I also made this pie for Thanksgiving. This was the first pie I had ever made. The crust is super easy to make yet it tastes and looks like it took forever!  Im gonna be lazy though and just post the link to the recipe!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1932620

The only kind of chocolate pie I had ever had was the kind made with pudding from a box. Homemade chocolate pudding has a much richer, more chocolatey flavor. This pie is SOO good. I didnt make the meringue for this because Jeremy doesnt like it.

http://www.mommyskitchen.net/2009/11/old-fashioned-chocolate-pie-for.html

Ingredients:

1 pillsbury pie crust

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

pinch of salt

1 heaping tbsp cocoa powder

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks

1 tbsp vanilla

2 tbsp butter

Bake crust as directed on package. Let cool.

In med-large saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa together using wire whisk. Add milk. Over med heat, cook, stirring constantly until heated through. Temper in egg yolks.  Stir constantly until thick. Add in vanilla and butter. Let cool. Pour into crust.

My first attempt at pie was a huge hit with the family. It’s a sweet, no bake one, using a lot of white chocolate. But if white chocolate’s not your thing the combination of that with the tart lusciousness of key lime will make this a favorite.

This was super easy to make and a great way for me to get my feet wet in the land of pies.I went with a store bought crust to take some of the stress out of this adventure into the unknown. If key limes aren’t available in your area, use regular limes – they will work well and make a delicious pie too!

When it’s all done just be sure you don’t keep it too close to the front of your fridge like we did or on day 2 when visions of white chocolate and lime fairies are dancing in your head….splat…

When I lived in Florida, Key Lime Pie was everywhere. Now that I’m across the country I found myself missing this treat and was very happy to find key limes in my supermarket. I didn’t know much about what made a key lime different from a standard lime. I’ve since learned they are smaller and lighter in color than the commonly found Persian lime and grown in the Florida Keys. The homesick Florida girl in me couldn’t wait to give this a try and only wishes I could have had a grouper sandwich as my main course (but that ain’t happening in the California desert)!

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

• 1  cup  whipping cream
• 1  (11-ounce) package white chocolate morsels
• 1  tablespoon  sour cream
• 1  teaspoon  grated lime rind
• 1/3  cup  fresh Key lime or lime juice
• 1  (9-inch) ready-made graham cracker crust or your favorite prepared recipe
• Garnish: lime slices

Preparation

Combine cream and white chocolate morsels in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook 5 minutes or until morsels melt, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add sour cream, lime rind, and juice; stir well. Pour into crust. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Garnish, if desired.

Adapted from recipe by George Spriggs, Tybee Island, Georgia, Coastal Living, MARCH 2004

Today was it. The pie crust was finally right, it was good as a real pie crust. It wouldn’t have drawn any negative attention to itself had it been served in any good restaurant — but it wouldn’t have passed muster at a top restaurant or anywhere known for pie crust. And I did it by hand, not even using a food processor — in fact I used my pastry blender hand-tool which made me feel extra competent. I worked off of Pepin’s Techniques.

And the final secret was: blind baking for 30 minutes. Probably everyone in the world already knew this. But I blind baked it today for 30 minutes, covered in foil, weighed down, forked. (I got the idea of blind baking for 30 minutes yesterday when I blind baked for Pepin’s pecan pie.) And then I added the apples and baked according to Pepin’s Techniques for 75 minutes at 400. Pepin even says in Techniques that he likes his apple pie crust well-cooked, but what does that mean? Does that mean it will be well-cooked by the time you get through his recipe? No. What it means is that he wants his crust blind-baked for 30 minutes. So just to recap, here’s the lessons learned:

• Don’t be too shy with the ice water. The dough is supposed to make a ball that you can roll out (even though it’s called pate brisee). And it should be ice water, since you don’t want the butter to melt at all.
• Pepin mentions using 2 cups of flour and 1.5 sticks, which is more than what a lot of other recipes specify. But that’s how you get enough to make the rim and all that. So follow that exactly. And you do get some extra which you can freeze. I made originally 1 cup and 1 stick and relaxed it, then I looked up Pepin’s Technique and notice he specified for 1 pie 2 cups and 1.5 sticks, so I even was daring enough to do the other cup with .5 stick and then blend them together. It worked. Pepin mentions that you can bake his crust immediately, and it seems that I did with half of my dough, but if you happen to have the luxury of relaxing the dough then why not.
• Blind bake it fully — that means 30 minutes at 400 — wrapped in foil, forked, and weighed down.
• I used whole wheat pastry flour which worked great, it had a nice aroma. To get a more standard result I’m sure I’d need either low-gluten white pastry flour (Julia) or white all-purpose (Jacques).
• I was tempted to try the professional technique of doing the shell separately from the filling and then just putting them together, but making the pie for real is good.
• I had a lot of flour on the counter, and I was worried that 1 side of the crust would be too floured with dry flour, but that wasn’t a problem. I don’t know what would happen if both sides get too much dry flour on them during rolling out, but I don’t see why that would be necessary anyway.
• When baking out to 75 minutes, I checked at 55 minutes and saw the outer edge of the crust was getting brown, so I wrapped that in some foil left over from blind-baking. Otherwise it might burn.
• I had enough, because of the 2 cups, to make a rim and do fork impressions and all that, which was great. I think there’s more I can do in terms of the shrinkage of the crust and arranging the dough in the pan to compensate for that beforehand.
• Would be nice to have a 9″ tart ring like Pepin recommends. Also intriguing is this pie recipe from White House pastry chef Bill Yosses which involves lard. I think lard is what was once used instead of shortening/margarine, and I bet it’s better for you then either of those.

Other than that it was Thanksgiving leftovers.

The Turkey Trot.

Every year I come to Denver for Thanksgiving, our family participates in the Turkey Trot, a 4 mile race through the city. The Macias family has completed the run 14 years straight. This year was the first year that Uncle Pete, Aunt Shelly, August and Aunders have also been there while I have.

