie… with layers that magically worked out… you got pumpkin pie and pecan pie all in one bite…  but hey, simple pie is best.

Make your favorite pie with this crust… and then tell me about it.  Oh, and if you make this crust using lard and everyone hates it… let me know and well, I won’t pay you, but I’ll put your family on the DNPC list.  ”Do Not Pie Crust”  :)  Some people hate pie crust no matter how nice it is, and they won’t eat it just out of habit of avoiding bad pie crust.

As for me… well, I like apple pie, and pumpkin pie…  and I found out when I was 20 something that I LOVE pecan pie… who knew?  I hate walnuts and I thought pecans were the same as walnuts…  and I love cherry pie and tomato pie and blackberry pie if someone takes all the seeds out, lol….  Oh, and I love chocolate pie and banana cream pie and lemon meringue pie.  ANY fruit pie is good….. and those are my favorite even if I have to use canned stuff to make em.  Custard pies… very yummy…  well, I like pie!

hugs,

Vyx

 

 

 

 

I seem to be about a once a month blogger.

Well, that’s about what it’s come to these days.

The sad thing is that it’s not that I don’t have anything to say… it’s that I’ve been too lazy to sit and write it.  Not really lazy… but I’m not a fast writer.  I can and do spend hours writing about simple stuff.  I just don’t have time most days to sit here at the computer for all those hours.

Anyhow, I’ll try to catch up on some of it…

First a simple recipe.  I was browsing around some of the blogs I sometimes bother to read and came across a meringue recipe.  Well, howdy!  I’ve got a tub of 8 egg whites in the freezer needing to be used.  I looked around at some other cooking sites to make sure I wasn’t heading into a disaster, and then I went for it… with all  of the egg whites!

Easy Chocolate Meringues  (adapted from http://www.bakerella.com/chewy-chocolate-meringues/ )

1 cup egg whites (7 or 8 large)

2 cups sugar

5 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder

4 ounces  finely chopped baking chocolate (or skip this, I will next time)

On very low speed beat the egg whites with the sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  This can take a while… no need to stand there,  I left the mixer running and did chores.   Line your baking sheets with parchment, and get out your cooling racks.

When the sugar is dissolved, switch mixer to high speed and beat the mixture until stiff and glossy.   If you have a good stand mixer with a whip, this will probably go fast.  If you have an ancient Kenmore mixer with just beaters, this is gonna take a while, too, so go do some more chores.  Oh, but you might want to turn the oven on now.  Heat it to 350 degrees F.

Finally, those egg whites are beat into stiff peaks!  Now sift the cocoa powder into the egg and tip in the finely chopped chocolate, too.  Fold that in gently with a spatula or spoon.  Mix it up!  You might even get away with using the mixer, but I didn’t… used a spatula and folded gently.

Now, get out your big cake decorating bag and a big star tip.   Put the tip into the bag, then fill the bag with meringue… that’s the stuff we just mixed up for the last 45 min.  :)   Make pretty little flower shaped poofs about an inch apart on the parchment lined baking sheets… I think I ended up using every baking sheet I own.  Make the poofs a nice size…  say, 1.5 to 2 inches across, and about 1/2 as tall.   Have the bag clog up repeatedly with bits of chopped chocolate that weren’t chopped enough.  Decide to leave that ingredient out next time because you’ve just bent all to hell your brand new tip.

Bake one sheet in the oven at a time for 15 min or until they look like tips are starting to get brown.  You are going to be baking these for hours if you use all the meringue and make them just slightly bigger than bite size.

I didn’t count how many I actually made, but I took a gallon bag bulging with them to work.  Oh, and we still have some left, even Ron is getting tired of them.  1 cup of egg whites makes a LOT of freaking meringues!  So, because I’m nice, I am recommending that normal people use one of the smaller recipes to be found…  like HALF as much.  Seriously, I had to dump some of the meringue out, I wanted to live the rest of my life, not be forever stuck in the kitchen making cookies…  lol!

Sealed up in an airtight container, these seem to keep dang near forever.  They bite really fragile, but they carry pretty tough… and probably if you tried to ship them somewhere the recipient would just get a box of crumbles.  Still, they are mostly air with chocolate flavor, they feel like you are eating nothing much at all.  The big bag I took to work lasted only a couple days… but we have a lot of women where I work.  Some of those gals really liked the cookies.  Some said “ugh, meringues!”   And one said she doesn’t like chocolate…. huh!

Okay… so… on to the next post…

hugs,

Vyx

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I had a slice of cake.  I never eat cake, I don’t care for it… but I know other people love cake and that was pretty darn good cake, even for someone who isn’t a fan of cake.

So, I decided to hunt down the recipe for it, and make it for my BBQ party I had last weekend.   My sister Valerie ended up making the cake for me, and we modified the frosting recipe quite a bit.

This was in Family Circle, but it’s been modified and I’m too lazy tonight to look up the link.  The original recipe makes WAY too much frosting for the cake, so I’ve cut it back a bit.  I hope I’ve got the proportions right… (edit: no I did NOT!  Please see below!!!!)

