Yesterday, the bake shop gave the basic cooking class two pies in exchange for our Cream of Broccoli Soup and Cream of Mushroom Soup. We got the better end of the trade, by far. The pie is awesome, easy and, if you use low fat cream cheese and low fat sour cream, only 75 calories per slice. WHAT!!???!! Yes, I said 75 calories per slice. That's like eating broccoli its so healthy. WHAT UP!
It was so good, I asked the teacher for the recipe and it is so easy even a trained monkey could make it. You probably have the ingredients in the fridge right now. Take this pie to a pot luck (keep the other for yourself) and it will disappear faster than your kids disappear when it is chore time.
Cream Cheese Pie with Sour Cream Topping (makes two pies)
Pre-made Graham Cracker Crust
24 oz Cream Cheese
8 oz Sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
Mix the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Pour into the graham cracker crust.
Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.
Top pie with Sour Cream topping and bake an additional 5-10 minutes to set the topping.
Show some self discipline and let it cool or refrigerate until cold before digging in. If your monkey made this pie, give him a piece of pie to reward him for his hard work.
Enjoy.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Crumb Pie Recipe
The bake shop at ElCentro College has a bake sale every Friday. I bought a crumb pie for two dollars because nothing else really appealed to me. I brought it home and my family devoured it. It was one of the best tasting "pies" I have eaten. So I asked the baking teacher if I could get the recipe from her and she happily made a copy for me. So here it is:
CRUMB PIE
Crumb Topping:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbl (3/4 of a stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
FILLING
2/3 boiling water
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 frozen pie shell, thawed at least 20 minutes
Preheat the oven to 450 F.
To make the topping, in a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, using a whisk or fork. Cut the butter into several pieces and drop them into the bowl. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, blend the butter into the flour until their are no visible pieces of butter and the mixture resembles coarse, dry crumbs. Set aside.
To make the filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together the boiling water and brown sugar. Add the baking soda and whisk until well incorporated. Add the eggs and whisk well. The mixture will be quite thin. Pour into the pie shell and sprinkle evenly with the topping.
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake for 25 to 30 minutes longer. As the pie bakes, it will puff dramatically and the crumb surface will crack. It is done when you insert a knife into one of the cracks and it comes out clean. Cool for one hour before serving. There won't be much left after people taste this pie so get a big piece first.
Enjoy
CRUMB PIE
Crumb Topping:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbl (3/4 of a stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
FILLING
2/3 boiling water
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 frozen pie shell, thawed at least 20 minutes
Preheat the oven to 450 F.
To make the topping, in a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, using a whisk or fork. Cut the butter into several pieces and drop them into the bowl. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, blend the butter into the flour until their are no visible pieces of butter and the mixture resembles coarse, dry crumbs. Set aside.
To make the filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together the boiling water and brown sugar. Add the baking soda and whisk until well incorporated. Add the eggs and whisk well. The mixture will be quite thin. Pour into the pie shell and sprinkle evenly with the topping.
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake for 25 to 30 minutes longer. As the pie bakes, it will puff dramatically and the crumb surface will crack. It is done when you insert a knife into one of the cracks and it comes out clean. Cool for one hour before serving. There won't be much left after people taste this pie so get a big piece first.
Enjoy
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Chip
Please watch this video about a man who attends The Branch, the church I attend. It is a powerful testament to the power of God and to the fact that God still works miracles. It's awesome!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0lgQEO6qp4
This video is a response to people who think God wound the Earth then stands back without interference. I don't know why God chose Chip, but I am glad he did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0lgQEO6qp4
This video is a response to people who think God wound the Earth then stands back without interference. I don't know why God chose Chip, but I am glad he did.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Texas Ranger Baseball
I have two team in Major League Baseball that I love to watch. The TEXAS RANGERS and any team playing the New York Yankees.
But if you watch baseball, have you noticed the Rangers are playing really well? I don't get to write this very often so I am going to write quickly while they are winning.
Go Rangers!!!!!
