The Ol' Faithful of Pie Crusts

I am not sure why people are so scared of making a pie crust. It is super easy, forgiving, and tasty! Here is the basic recipie for a standard pie crust. The best part about this recipie is that it is easily doubled and can be frozen for up to 3 months. I would wrap the dough in plastic wrap then put into a Ziploc bag.

Basic Pie Crust

1 1/3 cups Flour

4 Tablespoons Butter (diced)

1/4 cup Crisco shortening

1/4 tsp. Salt (If using unsalted butter, use 1/2 tsp salt)

5 Tablespoons ice cold Water

*This makes a 9inch pie crust shell, so if you need a top and bottom just double it. I usually have some dough left over and just cook it with some cinnamon sugar on it for a snack!*

Step 1: Put the flour, diced up butter, Crisco, and salt in a bowl and begin mixing with a pastry cutter untill it turns into a sandy mixture. You can use a food processor to for this step. But it only takes a few minutes and a little elbow grease to get the job done.

Step 2: Put in your 5 Tablespoons of ice cold water. Mix untill the crumbs turn into a combined dough. After it is combined, take the dough and form it into a disc shape and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refridgerate for 15 to 30 minutes.


Step 3: After being chilled well, take the dough and begin rolling out on a floured surface. The dough is slightly sticky so make sure to rub the flour on the outside before rolling.

Step 4: Roll the dough back onto the rolling pin to assist the move to the pie plate. Cover the pie plate and lift crust up along outside edges to ensure there are no air pockets on the side. If the dough rips just patch it up! No one will notice and you can just say it is rustic. I like to leave a slight lip on this crust because it shrinks up a small bit. If you want to flute or crimp the edges be my guest. You can just go around the outside edge with a knife and cut the excess.

Step 5: For some recipies you need to microwave the crust- just microwave the crust for 4-7 minutes depending on your microwave strength. You will just have to touch the dough and decide when it begins to get a little crisp. As the dough cools it also sets up more. When using a microwave method it is SO important to prick the dough alot to ensure no bubbles form. When cooking in the oven just use what the recipie is calling for.

Helpful Hints

* Use a clear glass pie plate when microwaving so you can see the bottom cooking color*

* You may want to cover the exposed edges on the top with aluminim foil when baking in the oven for long periods of time.*

Garlic Scape Pesto

So in my garden I grow a bit of garlic. I planted about 20 cloves and the cats dug some up so I am down to about 15 stalks that actually came through. So tis the season for garlic scapes to shine! I have already used some in roasted potatoes, boiled them with my mashed potatoes, and will be making a garlic scape pizza soon. My mother in law Peri had an abundance of them left so I combined mine and hers to make this garlic scape pesto recipe. I froze them in individual packs to pull out later for garlic bread or pasta.

In the middle you can see the garlic scape that I left on the plant to ensure that I know the time has come to harvest.

Garlic Scape Pesto

(All the ingredients can be altered in portion, just use your best judgement!)

1 cup nuts (pine or almonds or both)

3 cups of scapes cut into 3 inche pieces

Juice of 1 lemon

Generous pinch of salt and pepper

Loose handful of basil leaves

I start by cutting all f the flowering ends off. Then rough chopping the garlic scapes into about 3 inch long pieces.

Next I gather the pine nuts and almonds and toast them until fragrant and warm, which is about 4-5 min on low heat.

After the nuts are toasted and scapes are cut they go into a food processor with a cutting blade. Then add the juice of  1 lemon, a handful of fresh basil, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.

Pulse the mixture 20 times to get it chopped up. Next stream in the olive oil until you get the desired consistency. My kitchen smelled amazing but my breath did not. I ended up eating some peanut butter to curb the taste on my tongue and then brushing my teeth and tongue twice before it finally started to go away.

For the final step I just ladeled in a spoonful of pesto into freezer bags. I folded the flap over in half and neatly stacked them so they froze flat. I did a larger portion, a few regular size, and some small ones for bread-that way I have some variety of portion.

Baby Bess (BB)

My Jersey cow Bess finally had her baby on June 1st. Chris and I pulled it out in the field and she got to be with it all day out in the pasture. Baby Bess or BB is a boy so I was little disappointed we didn't have a  bloodline to continue, but rather just a piece of meat. Either way he is absolutely adorable.

The new chicken coop

My laying hens needed some more space, so I pulled a design of a coop from the internet and showed my dad. He shook his head, studied the photos, and then proceeded to write down everything he would need to buy fromm Menards. The end result was just perfect. The chickens love it too!

To the left are the nesting boxes from which I will start gathering eggs in October sometime. The window acts as a door as well as a light option. Below the window are two removeable pans/floor so I can clean out the droppings. The entire structure is over 6 feet tall so I fit perfect going in the door.

The inside view.

Below the house part. Their perch rail and feeder.

Going up the ramp to the inside!

Crazy hairdo man!

Angela's Shower Cake

My soon to be sister in law, Angela, was having a wedding shower. She asked me to make some mini cupcakes. I decided she needed a small cake to be a centerpiece. She loved it! It was a buttermilk chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream. The flowers and outside decorations were made out of homemade vanilla fondant.

Meat birds

My meat birds are finally ready to be processed. Only 10 weeks later and we have meat! The chickens have been fed NatureWise 22% protein crumbles with a mix of crushed corn and oats too. No hormones or antibiotics for these birds!

My birthday cake and Party!

My husband sure does know how to pick out a birthday cake. He asked our friend Sarah to design a gnome cake with some of my additional animals. I saved the gnomes since they were made of fondant, they currently live in my gnome garden of indoor plants. Also included were ducks, my dog Maggie, and my cat Juuls.