Thankful Thursday ~ Nieces

There is so much to be thankful for, let me start with these little gems!  I still can't believe the four older ones, were flower-girls at our wedding, and now are young women who are beginning to launch their careers and their adult lives! Their accomplishments make me smile with pride.

From left to right, "M" going off to medical school in August.  "L" completing her dental hygiene program last spring. "C" going on to 9th grade. "C" graduating June 1st with a Masters in Forensic Psychology, and "S" graduating this weekend with a Masters in Special Education.

From left to right ~ "L" on the floor, "C" & "M" on the left & right & "S" leaning against "M" - my oldest nephew is also in this photo.

My favorite photo, taken at Old Orchard Beach, Maine - from left to right - "L" ~ "C" ~ "S" ~ "M"

These girls simply fill my heart!

Blind Baking

No, it's not baking with your eyes closed or wearing a blindfold!  Goodness, can you imagine what a mess you'd make!

What I'm talking about is rolling out a pie crust and pre-baking it in the oven.  Have you ever done that?  Only to find your pie crust has shrunk like a wool sweater washed in hot water then thrown in the dryer? Blind baking is typically done for cream, custard, pudding and some fresh fruit type pie fillings that do not have to be baked (most of the time).

The secret is, freezing the pie shell once you've rolled out your crust and nicely placed it in your pie dish, then crimped your edges.  I've listed the steps below, I hope you find them helpful!

1. Dock the bottom of your pie shell with a fork, as you can see I dock the bottom quite a bit.
2. Dock the sides around your pie shell.
3. FREEZE your pie shell for 5 minutes!!!  
4. Put a piece of parchment paper on the bottom and up the sides a little.
5. Use a pie weight on the bottom. I use dry beans.
6. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven
7. Take the shell out of the oven and carefully remove the parchment paper with the beans, be careful, the beans will be hot.  Once cooled store them for later baking use.  I use mine over and over when baking pie shells.
8. Place the pie shell back in the oven for another 7 - 10 minutes, keeping a watch on it.

I hope you enjoyed this helpful pie baking tip!

Have a wonderful week and thank you for following!  I truly appreciate your friendship!

Quiche ~ Basic & Delicious

This is the best quiche recipe I have ever made!  It was light, fluffy and melt in your mouth delicious.  I did make three changes, I substituted the bacon for leftover spiral Easter ham, I added parsley and I used 3/4 cup+ 1% milk and 3/4 cup+ of light cream (because I didn't have half-and-half).

I would make it again in a moment! I have bolded, italicized and made notes for critical steps in preparing the dough and cooking the quiche.

I apologize for the photo, I realized at the last moment that I should post this recipe, and it was the last piece, it was hot, and it was my breakfast!

Also, my friend Susan at From Beyond My Kitchen Window suggests freezing individual leftover slices for lunches!  Great idea!  I've got one in the freezer!

Enjoy!

Classic Quiche
The recipe states that you can substitute various ingredients which I noted above.  The recipe very nicely tells you the quantity to use if you substitute vegetables for the bacon in the quiche filling, such as cooked small broccoli florets, sautéed sliced leeks or chopped cooked spinach. Use about 1 1/2 cups vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 flaky pastry dough disk, at cool room temperature
8 bacon slices, chopped (I used leftover spiral Easter ham)
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese (I used Swiss)
4 eggs
1 3/4 cups half-and-half or milk (I used 3/4+ cup 1% milk & 3/4+ cup light cream)
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions:

Partially bake the pastry shell (I used my homemade pastry)
Preheat an oven to 425°F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough disk into a 12-inch round. Fold the dough round in half and transfer to a 9-inch pie dish. Unfold the round and ease it into the dish, patting it firmly into the bottom and up the sides. Trim the edges to form a 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under itself and pinch to create a high edge on the rim of the dish. Using a fork, prick the bottom of the dough a few times (I also prick the dough along the sides too). Freeze for 5 minutes (this step is critical, it keeps the dough from shrinking and keeps your crimped border).

Bake the pastry shell until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F.

Prepare the filling
In a saucepan over medium heat, fry the bacon until crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over the partially baked pastry shell. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. Whisk in the half-and-half, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the bacon and the remaining cheese. Pour the egg mixture into the pastry shell.

Bake the quiche
Bake until the filling is set and slightly puffed and the crust is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes (I had to add 10 minutes to this cooking time). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool briefly. Cut the quiche into wedges and serve warm. Makes one 9-inch quiche.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Series, Baking, by Lou Seibert Pappas (Oxmoor House, 2006).

Chocolate Coconut Easter Pie

This recipe came out of my Martha Stewart Pies & Tarts Cookbook.  I've made some notes below before you begin.  Mostly because sometimes the recipes fall short of my expectations.

-I made one tweak, you really need six cups of coconut.  

-You will need to make a foil ring for the crust or use a pie crust ring.

- Use convection if you have it, and you will want the bottom lightly browned before you take the pie shell out of the oven.

Ingredients

For the crust

•    4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

•     6 cups of sweetened shredded coconut

For the filling

•    1 cup heavy cream

•    8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 61 percent cacao), finely chopped

Directions

1 Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a food processor, process butter and one-third of coconut until mixture forms a ball, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Sprinkle remaining two-thirds coconut over mixture and combine with your fingers.

