Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Peach Pie


Peach pie. What more can I say? This pie will be good any time of the year! Actually guys, I don't know. I haven't tried it yet. Tomorrow I will tell you if it's good or not! If it's terrible, I will delete this post. How about that? But I can tell you this much, it smells pretty dang good.

Peach Pie Filling:

5 cups sliced peeled peaches (or thawed from the frozen section) 
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

Double-Crust Pie Dough:

2 1/2  cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
2       tablespoon sugar
1       teaspoon salt
8       tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled
12     tablespoons (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
6-10  tablespoons ice water

1. Preheat oven to 425-degrees F. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl using a whisk. Then put the shortening in the bowl and mix with a pastry blender quickly until it has the texture of coarse sand. Now scatter the butter pieces over the top and mix it in with the pastry blender until it looks kind of like coarse crumbs. Don't worry if you still have chunks of fat, that's what makes it flakey! 

2. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula, until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does. Form the dough into 2 4-inch disks, wrap tightly in plastic rap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

3. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it into 12-inch circles and fitting the first into a pie plate.

4. Put the filling into the pie plate lined with dough and then roll out place the other circle of dough on the top of the filling, using your rolling pin as a guide.








Bake at 425 for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Obviously, I did a lattice crust on top. It's really not very difficult. Just slice the circle of flattened dough into 1-inch strips and weave them carefully on the pie. I also didn't do a crimped edge, but I think it looks fine just tucked under instead.

Blackberry Pie


One thing I enjoy about my family living on a farm in Pendleton, Oregon is that in the summertime the blackberries come on strong. Fresh picked, wild blackberries is a delicious treat from heaven! If I can control myself enough to not eat every berry I pick, I can manage to gather up enough berries to make into pie. Other members of my family make cobbler and jam out of the berries as well as pies.

However, this is not the traditional recipe from my family (although it is great). This recipe has a thicker sauce, more like a jam.

Blackberry Pie Filling

6    cups of blackberries
2    cups of sugar (more or less depending on tartness of berries)
4    tablespoons of lemon juice
6    tablespoons of corn starch
2    teaspoons of vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

Pour the ingredients into a sauce pan and stir over medium heat. Let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes, or until thick (sticking to the spoon). Stir every so often. Tasting is really helpful to figure out if you need more cinnamon, lemon juice, or sugar.

Let the sauce cool before pouring it into your pie pan with crust.

Pie Double-Crust

2 1/2   cups all-purpose flour
2/3      cup shortening
6 to 10 tablspoon cold water
1/2      teaspoon salt

Stir together flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening till pieces are pea-size.
Sprinkle 1 T. Of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat moistening dough, using 1 tblspn of the water at a time, till all the dough is moistened. Form dough into a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.
To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry into a 9-inch pie plate.  Ease pastry into pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry.
Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pastry. Crimp edge as desired. Do not prick pastry.









Don't make your vents like I did. Please. For me. Don't make them look like a pig snout. Sloppy cuts that look like nostrils...

Cherubic Cheese Ball


Every Thanksgiving there is one special item I make for the feast. It's my thing. If it's not there and I am, something is wrong. So I am gracing you with this highly delectable recipe. The Cherubic Cheese Ball! May you bask in it's radiance.

I made this recipe up myself, so I'm pretty sure that makes me an awesome cook or something.

So. Let's get down to the nitty gritty...

Ingredients:

2 packages of cream cheese
1 T. minced garlic
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 t. salt

Sliced almonds

Directions:

Let your cream cheese packages sit out for a little while so they can get soft. Then add all of your ingredients except the almonds into a mixing bowl and combine thoroughly. Use a cracker and see if the flavor blend is the way you like and add more seasoning ingredients if you'd like.

Once the flavor is to your liking, Scrape the contents of your bowl onto a serving plate of some sort. Using a rubber spatula or knife, shape the mixture into a ball.

After the ball has been shaped, clean your plate around the ball with a wet paper towel or cloth. Then cover the ball with slivered almonds. Using a spoon helps a lot, I've found.

Serve as an appetizer with crackers of your choice. I like to use Ritz!

Looking for a healthier option? Use neufchatel instead of cream cheese. I can't really taste a difference.

Pumpkin Pie!


Thanksgiving means pies! In my mind, pie has always been the holy grail of baking. I come from a family of great home cooks and bakers and all of the women can make great pies. My maternal grandma was once the best cook I knew! Unfortunately she doesn't cook or bake anymore because she has forgotten how. But the legacy was passed to my mom, aunts, sisters, and now to me.

One of my favorite pies is pumpkin. Crust is the trickiest part about pies, in my opinion. It's easy for them to be messed up by over-stirring and handling. So let's get rolling on the recipe.

Single-Crust Pie Dough
*For one 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
1       tablespoon sugar
1/2    teaspoon salt
3       tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled
4       tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
4-6    tablespoons ice water

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl using a whisk. Then put the shortening in the bowl and mix with a pastry blender quickly until it has the texture of coarse sand. Now scatter the butter pieces over the top and mix it in with the pastry blender until it looks kind of like coarse crumbs. Don't worry if you still have chunks of fat, that's what makes it flakey! 

2. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula, until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does. Form the dough into a 4-inch disk, wrap tightly in plastic rap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.



3. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it into a 12-inch circle and fitting it into a pie plate. Please enjoy the following photo-instructions:





Don't forget to freeze your crust at this point! Now, onto the filling.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients:

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into the frozen, unbaked pie crust. Bake in preheated 425-degrees F oven 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350-degrees F; bake 40 minutes longer. Cool completely before serving.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

I've Always Been Anxious

I have an anxiety disorder that started showing up when I was a child. Five years old, in fact, is the age that I can recall my first real worries.