A couple weeks before I left for Denver Aunty Shelly had messaged me on Facebook, telling me to prepare for the run, because Aunders, the track-star was going to kick everyone’s ace. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to it. But, when everyone was finally together, and we had time to hear about Aunders’ other running accomplishments, everyone was choosing him as the 2009 Turkey Trot Winner, no joke.

The morning of the race we were forced to wake at the butt-crack of dawn, well 7:30 am, but when you haven’t slept in a few days it sure feels like the butt-crack. Uncle Danny, Aunt Mimi, Uncle Pete, Aunt Shelly, August and Aunders met us with the RV at Kevin’s apartment. We all headed into the city tired, but excited to run.

We arrived at the race site with about an hour before start time. While we waited, we had a good time eating bananas, drinking chocolate milk, supposedly a great pre-game drink, and telling funny Hallsten family stories. I don’t know why, but the Hallsten family sure does have a lot of gross, nasty, disgusting, fart-filled stories, and they always seem to involve  Todd, and, always come out when everyone is eating. Good thing we are all used to it. The family newcomer, Paige, learned how to deal quick.

The race began at 10:15 am. We stood at the front of the starting line, sizing up all the competition. When the gun sounded, Kevin, August and I tried to keep at the break-neck pace, set by our half Kenyan cousin, Aunders. Kevin fell back after the first mile, August and I managed the first two miles, then Aunders decided we were all too slow and disappeared into the mass of Olympic runners in the front of the pack. I was alone the last two miles of the race, and had to stop multiple times with the; honest to god, worst side-ache I think I have ever experienced. But, after about four or five 80-year-old women and their husbands who looked twice as old passed me, I suddenly felt much lighter on my feet (no offense to any old folks reading).

I came into the finish line with a time of 35 minutes, meaning I was running about 8 minute miles. Aunders beat me by a good 10 minutes, meaning he ran 6 minute miles, all the while looking as if he could run 10 more miles. The rest of us (me) were hunched over coughing up our lungs.

The old-farts all came in a little later and after a short break headed for the beer garden. Shelly, August, Aunders, Kevin, Paige, Sara, Pojke (Macias family dog) and I headed back to the RV. While we were walking back, I had my first bird-turd experience, not very fun. Don’t walk under trees I guess is the moral of that story. How it happened I still don’t know. I was simply walking and talking with Auntie Shelly, when the next thing I know I feel something hit me on the forehead, hear the birds chirping, get that nervous feeling, ask Aunt Shelly if I have something in my hair, and then watch her almost fall on the ground laughing. Yeah, even worst, she announced that I have been ’shat’ on to just about everyone in our general vicinity, which was like 749327598357923 people. A thick skin comes in handy when the Hallsten Family gets together.

After the race Paige and Kevin had to go to her mother’s, for Thanksgiving dinner number 1. The rest of us headed over to Einsteins’ Bagels and enjoyed, bagels, obviously. The nice man in the store even let Uncle Danny carry Pojke through to the outside seating so he could be with us.

Thanksgiving Dinner.

The ride back to the house was a sleepy one. Everyone was completely spent from the race. When we got back to Mimi and Danny’s, I rode back to Nanny’s with Uncle Pete, Aunt Shelly, August and Aunders. I got to meet their ginormous dogs, Nilla and Moose, who are both gentle-giants. They made me miss Teal, Max and Indy a ton. At Nanny’s I showered, put on pants and sat down on the bed for about a second. I woke 3 hours later, Aunt Shelly and Uncle Pete had left, Aunders was in Nanny’s chair knitting, August asleep as well. Nanny was frantically trying to finish the last-minute cooking. We all got up to help her carry things to the car and were soon on our way to Mimi’s

Once there, we filled our glasses with wine, began eating amazing cheese and crackers, and waited for the dinner to be ready. I called home and spoke with Mom and Dad and Grandpa John. I even got to talk to Aunt Suzette. Sorry to those who I didn’t get to say hello to.

Dinner was amazing, couldn’t have been better. The younger people sat at a different table, not far from the ‘wise.’ We all went around and said what we were thankful for. I don’t wanna get all mushy, so I’ll spare you the details. We told more funny stories during dinner, and the wine seemed to make everything ten times as funny. I told some terrifically funny stories about Todd, the best ones always seem to include him like I said before. We also got to hear drunken tales of the past from Aunt Shelly and Uncle Pete. Nanny even chimed in a few times to add to the hilarity.

After dinner, Kevin, Paige, Aunders and I got to enjoy the hot tub at Mimi and Danny’s. It was s relaxing. Aunders was approximately three sheets to the wind, and acting hilarious. Mimi made us Margaritas, and they were amazing, the whole night was amazing, amazing was the word of the night.

After the hot tub we went back in and had pie. I love pie. There were many choices to choose from: Pecan, Pumpkin, Lemon-Meringue, Apple, all very yummy. Soon after it was time for everyone to go home. We hugged, kissed, said our goodbyes. It was a bittersweet ending to a great week in Denver with the best family in the world.

Now the hard work for finals next week begins, and then, Friday, off to Siberia….oh boy!

My final day in the USA to come.

Dear Little Pie Company,

Thank you for you delicious sour cream apple walnut pie. I love NY!

Sincerely,
Captain Cupcake

“Don’t forget where you come from baby, ’cause there’s truth in it.” — Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls (Ghost of the Gang)

Time to eat!

Last night, the evening after Thanksgiving, I was sitting at The Nutcracker with a few dear friends, explaining why it is my favorite ballet. The first time I saw it, I was on the trip of a lifetime with my parents. I’d wanted to see New York City since I’d found out what it was, so my parents took me there when I graduated from Baylor University in the winter of 1988. We left my little sister at home and ventured out to a big city my mom had never seen and my dad hated. We saw Cats on Broadway and The Nutcracker at the Lincoln Center. We walked, ate, drank hot chocolate, bought a dress at Macy’s, and I saw my first outdoor ice skating rink (I truly thought they were all man-made in a mall before this).

