Fresh Raspberry Pie

Last summer I was living in the great state of Washington where blackberries were an invasive plant and we were able to pick loads of berries and fill our freezer with those wonderfully tasty morsels. This summer I am missing the blackberries, but have been blessed to have a raspberry patch in my backyard, so all was not lost. Because raspberries gets crushed a lot easier than blackberries, I've found getting raspberry juice for fresh raspberry pie is A LOT easier than Fresh Blackberry Pie, but the recipe is fairly the same. This recipe works well for both fresh and frozen raspberries.

Fresh Raspberry Pie

-Pre baked pie shell
-4 C raspberries
-3/4 C raspberry juice
-2 Tbsp + 1 tsp of corn starch
-1/4 C brown sugar
-1/4 C white sugar
-1 tsp vanilla

-wash your raspberries (if fresh) place in a strainer and let the extra juice collect in a bowl. Add water to the juice to get 3/4 of a cup of liquid. *after washing I usually put the berries in a bowl and stick it in the fridge or a day or two until I get the time to make pie, I then drain the berries and get more juice because the berries have been worked over a bit*
-sift the corn start and sugars into the juice in a saucepan and whisk until smooth
-bring the mixture to a boil over med-low heat and continue to boil until the mixture is thick. about 3 minutes.
-Remove from heat and cool
-Gently fold in the berries and spoon into a baked pie shell.

Cherry Pie

I have a sour cherry tree in my backyard and I absolutely LOVE it! I've made LOADS of jam and like 12 pies. A few of my pies were fantastic, but a bit on the sour side. (a bit as in, it was so sour I had to put like a tbsp of sugar on top in order to eat it!) Then I made some that were definitely sweet enough but I realized that because I added SO much sugar, the filling was a bit too liquid. But I did manage to make a few perfect pies that tasted pretty fantastic. So for my own future reference and your enjoyment, here is the recipe:
*If using sweet cherries, add half the amount of sugar*

Sour Cherry Pie

-3 to 4 C fresh cherries, pitted
-1 C of cherry juice 
-3 Tbsp corn starch
-1/3 C brown sugar + 1/3 C brown sugar
-1/4 C white sugar
-1/2 tsp almond extract
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-double pie pastry

-To get the cherry juice, drain the cherries after you have pitted them. Add water to get 1 C or boil some extra cherries in a little water and drain the juice off that. (imperfect cherries are good for this)
-Sift together the corn starch and sugars into a saucepan. Whisk in the cherry juice.
-Stir over med-low heat until the mixture thickens and starts to boil. Continue to boil for about 2-3 minutes,
-Add the extra 1/3 C of brown sugar and mix until smooth and the sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute.
-Remove from heat and mix in the flavorings
-Let cool and then fold in the cherries

-Roll out the pie dough and place into the bottom of a pie pan. Fill with cherry mixture to just below the top (you DO NOT want to over fill or your cherries will boil over TIP: bake your pie on a cookie sheet to avoid possible overspill and mess)
-Brush the edges of the pie with milk
-Roll out the remaining dough and place on top, or cut strips of dough out and make a lattice crust for the top.
-Brush the top with milk and sprinkle a little sugar on top.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until the crust is a nice golden brown in the middle. OR you can wrap the pie in plastic wrap and freeze it. 

Note: You will probably get enough sauce for about 2 pies, depending on your sauce to cherry ratio. I like less sauce and more cherries, so I can make the sauce stretch for about 2 8in pies. It really depends on personal preference. Sometimes I add more sugar to the sauce after it thickens if I'm in the mood for a sweeter and less tart pie. If you do add more sugar, make sure it's after the mixture thickens (speaking from many trials and errors, do not do this before it thickens because it will literally take FOREVER for the starch to cook) If you do add more sugar, the sauce won't be as thick, so you should sprinkle about 1-2 tsp of flour over the cherry mixture before adding the top crust and it should help thicken the sauce so it's less runny.
*Update* I made the pie again today, adding the extra 1/3 C brown sugar to the sauce after it had thickened (I added this to the recipe because I didn't think it was sweet enough and it was the sauce was almost too thick without it) I had also tossed my sour cherries with a little white sugar, just enough to coat them after I pitted them, so I then also sprinkled 1 tsp of flour over the pie before I put a lattice top on and it turned out quite nice, not too runny and not too thick.