 

Tiramisu Bundt Cake

1 box french vanilla cake mix

1 pint coffee ice cream, thawed and melted

3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat bundt pan with shortening and flour, or use a baking spray (not a cooking spray).

With a mixer, beat the cake mix, eggs and melted ice cream on low until blended.  Beat  2 more minutes on medium.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack for 20 min, then invert onto a plate to cool completely.  (put in fridge when cool enough)

Frosting:  MAJOR EDIT HERE! I messed up when typing this up, as the recipe made so much extra frosting. I was trying to even things out, and ended up totally messing up the proportions and measurements.

4 oz cream cheese, softened

4 oz sour cream    This is too much.  Halving the recipe would make this be 1 oz.  2 oz. would probably be okay, though.

4 oz butter, softened   I also messed up here. 3 tablespoons is what the original recipe called for.   Probably 2 tablespoons would work well.  I’d taste the mixture before adding anything else to it…

1.5 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1.5 teaspoons of hot water and cooled

1.5 cups powdered sugar, maybe more, up to 2 cups.  Maybe less.  Start with 1 cup and work your way up.

In a large bowl beat cream cheese, sour cream and butter until light and creamy.  Add in the dissolved coffee and start adding powdered sugar.  Frosting should be fairly thick, but not lumpy.  Chill until ready to frost the cake.  The original recipe made twice as much frosting as needed, and this is a rich frosting for a rich cake.

When the frosting is chilled and thickened more, spread on the sides and top of cake.  If too thick, thin slightly with a teaspoon or more of water.  If you cook, you know how to do this.

Garnish the top of the frosting with cocoa powder.  Just a sprinkle through a small sieve.

Put the frosted cake into the fridge to chill, and store in the fridge after that.

Makes about 16 servings.  And probably extra frosting even if I’ve cut some ingredients back.

Ron said that this is the best cake he’s ever had.  We had 1/2 of the cake left after the BBQ party, and I was going to take it to work to share… until Ron had a slice.  We had a big lot of frosting left in the mixing bowl, and I was going to dump that out… he said NO, it’s wonderful frosting.  So, this cake and frosting definitely has his approval.  :)

My sister did a lovely job with the frosting, too… a bundt cake is hard to frost, but she managed to make the frosting dribble just right and look elegant.  I would have just slapped it on however.  Val also is the one who said the frosting needed more coffee flavor, so she changed the 2 tablespoons of coffee liqueur to adding the instant coffee.  I think it still had the coffee liqueur in it, but had almost no coffee flavor.  That’s why the frosting recipe at this point is iffy and may need tweaking.  I’ll have to make it again to define amounts… and I don’t usually eat cake.  :)

 

Enjoy…

hugs,

Vyx

There’s a blizzard outside, and instead of doing something useful like clean off my craft table… well, I’d rather bake bread.

I’ve had some rye flour in my freezer for a while. I bought it to bake a birthday cake for the dogs a few years ago. The cake also had whole wheat flour, cooked ground turkey and chicken broth in it. Maybe some eggs. I forget what else, as I made it up as I went along. I think I “frosted” it with cottage cheese, but can’t really remember. What I do remember was that it was so heavy that it was more like a big wet brick. Smelled pretty good, though! LOL! The dogs ate it up, I basically just replaced some of their dog food with that “cake” for a few days.

Today I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to bake. Don’t really need any sweets… I’ve been successfully fighting the winter bulge this year and I just made those cinnamon rolls a few weeks ago.

So, do I make bagels? I haven’t made bagels in years and years. I decided I didn’t want all that bother. Besides, I wanted to use up some of that rye flour… and I’ve never had a rye bagel, I might not like it.

I decided, after looking at multiple recipes online, to go with a simple rye loaf. I don’t have the caraway seeds, but that’s okay, I like rye bread both with and without caraway seeds. Love pumpernickel bread, but don’t have any molasses. Hmm, keep looking….

I liked the size of this recipe. Makes one small loaf, rather than enough dough to feed all the neighbors, too. :)

Adapted from this recipe by Emeril Lagasse.

Simple Homemade Rye Bread

1 pkg active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
In a small bowl dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water, set aside until foamy.

In a larger bowl mix together:
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine (all I had was margarine)
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

Stir in:
1 1/4 cups rye flour
And the yeast mixture from above.

Start mixing into the batter:
2 cups all purpose flour (you may need more or less, like most bread baking it’s not exactly the same every time)

Knead this a bit, adding more regular flour as needed, but rye bread doesn’t get kneaded like a regular loaf I guess. It gets pretty smooth and elastic quickly. I never got out of the bowl for the kneading, the dough was sticky but NOT sticky at the same time. Different!

Pour a little oil into your rising bowl, put the dough in and turn to coat. Cover and let rise until double. You know the drill. This rose more rapidly than I expected with that heavy rye flour in it. Only took about an hour!

Punch down, shape into loaf, cover and let rise again. I made an oblong loaf on a baking sheet covered with parchment. A pan might have worked better, it spread quite a bit.

Preheat oven to 350 F and bake until lightly brown, about 40 minutes.

It was very delicious, I let it cool slightly and then cut an end off to eat while still warm. Yum!

hugs,
Vyx