Divine French Pasty Pie Crust

Ok so here is the crust recipe that I used in the Apple-Berry Pie recipe that I also have listed on the blog. It is another that is not my own but too good not to share! It is a sweet dough that is great for fruit pies!

Divine French Pastry Pie Crust

(Makes enough for two pies, or a top and bottom of a single pie)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp white sugar
1 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
5 tbsp water

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Mix well and then cup in the shortening until mixture is like course meal.

In another smaller bowl combine egg, vinegar, and 4 tbsp water. Whisk together, then slowly add to flour mixture, stirring with a fork. Mix until dough forms a ball. Add one more tbsp of water if needed.

Allow dough to rest in refrigerator 10 minutes before rolling out

Awesomely good apple-blackberry pie!

Ok, so I found this recipe on Allrecipes, so this is not my own! But it is really good! And I loved making it so I wanted to share it!

Apple-Berry Pie

20 min -prep time
50 min - cook time

1 pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1 cup white sugar
4 tsp tapioca
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh blackberries
2 cups apples-pealed, cored, and sliced
2 tbsp butter, cut into small peices

Preheat oven to 375. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one crust and place in a 9 inch pie plate. Roll out top crust, and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the sugar, tapioca, and cinnamon. Add blackberries and apple slices. Toss gently to coat without mashing the berries. You could add the berries after coating the apples in sugar mixute, I did that the second time I made this and liked it much better since the berries didn't get as mashed ( I was using thawed frozen berries). Let stand for 2o minutes.

Spoon filling into pastry lined pan. Place small cut peices of butter on top. Moisten the edge of the pastry with water. Cover with top crust or make a latice top; trim and crimp edge. Cut a few slits in the top to allow to steam steam to escape (if using a full top). Cover edge with foil to prevent over-browning.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking for 20-25 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

This is one very good pie!! I doubt you will be dissappointed!

Mom's awesome Multi-Grain Bread

I love this recipe of my mom's Multi-grain bread! I like to make it using my breadmakers dough cycle and then take it out and cook it in the oven. I like the texture and the shape better that way. But it can also all be done in the breadmaker if you prefer.

Mom's Multi-Grain Bread

1 1/4 cup Warm water
2 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Honey or 3 Tbsp brown suger (I use brown sugar)
1 1/2 tbsp Powdered milk (optional, I usually use it though)
1 1/8 cup Bread flour
1 1/8 cup Whole wheat flour
2 tbsp Gluton flour
2 tbsp Wheat germ
2 tbsp Barley or soy flour (I use soy)
1 cup Old-fashioned oats
2 tsp Instant yeast

Put in breadmaker in order above. Set on dough cycle. Watch it about half way through, if it still too sticky and 1-2 Tbsp of flour. After dough cycle is complete take out of pan and place in a bread pan. Place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes to allow to rise. After the 20 min is finished raise temp to 350 and set timer for 35 minutes. A
After you remove bread from oven take out of pan and let cook on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Mom's Stroganoff

This is another Very good recipe! I would give it absolutely 5 stars! It is very simple and easy to make. I was able to make it start to finish in less than 15 minutes. That included monitoring a 4 yr old boy who was wanting to "help" wash dishes, and a little girl who was bouncing all over the house! I'm quite suprised the recipe turned out at all as distracted as I was. lol
Ok so here it is..

Mom's Stroganoff

1 cup TVP (or vegetarian style meat crumbles)
Dash of ketchup (I used about 1 tsp)
1 onion, chopped
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1 can mushroom soup
1 mushroom can full of water
1 can mushrooms, drained
1/4 tsp Garlic powder (I used 1/2)
1/4 tsp salt




Take 1 cup boiling water, and pour in 3/4 TVP. Let sit for about 4-5 minutes.


Saute onions in oil for about 3-4 minutes


Add drained mushrooms

and TVP.

Mix and continue to saute for about 3-4 minutes.

Then add can of mushroom soup, can of water, sour cream, ketchup, garlic powder and salt.

Mix together and reduce heat to med low, let heat for about 3-4 minutes.

And voila!

Use over top your favorite pasta and enjoy! (I used bowtie)

Very tasty Tofu and Vegi Quesadilla

Ok, so this is a really yummy and simple recipe that I made for the first time yesterday and we loved it!!!
You will need the following.....

A package of flour tortilla's.


A bag of Colby & Monterey Jack Cheese


1 lb of Tofu cut into thinly sliced peices.


1 med onion, sliced and carmalized.