I’m sure my eyes were huge on that trip, comparing New York City to Waxahachie, my hometown. And in every way, New York City was better. I couldn’t wait to get out of Small Town, Texas, and move someplace big and exciting. New York City was my first craving for new places. My parents indulged this desire, and I didn’t really realize until sitting at the theater on Friday night how that changed the direction of my life. I later moved to Florida, traveled through Europe for six months with a backpack and two friends, got married on the island of Crete, traveled to Mexico and Rwanda. I’ve never been afraid to travel. The site of a suitcase, the crowds of an airport, the smell of an airplane, the feel of a passport in my hand — all a few of my favorite things. And I believe much of it started with this trip to NYC.

Fast forward 21 years and here we are, sitting in Waxahachie with a family from Zimbabwe. This is where I came from. And, as I have many times since I left, I wondered how it would mix with who I’d become.

One of my goals with this blog is to feed my soul by enjoying a meal once a month with a family from Africa. Since I can’t get to Africa, I’m bringing Africa to me. I was thrilled that my first such meal was hosted by my sister and boyfriend-in-law at their home in Waxahachie on Thanksgiving. We invited our friends Prosper, Sarah and their two sons from Zimbabwe. Although this is Prosper’s third Thanksgiving in the U.S., this was the first for the rest of his family.

The spread

What would my family think about my idea of bringing our Zimbabwean friends to Thanksgiving? I wasn’t sure. I don’t believe we’ve ever shared turkey with anyone we aren’t related to. I was actually quite hesitant to ask at first. But my sister was totally on board, my dad was intrigued, my mom was a little worried what my grandmother would think, and my grandmother — when it all came down to it around the table — was uncharacteristically charming.

Really. It was a wonderful day of the small ups and downs any family holiday holds. We were late (and no one was surprised). We oohed and ahhed over everyone’s culinary efforts. Sarah cooked delicious chicken wings (Prosper had no idea what was on them when I later asked; it’s clear who cooks in that family!) and peanut butter rice (white rice with some PB stirred in at the end). Mom made our traditional lemon meringue pie (my grandfather’s favorite). My sister forgot to leave a few vegetarian veggies (we’re big on bacon in Texas) for my 12-year-old but we scraped potatoes off the bottom (Noah is much more flexible than he used to be) and gathered up some unbacon-wrapped green beans for him. Sawyer ate a turkey leg as big as his head.

Oh the pies we consumed

The kids played too many video games and ate too much sugar. One bottle of wine we brought was almost undrinkable (but we did anyway), and we discovered goat cheese isn’t that popular in Waxahachie. We talked about work and school. We talked about driving in the big city, my grandmother’s most recent illnesses, and a similar feast called “Harvest” in Zimbabwe. My sister’s boyfriend talked about his time in Nigeria. Prosper and Sarah told stories about how baboons sometimes steal food from women and children (but not men) back home. We talked about women’s rights (following, but not necessarily connected to, the baboon conversation).

Prosper, Sarah and the kids were fairly quiet, no doubt shell shocked from the chaos that is an extended family full of kids, traditions, and stories. They seemed to like everything, although I think the cranberry sauce threw them a bit. Who knew fruit molded in the shape of a can wouldn’t be appetizing? (To be fair, my mom makes a homemade version I don’t think they cared for either).

In front of the Waxahachie courthouse

After the meal, we headed out for a short driving tour of Waxahachie, a small town about 30 minutes south of Dallas with a beautiful historic square and many Victorian homes. When we piled out of our cars in front of the courthouse, the boys jumped out to play football, and Prosper and Sarah looked around in amazement. “This looks just like our town back home,” they said, using the exact same words a few minutes apart. Something about the square, the size of the buildings, the small-town feel, reminded them of home. Prosper said more than once he could imagine living in Waxahachie, that the commute to Dallas wouldn’t be so bad.

We stopped by Clyde’s family “compound” (his brother and family live right next to his mom) to say hello. The boys played more football and climbed in the tree in front of the house where Clyde grew up.

Later that night, while watching the UT/A&M game with Clyde’s family, they asked about Prosper and his family. How did they get here? What happened to them in Zimbabwe? What did they think about Waxahachie? I mentioned that Prosper really liked it and wondered how my small town would welcome a family from Africa. “This isn’t the Waxahachie you remember,” my brother-in-law said. Living in a big city and traveling quite a bit, I find it easy to underestimate the how openminded my hometown is.

The tree in front of Bee's house

While Prosper seems fascinated by America, Sarah is clearly homesick. I’m sure the boys are, too. English is difficult, and no doubt they miss their friends and family, half a world away. It was obvious they were thinking about where they came from as they spent the day in Waxahachie. Maybe they think Waxahachie would be a better home for their family while they wait for the political situation to settle in their hometown.

I thanked Sarah for joining us as the family loaded up to drive back to their apartment in Dallas: “It was a very good day,” she said.

I agree. It was a special day for me to introduce them to my hometown — a town that looked much better to me than I remembered as I saw it through the eyes of my friends from so far away and shared it with my family. Prosper is always telling me that someday he will return home and I will visit him there. That, too, will be a very good day.

Bonerts' Vegan Apple Pie

I know I said I was gone,but cheap vegan pies called me back.

Bonerts is a local legend.  Bonerts is reeeeeally big among the (cheap, young) Yelp crowd, due to the $1.50 Friday specials.  Since they’re not open on the weekend, they sell all their remaining pies for $1.50 on Friday afternoons.

