Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Cucumber & Onion Salad Judys Foodies Style!

                                                                          
Try this the next time you make Cucumber & Onion Salad!
Fresh Cucumbers cut in thin slices, as many as you like!
Red Onion Cut in thin slices as much as you like!
1 Cup Vinegar
1 Cup Sugar
Bring Vinegar & Sugar to a boil stir until sugar has melted. Pour that over your Onion & Cucumber slices. Chill well! DELICIOUS & SO PRETTY! The vinegar sugar solution takes on a nice pink color from the Red Onion! 

Beautiful Blueberry Tart!

                                                                        
Awesome, Blueberry Season one of my favorites! This Tart shows them off to perfection! The buttery cookie like crust is the bed for all those plump sweet berries that you cook into a nice pie filling! Topped with spicy sweet crunchy crumbs, this dessert has something for EVERYBODY!

CRUST:
1 Egg Yolk Beaten
1 TBS Sour Cream
1/2 TSP Vanilla
1&1/4 Cup Flour
2/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
Dash of Salt
1 Stick Butter ( YUP 8, TBS)
Milk enough to wet dough a couple of TBS or so!
Beat egg, add sour cream & vanilla & mix all together. Stir all the dry together & then cut in butter to make crumbs. Add the egg mixture & stir well. Add enough milk to get a soft dough with the texture of cookie dough. Now spread dough out into your tart pan. Now gently lay foil into the pan & fill with about 2 cups of raw rice. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes turning pan around 1/2 way at the 15 minute mark. Now remove from oven at 30 minutes & gently lift out foil & rice. Return crust to oven for 5 minutes. Remove & cool. Now make filling:
2 Pints Fresh Blueberries
3/4 Cup Water
1 Cup Sugar
4TBS Cornstarch
Dash of Salt
1 TSP Vanilla
Stir Sugar & Cornstarch together, place in a deep saucepan. Stir in water & vanilla, & salt. Cook on high just before this comes to the boil add washed & drained Blueberries. Cook & stir until thick & bubbly! Once thickened remove from heat & cool. While this cools make the CRUMB TOPPING:
TOPPING:
1 Heaping Cup of Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
Dash of Salt
1 TSP Cinnamon
2 TBS Shortening
Stir all dry together. Cut in shortening for crumbs. Once you have a gravel like mixture spread out on a cookie sheet & bake in the 375 degree oven for about 12 minutes stirring at 8 minutes. WATCH CLOSELY you want nicely browned crumbs NOT BURNT! Once crumbs are brown remove from the oven. Place Blueberry filling in your baked crust & sprinkle a generous amount of the crumbs over the top! Let tart cool, serve topped with Whipped Cream or Vanilla Ice Cream!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

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!
                                                                                 
                                            

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

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!