1 Roast, 2 Dinners!

Don't you just love getting two dinners out of one? I do! Last night I made french dip/shredded beef sandwiches using the slow cooker. This is such a simple recipe that even my kids love. The great thing about this recipe is that there is always plenty of beef leftover to use the next night in tacos or burritos. I'll post that recipe also.

French dip/shredded beef sandwiches

2-4 lb beef roast*
2 packages of onion soup mix (I use Liptons)
2 - 3 cans of beef broth, depending on size of roast

*Not sure what type of beef to use? Check out Kim's earlier post!

Put everything in to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 6-8 (depending on size of roast and slow cooker). 1/2 hour before serving, shred the beef, return the beef to the slow cooker. Serve beef on toasted sandwich rolls.  Top with cheese (optional) Put some of the beef juice, in a cup, on the side for dipping.

Tacos/Burritos

Take your leftover shredded beef and reheat it in a pan with approx. 1 cup of your favorite salsa. You may want to add more or less salsa depending on how much beef you have leftover. Serve in tortillas along with your favorite toppings, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.... Pin It

How to Make That Perfect Pie Crust

If you read my earlier post, you already know that I love pies!  A good crust is just as important as a delicious filling. Have you ever had a pie with a soggy crust, or how about a burnt crust? Okay, so you know what I'm talking about then. While the taste of the crust is definitely more important than the look of the crust, who doesn't enjoy treating people to a great looking finished product. Here are some tips, courtesy of Betty Crocker,  to help you make that perfect pie crust.

• Use a pastry blender to cut shortening into the flour and salt, blending until particles are pea-sized. You can also use two knives, cutting them side by side (in parallel but opposite directions). A fork or wire whisk works, too.
• Make sure to use icy cold water for blending—it chills the shortening and forms a manageable dough.
• Go easy on mixing—if you over-mix crust ingredients once water is added, pastry will be tough.
• Make pastry ahead of time for easier rolling. After shaping dough into a flattened round, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes (or even overnight). This break allows shortening to solidify, the flour's gluten to relax, and moisture to be evenly absorbed.
• Use a pastry rolling pin covered with stockinette on a pastry cloth-covered board—dough doesn’t stick to the pin and rolls out evenly. A lightly floured board is a plus when rolling the dough.
• Choose a pie plate that is glass or aluminum with an anodized (dull) finish. Shiny pans can cause crusts to become soggy because they reflect too much heat.
• Fold crust in half and then in half again when ready to place on pie plate. Lower the point to the center of the pie plate and gently unfold. Overlap pan edges with pie dough and trim below the edge, leaving enough dough for fluting, rolling, or edging with a fork.
• Pastry scraps make great treats! Shape into small tarts for extra mini-pie snacks, or cut in strips, brush with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake.

Shaping & Finishing Pie Crust

Want to make a truly eye-catching pie? Try these ideas for beautiful edges and top crusts:

• A fluted pie crust edge give pie extra pizzazz
• Shiny crust: Brush crust lightly with milk before baking
• Sugary crust: Moisten crust lightly with water or beaten egg white, and then sprinkle with sugar before baking.
• Glazed crust: Brush crust lightly with beaten egg yolk mixed with a little water.
• Glaze for baked pie crust: Drizzle a mixture of ½ cup of powdered sugar blended with 2-3 teaspoons of milk, orange juice, or lemon juice over warm baked pie.
  

Baking Pie Crust

Try these nifty tricks for well-behaved pie crusts:

• Bake pies between 375°F and 425°Fso that the pastry becomes flaky and golden brown and filling cooks all the way through.
• Keep crusts from over-browning by shielding them with aluminum foil strips. Remove foil strips 15 minutes before baking is complete so that edges can brown.
• Before baking an unfilled pie crust, prick the bottom thoroughly with a fork. Steam created during baking escapes through the holes so the crust won't puff up.
• Don't prick the crust of pies that you fill before baking (such as pumpkin and pecan pies). Otherwise, filling seeps under the crust during baking and the crust becomes soggy.

Tips courtesy Betty Crocker

Want to make your pie crust edges look beautiful? Here are some creative ideas from Bon Appetit.

Photo courtesy of www.bonappetit.com Pin It

Fun Pie Facts

With Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, it's the perfect time to talk about pies. Well, frankly anytime is a good time to talk about pies because they are DELICIOUS! Sorry to all of you cake fans out there, but I would take a slice of pie over a piece of cake any day. Unless we are talking cheesecake, which in my opinion is more of a pie than a cake. So... back to the point of this post! I thought it would be interesting to look at some fun pie facts.

Fun pie facts from Crisco and the American Pie Council  (Gotta love that there is actually such a thing as the American Pie Council!)

• A survey by the American Pie Council and Crisco® found that apple pie is the favorite flavor among one out of four Americans, followed by pumpkin, chocolate, lemon meringue, and cherry.
• An overwhelming 76 percent of Americans prefer homemade pie over pie from a bakery or pastry shop, restaurant, diner, or supermarket.
• The average American eats six slices of pie per year. (pretty sure I can beat that!)
  
• The term "as American as apple pie" traces back to 14th century England. The Pilgrims brought their pie-making skills, along with the apple seeds to America. As the popularity of apple pie spread throughout the nation, the phrase grew to symbolize American prosperity.
• Before pie was America's favorite dessert, fruit pies were commonly eaten as part of breakfast in the 19th century.
• Other names for a pie are: pastie, oggie, piraski, piragie, patty, and pierogi. More common names include: streusel, tart, turnover, and crumble.
• The term "upper crust" refers to early America when the economy was difficult and supplies were hard to come by. Only affluent households could afford ingredients for both the upper and lower crusts of a pie; thus, the term "upper crust" was born.
• Shoo-fly pie is a wet-bottom molasses pie that was originally used to sit on windowsills to attract flies away from the kitchen.

