Food Friday Part 2

Ah, first we shall start with what became of the rest of the meatballs. First they were fried up with some onions and EVOO.



Then it was added to a pot with water, cauliflower, and corn to make a version of spicy soup.




This turned out yummy! It really brought out the flavor in the ground turkey.

* * * * * *

Now onto what you really want to know about . . . Pies!
I used THIS recipe for my home-made pie crust. I made this up yesterday and then left it in the fridge until I had time to make the pies, today. I did not take pictures of the dough making, because she has plenty for that. I will say that I didn't use anything special, but a spatula, a fork, and my hands to mix the dough.


Okie dokie, so I took the dough for the pie crust out of the fridge and warm up a little on the counter while I made my pie filling.


Here are very yummy, fresh cherries.


Which I pitted and chopped up, really it was more like carving it off of the pit. This made approximately three cups, because I had to save some cherries for me to eat. :)


I added 1/4th cup of sugar.


1 tsp of corn starch


A dash of lemon juice and mixed it all together.


Going back to my dough. First I halved it and took one half and rolled it out. I used a Tupperware dish to make circles for the bottom of the pie crust.


I sprayed the cupcake pan and put the pie crust in. Then spooned cherry filling into them. I cut little strips of the crust dough and made lattice lines on the top of the pies.


For the other half of the dough, I wanted to try something like THIS. So I rolled out half of the half I had left and placed it on a sprayed pizza pan.


I used just a can of sliced peaches for my filling, as these often have plenty of sweetener in them.


I made a layer of peaches on the bottom dough.


I covered it with another piece of similar size. and poked little air holes with my fork.


After baking at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes, the pies. They bubbled over just a tad!


Due to bubbling over, this is the only mini pie that came out in one piece.


The others look like this in a bowl, because the berry juice made the pies stick horribly inside the little cupcake pan.


Peach slab, all done.


I tried a piece of it.





Pie verdict: Definitely an improvement on my liking crust. This tasted much better than the *cough*crap*cough* that we usually buy in the stores. This would be delicious heated up with some vanilla ice cream. Going to have to do something about the horrible sticking though . . . maybe foiled cupcake liners??

Peach Pie Slab verdict: Good, I didn't think it needed the glaze. Could have been baked a little longer though. I do think the glaze might work with the pastries I tried before though.

Overall, positive baking experience!

Food Friday

Ah, so this time I tried a couple things. First off, we have the Potato Bundles, another recipe from The Pioneer Woman. This recipe looked tempting because I am a huge potato fan, however, the boy is not. In fact, he doesn't so much care for potatoes . . . ridiculous, I know. He does like them slathered in the most unhealthy fashions though. So, onto the recipe.


This is not picture dense, because she does that for you. I did everything the same, except . . . I also added some crumbled bacon.

Mine had more paprika, less butter and bacon.


The boy's had more butter and bacon, also a little more cream.



This is the boy's version, getting ready to be packed up for his lunch the next night. After this picture, I also sprinkled some shredded cheese on the top of his.


This was mine.





Overall feelings about the Potato Bundles . . . delicious! Obviously it is simple in it's basic conception, but uber yummy. The only change I would make sure to add would be a little more pepper and maybe paprika, as I had gone a little light on these and shouldn't have. Hopefully the boy will like his and we will be having this again in the future.

* * * * *

Next attempt was meatballs. I didn't use a recipe for this, just kind of winged it. Meat is an odd issue in our house, as neither the boy nor I am big fans of meat. (Oddly enough, we both come from meat-loving families.)

First we start with the seasoned ground turkey.


Add one egg.


1/2 cup of bread crumbs. (not shown, about a 1/2 tsp each of garlic salt, onion salt, and cayenne pepper)


I made my meatballs about the size of golf balls. I browned all sides.


Then tossed them into a baking dish and cooked them in the oven at 300 degrees for about 40 minutes to make sure they were all done inside.


Important to break one or two open to make sure they are all cooked inside.


This was dinner. Potato Bundles. Meatballs. Roasted Veggies (Onions, Cherry Tomatoes, Green Beans, and Pea Pods)



Overall feelings on the meatballs . . . cowardice. I think this is yet another time I didn't completely go with my instincts as I thought they would be wrong. I should have definitely seasoned more. I should have used real onions and not the salt. Lastly, more of a personal preference, both me and the boy like our meat well done, even crispy . . . I should have made the meatballs at least half that size, if not a third. Good learning experience, but again . . . not quite there.

Side note: I always thought I hated Pea Pods, I had them in Chinese food before and greatly disliked them. However, cooked the way I have been cooking the other veggies, they are super delicious. I am glad the boy was stubborn and wanted to buy some.

Homework

I have joined an online tatting class about designing. Here is my homework from our first assignment.

Here is the first version of our homework. We are starting out very basic.




This was one I did after looking at other people's homework, just to see if mine did the same as some of their "errors", but found that it could still work, depending on some minor issues of tension and blocking.




