Mother's Kitchen Pie Crust

Crust From Mother's Kitchen, thanks Mom for making pie making quick and easy.
1 1/2 c flour
2 t sugar
1 t salt
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 T milk
Combine ingredients to form a soft pastry dough. It will be really soft, not like a rolled out crust. Press evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie pan with your fingers

Peach Pie

Double pie crust

5 large ripe peaches

2 plumbs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F

Peel and slice peaches and plumbs and place in a bowl. Toss fruit with sugar, flour and cinnamon. Pour into prepared pie shell. Cover with second pie crust, slit crust for steam and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Beef and Broccoli in Orange Sauce

I really love Everyday food because most of the food that they prepare on the show is quick, easy, tasty and made with ingredients that can be found at your local market. That is what everyday cooking is really is. I do enjoy more complex recipes but not everyday or during the week when time is at a premium.

Here is an Everyday Food recipe that I thought the kids would like, and they did. What more do I need to say.

~

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, (from 1 orange)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 pound top or bottom round steak, cut into strips, 2 inches long and 1/4 inch thick
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 bunch (1 pound) broccoli, florets broken into small pieces (reserve stalks for another use)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 red bell pepper, (ribs and seeds removed), cut into strips, 2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide

1/4 cup slivered almonds

In a small bowl, combine orange juice, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, toss beef with cornstarch; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
In a large skillet, combine broccoli with 1 cup water; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high; cook, partially covered, until broccoli is bright green and crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Discard any water in skillet; wipe with paper towel.
In same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high. When pan is very hot, add half the beef; cook until browned, 2 to 4 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer beef to plate with broccoli. Repeat with remaining oil and remaining beef, but leave beef in skillet.
Return reserved beef and broccoli to skillet; add orange-juice mixture and bell pepper. Continue cooking over high heat until sauce thickens, 2 to 4 minutes. top with almonds and serve over nice nutty brown rice.

Jumping on the Band Wagon

This seems to be doing the rounds amongst the blogs and it’s been interesting reading what people have eaten. It was all started by Andrew at Very Good Taste. As someone has said, “You are what you eat.” I love interactive blogs.



1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.


2) Bold (I did in yellow) all the items you’ve eaten.


3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.


4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at verygoodtaste.

Note: Iteams in Red I tried after Getting and posting this list




1. Venison - grew up on this and I love it
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush - I do live right next to Dearborn MI after all.
11. Calamari
12. Pho - I have many very close dishes but not this exact one
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes - grew some this year
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas - I have had Wasabi with my sushi, is that the same thing
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float - ginger ale floats are great too
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk - Grew up on this, took years to be able to drink cow milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120
46. Fugu- I don't know how to do strick through on blogger so I will just state it - nope, not worth it.
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - every friday when I worked
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer - is on the menu this week as a matter of fact
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - I at one time worked at MickyD's
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - a good friend used to own an elephant ear cart, she made good money.
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain - I have made this
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho - I have made this
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill - several different kinds
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - It gave me a tummy ach
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum - oh yeah I think all the shel fish would kill me
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash - both kinds
88. Flowers
89. Horse - nope but I have had moose
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam - oh yeah baby
92. Soft shell crab-swelled up like a balloon, with hives
93. Rose harissa - if this is the same as harissa then yep, thanks Warda I do love it so.
94. Catfish - not much of a fan
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox - I made lox last week
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta - since I was a kid
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - best coffee ever
100. Snake




boy some of these I want to knock off the list this week. I only have 52 off the list but I will do better the make that number higher in the months to come. I just love trying new things.

Local Food Blogger Tea

My good friend Warda at 64 sq ft Kitchen hosted our latest Local food blogger event. Like always it was great to spend time with other foodies such as Lisa and husband Joe, Sarah, Maggie and of course Warda.

I think that I am going to let the photos do the talking because they say so much!

Algerian Cookies

Semolina cookies soaked in honey. My favorite!!!
Sweet mint tea.