Bonerts supplies pies to many of the restaurants around here, as well as to Whole Foods and various supermarkets.  They have a small store in their Santa Ana production warehouse, where they sell pies to the public, at very, very low prices.

You faithful ten readers know by now that I do love a bargain.  Therefore, it is with sadness that I must report that I have not had the pleasure of getting a $1.50 Bonerts pie.  Instead, I paid $7 at Whole Foods for the Bonerts pie I recently purchased.  The pie ended up being the only thing I could eat at the church function I went to, because everything else had animal products in it.  So all’s well that ends well.

It was a decent commercial pie.  It had that thick apple pie filling, like the type that comes in a can.  I made a homemade vegan pie that was ten thousand times better, but hey who has the time these days?

I also saw a vegan cherry pie (mmm!) and vegan mixed berry pie.  I think they have other flavors as well.  When I compared the ingredients to the non-vegan pies, I think the only difference is that the vegan pies aren’t covered in egg wash.

I would love to see Bonerts branch out into vegan pumpkin and pecan pies.  We’ll see!

Figuring out how to make a pumpkin pie dairy-free is not hard, given the possibility of using soymilk or unsweetened coconut milk as a substitute for cream or half-and-half. Figuring out a compatible crust is harder. The piecrust that I made last Thanksgiving emulated a whole-wheat crust but was crumbly to the point where I felt it belonged on the beach. It tasted like that too. I was about to repeat the mistake this year when, in the midst of baking the apple pie that was to precede Mr. Pumpkin in the oven, E reminded me that I had had aspirations to make a gluten-free gingersnap crust. So she ran out to the only open grocery store and picked up a bag of gluten-free cookies. We tossed together the new crust and pre-baked it, not losing much oven time on a busy day. It wasn’t the prettiest of pies, but it was good, and a good start for future experiments. Next time, I will think ahead and make my own gingersnaps.

As for the pumpkin, I used a good quality organic canned pumpkin puree. The sugar pumpkin that I had on hand would have been watery despite roasting it to concentrate the flavors. The other alternative would have been to roast a cheese pumpkin or sweet potatoes, both of which have more body. That too will wait until next time. The cheese pumpkin on our counter is just too gorgeous to give up.

Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

1 ½ cups pumpkin puree (1 15 oz can)

½ cup brown sugar or ¾ cup granulated white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp ground cloves

Fresh grated nutmeg

1 tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (not light)

3 large eggs

1 pre-baked gingersnap piecrust (see below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Stir the sugar, spices and salt into the pumpkin puree.  Stir the coconut milk thoroughly to eliminate any lumps and combine with the pumpkin. Slightly beat the eggs and add to the puree, until just combined. Pour into the pre-baked and cooled piecrust and bake for approximately 50 minutes.  The edges should be set and the center somewhat jiggly. It will set up as it cools.

Gingersnap Pie Crust

8 oz gingersnaps, or about 30 small cookies, 2 cups when pulverized

2 tbsp white sugar

1/3 cup dairy-free shortening (I used Earth Balance)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulverize the gingersnaps in a food processor, to yield 2 cups. Add sugar and shortening and process until the mixture holds together and is clumpy. Pat the mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie pan and bake for 8-10 minutes until set but not overly brown. Set aside to cool before filling and baking.

Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving was different for my family, as we typically are out of town for the holiday. This year we stayed home which meant that I finally got to make the pies for dessert! I stayed fairly traditional and made a dutch apple pie, a pumpkin pie with gingersnap crust, and a pecan date pie.  They all turned out wonderfully… I think everyone had a piece of each, including myself

Good evening one and all it’s Motoko Blogging tonight. As my blogs title says the weather is indeed starting to change and it’s about time too. The flooded lane at the bottom of our drive way has started to drop and the distance that the lane as flooded has decreased dramatically. Me and Jenny geared up and put our canoe on the flooded lane to check how far the flood was now, and that’s when we found that the water level had dropped. So we paddled back slightly happier knowing that things are changing for the better at last. It’s still raining here but that doesn’t matter, its Cumbria after all isn’t it! Below is the new forecast for our area of Cumbria.

We are still unable to leave the stables and so on so we are still working the mornings that we normally have off, but it’s not as bad as I could have been. I made a good call saying that our staff should wear our 66N waterproofs we use for hacking out and leading treks, rather than our Ocean Crewman waterproofs while the flooding is on. As it’s been so mistily with fog and hard rain and its very slippery on the yards and the fields are potted. Anna sipped up and twisted her ankle, it was hard and raining hard, but we found her as she showed up well. Once the harsh weather has stopped we will use our Ocean Crewman for working in and our 66N for riding and stuff in. Still I and Jenny took our doggy out for a stroll around the yard and we chose to wear our Musto gear for a change, some of our Musto gear is pictured below.

If you want to know what 66N looks like this is a photograph of our stuff. As for our Ocean crewman is Orange and Blue bib pants and smock, and they are sort of hi-viz but you will have to look Ocean Crewman up s our gear has our yard name on it and I am too lazy to edit the name out off them hehe.

Tonight I am going to make homemade spicy potato edges, with fresh carrots and broccoli. This will all go with my homemade stake and ale pie, which is currently in our Ray Burn and it’s making an awesome smell as I type this. Jenny is curled up on Sofa next too me reading one of her favourite books “The Wind In The Willows” she hasn’t head it for years. I my self have been playing Uncharted: 2 online, below is a score walkthrough from one of my co-op matched I played this evening.

Cumbria has updated its Flood Bulletin made by Cumbria’s public sector organisations, click on the picture below for the 27/11/09 update.

Click the banner to learn about our wonder paradise in England, which Is Cumbria.

I am still going to show my support for the RNLI, as they have done so much good work in Cumbria.

Right I must be off to finish off dinner, and then relax before our mornings work tomorrow morning.

