Beef Pot Pie!

Talk about comfort food! This was so yummy and it gave me a reason to try making pie crust again! Successfully, I might add!!! I will put the recipe for the crust and what I did for the filling, but you could fill it with whatever!
Nana's Pie Crust
(Recipe for 2 full crusts, top and bottom)
4 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of cold shortening
1 cup of cold butter
1 tsp of salt
3 TBS of sugar
1 cup of ice water
Mix all ingredients together, using dough hook, just until "balled up" or to where it will stay in a ball if you form one. Divide into 4 pieces, 2 larger for the bottom crusts and 2 slightly smaller for the top crusts. Roll out on floured surface. Place bottom crust into pie dish. Add filling. Add top crust and crimp the edges together to seal. Brush the top crust with evaporated milk and sprinkle with sugar (if making a sweet pie) if not just the evaporated milk. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes until golden brown. Cover the edges with foil if beginning to burn before done baking.
Filling:
1 lb of beef, cubed (roast, leftover steak, etc)
1 cup of baby peeled carrots
4 large red potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup of frozen peas
Salt, pepper, garlic, lipton onion soup mix
3-cups of water
1/2 cup of flour
Cook the beef in a skillet, seasoning with salt, pepper, garlic, lipton onion soup mix, or whatever you like. Reserve the drippings to make a quick brown gravy by mixing 3-4 cups of water and 1/2 of flour, then add the mixture into the drippings and stir often while bringing to a boil. Add beef along with the remaining ingredients into the gravy and stew on med-low heat until the veggies are almost tender. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Best Ever Spinach Dip

1 package (10 oz) of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package (8 oz) of cream cheese
3/4 cup of mayonaise
1 to 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
1 package (1/4 oz) of Knorr vegetable recipe mix
1 can (8 oz) of water chestnuts, drained and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except for 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese. Spoon into a 2 quart casserole dish and then top with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake for 35 minutes. Serve with Tortilla Chips, Crusty breads or whatever you like!

*This is seriously so good that whenever I make it I end up eating the left overs for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it is gone! So...make sure you have lots of people to share it with!

Individual Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

2-20 oz. cans of pineapple slices or chunks
1/3 cup of melted butter
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1 yellow cake mix

Drain pineapple slices, reserving juice. Grease well 24 muffin cups. Stir butter and brown sugar together and spoon the mixture evenly into the bottom of the muffin cups. Place the pinapple over the sugar mixture. Prepare cake mix according to the package directions, replacing water with reserved pineapple juice. Pour batter evenly into the cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then invert onto cooling rack to cool further.

**These are really good! Great for parties because you don't have to have forks! Enjoy!

Classic Creme Brulee

2 Cups Of Heavy Cream
4 Egg Yolks
1/4 Cup Of Sugar
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
8 tsp Fine Raw Sugar or Granulated Sugar (for carmelizing)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and have a pot of hot water ready. In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine cream and 1/4 cup of sugar. Cook, stirring, until steam rises, about 4-5 minutes.

In a bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until blended. Gradually pour hot cream into the yolk/sugar mixture, stirring constantly.

Divide mixture between 4-7 oz. ramekins or small oven safe dishes.

Line a 3'" deep baking dish with a clean kitchen towel. Fill the dish 1/2 way up with the hot water. Place the ramekins into the baking dish (water should be 1/2 way up on the outsides of the ramekins). Cover the baking dish loosely with foil.

Bake until set, 30-35 minutes, until the centers of the custards shake gently when the pan is moved or shifted.

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool slightly. Remove the ramekins from the pan and let cool to room temperature. Then move the ramekins to the refrigerator overnight (or at least 4 hours).

Just before serving, sprinkle the custards with 2 tsp of sugar each adn carmelize the tops with a kitchen torch or place the ramekins under the broiler, 2-3 inches away from the heat source, for 3-4 minutes. Watch carefully.

Top with berries, chocolate or whatever you like!

Quick Sweet and Sour Sauce

When we were living in Okinawa, Japan I met a wonderful lady (and cook), Hilda Toguchi. She hosted a cooking class in her home for all of us who were dying to learn her recipes and this sweet and sour sauce is hers. It is not the very best one out there, but it is fast and easy. We used it at the dinner party Tawna hosted for all her siblings and us. She did a marvelous job and I'm so glad she has decided to make it an annual tradition. We had a blast. I'm hoping she will post her other recipes as everything was so delicious. Meanwhile, for a fast sweet and sour…

In a saucepan combine:

1/13 C. water

2/3 C. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 C. Sugar

1/4 C. Cornstarch (or Ultra Gel)

Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. 

Add 2/3 C. Ketchup and stir well.

Remove from heat and serve warm or cool.

For a sweeter sauce, replace half the water with pineapple juice.

We did meat and vegetable (tempura) fondue and this sauce was so good on green or red peppers, the chicken (tempura'd or not) and shrimp. The list of great things to dip in it goes on and on. 

The above picture was taken the night of the party and you can see how much fun the food was. I know Nana is pleased that food and fun are still traditions we are building. She would have loved this party.