But if you watch baseball, have you noticed the Rangers are playing really well? I don't get to write this very often so I am going to write quickly while they are winning.
Go Rangers!!!!!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Culinary School
I am in my third week of culinary school and can scarcely wipe the smile off my face. It's awesome. I am taking three classes: Intro to Hospitality (how to run a restaurant), Sanitation and Safety (how to not make someone sick or kill them with your food) and Intro to Cooking (how do use a knife, convert recipes and cook).
I wish I would have done this years ago. I am a duck to water.
Top ten things I have learned in culinary school:
1. How to hold and handle a knife.
2. Cover the pan when you are boiling water and it traps the heat energy in the pan and boils the water faster.
3. Beef stock is made by boiling beefs bones for 8 hours with mirepoix.
4. Mirepoix is celery, carrots and onions cut in a large dice and added to most soup and stew recipes.
5. There are about 35 food borne diseases that can kill you or make you really sick. Use Clorox Clean-up to wipe down your kitchen. Seriously. Go wipe down your kitchen right now to kill all those germs. Throw away your kitchen sponge.
6. The internal food temp of 165 (for about 15 seconds) kills bacteria in your food. Especially eggs.
7. If a cow uses the muscle to walk or move, it will be tough and you have to cook it on low heat (225 degrees) for a long time with a little water and covered to make it edible. You only grill steaks that have enough fat in them to keep the meat juicy and tender.
8. If you get sick at a restaurant, it usually is because a restaurant worker DID NOT wash their hands after going to the restroom and got feces in your food. Ugh!
9. Eating raw oysters is a bad idea. The diseases you get from doing that are really bad and can cause you to forget your name (seriously) and go into a coma.
10. Chef's aren't necessarily good cooks (although it really helps if they are)...they run a team of people that are good cooks and have a kitchen staff that work their butts off to make great food and they depend on incredible waiters to make the customers feel great. But the back bone of the entire restaurant rests on the shoulders of the pot washer and the ones that do the dishes. Without them, nothing could get done.
11. Most likely, you can't go to the store and buy the steaks they serve at Three Forks, Ruth's Chris, or Bob's Steak and Chophouse. Those are Prime and cost a lot of money. Buy Top Choice (if you can find it) and only cook your steak to medium (never well done). Salt meat at the end of cooking or it will draw out all the moisture in the meat and make it dry.
Bon Appetite! More tips later.
I wish I would have done this years ago. I am a duck to water.
Top ten things I have learned in culinary school:
1. How to hold and handle a knife.
2. Cover the pan when you are boiling water and it traps the heat energy in the pan and boils the water faster.
3. Beef stock is made by boiling beefs bones for 8 hours with mirepoix.
4. Mirepoix is celery, carrots and onions cut in a large dice and added to most soup and stew recipes.
5. There are about 35 food borne diseases that can kill you or make you really sick. Use Clorox Clean-up to wipe down your kitchen. Seriously. Go wipe down your kitchen right now to kill all those germs. Throw away your kitchen sponge.
6. The internal food temp of 165 (for about 15 seconds) kills bacteria in your food. Especially eggs.
7. If a cow uses the muscle to walk or move, it will be tough and you have to cook it on low heat (225 degrees) for a long time with a little water and covered to make it edible. You only grill steaks that have enough fat in them to keep the meat juicy and tender.
8. If you get sick at a restaurant, it usually is because a restaurant worker DID NOT wash their hands after going to the restroom and got feces in your food. Ugh!
9. Eating raw oysters is a bad idea. The diseases you get from doing that are really bad and can cause you to forget your name (seriously) and go into a coma.
10. Chef's aren't necessarily good cooks (although it really helps if they are)...they run a team of people that are good cooks and have a kitchen staff that work their butts off to make great food and they depend on incredible waiters to make the customers feel great. But the back bone of the entire restaurant rests on the shoulders of the pot washer and the ones that do the dishes. Without them, nothing could get done.