So far, it has been fun getting back into tatting. I will admit that I had to give myself a bit of a refresher since it has been almost two years since I have consistently tatted. I slowed and then eventually stopped because it is something that aggravates my wrists a lot, but I am taking it slow.

I also learned how to do a Lark's Head Picot Join, which I think works more effectively than any other picot join I have tried. But it takes more patience and more thought about placement.

Misconception

I was going to title this deception, but really, that is a much harsher word. I haven't been blogging much. This is in partial truth to job, as I mentioned before, I have even been picking up some extra shifts. But it does not leave me with no time at all to blog. I have been working through some mental crafting blocks.

Reasons:
~Sometimes I am just mentally done working on something, even if it is not actually finished.
~Sometimes I am having issues with the person an item is for, and therefore, do not feel like working on that item.
~Sometimes something needs to be frogged, and not restarted, just ended.


I have been having issues with these different reasons a bit too much lately. So, here is the first decision, last spring I started this sweater and got pretty far:






I have been having a hard time admitting to myself that it is no longer what I am looking for in a sweater. I finally admitted it to myself the other day and here is where we are now:





I still love the colors, an orange and a tweedy brown, but I have been into stripes lately. So, I have started a striped raglan sweater. And honestly loving this more than I was ever into the previous sweater. I started with a provisional cast on, because it is very likely this sweater will have a hood. I am also pretty sure it will have a front pocket. Happy with the change.

There are a few more problems with some of my crafting projects, but those will be other posts.

Food Friday - - Part II

**Warning - - Picture Heavy**
Well, for tonight I tried to go again at the whole fruit pastry things. I decided to try to make more like turnovers this time. I decided I might take a try at walking you all through my little adventure.


So, first I got my fruit ready. I didn't want to sugar the fruit, as I think it is just fine. Canned Tart-Cherries(water drained) and regular Blueberries from the produce section.


I took approximately 2 Tbs of Honey and equal amount of hot water.


Together, they went into this bottle and were shaken furiously, to dilute the honey. This is new in the adventure, many recipes said to use butter, so that is what I used before. However, one recipe said to do this. So here we are. This gets poured into a bowl.


My Filo Sheets are ready.


Single Filo sheet has watered-down honey painted onto it, then another sheet stacked on top, and so on. I used three sheets.


On the top of the third sheet, I only painted half and then folded it in half.


Here is my first attempt to make a turnover in a triangular shape, like they carry at the store. Blah . . . too difficult.


So on the following ones I roll it more like an egg-roll.


Folding in the sides, after one roll, and then continuing to roll.


I tried a smaller "egg-roll" version with the blue berries . . . too hard to maneuver.


For the rest of the blueberries, I decided to make little pies like I had last time. This time still using the honey though, instead of butter. I only used two sheets here, then folded in half. The filo sheets are carefully pressed into the cupcake pan.


Then filled with blueberries and the edges pulled back over the top.


Before cooking I also brushed some honey on top and sprinkled a little sugar. Here are the little pies.


Here are the turnover ones. I tried the little blueberry one in the front.


Getting closer.





All in all . . . Closer, but still not quite there. I think diluting the honey less, just enough to make it a brush on easy would work better. Otherwise, I think making up some kind of powdered sugar type frosting to just drizzle a little on top would probably fix the sweetening job. Still going to keep trying! If you have any advice or suggestion, feel free to let me know. See you with more food next Friday.

Food Friday

**Warning-Picture Heavy**

So, I have decided to have Fridays be Food Friday. I have been trying some new stuff and figured it might just be best to designate a day for it. That way, if you don't want to read about cooking, just ignore Friday's posts.

So, onto the food I made earlier this week. I was inspired by this recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Only problem was, I didn't have some of that stuff on hand and wanted to try it that night. So, I substituted some stuff and deviated from the recipe some.

Instead of Preserves or anything like it, I used about 2/3rd cup of:


and 1/3rd cup of:


Instead of Hot Sauce I used:



I still used ketchup. Didn't put any garlic in there, because one of my substitutes had garlic in it. Did not use Soy Sauce, instead use Worcestershire Sauce(which I love). I agree with her about adding more hot than you think, it is definitely calmed down by the sweet.

More deviations. I boiled, sliced, and browned my chicken before doing anything else to it. In a frying pan I added about 2/3 cup water, about a cup full of peppers, and the sauce and let it all cook together. I served it over rice. Delicious!




I was inspired by my sister, Rhoni's adventure in mini pie making. The boy loves pies. I, however, have never been a fan of pie crust. So I tried using Filo Sheets instead. It was hasty, with little research. Turned out okay, but lacking the extra bit of sweetness to make them more dessert like.


Blackberry


Peach



Overall, everything was pretty good. Chicken turned out way better than I expected . . . I have doubts about my innate cooking abilities. Pastry pies needed some more work, but still good.