Jenny and Motoko Carter

Our Online Gaming Playstaion 3 ID

The first time I had tarte Tatin, Kathy and I were in Villefranche-sur-Mer, a heartbreakingly beautiful fishing village just a scooter ride up the coast from Nice. Unlike Nice, whose imported sand beaches are plastered with sun-bathing tourists, this coastal town is beachless, and real.

It is a place where you could jump off a black boulder jetty into the sparkling harbor, and gaze up at the kaleidoscope of houses that are the town’s steep ascent from sea.

You could find a simple hotel room there for thirty francs, and fling open its tall shutters to air and sun. And from that window, gaze down at a verdant garden, and follow its lush rows of fat tomatoes and peppers rambling toward the front of the house, to discover it belonged to a neighborhood bistro, La Trinquette. It would have been closed earlier, when you checked in to the friendly hotel, eking out the transaction in painstaking French.

Setting out for dinner, you would walk past its chalkboard announcing grilled sardines, toward the restaurants with a sea view, candles blinking prettily atop tables set in straight rows. Tuxedoed waiters worked in tight formation, attending to a rising tide of diners.

On instinct you would turn away from your guide book and toward the neighborhood restaurant that does not have a view of the sea. The owners have been cooking there since one of them was thin and both of them were young. Their clientele knew them when they were this way, and will tell you of jolly stories of the old times.

According to french tradition, the late 19th century originators of tarte tatin are the Tatin sisters, proprietors of Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron. Legend holds that Stephanie Tatin rescued overcooked apple tart filling by throwing pastry over the top and baking the tart upside down. Others claim that Stephanie was a fine cook, but “not the brightest of people” and one day accidentally put the tart in the oven “wrong way round”. I find this hard to believe. I prefer the former story, featuring the smart, resourceful Stephanie Tatin.

To be sure, tarte tatin is the smartest apple pie I have ever known. The filling is nothing but a skilletful of apples, butter, and sugar, caramelized by a long stint on top of the stove. The pan goes into the oven with unfussy pastry laid on top of the fruit, where it has no chance of becoming soggy. The tart is turned ‘right side up’ once out of the oven, switching the buttery crisp crust to the bottom, topped by a gorgeous swirl of meltingly tender apples.

I first attempted tarte Tatin working at Restaurant Jennifer James, four skillet’s worth at a time. The result was lovely, golden wedges served with whipped creme fraiche, but the process was painstaking, all that tending of apples caramelizing over high heat on the stove. The fine line between caramelized and burnt does not forgive the multi-tasker.

It wasn’t until I found Edward Schneider’s piece in the New York Times that I had my ‘aha’ moment about tarte Tatin. The method he outlines, paired with this kernel of wisdom is all you need to see your way clear to excellent tarte Tatin.

Many things called tarte Tatin are merely brown and sweet. To be sure, a tarte Tatin should be brown and sweet, but it needs to be more: the apples need to be cooked in sugar and butter long enough that they are not only coated in buttery caramel but also permeated with sweetness. Like what happens in jam-making, where some of the water in the fruit is replaced by sugar.

While many insist that high starch Apples, like Golden Delicious, are the only acceptable option, Schneider allows for whatever apples, and whatever pastry, giving more importance to the method.

Tarte Tatin

Peel and quarter a bunch of apples, enough to tightly pack into a twelve inch skillet. (Schneider warns that this is many more apples than you would expect, and he is right.) Sprinkle them with 2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar, and saute over MEDIUM heat. Once the juices start to run, throw in two tablespoons of butter and continue sauteing, tossing or gently moving the apples around every so often. The goal is for the apples to become ‘candied’ and translucent – this will take 15 to 20 minutes – before the appley syrup begins to caramelize. When everything is deep golden and the apples are browned in some spots, you’re done. Add a little more butter to the pan and turn off the heat.

Now pack the cooked apples from the 12 inch skillet into a 10 inch skillet. (It’s at this point that Schneider’s method gets a little controversial, but I think it works. The apples will have lost considerable volume from when they started. The tarte Tatin I recall from France is one whole apple tall, and packing apples from the larger skillet into the smaller helps achieve this result.)

Then, drape pastry over the apples and tuck it down around the sides. I think that this galette dough works perfectly here, but as Schneider points out, the crust has no structural role, so it can be almost any variation on pie crust. Cut a few steam vents, and into the 400 degree oven it goes, until the pastry is well-browned and done, probably 20 to 30 minutes.

You need to turn the tart out of the pan when it is hot out of the oven, or the cooling caramel won’t release. Give the pan a shake to loosen things, put a large plate over the top, and grasping the plate and the pan with two oven mitts, turn the whole thing upside down. If a few pieces of apple stick to the pan, use a spatula to put them back in place. Be careful – everything is very, very hot.

Serve the tart when it is room temperature, or barely warm. Creme fraiche is traditional, but plain old whipped cream is just as nice.

Apple – Raspberry Pie

1 refrigerated pie crust

5 cups (3 large) sliced apples

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

1 teaspoon grated orange peel (no white)

1 cup (6oz container) raspberries

1 tablespoon of cold butter cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon sugar

This recipe was in my local grocery store flier.

Preheat over to 400 degrees.  Using a 9 inch glass pie pan prepare pie crust as directed on box.

- In a large bowl place sliced apples, sugar, corn starch and orange peel, toss to coat apples.  Put 1/2 apple mixture in pie crust top with raspberries and remaining apples.  Top with second crust , seal edges and flute.

- Lightly brush with water and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Cut several slits into pie crust to release steam. I like to cover the edges with foil to prevent burning.  (remove foil the last 10 minutes if edges are not brown)

- Bake in center of over for 45 to 50 minutes, let pie cool at least one hour before digging in great with vanilla ice cream.

Recap of Wednesday, November 25th~

This morning was great. I got to sleep until 8:30 AM for the first time in I don’t know how long. Ahhh.