This sauce freezes well and can be used at a later time to make pie or use as a filling for Black Forest Cake.

Cookies 'n Cream Cheesecake

I just don't know how some people can manage to pull off blogging all the time, especially Mom's with small children. I've got 4 kids under 5 years old, and we recently moved to a new country. I believe it's safe to say that I am more than busy. Whenever I get a chance to breath I don't think "hey I'll go catch up on my blog now" instead I either go to bed early, or more realistically, I'm cooking, baking, cleaning or pulling weeds in the garden. (in Canada you can do that later at night since it's so light out!) Anyway, it's been a LONG while since I've posted any new recipes, but I figured I'd better write down some and share them before I forget the recipes. But since I'm the kind of person who checks out a baking blog solely for the recipes, and NOT to read a super LONG post about how amazing the specified recipe is (obviously it's good or you wouldn't post it...right?) I'm going to cut my "I'm so busy rant" short and give you the goods. Enjoy!

Cookies 'n Cream Cheesecake

Crust:

-1 1/3 C Oreo or dark chocolate cookie crumbs 

-1/3 C melted butter

-combine the crumbs and butter and mix thoroughly. Press firmly into a 9 in cheesecake pan. (if you are doing mini cheesecakes, press into the muffin tins)

Filling:

-3 pkg cream cheese, softened
-1 can of condensed milk
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 eggs
-1 1/2 C crushed chocolate cookies or Oreos

-Mix the cream cheese with the condensed and vanilla until smooth.
-Add the eggs, one at a time, only mixing until fully incorporated. Don't over mix.
-Fold in the crushed cookies pieces
-Pour over top of the crust.
Bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes until the center is almost set. You want about the size of a quarter to still look a little wet in the middle. If you are making cupcakes or mini cupcakes, you will want to cut the time down considerably, depending on the size of cupcakes.

-Allow to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 2-4 hours before serving. Top with white chocolate whipped cream and garnish with cookie crumbs before serving if desired.

White Chocolate Whipped Cream

-1 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
-1 C white chocolate chips (add more or less depending on how sweet you like your whipped cream)-1 tsp vanilla

-Mix the chocolate chips with 1/2 c of the cream and melt in the microwave or stove top until smooth. (stirring frequently) Allow to cool to room temperature.
-Whip the remaining cup of cream and vanilla until thick.
-While still whipping the cream, slowly add the melted chocolate mixture to the whipped cream. Mix until smooth.
-Top cheese cake and chill until ready to serve. 

Chicken Soup with Rice

The kids love to go to story time at the Library and a while ago, the Librarian read a book called Chicken Soup with Rice. The kids have of course been asking for chicken soup with rice ever since. I finally made it and they gobbled it right up!

Chicken Soup with Rice

-1 large chicken breast
-1 C onions, diced
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 C celery, diced
-2 C carrots, diced
-1 tsp dried parsley
-3 C chicken broth
-1 C rice
-salt and pepper to taste

-in a soup pot place the rice in the chicken broth and bring to a boil
-dice the chicken breast and in a separate frying pan, brown the chicken with the onions, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.
-dump everything into the soup pot with the rice and add the celery and carrots.
-simmer over medium heat until the rice and vegetables are cooked through. Add more water or chicken broth if you'd like more liquid in your soup. 

Cornmeal Muffins

This is one of my first recipes that I made up and the experience then snowballed into me making up a lot of recipes. This one took a few months to get just the way we wanted it  Buttery, moist, and they don't fall apart when you take off the muffin liner. They are pretty darn tasty, especially on the side of baked beans and pulled BBQ pork!

