Baking For fun: peach pie

We were up at our friend's house and they live in the best climate for apples, grapes, cherries, and many other fruits. We returned 3 days later with bags of apples and peaches as well as a box of plums, some pears, carrots, and 150 tomatoes. This recipe is a great way to use peaches and it is absolutely delicious!
Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp ice water 
Filling
2 1/2 lbs peaches; peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup plus 2 tsp sugar, divided
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
1/8 tsp salt
2 to 3 tbsp butter
Milk or cream
   OK! So start off by making the dough. This dough recipe will make just enough dough for one covered pie, so it's perfect! First, you'll wanna stir the flour, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt together in a large bowl. Then, using a pastry blender, and in the shortening, breaking it into chunks as you go.. Cut in the shortening until the mixture looks like cornmeal or bread crumbs. Drizzle the water over the mix and stir it together until it starts to come together. If the dough will not come together and an extra 1 or 2 tbsp of ice water. When your dough is starting to come together, divide the dough in half, press each portion into a circle, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes before rolling
   After it's chilled (preferably for a couple hours) roll out your dough. One portion should be rolled out to about a 13-inch diameter, the other half should be rolled out to about a 12-inch diameter. Place the 13-inch circle into a 9-inch pie tin. Refrigerate the dough while you make the filling. 
   Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Measure out 5 cups of the peaches and combine with 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, almond extract (is using), and 1/8 tsp salt. Let the filling stand for 15 minutes. Remove the pie crust from the fridge. Pour the filling into the bottom crust and dot the top with the butter. Cover the top of the pie (if you'd like, you can make a lattice). If you're completely covering the pie, cut steam vents in the top. Light brush the top of the pie with the milk or cream and sprinkle the remaining 2 tsp of sugar on the top. Bake the pie for 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degree Fahrenheit and cook it for 25 to 35 minutes more. Let the pie cool then you can slice the pie and enjoy!      

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)       

My 2 Year Adventure, week 56: Asian-style veggie rolls

Week 56:
  So compared to yesterday's meal, today was a much lower strain on the budget. This dish was super fun to make and only cost me $13.31. The rolls are mostly prep work and then they're a breeze. I filled the rolls with lettuce, bean treads (a.k.a. cellophane noodles), bean sprouts, carrot, mint, cilantro, and green onions. The rice paper was pretty easy to handle and I only tore one sheet really badly. The sauce was pretty good. It had a lot of flavors and it was really well balanced. Overall, my parents gave the dish a 7.5/10.

 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 year adventure, week 40: Grilled chicken with mint and oine nut gremolata with a sugar snap pea and feta salad/ Carrot ginger refresher

Week 40:
  I haven't been cooking. No, I'm not having a block like what Julie experiences in Julie and Julia where she eats yogurt for dinner and falls behind... I just went through mid-years. This is my first year in high school so this year I had mid-year exams. Right after mid-years it was my birthday (I'm 14), so I haven't cooked in a while. I was so excited to get back to cooking! The first dish had 3 components: the chicken, which I just grilled, then finished it off in the oven, the gremolata, and the salad. To make the gremolata I had to chop mint, pine nuts, and garlic really fine, since I don't have a mini chopper. I ended up getting a really good consistency and I was really happy with the end result. For the salad in blanched red onion and sugar snap peas, in addition to making a dressing and crumbling some feta into the mix. It was a really simple dish with minimal prep, I'll probably make it again. 
  The refresher was soooooooooo good. It was like a smoothie, but not quite. I put carrot juice, yogurt, applesauce, frozen bananas, ginger, and ice into a blender and I began to pulse and the blender was too full... It didn't explode or anything cool like that, but we had to pour some out and re-blend it. In the end, both dishes got 9/10 and I am definitely making the refresher again in the near future.  

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 year adventure, week 23: Maple-mustard pork chops with winter squash puree

Week 23:
So this is my recovery. My recovery from the awful time I had last week. My stitches were still in when I cooked this so I had to work my way around them. The pork chops were cooked by making a glaze and then while the pork chops are on the b-b-q you slowly brush on the glaze. The chops came out great though a lot lighter than in the original picture. The squash puree was good and very easy but squash is definitely not my favorite so I didn't really enjoy the puree. But I feel that my family was way too harsh in their rating. They gave it a 7.5/10. I would have rated the dish much higher. The pork chops were amazing. I ate two (sorry little bro). Anyway, stitches were really easy to ignore, I mean, it's not like I broke my arm, right?

