Australian Key Lime Pie

Ellie and I tried our hands at Key Lime Pie the other day.
I think I can pretty safely say it was a success.
We based our pies on this Martha Stewart recipe but had to change some 

things as we couldn't get some of the ingredients!

Here's what we did to make TWO PIES. 
(obviously, if you want one pie, you should halve this recipe)

1 package butternut snap biscuits
1/2 package granita biscuits
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 (395g/14oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
8 egg yolks
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
3 cups thickened cream
Lime slices and lime zest to garnish

Heat oven to 375F/190C. 

Melt and cool butter.  Combine two types of biscuits in food processor and whiz until they become crumbs.  Mix crumbs, butter and the 6 tablespoons of sugar.  Put half of this mixture into each pie dish and form the base of your pie.  Bake about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Lower oven to 325F/160C.   Using your mixer, gently whisk the egg yolks, lime juice, zest and condensed milk.  Pour half of this mixture into each pie crust.  Bake until centre is set but still quivers when you give the pan a little shake.   This took about 15 minutes ....

Let cool on a wire rack.  We were in a hurry so we cooled it for 1/2 an hour on the wire rack and then put it in the fridge for another hour or so ...

When ready to serve, use the whisk attachment to whip the cream and the caster sugar together on  a medium speed.  Spoon over pie.  Garnish with zest and lime slices.  (You can probably make it prettier than I did on the pie above!!  ha ha.  I was in a hurry to serve and eat it!!)

Shepherd's Pie

500g beef mince (ground beef)

1 onion - finely diced
garlic - to taste
1 can cream of mushroom soup
green beans - frozen or canned.
4 cups mashed potatoes
cheese - to top

Preheat oven to 180c/350f.

Put potatoes on to boil.

Brown the mince with the onion and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add soup. Pour mixture into a casserole dish. I like a big round one but any will do.

Add a layer of green beans.

If you haven't already drained and mashed your potatoes, you should do that now ... if they are ready. If they aren't then wait ... raw potatoes don't mash well. Or taste good. I add a bit of milk and a scoop of butter ... but just make your mash like you would normally. Add to casserole, on top of green beans.

Top with cheese. Bake. Uncovered. 20 ? 30 ? minutes ... til bubbly !

YUM YUM YUM !!!

NOW ... I need some advice. I checked the cream of mushroom soup can and while there are no icky preservatives, I'm just not sure how a can of condensed soup that lives on a shelf for years and years could be good for us. SO ... I want to try and substitute something else in it's place. I'm wondering if I could do a white sauce ... maybe with some sauteed mushrooms in it ?

What do you all think ? Any other ideas ?

Also ... has anyone ever frozen white sauce ? How'd it taste when thawed and then used ?

Meat Pie and Taters

So ... this was linked up in one of my old menu plans but it was on an old blog
of mine that is private and no longer used. Andrea stumbled upon it and wanted the
recipe so I'm cutting and pasting it to here !!

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This is another leftovers/use up what I have recipe.


A while back I made a pot roast in the crock pot.

It was ok but not something we wanted to eat for leftovers so I froze it.

It's a super easy recipe.

You just chop up some carrots, potatoes and onions.

Add them to the crockpot along with a big hunk of beef.

Mix a can of cream of mushroom soup with a package of french onion soup mix.

Pour the soup on top of the meat/veggies. High for 8 hours.


So, tonight, I used the thawed leftovers.

Added some mushrooms and instant gravy.

Poured that into pie tins lined with puff pastry.

Topped with pasty.

Baked in oven ~400F, 200C ~ for about 40 minutes.

It was delicious !

OR

you could try this beef and guinness pie recipe that is delicious as well !


I served it with these potatoes that I found through super cook !!

I changed them a bit so I'll tell you how I did them.

I boiled the potatoes for about 15/20 minutes.

Skin on. But that's my personal laziness preference.

Drain. Cool. Chop.

Add a finely diced onion, big handful of chopped fresh parsley, 1 tbls (?) chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper to the a frying pan with hot olive oil in it. Add the potatoes first. Fry til they are your desired crispiness.

Peach Hand Pies

I had a couple of the girls from youth group over the other night for a baking party - SOOO fun :-) We made these fabulous peach hand pies and Bonnie has been asking for the recipe. I was to busy and distracted to remember to take any photos, but these are SUPER yummy and you'll want to drop everything and go make them. So, whoever makes these next should post a lovely, mouthwatering photo!