Cornmeal Muffins

-1 C butter (room temp)
-1 1/4 C sugar
-3/4 tsp salt
-2 eggs (room temp)
-1 1/2 C corn meal
-1 1/4 C buttermilk
-1 tsp baking powder
-2 C flour

-Cream butter, sugar and salt until light in color and fluffy in texture
-add eggs, fully incorporating one at a time
-add cornmeal and mix thoroughly
-sift together baking powder and flour together in a separate bowl
-starting with the flour mixture add it alternatively with the buttermilk to the batter, mixing only until just combined between each addition. (ie add a little flour, mix until just combined, a little buttermilk mix until just combined, a little more flour, mix, a little more buttermilk, etc until everything is mixed together)
-drop into lined muffin tins

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until done

Bran Muffins

These muffins are the only muffin I would say it's actually okay to use whole wheat flour instead of white flour, as the texture is already masked by the bran. They are very moist, and are best fresh out of the oven or heated in the microwave with a little butter melting on top.

Bran Muffins

-1 C butter (room temperature)
-1 C sugar
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 eggs (room temperature)
-2 C wheat bran (NOT the cereal)
-1 C boiling water
-1 C boiled raisins
-1 1/2 C buttermilk
-2 C whole wheat flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda

-mix the buttermilk with the bran and let set
-boil raisins with 1 1/2 to 2 C of water (I like to use 1 C of the boiled raisin water in the recipe instead of just plain boiled water to add some flavor)
-mix in the C of boiling water to the buttermilk/bran mixture and continue to let set
-in a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until the mixture is light in color and fluffy in texture
-add eggs, thoroughly mixing in one at a time.
-sift together the flour with the baking powder and baking soda
-add the flour and bran mixture to the batter alternatively. Start with flour, mix just until combined, add bran/buttermilk, mix until just combined, flour, mix, bran, mix etc until everything is combined.
-fold in raisins
-drop batter into lined muffin tins.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15- 20 minutes

Poutine

For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to have heard of the delight of poutine, let me enlighten you; it's a delicious dish, originating from Canada, consisting of french fries, cheese curds, and topped with gravy. Since I live in America, where you can't just stop by your local fast food restaurant and grab a poutine, I have to make my own.

How to make Poutine

-French fries
-Cheese ("real" poutine is topped with cheese curds, but I like my cheese to melt, so I shred my cheese instead of using cheese curds. Since, in my opinion, the best poutine is made with gouda cheese, we use that. But really, you can use any cheese you prefer.)
-Brown gravy 

Okay, so this recipe is pretty simple, grab some french fries, top it with cheese and then pour on some gravy and pig out.
Below I am going to include how I made the best darn poutine ever.

Poutine

French Fries
-4 or 5 medium potatoes
-1/2 C panko crumbs
-1/2 C flour
-1 tsp seasoned salt
-1/4 tsp onion powder
-1/4 tsp garlic powder
-1/4 tsp pepper
-enough oil to fill a frying pan/pot with oil for frying the french fries. (you'll need a deep enough pan to fully submerge your potatoes)

Cheese
-1 to 2 C shredded Gouda cheese

Gravy
-1 C beef broth
-1/2 C water (or 1/4 C water and 1/4 C milk for creamier gravy)
-3 Tbsp flour
-salt and pepper to taste

French Fries
-peel and slice the potatoes into strips resembling french fries. Slice them as thin or thick as you'd like, depending on personal preference. Place in a large bowl
-In a separate bowl, mix the panko, flour and seasonings
-Coat the potatoes evenly in the seasoned mix (this makes the fries more crispy so they don't get soggy under the gravy as fast as just regular fries)
-fry the potatoes until golden brown in heated oil over medium to medium-high heat
-remove finished fries and place on a paper towel lined plate or in a strainer to drain off excess oil

Gravy
-heat the beef broth until boiling
-meanwhile, whisk the water with the flour until there are no lumps
-whisk in the flour mixture into the beef broth, stirring constantly to avoid lumps
-cook until thickened, stirring occasionally until the flour has cooked thoroughly 

Place fries in a bowl, add as little or as much cheese as you'd like. Top with desired amount of gravy. ENJOY!