Breakfast options were slim at my Pawpaw’s house so I had to be a little bit creative. I ended up eating a bowl of Special K with a couple tbsp’s of raisins.

I think I liked it even better than Raisin Bran!

After breakfast my Mom and I got to baking. We started with the pies. Pecan, Apple, and Pumpkin.

This is my first pecan pie ever. I used a recipe from last years holiday issue of Everyday Food.

My Mom had pre-made the pie crusts last week when she was staying at my house. All we had to do was roll them out.

Our workspace. We were seriously lacking in counter space.

We took a lunch break around 11. Leftover Chilaquile casserole.

Afternoon snack. Leftover pizza.

I made my first ever biscuits. Not as good as Mom’s but they still turned out good.

We also made cornbread to use with the biscuits in the sage dressing.  I can’t wait until we get that into the oven tomorrow.

By the time all of our baking was done it was time to cook dinner. We decided on chili made with deer meat. We made 2 pots, one with extra veggies for the girls and one normal one for the guys. We also made a blue cheese bacon salad and corn muffins.

Mmm, mmmmm .

Thanksgiving 2009 was a beautiful kick-off to the holiday season. Thanks for all your sweet comments on my last post! I’ve been waiting to enjoy a Thanksgiving like this for, oh, well, the last 15 years. I felt deeply thankful all day to be 6 months “clean” of my eating disorder . . . I thought the holiday might be a challenge, but I have this intuitive eating stuff down pat! One of the most important things I realized is that because I’m eating enough, I’m not famished all the time, so the biological urge to binge simply isn’t present anymore. It seems silly now that I dieted and counted calories for so long, when I could have just been giving my body what it needed. It’s my mission to help others, maybe even you (!), get back in touch with the body’s signals. Feel free to let me know if there are specific questions you have or tips that you need.

Now, for my Thanksgiving recap . . .

I enjoyed getting decked out in some pretty holiday clothes and spending the day with my handsome husband.

It was great to have my brother, Lew, home from North Carolina. He’s a college Spanish professor down there, and I don’t get to seem him nearly as often as I’d like to! I knew I had to get a photo of the three siblings . . . me, Kyle, and Lew . . . because those photos ops don’t present themselves very often!

Kyle’s fiance Shanah was there in her awesome boots.

And my dad and stepmom were the host and hostess. Thanks so much, you two!

My grandfather was also visiting from Florida, so it was a special treat to spend the afternoon with him. In total, there were about 25 fun-loving people packed into the house, and it was a warm and wonderful day! Of course, Egg Man was the star of the show . . .

. . . and because he’s cute enough to eat, he was served up on more than one occasion.

And he even performed in his own peek-a-boo show. Boy, did that have us all laughing!

The menu included:

Tofurky! This was Carter’s and my first time eating Tofurky (other than the slices), and it was delicious! We are pesce-vegetarians, meaning that we eat fish, eggs, cheese and dairy, but no other animal meat of any kind beyond seafood. We plan on incorporating Tofurky into all of our Thanksgiving meals from now on!

Carter and I made a mushroom casserole — my favorite! My mom’s been making this ever since I was little, and it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without it!

The green bean casserole was also delicious. So was the macaroni casserole, but I don’t have a photo of that one.

The sweet potato casserole is another personal favorite. I love those marshmallows on top!

The table was set beautifully.

I filled my plate with a little of everything that looked good to me: Tofurky, mushroom casserole, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni casserole, carrots with walnuts and raisins, steamed broc and a nice, warm roll.

I enjoyed every blissful bite.

I made sure to eat until I felt almost satisfied, but not quite. Lots of people complain at Thanksgiving about feeling too full to eat dessert, and that’s not a fun feeling at all. So I made sure to eat to about a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, so that dessert would get me to about an 8. My R.D. taught me about eating on a “fullness scale,” which is a very helpful tool when trying to listen to your body’s hunger and fullness signals . . . just one more reason why I highly recommend going to a dietitian if you need some assistance getting back in tune with your body’s signals.

Dessert choices included:

A Jewish Luxion Kugel

Coconut Cream Pie

Cheesecake

Chocolate Cake

Pumpkin Pie — my favorite!

and Apple Pie

In my Stepmom’s family, it’s a tradition to make real whipped cream. One person makes the whipped cream, and everyone else cautions: “Don’t make butter!” Evidently, if you whip cream for too long, it turns into butter.

We used the creamy concoction as the perfect, sweet topping for our desserts.

I made a little dessert sampler for myself: I tried the Kugel since I’ve never had it before, and I also had slivers of the pumpkin pie, apple pie and cheesecake. I didn’t care much for the Kugel, but the pumpkin pie and cheesecake were awesome!

I also had fun playing with the mini pickles that were on the table.

It was a fantastic meal, and at the end of it all, it felt like any other day, except a very special one. Thanksgiving is no longer a day to dread . . . it’s a day of joy, family, love and thanks!

And leftovers are pretty awesome, too. Yesterday’s lunch was a Tofurky panini with cream cheese, honey mustard, lettuce and tomato, with some mushroom casserole on the side. I could get used to this!

Now, I’m in full Christmas mode! Carter and I are decorating the house later this afternoon — photos to come! Have a wonderful weekend!

 

PPI-CY took time to give thanks for everything this past week.

