Wild Huckleberry Pie

My Brother's Birthday is August 1st which happens to be during huckleberry season and he LOVED huckleberry pie and every year for his birthday our mom would make him huckleberry pie. My brother will be 30 this year and I plan to surprise him with the pie mom used to make for him when he was a kid.

3/4 Cup Sugar

21/2 T. Corn Starch

1/4 t. salt

2/3 cup water

1 cup Huckleberries or any other berry that is in season

2 T. Butter

11/2 T. Lemon Juice

2 cups huckleberries

In a sauce pan bring to boil 1st 5 ingredients, cook until very thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Stir in last 3 ingredients.

Pour into cooked pie shell, chill.

Serve with whipped cream

Braised Pork Ribs and Pasta

I made this a while back and posted the photo on Facebook.  It just came around again as a re-post so I decided that maybe this would be a good time to start contributing to this blog again.

I enjoy watching Lidia Bastianich on Create TV (PBS) and she had made Braised Short Ribs with Rigatoni.  here is my version...Photos not as nice as her's, of course.

• 1 rack pork spare ribs, cut into single rib pieces
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 T. Oil
• 2 good sized sweet onion, halved and sliced.
• 6 to 8 peeled cloves of garlic
• 56 oz, canned plumb tomatoes.  O like the oven roasted tomatoes if you can find them
• 6 pickled cherry peppers stemmed and seeded.
• 1 large bay leaf
• 1 t. dried thyme
• Fresh shopped parsley for garnish 
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Pasta of your choice.  larger pasta holds up better with the heavy ribs.

Salt and pepper the ribs and brown, in a hot pan with the oil.  do this is stages not to crowd the pan, setting the browned ribs aside in a bowl while finishing the rest of the ribs.  

Once all ribs have been browned and removed add the onion to the pan (if there is a lot of oil remove all but a few tablespoons of it before adding the onion.  cook onion until translucent ( to tell the truth I like it better if I take the time to caramelize the onion).

Just before the onions are ready, about 2 minutes, add the garlic.  Once the garlic has cooked for about 2 minutes add in the peppers (chop them a little first) and stir them in with the onion and garlic for a minute and then add the tomatoes, bay, thyme, and return the ribs to the pot.  thurn the pot to medium low and braise the ribs for a couple of hours, until ribs are tender.  add some water if it gets too dry.

Remove the ribs from the sauce 

Cook the pasta until just under done and add them to to the sauce to finish cooking.  add pasta water to the sauce if needed.  once done spoon the sauced pasta into a bowl and set the ribs around the edge.  

Top with parsley and cheese. 

I did find that the ribs were tender but got a little dry with this recipe and I am not sure how to avoid that so I will have to play around with this recipe some more.

My Grandfather's Beer

I have not tried my hand at making beer personally.  I grew up around beer making because my parents used to make it.  My mother came by beer making honestly because her father made beer as she was growing up as well.

A few years ago my Grandfather gave me a copy of a recipe and to tell the truth I didn't look at it right away.  As I was unpacking more stuff from our move a few months ago I found that recipe he had given me and it was the recipe he used to make beer in 1960.  How Cool!

See below.

makovnjača - Poppy Seed Rolls

Woot Woot we found bulk poppy seed at the localish Serbian market so it is time to make poppy seed rolls.  I went looking for the right Balkan recipe and found a gem that turned out wonderful.  See the recipe on Otilia's yourtube video. 

I loved the bread so much I am trying it as a loaf today.

3 1/3 cup Flour
2 egg yolks
2.5 teaspoons yeast
pinch of salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup warm milk (I think I tend to end up using closer to a cup of milk to get the dough right)

mix, mix, mix in a kitchenaid.  let rest to double in size.  use dough as you wish :/

okay, so these directions kind of suck but I know what I am talking about and the link to Otilia's directions are the best.

~Menu~

this weeks menu is....

• Wedge salad 
• Chicken Piccata
• Chicken Enchiladas 
• Beef & Broccoli
• Bean Soup

Also making some homemade bread and pocket sandwiches 

Some menu items for the last few weeks

• Chili
• Chicken Curry
• Asparagus Soup
• Stuffed Peppers 
• Pot Roast
• Chicken Paprikash
• Fish Tacos
• Roasted Salmon with roasted Potatoes and Asparagus