1 large tomato thinly sliced

Ok, in the following pictures I show putting them together in the pan, but after having done it I suggest you lay your tortilla shell out beside the pan and put the toppings on it, then move it over to the frying pan and fold it in half there. So that way the whole thing is not starting to cook while you are still putting toppings on.

So start with sprinkling a small amout of chees on one side *only* of the tortilla shell.

Then place a few pieces of carmalized onions on.....

Then a few slices of tomato....

Then top with Tofu pieces and if you would like you can sprinkle your choice of seasoning on. I put All Purpose Seasoning on this one.

Then top with a little more cheese...

Then place on frying pan and fold the unused side over.

Fry for 1-2 minute on each side over med heat.

Remove from heat and cut into three pieces.

Here is a view from the inside.

I didn't have any on hand but you can garnish with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.

(Makes 5-6 Quesadillas)

Enjoy!

Bethany's vegetarian breakfast sausage

Ok, so I was telling my husband and exchange student the other day how much I love breakfast sausages but Morningstar is getting silly expensive with it now being $3.32 for only 6 patties. I just can't justify stocking up or buying them often at that price. So I was thrilled with the idea when our exchange student Bella suggested I try making my own with my TVP (vegertarian meat substitute). So I went on the hunt for a recipe but I didn't find anything I like, but I did find some that was able to give me ideas to come up with my own. I was quite happy with the result (well after I was able to get the consistancy right). Although there is still some changes I am going to try next time I make them, which hopefully will be really soon. I will update it when I do. I want to try using gluton flour instead of unbleached flour next time, to give it a chewier consistancy.
UPDATE: The next time I made these I used gluton flour also, and added an extra egg and they turned out GREAT! They held together even better and were quite a bit chewier.

Ok, so here is the recipe.



Bethany's Breakfast Sausage

2 cups TVP (Textured Vegetable protien) or any other vegetarian meat granuals. I use sausage flavor, gives the patties even more flavor.
1 1/2 cups Boiling water
3 Tbsp Soy sauce ( the second time I made this I used Bragg's Liguid Aminos, loved it!)
4 Tbsp Margarine (softened)
3 eggs
2 tsp dehydrated minced onions
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp flour
4 Tbsp gluton flour (can increase reg flour to 4 Tbsp if you prefer not use gluton)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You will notice in the picture below I don't have flour and water showing. But the water is used to hydrate the TVP and the flour was something I used as an after thought (along with an extra egg) to hold the patties together when the first four fell apart in the frying pan. lol


In a mixing bowl combine TVP with boiling water and let hydrate for 5-10 minutes (I almost forgot, I also hydrated my onions in a sperate bowl with a tad of water for about 5 minutes too). Add all ingredients together and......


Mix :)


It should look something like this.


Cook the patties in a pan over medium heat (spray pan with cooking spray) approx 2 minutes on each side.
I used a bisquit cut out my mom gave me to use as a form maker. It worked great! I put about 1/4 cup of mixture into the cut out and then gently pushed it down with the back of a spoon and then removed the bisquit form otherwise the patty wants to start sticking to the edges. It works great for giving them a nice form! There were times I used two spatulas to flip them over, just to be careful they didn't break.


And here is the finished product! Takes about 30-40 minutes to make (including hydrating TVP) and only cost approx $2.50 for 16 patties!!!! That is compared to Morningstar's Sausage patties, 6 for $3.32

By the way, Gabe gives these a BIG thumbs up! :) I plan to make a big batch every month and stuff them in the freezer.



And as for the first four patties that fell apart before I tried adding the extra egg and the flour? Well.....



It tasted great in speghetti sauce for lunch! :)

Fajita's!

I love these!!! I have to give my sister in law Lisa (my brother Brian's, wife) all the credit though! These are so good and easy to make!

You will need the following....

1 package of flour tortilla's

















1 small-medium sized onion.

















1 1/2 Medium sized Yellow Squash
(as you can see I only have 1/2 of one in this picture, but this was the leftover)















1/2 of a Pablano pepper
















2 cans vegitarian Fried Chic (WITH JUICE!)
















1/3 bag of baby carrots
















1/2 package of both McCormick Grill Mates Mesquit and Mojito Lime

















Mix in all above ingredients along with the fried chic juice in a 9 x 13 pan.


Then put it on the bbq grill and bring it to a boil. We let it simmer like that for about 10-15 minutes. Just watch the vegi's till you think they are done. The carrots are a good thing to use as a guide. When done just place a few spponfuls in the warmed flour totillas and enjoy! We also served ours with vegitarian chili and rice.


















Sorry this is a picture of before it was cooked on the bbq. I forgot to take one after it was done.