PEACH PIE

I had a request this week to make peach pie from the DH. With fresh peaches being available, it is hard to resist not making peach pie. Instead of a standard 9 inch pie plate, I used a quiche baking dish. I did this as the deep pie plates I usually use, are in the freezer holding other pies for future consumption. Depending on the juiciness of the peaches, you can get some liquid after you add the lemon juice. The pie turned out fine as I combined flour and corn starch to thicken the peach mixture. I also used Splenda instead of sugar in the recipe. The pie was delicious and met all of our cravings.  

INGREDIENTS:

pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

1 egg, beaten

5 - 6 cups sliced peeled peaches

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon  

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F). Roll out the pie crust to create two crusts.  Place one crust on the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Brush the pie crust with the beaten egg to keep the dough from becoming soggy later.

In a medium sized bowl, add the sliced peaches in a large and sprinkle with lemon juice and mix gently. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, corn starch and salt. Pour over the peaches, and mix gently.  Pour into the pie crust and dot with butter. Cover with the second pie crust and press down on the edges using a fork dipped in egg. Brush the remaining egg over the top crust. Cut several slits in the top crust to vent steam.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees F and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes. If the top crust is browning too fast, cover with aluminum foil about halfway through baking. Cool before serving.

modified from www.allrecipes.com

SOFT PRETZELS

A couple of weeks ago I saw that a friend on Facebook had a photo of soft pretzels that she had made that day.  They looked very good.  I decided to try making pretzels as I never had made them before.  They are not difficult to make but the recipe requires several steps as they are boiled before they are baked.  The shape of my pretzels are not perfect, they look more like a roll than a pretzel, but they tasted really good.  This is a recipe that I will be making again.  The DH quite enjoyed them.  I did freeze about half of them for future eating.

Rolled into pretzels and getting ready to put into a pot of boiling water.

Ready for sampling.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

2 cups warm water

1 cup flour

1 tbsp salt

4 cups of flour

1 egg, beaten in a small cup with 1 tbsp water (egg wash)

small roasting pan filled half way with water

1 tbsp baking soda

DIRECTIONS:

Into a medium size bowl or a food processor/mix master bowl, add the yeast, sugar and 2 cups of water.  Gently mix the ingredients and then let it rest for a few minutes until the yeast is foamy.  Add the one cup of flour and using a mix spoon or a dough hook, mix the flour into the water yeast mixture.  Add the rest of the flour and the salt, mix the ingredients and either knead by hand on a smooth surface or use the dough hook and knead for about 4 to 5 minutes.  Oil a medium size bowl and place the dough into the bowl.  Roll the dough around until it is covered with the oil.  Cover, place the bowl out of the draft, and let it rise for about an hour.

Gently punch the dough down and knead for a minute.  Divide the dough up into sixteen pieces and roll out each piece into a 14 inch length rope.  Make the rope into a U shape and cross the ends over each other and press the ends into the bottom part of the U so it looks like a pretzel.  Place each pretzel onto an oiled cookie sheet or a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.  

Add the baking soda to the roasting pan and boil the water in the roaster to a rolling boil on top of the stove.  You need to use a roasting pan that can sit on a heat element on top of the stove.  Using a flat slotted spoon, add a few of the pretzels at a time to the roasting pan and let the pretzels boil for 30 seconds.  Remove each pretzel using the slotted spoon back to the cookie sheet.

Once all of the pretzels have been boiled, brush each pretzel with the egg wash and sprinkle with salt.  Place the cookie sheets into a preheated oven at 450 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Makes 16 pretzels.

GREEN BEAN POTATO SALAD

With more green and yellow beans being produced in the garden, it was time to do some picking.  Previously I had picked about 15 cups of beans and blanched 12 of these cups to freeze for future meals.  After picking a few pounds of beans today I had to give some thought to what I would do with these beans.  I had seen recipes in the July/August Nutrition Action Health newsletter of which one combines potatoes and green beans.  This was a good option for using garden beans.  The recipe turned out well.  I like to mix the oil vinegar dressing with the potatoes and beans while the vegetables are warm.  The dressing seems to stick to the warm potatoes and beans.  I prefer this recipe to one that is cream based.  For the mustard in the dressing I used a dill mustard.  The addition of dill to add to the flavour was a good choice.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 pound of green and yellow beans, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp mustard, grainy or flavoured preferred
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium to large pot bring potatoes cover with cold water to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and gently boil them with the lid partly off for ten minutes until also tender. Add the beans, turn the temperature up to get the mixture to a gentle boil and then reduce the heat to medium.  Cook for four to five minutes.  Drain in a colander.  Pour some cold water over the beans and potatoes to partly cool them down.  Set aside for a few minutes.

In a medium size serving bowl, mix the mustard, oil, vinegar and salt and pepper.  Add the potatoes and beans and combine so that the vegetables are coated with the dressing.  Serves 5 to 6.