Steaming couscous in a couscousier




Here is Warda fluffing the couscous, isn't she beautiful!

here is the finished sweet couscous that Warda made. Look at those light fluffy grans of goodness.

Traditionally sweet couscous is served in a communal bowl with a side of sugar and everyone has their own spoon. that is how Warda served it and here is the buzzz around the bowl. Look at all the energy!

Didn't that all look GREAT!!!

This was a fundraiser for a local food bank to celebrate Eid al-Fitr which follows Ramadan and is known as sadaqah al-fitr (I hope that I got this all correct).

Thank you Warda for a wonderful tea and for helping understand Muslim faith a little better.

Feeling Creative

The other day I was feeling like I really needed to release some creative juices so I got out my oil pastels and sat down for a few hours of relaxation and it felt great.

Braised Pork in Guajillo Chile Sauce

Recently we did away with having cable. We got the HD converter box and found out that we get 13 channels for FREE and with that comes 3 PBS channels one of which is the Create channel. I love this channel, it has all the food network people that I enjoyed and respected that are no longer on Food Network and other show that I never knew about. One of these show is Cooking with Daisy with Daisy Martinez (please note that her website is corrupted and you should not visit it or it could kill your computer). On the show Daisy made a dish that she called Braised Pork in Guajillo Chile Sauce and she made the dish sound so fun and the way she describe the smells and flavors I could not help but want to make that dish and make it soon.

In the hunt for the recipe I found out that I needed to stay far far away from her website and my library did not have a copy of her book. However, I was in luck because I was not the only one that Daisy inspired with her show Daniel Koontz at Casual Kitchen was also inspired and you can read about it here.

I have to say I was a little relieved to find that others had posted the recipe for guidance; however, I would have tried it from memory. I was not able to find Guajillo Chilies so I used what I could find even though Daniel was very clear that you would miss the the rich almost chocolaty-ness so I added cocoa and instant coffee.

~Braised Pork in Guajillo Chile Sauce~

3-4 lbs pork boneless spare ribs, cut into 2 inch cubes

2 Tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt

3 bay leaves

10 guajillo chiles*

1 large onion, peeled and cut in half through the middle

4 fresh plum tomatoes

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon instant coffee

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons white flour

1) Put the pork in a large pot and cover in cold water by 2 inches. Add the salt and bay leaves. Bring liquid to a boil and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

2) Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. While the water is coming to a boil, remove the stems from the chiles and shake out the seeds. Heat a nonstick pan ( I do not have a nonstick pan so I used my cast iron frying pan) on medium heat. Toast the chiles in the pan, turning them frequently, until they start to change color and crisp up a bit, about 4 minutes. Lift the chilies out and place them in a bowl and pour enough of the boiling water over the chilies to cover them fully. Soak for 20 minutes until chiles are softened, then drain well.

3) While the chiles are soaking, place the onions and tomatoes, cut sides down, in the skillet. Turn heat up to medium high and cook, turning the vegetables until blackened on both sides.

4) After the pork has been simmering for 1 hour, remove 2 cups of the cooking liquid and pour it into a blender or food processor. Add the onions and tomatoes and puree until smooth. Then add the chiles, garlic, cocoa, coffee and puree until smooth. Remove another 2 cups of the pork cooking liquid and set aside. Drain the pork and wipe out the pot.

5) Set the pot over medium heat and add the olive oil . Stir in the flour and cook for 3-4 minutes. Pour the pureed chili sauce into the pot, add the pork and simmer, covered, for another 1 hour. If the sauce becomes too thick or isn't fully covering the pork cubes, you may add some of the remaining 2 cups of cooking liquid to the pot.

6) Serve with rice. Serves 5-6 people.

I was a little worried as this dish came together but when I took my first taste, when it was almost done, I was pleasantly surprised, it was great. The kids could not get past how it looked and hubby thought that it was great and he suggested that I write it down. I laughed and said "that is what my blog is for."

* I could not find Guajillo Chiles so I picked up these and added some cocoa and coffee to the dish to give it that richness.