Now don't misunderstand here. This is not supposed to be a post where I talk about my sad, sad childhood or something. Because I didn't have a bad childhood, all things considered. I had tons of fun, a family who loved me, and food to eat every day. Anxiety is just part of my life, and frankly, sometimes it's hilarious.

So now, back to my childhood. Five years old. Children are odd and I was certainly no exception. I wished that I was a baby and the reason was so that I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom on the toilet. I guess I thought it was too boring or tedious to take all the time away from playing and stuff. So any chance I got, I would wish to be a baby. 

Have you ever watched the old movie "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" with Don Knotts?


It's a classic. So in this movie, Don Knotts' character wishes he could be a fish because he's a dweeby misfit in real life and fish are his passion. So one day he's visiting the ocean and he's standing on a dock looking down at the fish, saying how much he wishes he could be a fish when PLOP! He falls into the water and starts doing this creepy evolution-wiggle into a fish!

Well, first Mr. Limpet is happy that he's a fish, but then he realizes that it's not actually as cool as he thought it would be and the ladies in the background music start singing, "Be careful what you wish, for wishes can come true. Be sure that every wish you make, is one that's right for you. So many people find there happiness in dreaming. Be careful what you wish for the wish that you make can come true!"

I watched this movie with my family after I had spent all of these wishes on becoming a baby. Once those ladies started singing that sad warning song, I got really worried that I was going to turn into a baby and I was going to regret it horribly.

I remember having this sick feeling of pure panic in my gut and it seemed to be on my mind for a long time afterward. Who knows how long it actually was, though.

Another vivid memory of one of my first bouts with anxiety is also from when I was five. There was a mouthwash commercial on T.V. and it said something about not swallowing the stuff. Well, I thought that it meant that I was never supposed to swallow my own saliva, so I was constantly spitting in the toilet, the trash and the sink, trying to make sure I didn't die from saliva poisoning or whatever I thought it was. Eventually my mom probably got sicked out about me spitting all the time and told me I didn't have to do that.

So here I am nearly 16 years later and I'm still anxious, but I've graduated to different useless things to be anxious about. Like all the moms shopping with their babies in Winco or an acquaintance who I can see walking down the hall at me at work.

A therapist once told me that if I lived in a time when I needed to flee or fight for my life, I would survive because I have an above-average flight response. In other words, if I were a bunny, I would probably never get eaten because I would run away all the time, even when I didn't need to. Then I would pass those super genes to my baby bunnies and all my posterity would be really speedy and never dinner. But since I'm not a bunny, I just live in my essentially safe world wasting all my excellent flight response capabilities on regular social interactions and other safe things.

Maybe I'll make this a thing and keep posting about dumb stuff I've worried about...

Friday, November 8, 2013

Gender Equality in the Mormon Church


I am a Mormon, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am proud to be a woman in this church. 

Gender equality is a very sensitive topic that needs to be addressed respectfully, and I hope that I can do that in this post. I believe that the Mormon church embraces gender equality. I have no intention of attacking or offending anyone whose opinions are different than mine. With that in mind, I'd like to proceed by discussing gender equality specifically as it relates to the priesthood.

I believe that although women and men in the Church do not have the same roles, we have divine responsibilities that are unique yet equally important. This is one of our fundamental doctrines. No, women have not been given the responsibility of the priesthood, but that is not because of a belief that men are somehow superior to women. The late prophet Gordon B. Hinkley said this about gender equality and women holding the priesthood:

“Women do not hold the priesthood because the Lord has put it that way. It is part of His program. Women have a very prominent place in this Church. Men hold the priesthood offices of the Church. But women have a tremendous place in this Church. They have their own organization. It was started in 1842 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, called the Relief Society, because its initial purpose was to administer help to those in need. It has grown to be, I think, the largest women’s organization in the world... They have their own offices, their own presidency, their own board. That reaches down to the smallest unit of the Church everywhere in the world...

“The men hold the priesthood, yes. But my wife is my companion. In this Church the man neither walks ahead of his wife nor behind his wife but at her side. They are co-equals in this life in a great enterprise.”

We have our own organization! And I have to tell you, it's amazing. I would elaborate more on what Gordon B. Hinkley said, but he said it very well so I'll leave it at that.

I'd also like to talk about how women are involved in the priesthood. This is a quote from lds.org:

"Elder M. Russell Ballard taught: 'In our Heavenly Father’s great priesthood-endowed plan, men have the unique responsibility to administer the priesthood, but they are not the priesthood. Men and women have different but equally valued roles. Just as a woman cannot conceive a child without a man, so a man cannot fully exercise the power of the priesthood to establish an eternal family without a woman. In other words, in the eternal perspective, both the procreative power and the priesthood power are shared by husband and wife' (“This Is My Work and My Glory,” Apr. 2013 general conference)."

To me, that is amazing. Men and women need each other to fulfill our divine roles. We can't do it without each other. Our roles are "different but equally valued."

So what are our divine roles? We've already touched on the priesthood portion of them. The Family: A Proclamation to the World outlines our roles perfectly. First we are designed to be parents and have a family. Then it says this:

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."

I know that God made us different for a great purpose. We are different! But neither gender is superior; we are equally important as the Church has stated over and over again.

I am blessed to be a woman in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If you have more questions regarding this topic -- please, visit the Church's websites. They have answers to almost any question you might have about Mormonism. lds.org mormon.org