2 Place a 9-inch pie plate on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Press coconut mixture into bottom and up sides of pan to form crust, leaving top edges loose and fluffy. Place a foil ring over edge to prevent burning. Bake until center begins to brown, 10 to 15 minutes; remove foil and bake until edges are browned, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer crust to a wire rack to cool completely.

3 Make the filling: Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan; pour over chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Let sit 10 minutes, then stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is combined. Pour into coconut crust. Refrigerate until filling is set, 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Makes one 9-inch pie.

Ya baby, it's that easy to make & it's gluten free!

Happy Easter!

P.S. I can't wait for school vacation at 3:35 p.m. today!  Eleven glorious days off to catch up on blogs!

Happy 10th Birthday Duke

Looks who is wrapped up in an afghan and who turned 10 on March 29th!  We find it hard to believe that this sweet, intelligent, cuddling little guy has been with us for a decade!  It seems like yesterday when I held him in the palm of my hand - he was so tiny!  Now, he's 20 pounds of joy and terror!

Watch out intruders!  Grrrrrrrrr!!!

Lump Crabmeat Omelet

We drove up to our cottage in Maine after I got out of work yesterday.  I wanted to celebrate this glorious sunny spring morning with a special breakfast for my husband and me!  I didn't want pancakes or an egg sandwich.  So as I was hanging on the refrigerator door it came to me as I was doing a visual inventory of it's contents - lump crabmeat, farm fresh eggs, block of cheddar, milk, strawberries . . . ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!  Lump crabmeat omelet's!

Ingredients
2 fresh large eggs
1/3 cup of milk
1/3 cup lump crabmeat
1/3 cup fresh grated cheddar cheese
olive oil

Directions
Beat the eggs & milk, add oil then egg mixture to a hot skillet.  When the egg starts to cook loosen around the edges, and continue to loosen the egg, little by little.  Add the crab, put the cheese on top of that, fold over the other side of the egg.  Sprinkle some looks cheese on top and enjoy!

Serve with a cup of hot tea, an English muffin and a small piece of fruit and enjoy!

The only way I can think of improving this delicious meal is to add fresh asparagus to the omelet!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Grasshopper Pie for St. Patrick's Day!

Sláinte! 

I was looking for a green pie to make for St. Patrick's Day. As you all know, to quote Kermit, "it's not easy being green." I searched the Internet for grasshopper pie, I came across this recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker, and it is delicious.  She adapted this recipe from Cooks Country, a favorite website of mine.  

I have been baking pies steadily for about three years now.  As some of you know it was because I was trying to win a pie contest - who's kidding who - I was consumed!  Last year I received a second place red ribbon for my Lime Blueberry Pie, and I was thrilled.  Occasionally, when I'm talking to my sisters about pies, I have to, from time to time, remind them that I am an award winning pie baker!  LOL!!!  They are NOT impressed!  Maybe it's because I wear the ribbon . . . hey, I'm channelling my inner Julia Child!

Then this past Thanksgiving I made two pies to raffle off at work (I teach at a school), and I donated the proceeds to the end of year activities for our 8th grade students.  The pies raised a lot of money!  I was so impressed that I thought I'd have a raffle every Friday until Christmas.  Then January rolled around and I didn't want to stop, but I didn't want to bake one every week, so I picked the Friday before our long weekend, next February vacation and after that, St. Patrick's Day.  To date I've raised $670 for our students end of year activities, and I'm having a blast!  There will be a pie for Easter and one for the Kentucky Derby!  On the last day of school I plan to bring in a pie to give away as a thank you to my generous co-workers for supporting our students.

This pie is so easy to make it's unbelievable! You can decorate it with whipped cream (flavored with mint extract) or chocolate curls! I used Wilton editable shamrocks.

Yield: 8 servings Prep time: 7 hours Cook time: 15 minutes Total time: 8 hours

INGREDIENTS:

For the Crust:
24 Cool Mint Oreo cookies, crushed into crumbs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Filling:
3 egg yolks
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
½ cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, divided
Pinch of salt
¼ cup green crème de menthe
¼ cup white crème de cacao

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make the Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the Oreo cookie crumbs and the melted butter in a medium bowl and toss with a fork until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Transfer the crumbs to a 9-inch pie plate. Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan, forming a crust. Refrigerate the lined pie plate for 20 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes, until the crust is fragrant and set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

2. Make the Filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until foamy, about 30 seconds. Stir together the gelatin, sugar, ½ cup of the heavy cream and the salt in a medium saucepan and let sit until the gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Cook over medium heat until the gelatin dissolves and the mixture is very hot but not boiling, about 2 minutes. Whisking continuously, slowly drizzle the gelatin mixture into egg yolks. Return mixture to saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the crème de menthe and crème de cacao. Pour into a large bowl and refrigerate, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until it thickens to a wobbly consistency, about 20 minutes.

3. Beat the remaining 1½ cups heavy cream on medium-high speed until it holds stiff peaks. Gently whisk 1 cup of the whipped cream into the gelatin mixture until completely incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining whipped cream into the gelatin mixture until no streaks of white remain. Scrape the mixture into the cooled pie shell, smooth the top, and refrigerate until firm, at least 6 hours or preferably overnight. Serve with whipped cream and topped with chocolate curls, if desired.

Notes:

• The pie will keep in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.
• The alcohol in this pie has no way of cooking off, so keep that in mind if serving to children or anyone who can't have alcohol.
• If you can't find Cool Mint Oreos, you can use regular Oreos and add a little mint extract to give the crust that extra zing!