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)   

My 2 year adventure, week 17: Roast chicken with balsamic bell peppers and mascarpone mashed potatoes

Week 17:
So this collection of recipes has many opportunities to learn new things and I learned how to roast chicken breasts. It was one of those simple yet delicious dishes. The spice rub was really strong in flavor and I liked it a lot. My brother on the other hand barley even touched his chicken and only ate the peppers and potatoes. That gave me the chance to steal off his plate a bit...The pepper were a very kid-friendly side dish which was nice considering my brother is definitely a kid. The potatoes would have been good if I had mashed them some more. The chunks of potato were kind of big and slightly unpleasant. But overall I really liked the dish but I don't get to vote and it got and 8.3333 if I remember correctly. 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

My 2 year adventure, Week 12: Egg, sausage, cheese, and jalapeno breakfast braid/ Fresh mediterranean salad

Week 12:
Okay. Week 12 was two weeks ago and I'm writing about it now... behind, much? So I made two recipes, a salad and a breakfast braid. The salad was Mediterranean inspired but I'm not sure how. There's fennel, tomatoes, olives, red onions, beans and other yummy stuff. If you guys know how this could be Mediterranean inspired, please tell me because I am very confused. The salad was okay, my family liked it but I wasn't really a fan. I think that they gave it 7/10. The braid was so good!!!!! It had sausage, scrambled eggs, cheese, and jalapenos in it. My the recipe called for pizza dough in a can so I went and got some dough and I got it out of the can and I didn't notice that it was rolled up so I decided to roll it out and it just kept springing back... I went back to the store to get more and I was riding my scooter home and I hit a curb and I splatted on the sidewalk. Sadly, when the pizza can hit the ground it burst open... luckly, I was still able to use it. The braid was much better than the salad in my opinion and I think it got 8.5/10.   

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)

My 2 year adventure, week 10: Cheese and shrimp stuffed poblanos

Week 10:
I can't believe that this has been going on for 10 weeks!!!!! To celebrate 10 weeks I made stuffed poblano peppers. The recipe called for chihuahua cheese. NO, not the dog. I couldn't find chihuahua cheese so I just used cheddar. Worked perfectly fine. The way the did the recipe is actually a really cool idea. You make a cheese sauce, mix thing and you take some of it and add chopped shrimp, grilled bell peppers, and a bunch of other good stuff into it. The remaining cheese mix gets turned into a sauce. You need to broil the poblanos and bell peppers but i don't have a broiler so my dad grilled them for me. The weather was overcast when we started, then it started raining... :( We were still able to use the b-b-q despite the rain. It was a really good dish but I didn't really like the poblanos taste and ended up scraping out he filling and just eating the filling on its own. We serve the peppers with rice which was a awesome idea from my dad because those two peppers were not enough for an entire meal. My family gave it an 8. It's a decent score. I'm really exited for double digit weeks!

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :) 

 

Baking for fun: Banana brown betty

My mom had a friend over and she asked me to make a dessert and I decided to make a banana brown betty. Super simple and easy. 
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar 
6 tbsp butter, melted
4 firm ripe bananas (make sure they are ripe and NOT green)
1 1/2 cups milk    
1/2 vanilla bean, split or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and the butter. Peel and cut the bananas into 1/2 inch slices and set them aside. Bring the milk and the vanilla bean, if using, to a simmer (if using extract, just wait). While the milk heats, beat the remaining sugar, egg, flour, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl until thick and pale yellow. Remove the vanilla bean if using. Gradually whisk half the milk into the egg mix, then whisk the new egg mix into the remaining milk. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until the center bubbles and the mixture had thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk to cool for 1 minute (add vanilla extract if using). Fold the bananas into the hot custard. Gently press half the crumb mix into an 8 by 8 inch pan, 9 inch pie pan or 10 by 6 inch oblong glass baking dish. Then spoon the custard on top and cover the custard evenly with the remaining crumbs. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream. I had a bit of a disaster because one banana was green so you were eating this great dessert and all of a sudden you'd get this dry, green banana and it was pretty awful. But like I said, great easy dish. 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)    
 

My 2 year adventure, week 4: Chipotle Bean Burritos

Week 4: 
A couple days ago I made chipotle bean burritos. I'm saying a few days ago because my internet was down so I couldn't post anything on my blog. This was the first recipe from my 2 year adventure that I have made on my own. This lead to a couple problems. Problem #1: the avacado I picked to make guacamole was under-ripe making for a very chunky guacamole. Problem #2: I butchered my tomatoes. All the pieces were different sizes and it was pretty bad. Problem #3: I was going to add 1/2 the amount of chili powder (since my great-aunt doesn't like spicy food), but in the end I added 1/4 witch made the beans very bland. The dish was pretty simple. My family gave it 7/10. I have a question for you guys: I put this recipe under fruits and vegetables but what would you put it under? Here are the options: appetizers, eggs/dairy, seafood, meat, poultry, soups/salads, vegetables/fruits, sauces/dressing/gravies, breads/grains/pastas, microwave recipes, and desserts. I'm really not sure how bean burritos fit under fruits and vegetables but that seemed like the only thing that fit. If you guys have a different opinion please tell me. By the way, the dish was vegetarian. 

See you next time internet! Love, Alexa :)