11. Most likely, you can't go to the store and buy the steaks they serve at Three Forks, Ruth's Chris, or Bob's Steak and Chophouse. Those are Prime and cost a lot of money. Buy Top Choice (if you can find it) and only cook your steak to medium (never well done). Salt meat at the end of cooking or it will draw out all the moisture in the meat and make it dry.
Bon Appetite! More tips later.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Missionary's Kid
I grew up an MK. Actually the moniker would be VDMK (Vocational Domestic Missionary's Kid). When I was six, my parents lived in Northwest Tennessee, a hotbed of conservative religion, when they heard about a place in Western Colorado that had no church of Christ in the entire county. Actually, there had been one there in the 40's and 50's but had closed its door for about 10 years. So, within two months of finding that out, we moved to Delta County.
My mom and dad made a five year commitment to the Paonia church. They worked hard in the tiny town and brought many people to Christ by meeting people's needs for friendship, partnership, and compassion. My dad ran orchards, raised cows, worked in the coal mine, farmed and bartered to be able to stay there (they are still there). It took at least 20 years for my parents to accepted in the community, to stop being outsiders.
But what happens when you stop being a missionary but you are still where God sent you? How long does one have to be someplace before you can be called a towny, where you actually become part of the community?
PKs and MKs and EKs don't have it easy. They grow with their parents given to loving God first and doing his will first. I wasn't neglected as a kid, I just knew I was second behind God. I knew that being involved in God's work was a higher calling, a more important calling. I was not the center of my parent's world, my family were more like planets revolving around God's will. We all did it together.
Are you a MK, PK or EK? What was your experience?
My mom and dad made a five year commitment to the Paonia church. They worked hard in the tiny town and brought many people to Christ by meeting people's needs for friendship, partnership, and compassion. My dad ran orchards, raised cows, worked in the coal mine, farmed and bartered to be able to stay there (they are still there). It took at least 20 years for my parents to accepted in the community, to stop being outsiders.
But what happens when you stop being a missionary but you are still where God sent you? How long does one have to be someplace before you can be called a towny, where you actually become part of the community?
PKs and MKs and EKs don't have it easy. They grow with their parents given to loving God first and doing his will first. I wasn't neglected as a kid, I just knew I was second behind God. I knew that being involved in God's work was a higher calling, a more important calling. I was not the center of my parent's world, my family were more like planets revolving around God's will. We all did it together.
Are you a MK, PK or EK? What was your experience?
Monday, July 12, 2010
Going Back to School
Today, I enrolled in culinary school at El Centro College in Downtown Dallas. I am taking Basics of Cooking, Sanitation and Safety, and Introduction to Hospitality Services. I am really excited about taking this step although I am not looking forward to driving to Downtown Dallas for two years. Although with tuition comes a DART rail pass so I won't have to look for a parking space in the center of downtown.
I forgot about the joys of standing in line, and sitting around waiting for academic advisers to put me in classes...but it was very easy. I was the oldest person in the room, even the registrar and all the advisers were younger than me. Oh well. I look forward to being able to learn more about being a chef and operating a restaurant or food establishment. Along with books, I have to get a chef's hat and coat and all the knives and utensils for the kitchen.
So...is there anything you have been putting off than you need to get on with? You ever wish you could be or do something but never got around to it? Carpe diem! Take the first step. Stop wishing and dreaming about it and take your first step. If I can do it, so can you.
Peace.
I forgot about the joys of standing in line, and sitting around waiting for academic advisers to put me in classes...but it was very easy. I was the oldest person in the room, even the registrar and all the advisers were younger than me. Oh well. I look forward to being able to learn more about being a chef and operating a restaurant or food establishment. Along with books, I have to get a chef's hat and coat and all the knives and utensils for the kitchen.
So...is there anything you have been putting off than you need to get on with? You ever wish you could be or do something but never got around to it? Carpe diem! Take the first step. Stop wishing and dreaming about it and take your first step. If I can do it, so can you.
Peace.
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