Tristan Johnsons' Cherry Pie

                                                                                            

This is Tristan Johnsons' very first Cherry Pie. his first pie he ever made & his first taste of Cherry Pie & it was a success on both points! Tristan is here for a summer visit & he kept asking me to make him Cherry Pie. When I asked if he wanted to help, his grin was from ear to ear. For a ten year old boy he attacked this project with adult tenacity! He made the crust & rolled it out, he helped cook the filling & he cut out the lattice top! Normally I would have crisscrossed the lattice work but our filling was hot & it would have been a little dicey so we settled for our easy version. The pie turned out wonderful & was WONDERFUL GOOD TOO! Hurray for Tristan & his Cherry Pie!
                                                  

 

CRUST: 2 Cups Flour
1 TSP Salt
1 TSP Sugar
Stir all of the above together. Cut in 1/3 Cup Shortening & 1/3 Cup Cold Butter Cut in until you have fine crumbs or as Tristan said I have sand! Now stir in enough cold water until dough pulls together. About 5 TBS Ice Cold Water. do not over work your dough. Now take about 2/3 of the dough & roll out on a well floured surface big enough to fill the bottom & sides of a 9 inch pie pan. Place dough in the bottom of the pan & out over the sides. Now roll out the rest of the dough so it is large enough to cover the top of the pie. Cut into strips for your lattice top. Let lay on the surface until you have your pie shell filled. Now lets make that filling!
FILLING:
2 Cans of Premium Pie Cherries 15 oz Cans Drain the juice into a deep sauce pan. Set cherries aside. Mix together 1 Cup Sugar with 3 heaping TBS of Cornstarch & a dash of salt. Slowly whisk that into your cherry juice. Cook over medium high stirring the entire time until mixture is thick & bubbling. Once thick pull from  heat & whisk in 1 TBS Lemon Juice & 1 TSP Almond Flavoring & 1TBS Butter! Stir together. Now add enough red food coloring to get the desired red cherry color you desire. We added about 6 drops. Stir well. Now dump the mixture into your unbaked pie shell. Lay dough strips across the top like in the photo. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degree preheated oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees & bake for about 35 minutes  to 45 minutes until crust is nicely brown & filling is bubbling. Remove from oven & let cool. DELICIOUS! Great served with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping & if you are like Tristan you have both!
                                                                                 

                                            

Black Raspberry Quick Cobbler

Cobbler ready for the oven!

                                                                          

Good & Gooey with Black Raspberry GOODNESS!

                                                                                               

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Milk

1 Beaten Egg

1 TSP Baking Powder

1 TSP Vanilla

1/2 TSP Salt

1 Stick Butter Melted

2 Cups Fresh Black Raspberries ( or any fruit you wish)

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 TSP Cinnamon (Optional)

 

Pour Melted butter into a 9x13 baking pan. Spread out to cover the bottom.

Stir the flour, sugar, salt, & baking powder together. DO NOT ADD THE 1/2 Cup Sugar or the CINNAMON! Reserve that for the fruit!

To the dry you stirred together add the milk, vanilla, & beaten egg! Stir well. Now pour the batter over the butter! Wash & rinse the fruit! Now stir the 1/2 Cup of sugar & the cinnamon into the fruit. Spread fruit mixture over the batter! Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Check to make sure batter is not still wet.  DELICIOUS COBBLER, great with Milk, Whipped Cream, or Ice Cream! IF YOU DO NOT LIKE RASPBERRY SEEDS SIEVE THE FRUIT TO REMOVE SEEDS & FOLLOW RECIPE AS ABOVE. Personally I LOVE the seeds but many people do not or can not eat them. Either way it will be AMAZING!



Home Grown & Home Dried Savory!

                                                                         

 This is fresh picked Savory straight from the garden!

Now this is Savory that has been dried!

 

Pick your Savory or any Herb you are drying! Wash under running water & pat dry! Place 1 sheet of paper towel onto a paper plate. Lay a single layer of your Herb. Place one sheet over the Herb. Cook in Microwave on High for 1 to 3 minutes checking every minute! Herbs should be dry to the touch & crumbly! Once dried remove from microwave & let cool. Now run Herb shoot through your thumb & pointer finger & Herb leaves come right off! Store in an AIRTIGHT container! CHEAP, FRESH & Pesticide Free! HAPPY HERBING!

Amish Style Chicken & Dumplings from Lancaster PA!