“I’m thankful for my family.” – Agathocleous, 12

“I’m thankful for my cat, Aphrodite.” – Maria, 13

“I’m thankful for my friends, especially my girlfriends.” - Lougas, 14

“I’m thankful for my brother.” – Marios, 14

“I’m thankful for my school.” – (refused to be identified for fear of being ridiculed by classmates)

“I’m thankful for the game of football.” – Stelios, 14

“I’m thankful for the breaks during school.” – Galatia, 14

“I’m thankful for my favorite football team, Apoel [in Nicosia].” – Kyriakos, 15

“I’m thankful for the game of baskteball.” – Panyiotis (and everyone else at practice)

“I’m thankful for weekends, when I don’t have to go to school.” – Tellis, 15

“I’m thankful for my family, especially my mom and dad.” – Elena, 13

“I’m thankful for my village and everyone in it!” – Nicolas, 12

“I’m thankful for my new baby, Ourania.” – Marina Vasilara, PPI – CY Managing Director

“I’m thankful God has blessed me and my wife with a baby coming soon.” – Coach Antonis Tsolakis, Agros

“I’m thankful I didn’t over/undercook the turkey and that I didn’t have to take any of my dinner guests to the hospital.” – Rory , PPI – CY Fellow

“I’m thankful for the 9 puppies that my dog Pepsi gave birth to recently.” – Orhun Mevlit, PPI – CY Turkish-Cypriot coordinator

“I’m thankful that I get to play basketball…with PeacePlayers.” – Stefano, 12 and his brother Nicolas, 13

Thanksgiving is usually celebrated by a small number of American ex-pats on the island of Cyprus, but this year the spirit of the American holiday was also brought to a number of PPI – CY members.

Take a wild guess which pie is from the bakery and which one Rory cooked. The answer will not suprise you.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, participants were asked in practice what they were thankful for this past year and in general. The responses ranged from the very funny to the very serious. Regardless, PPI – CY participants all displayed an amazing amount of maturity, intelligence, and even humor in recounting what they were thankful for in 2009. Cypriots are certainly thankful for all that is most important in life: family, friends, education, their local community, and sports.

While PPI – CY as a majority took time away to reflect on this past year, a small group of PPI – CY staff and stakeholders sat down to traditional turkey dinner. PPI – CY MD Marina Vasilara, her husband George, PPI – CY Turkish-Cypriot Coordinator Orhun Mevlit and his wife Coach Bahar Mevlit, Advisory Board member Nadia Karayianni, and PPI – CY volunteer and pro basketball player T.J. Taylor all sat down to a Thanksgiving meal cooked by PPI – CY Fellow Rory O’Neil (with lots of help from Marina!). The menu: An 8 kg turkey (17.6 lbs.), 2 kinds of mashed potatoes (sweet and regular), 3 boxes of smuggled Stove-Top stuffing (Thanks Mom), salads, halloumi cheese (can’t have a meal in Cyprus without halloumi),  and two pumpkin pies, of which one was baked by Rory. (A bakery-produced pumpkin pie was ordered as a precaution in the event of a cooking disaster).

Believe it or not, there were no complaints regarding the turkey. The pies...were a different story.

Surprisingly, there were no trips to the hospital, resignations, or lawsuits, and very few complaints.  Orhun even said, “This is the best turkey I’ve ever tasted.” However, there were some issues with the pie that Rory had cooked himself (with ingredients shipped by his mother). When the two pies were put on the table, Marina’s husband George inquired if they were two of the same type of pie, or two completely different ones. And he wasn’t joking. After TJ was selected as the taste-tester and sampled both pies, the bakery-produced pie went down smoothly. Rory’s pie…was almost coughed up and barely made it down his throat. After catching his breath, TJ softened the blow by saying: “I don’t like pumpkin pies in general.” Thanks TJ (tear drop)…thanks.

Needless to say, the spirit of Thanksgiving made it as far as the Eastern Mediterranean this year. From all of us at PPI – CY, we hope everyone who celebrated the holiday in the United States experienced a great turkey-day with their friends and family. We here at PPI – CY echo the words of PPI – SA Fellow Tim Roche by saying that we are extremeley thankful for all the the support that comes from the D.C. office of PeacePlayers International. Without their help, guidance, and direction PPI – CY does not operate on a week-to-week basis.  To Tim, Tal, Brian, and Brendan, thank you and Happy Thanksgiving (belated).

1. If you have to have a drink, chose red wine.
2. Chose white meat over dark, and no skin!
3. Keep gravy to a tablespoon or 2.
4. Chose regular bread stuffing over corn bread.
5. Nix the cranberry sauce – lots if sugar.
6. Eat sweet potatoes baked rather than in casseroles.
7. If you’re going to have pie choose pumpkin.

Okay so  first off my pies were DELICIOUS.

Betty Cocker

Homemade baby!

I did end up going out Thanksgiving eve. I felt all crummy and had went to bed early but…some of Dave’s buddies texted. I went to go get them and drive them home safely. hahaha I ended up doing shots and chugging wine.  I ended up having a blast.

Howe and I

Rocking it

I didn’t get home until six am but it was a night I needed.

Thanksgiving day ROCKED. I cannot even express the awesomeness.

Dinner was soooo good! Aunt Janet really is awesome and Uncle Glen rocks my world. I couldn’t have been happier spending time with the Robinson clan. After Glen’s dinner we had to go to Aunt Lee’s. Haha by this time everyone was so full but we ate again anyway. We ended up playing a trivia game and I laughed so hard I got sick. Gordon is hilarious.

Playing games

matt bombin a question

There was a sad part of my evening.  Dave called his dad’s phone. They decided to pass the phone around and his dad handed me the phone.

It was what it was. He asked how I was doing and if I was doing okay. I rambled a little bit but I didn’t say anything I really wanted to say. I don’t think he did either. I handed the phone back and excused myself to the bathroom. I had to get the tears out of my eyes before we ate dessert.  I didn’t want anyone to know how the sound of his voice put my heart in my throat.

But I quickly composed myself and went back out. Great time really. I am so grateful to be part of such an awesome family.

I’ve decided to go out tonight and have some more fun.

I’ll never get over this if i don’t try.

What's left of our four Thanksgiving pies

I’ve heard lots of methods for controlling food intake. But I decided that Thanksgiving just wasn’t the day to even go there, so my daughter Lyanne (pron: LeeAnn) and I made four pies: apple, pecan, pumpkin and a new maple-pumpkin recipe Lyanne found on the Internet.