Creamy Cucumber-Dill Sauce

This recipe is very similar to the dipping sauce you get at Black Angus when you order fried zuchini. A favorite of ours to the dismay of our waiter's when we go there. We are always asking for more.

• 1 lg. cucumber, or 2 sm. ones
  
• 2 C. sour cream
  
• 1 C. mayonnaise
  
• 1 1/2 t. seasoned salt
  
• 4 t. finely chopped green onions
  
• 4 t. dried dill weed
  
• dash of granulated garlic
  

Peel cucumber, cut in half and scoop out the seeds. Coarsely grate and drain. Combine all other ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir with a wire whip.  Add cucumber. Cover and refrigerate a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. 

Yields about 3 C. of sauce.

This is also excellent with fried fish or any kind of seafood. 

Basic Dessert Crepes

Really thin, rich pancakes better known as crepes…

4 eggs (room temperature is best)
1 C. flour
1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. water
1/2 t. salt
2 T. melted butter
2 t. sugar
1 t. vanilla
Measure all ingredients except flour into mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed and gradually add the flour. Beat until smooth. If there are any small lumps, pour batter through a strainer into a 9 inch pie pan.
I am not a french chef, so I cheat and use a crepe maker to actually make them up. It takes all the hard work out of crepes, so follow the directions for your crepe maker amd have fun. This much batter will make about 12-14 crepes.
For a Chocolate Crepe add 2 T. chocolate sauce to this recipe.

I made these crepes for my ward mid-week activity since we were doing Valentine things. I love crepes and have made them for large groups as they can be made ahead of time, served them off the tailgate for breakfast on lake trips and for small elegant dinner parties. Of course the crepe maker I use makes all that feasible since the process is so simple. I have given crepe makers to several of my children and so am fairly sure they can be found for around 30.00 at places like Bed, Bath and Beyond and Shar's Kitchen to name a couple. Have fun with them. 

The filling is 2 parts creme cheese to 1 part cottege cheese. Sweeten with powdered sugar to taste and put in a little vanilla too. I mixed mine in a food processor so it would be really smooth and I colored it pink.

The toppings are fresh cut strawberries on one crepe, roasted raspberry chipotle from costco on the other crepe and whipped cream in the middle of them finished off with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. We enjoyed them and some of us enjoyed seconds because we have no will power. Oh well, we can walk another mile to compensate, right? You can top them with anything that sounds good. Fruit is always good - ice cream even.

You can make many variations of crepes including Entree crepes for chicken dishes, etc., Cornmeal crepes for mexican dishes, and even Whole Wheat crepes for a healthier dish.

Enjoy them on Valentine's Day as a special dessert or make them for breakfast. Kids love them.

Butter

Yes. Butter. I was thrilled to learn I could bottle butter. My kids all think I have a butter fetish because I buy lots of butter. I don’t like to be out, so I usually prepare very well in the butter department. Now I can really prepare. This is actually kind of fun. The information below was taken from the following website: www.endtimesreport.com/canning_butter . There is other information both pro and con about this subject, so if you are curious google “canning butter” and you can research all you wish. I made the choice to can butter as there are people who have had good success. I am just happy there is a choice and a way to store butter other than powdered or frozen. All good methods, so variety couldn't hurt.



One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you are doing 12 jars, melt 11 pounds of butter. If you are doing 1/2 pints, you will need 5-1/2 pounds of butter. The better quality the butter, the less shaking will be required during the process. The lesser quality brands will still work for the same results. I buy my butter at Costco, and I get the salted kind.
Preparing Jars and Lids
Turn your oven to 350º. Place 1/2 pint, or pint jars on 12”x18” baking sheet, or in a large flat roaster pan. Put them in the oven for at least 20 minutes without lids or bands.


Prepare lids by putting them into a pan of hot, simmering water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out.



Preparing butter
In at least a 6 quart stock pot, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil (butter will “grow” as it heats through so pot should be large enough to allow this), stirring constantly along the bottom of the pot to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 5 minutes.* A good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required later.
Remove the jars from the oven. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle, fill heated jars carefully leaving 3/4” headspace. You need this room for the shaking process.



Thoroughly wipe clean jar rims, attach lids and bands. Lids will seal as the jars cool. Once a few of the lids “ping”, and when jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle, gently shake the jars to keep the butter from separating. You may need to do this several times until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar. Sometimes the lids will pop back up, but they should “ping” again and will stay sealed as jar cools. If you have lids that don’t seal, re-heat the jars after washing and repeat process.



While butter jars are still slightly warm, put the jars on a tray and put into refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important. Check every five minutes and give the jars a shake until they are hardened in the jar. Leave in refrigerator for an hour.
Storing Your Jars
After removing from the refrigerator, place on a cool, dark shelf. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer.

* If butter separates during cooking, you can still can it. It just won’t have the creamy texture of butter, but can be used on everything except maybe spreading on bread. If you only use the darker yellow clear liquid that floats to the top, and not get any of the lighter yellow milk fat into your jars, you would have “clarified” butter. It is better for you as there is less fat, and better that it is a natural product in your body. Margarine and other diet spreads are just chemicals and don’t assimilate into your body the same.