                                                                                                

 This is how we do Chicken & Dumplings in Lancaster County PA the heart of Dutch Country! Lots of potatoes, huge chunks of chicken, carrots, celery, herbs & BIG FLUFFY DUMPLINGS swimming in thick gravy!

This is how light & fluffy the dumplings get with this recipe! In the upper center of the photo I cut a dumpling in half so you can see!

5 Large boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, or add some Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs along with the breast if you desire

 

Water to cover the chicken about 4 inches over

1 TSP Salt

1 TSP Minced Garlic

Bring to the boil in a large deep pot. Simmer until chicken is just about done, about 20 minutes! Now add the following:

8 Medium Potatoes Peeled

4 Large Carrots Peeled & cut into 2 inch chunks

1 Cooking Onion Peeled & Chopped

Cook until Carrots & Potatoes are tender about 30 minutes. Remove Chicken & cut into huge pieces & put back into the pot. Now add the following:

4 Heaping TBS of Cornstarch stirred into 1 Cup of Cold Water stirred until smooth. Stir into simmering pot. Stir until gravy is thickened. Add 1 TBS Chopped Parsley & 1 TBS Chopped fresh Savory ( if you can find it!) we grow our own. Dried is ok too but only use 1/2 of the amount, & 1 TSP Ground Sage. If you can't get Savory don't fret it will still be delicious! Stir everything & let simmer! Now mix up the Dumplings!

DUMPLINGS:

1 & 1/2 Cups Flour

1/2 TSP Salt

1 TBS Baking Powder

Stir all together & the beat 1 egg into 5 TBS Milk. Dump into the dry mixture & stir until you have a stiff but droppable dough! Add more milk if batter is to dry but you do not want thin or running dough. It should be stiff like cookie dough! Now drop into simmering pot by heaping teaspoonful! Once all the dumplings are dropped into the simmering pot cover tightly with a lid & let simmer about 10 minutes. You now have a pot of Chicken Heaven! Serves about 6 people! I usually serve this long with a veggie on the side or sometimes add froze peas right before I drop in the dumplings! Serve a side of Cranberry Sauce & you have a GREAT MEAL!



Perfect Rhubarb Custard Pie!

                                                                                 

 Ah, Rhubarb Pie, you either LOVE it or HATE it! I am in the YUCKY camp on this one. Rhubarb to me taste like , well I just can't describe it but I do know that it sets my teeth on edge. Having said that, my Dad LOVES the stuff. So at least once a year on SPECIAL occasions I make him HIS Rhubarb pie. So this year for Fathers Day I made him this Rhubarb Custard Pie. It was very easy to make and I am sure it was delicious but you will have to take his word for it because EW, I am not eating that!
                                                    

The above picture is the package of home grown Rhubarb that I used to make the pie! Try to get the Rhubarb that has that beautiful rosy red color to make your pie extra pretty. Most Rhubarb is celery green with hints of red & it all taste about the same but the rosy red make a prettier pie. As for the taste, Rhubarb to me is just SOUR extremely SOUR & no amount of sugar can take that away. But folks that LOVE their Rhubarb will argue about the taste saying how amazing it is. Let them have their delusions & enjoy their nasty stuff. As for the rest of us, I make a my GREAT All American Apple Pie & everyone was HAPPY!

Pie Crust:
2 Cups Flour
1 TSP Salt
1 TSP Sugar
1/3 Cup Shortening
1/3 Cup Cold Butter
4 to 5 TBS Cold Water
Mix all dry together. Cut in Shortening & Butter until you get fine crumbs. Now add enough cold water until dough comes together. Roll out the bottom crust on a well floured surface. Fill the bottom of a 9" pie pan with the crust & set aside. Roll out the top crust & let rest. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Line your bottom shell with foil & fill with about 2 cups of raw rice. Place in your preheated oven for 10 minutes to BLIND BAKE your bottom crust, this gives you a nice CRISPY bottom crust EVERY TIME! Let bottom crust rest for about 3 minutes & then gently remove the foil & rice. Save rice for future Blind Baking! Turn oven up to 375 degrees. Now let us make that filling!
RHUBARB CUSTARD:
In a large deep bowl mix 1 & 3/4 Cup Sugar, 1/3 Cup Flour, 1/4 TSP Nutmeg, Dash of Salt & stir well. Now whisk in 3 Large Beaten Eggs & 1 TSP Vanilla. Now add 4 Cups of sliced Rhubarb cut into 1/4 inch thick diagonal slices.  Stir well.  Pour into your Blind Baked bottom crust. take 2 TBS of butter cut into small pieces & dot the top of the pie. Now cut strips of dough from the rolled out portion & arrange on top of pie mixture.  Crimp the edges to make a pretty seal. Bake pie at 375 degrees for about 1 hour check at 45 minutes to see if your pie is done baking. Remove once filling is set & crust is a nice brown. Chill before serving!
                                                                           
                                            

       
This was my Dad getting ready to dig into his piece of Rhubarb Custard Pie Ala Mode! He loved it & the best part for him was he got to take the rest of the pie home!