Crisco.com (Original Source)

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New ROTW- Carmel Pecan Tart

I have been having a hard time lately with my internet connection, my apologies to anyone looking for this week's recipe. Here it is and it looks wonderful, I am going to make it for a wine and cheese party that my husband is attending tonight. Hopefully he will let me know what everyone thinks. Happy baking and please drop us a line anytime. We would love to know there are others out there sharing in our passion.

Prep: 20 min., Bake: 57 min., Cool: 1 hr., Cook: 5 min.

Yield: Makes 12 servings
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons whipping cream
Preparation
1. Arrange pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes or until completely cool.

2. Pulse flour, powdered sugar, and 3/4 cup butter in a food processor 5 to 6 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pat mixture evenly on bottom and up sides of a lightly greased 11-inch tart pan with removable bottom.

3. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes or until completely cool.

4. Bring brown sugar, honey, 2/3 cup butter, and whipping cream to a boil in a 3-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in toasted pecans, and spoon hot filling into prepared crust.

5. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Caramel-Pecan Bars: Prepare recipe as directed, pressing crumb mixture evenly on bottom and 3/4 inch up sides of a lightly greased heavy-duty aluminum foil-lined 13- x 9-inch pan. When completely cool, using the aluminum foil as handles, carefully lift the tart from the pan, and transfer to a serving tray. Cut into squares.

*recipe provided by www.findmyrecipe.com/Southern Living, NOVEMBER 2007

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Salsa Chicken Soup

Thursdays are busy nights for us. If I can remember...I always try and throw dinner in the slow cooker earlier that day so we can eat dinner that evening at a decent time. Today I decided to take a recipe given to me a couple weeks ago from a friend and combine it with some recipes I had found online. The original recipe given to me sounded great, but once again I was attempting to make do with what I had in the pantry. The result was a really delicious mexican style soup. Everyone loved it! I will definitely be making this again. Here's what I came up with. Ingredients: 3-4 pieces of chicken (I used boneless, frozen thighs) 2 cans of seasoned black beans, undrained 1 cup of salsa ( I used pace picante, medium) 1 small single serving size can V8 juice (smallest can they make) 1 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained 1 small can diced green chilies 3 chicken boulion cubes garlic powder, pepper, salt to taste(watch the salt. It's pretty tasty already) Directions: Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Put all of the ingredients in. Mix together. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. About a 1/2 hour before eating, remove the chicken, shred and put back into the soup. Mix again. Garnish with crushed tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese (optional).

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Apricot Cheesecake

Doesn't that picture just look delicious? This is a recipe that was given to me by a source that shall remain anonymous and it is very special because it is the 2009 LA County Fair First Place Blue Ribbon Winner for the Cheesecake Category and it was created by Ann Turley of Walnut CA- Congratulations Ann and thank you for allowing the world the opportunity to recreate such a special pie.

Apricot Cheesecake by Ann Turley, Walnut, CA

2009 LA County Fair First Place Blue Ribbon Winner, Cheesecake Category

CRUST

4 Tbl. butter, melted

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 Tbl. sugar

1/2 Tbl. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients and press into the bottom of an 8” or 9” springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

NUT LAYER

2 Tbl. sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup chopped dried apricots

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine in a small bowl and set aside.

APRICOT PUREE

6 oz. package dried apricots

3/4 cup water

1 tsp. Grand Marnier (optional)

1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

Place apricots in a small saucepan and soak in the water for two hours. Bring to a boil, then simmer, tightly covered for 20 minutes. Puree the apricots and any remaining liquid in a food processor. Add Grand Marnier, lemon juice and sugar, pulsing several times to blend. Additional sugar can be added to your taste. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

FILLING

2 8oz. packages cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. rum

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Pinch of salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup apricot puree (recipe above)

1 tsp. apricot nectar

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until soft and well-blended. Add rum, vanilla and salt and blend again. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just blended. Add puree and apricot nectar. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan in foil, then pour in half the filling. Sprinkle the nut layer evenly over the surface then add the remaining filling. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 40 minutes. Remove to countertop while you prepare the topping.

TOPPING

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbl. sugar

1/4 tsp. rum

1/2 tsp. apricot nectar

Stir together until smooth. Spread over baked cheesecake and return to oven for 10 minutes. Cook completely before garnishing with additional puree.

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Beef (venison) Stew

Today I came up with a new stew recipe and I was REALLY happy with how it turned out. Typically I just use a packaged stew mix, but seeing as i didn't have any on hand, I decided to make do with what I had in the pantry. The result...my new go to stew recipe! I made this recipe with venison, but you can make it with beef also.

Ingredients:


1lb beef or venison, cut up into small cubes
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut up
2 carrots, peeled and sliced or baby carrots whole
1/2 of a medium onion, cut into chunks
1 pkg dry onion soup mix (like Liptons)
1 small can of tomato sauce
1/4 cup of red cooking wine
1 14.5 oz can of beef broth
1/2 cup of water
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste


cornstarch
water

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients(not the cornstarch) to a slow cooker. Mix together. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, high for 4 hours. During the last 15 minutes of cooking, turn the slow cooker on high. Mix together 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl or cup. Stir cornstarch mix into boiling stew. Stir until the broth thickens. Pin It