Mind you, only five adults, a 3-year-old and a 13-month-old attended our festivities. So you know there was pie abundance. Yesterday we had pie for lunch. And our afternoon snack.

Come dinner time, we decided “real food” was called for, so we left the remains of three pies on the kitchen island (more than half the pecan and about half the apple, plus the pumpkin in the photo above—we’d sent the other pumpkin pie home with Lyanne) and went to the local wings/burgers joint where Lyanne works. Then we walked the mall with the kids to prep them for a good night’s sleep.

When we got home, we discovered my dog, Finley (aka Lassie the Wonderdog), decided to help us in our calorie-control quest: Two of the pies were GONE. Plates licked clean. And the floor. Verdict: The dog ate it. (Where have we heard that one before??)

You might wonder what I was thinking by leaving the pies so readily available, and yet Finley has NEVER eaten anything off the counters before. So my only conclusion is that Finley, like me, possesses a pie-eating penchant. We are truly of one heart and mind.

But regardless of how close we are, as a precaution, Finley didn’t get to sleep in my room last night. 

Apologies for the dead air folks.. I’m sooooo behind on SMS bakes at the moment, and I’m even struggling to find time (and space in the holiday baking calender) to get through my other monthly commitments.  A few days ago though, I opened the fruit drawer in the fridge to find a bucket load of soon-to-be overripe persimmons that I’d bought in a fit of madness a few weeks ago, so I made the time.  I baked a pie to celebrate Thanksgiving without spoiling my appetite for the numerous pumpkin and pecan slices I intend on devouring during TWO belated T-day celebrations I’m attending and hosting in the next few weeks.  I’ve never baked with persimmons before, but I have deliciously fond memories of kaki crumbles my mom used to make when I was growing up.  SO when I found a recipe for Persimmon Pie in the Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy-Beranbaum, I decided to pimp things up with a crumble topping.  I took the fact that Rose’s suggested crust was of the gingersnap cookie variety as implying that persimmon & ginger go hand in hand, so I also opted for the gingersnap crumble from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book.  (Just so I can pretend I’m keeping up with my SMS duties.. sort of…in some way…maybe?)

Now, I’m sure many of you savvy bakers, persimmon afficianados and gingersnap munchers are probably thinking – Gingersnap crust AND ginger crumble topping? Are you mad, June?  That subtle persimmon flavour will melt under so much heat! And you’re right.  Melt they did – into a creamy, spicy fruit layer which smacked more of ginger than persimmon, as one would expect, even though I doubled up on the persimmon chunks called for in Rose’s recipe.  But it worked.  Oddly, my boyfriend described the fruit filling as “chocolatey”, which made little sense to me – it tasted nothing like chocolate – but maybe he was referring to the smooth gooey texture..?  Plus, I can count the number of times I’ve seen him eat chocolate on one hand.. so there you go.   Anyway, this sweet & spicy pie was the perfect treat to warm things up as winter settles is – give it a try as written below if you love ginger.  You can find the gingersnap crumble recipe here on Jennifer’s lovely blog.  Alternatively, dial down the heat by leaving out the candied ginger in the filling or using a different crumble topping.

ignore the unsightly line across the crumble - that was the result of my crust cover..(which was completely unnecessary by the way)

Gingersnap Crumb Crust from the Pie and Pastry Bible - you can find the gingersnap nut crumb crust recipe that Rose suggested here

180 grams (1 1/2 cups) gingersnap crumbs

2 pinches salt

71 grams (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Process the cookies with the salt until you’re left with fine crumbs (about 20 seconds), then add the melted butter and pulse about 10 times, just until incorporated.  Using your fingers or the back of a spoon, begin by pressing the mixture into the bottom of the pie pan and partway up the sides.  To keep the crumbs from sticking to your fingers, it helps to place a piece of plastic wrap over the crumbs and press them through the wrap.  Be sure to press the bottom thoroughly so that the crumbs are evenly distributed.

Persimmon Pie – adapted from the Pie and Pastry Bible

5 small Fuyu persimmons, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch chunks (Rose actually suggests using 2, but I wanted a chunkier texture)

247 grams (1 cup) persimmon puree (I scooped out and processed the pulp of 3 overripe Fuyu’s, but you could also use ripe Hachiyas as Rose suggests)

160 grams (2/3 cup) milk

108 grams (1/2 cup) light brown sugar

1 large egg

94 grams (2/3 cup) bleached all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

14 grams (1 Tbs) unsalted butter, melted

33 grams (1/3 cup) walnut halves, chopped

2 tsp candied ginger, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F (or 325F if using a pyrex pie plate).  Set an oven rack just below the middle of the oven before preheating.
Process the persimmon puree with the milk, brown, sugar and egg for about 8 seconds or until smooth.  In a small bowl, whisk toether the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add it to the food processor and pulse about 8 times or until incorporated.  Add the butter and pulse about 4 imes or until incorporated.  Add the chopped persimmon, walnuts, candied ginger and pulse twice, just to incorporate.  (You’ll have bout 3 1/2 cups of filling).  Immediately pour the filling into the prepared pie crust (the acidity in the persimmon reacting with baking soda will cause the mixture to stiffen quickly.)  The filling will reach almost to the top.  Smooth the surface and sprinkle the crumble over the top (I probably had double the amount of crumble needed and although I managed to pat it all into a giant crumble mount, you might want to halve Melissa’s recipe..)
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the crumble has browned a bit and a thin knife blade inserted about an inch from the centre comes out clean.  The filling will have puffed out slightly but on cooling it will all settle.  Serve warm or at room temperature accompanied with creme fraiche or whipped cream.  (The pie can be reheated for 10 mins at 350F.  Be sure to keep the crust shielded with aluminum foil.)