     The Rhubarb Pie according to my Dad was SCRUMPTIOUS! It had a creamy custard surrounding his tender pieces of Rhubarb! He LOVED his Fathers Day Rhubarb Pie!                                               

Beautiful Banana Muffins!

                                                                              

FABULOUS, FANTASTIC, FLAVORFUL Banana Muffins! I am not even a huge fan of Banana but WOW these are to good not to try! I mean WOW FACTOR on these! Impressive in height, moist,spicy sweet crunchy crumbs these are over the top! ENJOY THEM, FOODIES!

2 & 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs + 2/3 cup reserve for crumbs
1 cup Sugar
1 TSP Salt
1 TBS Baking Powder
2 TSP Cinnamon
Stir these all together now add the following:
3 Beaten Eggs
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 & 1/2 Cup Mashed RIPE Bananas ( this took 2 & 1/2 Bananas for me)
1 Cup Sour Cream
2 TSP Vanilla
Add all of this to the dry & stir with a sturdy spoon until well mixed! Spray a muffin pan with 12 wells with a baking spray. preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spoon batter evenly between the 12 muffin wells. Set aside & make crumb topping!
Put into the mixing bowl you just used & no need to wash first just dump right into the used bowl the following:
2/3 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
3/4 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 TSP Cinnamon
4TBS Melted Butter
1 TSP Vanilla
Stir all together to make crumbs. Spoon crumbs over the unbaked muffins tops dividing evenly! Lightly pat down on each muffin. Now Bake for 20 Minutes in your 400 degree preheated oven! When baked remove & let cool 3 minutes & then dump out on clean surface. Set muffins upright & let cool ! GREAT WARM with a pat of butter! SO DELICIOUS & HUGE!

Chocolate Stuffing!

                                                                               

What is Chocolate Stuffing you may ask? Chocolate Stuffing is a dessert that will satisfy any chocolate lover & please all dessert eaters! Creamy, thick & rich with melty chocolate & crispy pecans this turns Bread Pudding into Chocolate Heaven! I tried this warm with Whipped Cream & then tasted it cold with Whipped Cream & I am hard pressed to say which was best! You choose! The warm Chocolate Stuffing could also be served with a dollop of Vanilla Ice Cream!
2 Cups Bread Cubed ( I used Texas Toast)
2 Cups Whole Milk
2/3 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa
1/2 TSP Salt
1 TSP Vanilla 
3 Eggs Medium Sized beaten (if large only use 2)
4 TBS Butter + some to butter your baking dish
1, 9.5OZ Bag Hershey's Chocolate Melts, Milk Chocolate
3/4 Cup Chopped Pecans
Cube the bread & place in a deep bowl. In a deep saucepan bring milk almost to the boiling point without boiling, this is called scalding! You will see steam coming off the milk & little bubbles form all around the outer edge of the milk against the pan.Turn heat off of the stove! As soon as milk is scalded whisk in the sugar, salt, & the cocoa whisk smooth.Now stir in the butter until melted. Add vanilla & set aside. Beat the eggs. Beat in a little of the hot milk mixture into your beaten eggs. Add about 2 TBS at a time until 1/2 cup of hot mixture in beaten into the eggs. Now dump all of the beaten eggs into the whole pan of milk mixture & whisk! Now pour all into your bread & stir well! Now stir in the Chocolate Melts & Pecans. Butter a 3 quart casserole dish. Pile your mixture into the dish. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Set the casserole dish down into a pan of hot water with the water about 2 inches deep. Now place into your hot oven & bake 45 minutes to an hour! Test with a knife you should see melted chocolate but no raw egg mixture!
                         

                 Your Stuffing should be puffy like this!
                                                   

Go ahead a bake up some CHOCOLATE STUFFING! YUM!