Pie Crust

(This is my mom's recipe, not sure where she originally got it, but it's definitely my go to recipe. If you want to have homemade pie crusts in your freezer handy for when you don't have a lot of time, just make a couple batches at once. Instead of rolling the dough out after you divide it into balls, just wrap each ball individually in wax paper and then foil and stick in the freezer. When you want to use some, just take them out, thaw, and then roll out! Easy-Peasy!)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1/2 to 2/3 cup cold water (THIS IS KEY!! I use ICE WATER so it's REALLY cold - your crust will be much flakier if you have cold cold cold water)

Mix flour and salt together; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the pieces are the size of peas. Sprinkle water one tablespoon at a time in the middle of pastry until all is moistened. Form the dough into a ball. Divide ball into two equal parts. Roll out from center to edge until 1/8 inch thick.

Peach Hand Pies

1 tablespoon butter or margarine
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 lbs ripe peaches (about 4 large peaches - I also discovered that it was right at 6 cups of cut up peaches)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (trick: put the lemon in the microwave for 5 seconds and you'll get more juice out of each lemon)
4 unbaked pie crusts (you can use the refrigerated kind from the store or make your own)
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. In cup, mix cornstarch with 1/3 cup sugar. Stir peaches, sugar mixture and salt into butter in skillet. Cook 25 minutes or until peaches are very soft and mixture thickens and boils - stir frequently. Boil 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat ; stir in lemon juice (I forgot to do this in one of the batches and it turned out fine). Cool completely (or until you can't wait any longer!). The mixture can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerated until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Lay pie crusts out flat and cut into quarters. Spoon ~2 tablespoons of filling in strip down the center of each quarter, leaving 3/4 inches of dough uncovered at each end. Fold dough over filling. Press edges together with a fork to seal. Transfer pies to ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Make sure there is a little space between each pie on the cookie sheet. Brush tops of pies with egg; sprinkle with remaining sugar. With knife, cut 1-inch slit on top of each pie to allow steam to escape during baking.

Place cookie sheets on 2 oven racks. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown, rotating cooking sheets between uppper and lower oven racks halfway through baking. Transfer pies to wire racks to cool.

(NOTE: Do not eat as soon as they get out - you will burn your tongue. Take my word for it!)

ENJOY!!!

Beef and Guinness Pie

2 tbsp olive oil
one onion
1.5 cups mushrooms, halved
600g beef ( I used rump steak ), chopped into one inch cubes
2 tbls wholemeal flour
3 tbls sunflower oil
1.25 cups Guinness Beer
1.25 cups nice beef stock
two sheets of puff pastry
beaten egg, to glaze
Salt and Pepper

Saute onion and mushrooms in heavy bottom pan.

Season the flour ( I used garlic salt and pepper ) and toss the meat in it.

Remove onion and mushrooms from pan. Brown the steak on high heat to seal in the juices.

Add the onion and mushrooms back to the pan. Pour in the beer and stock.

Bring to the boil. Reduce heat, simmer, one hour or until meat is tender.

Pour into pie dish. Cover and let it cool.

If you have planned far enough in advance, leave this over night as the flavour only gets better !

When ready to bake ... Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Cut pasty in the shape of the dish. Also cut a strip (about 1 inch thick ) from around the pastry.

Put that on the rim of the pie dish and press it on.

Brush with beaten egg then put the round piece on top of it !

IS THIS MAKING SENSE !?

I then cut the remaining piece of pastry into four long strips. I folded each one lengthwise ... twice.

I used that those strips to go around the outside of the pastry to make a pretty pie crust border !

Brush the whole thing with beaten egg.

Stab the middle of the pie with a knife so the steam can escape while it cooks.

Chill 15 minutes in fridge. Gotta rest the pastry !

Bake 30-40 minutes ... until the pasty is a nice golden brown.

I served with mashed potatoes/turnips, and sauteed greens.

Chicken Pot Pie ...

This is a great meal to cook if you are taking dinner to someone. It stays hot FOREVER and is super yummy. Great comfort food ... which people are usually needing when you are taking them dinner !!

Whatcha need :

500g or 1 lb chicken breast
garlic
3 and 1/2 cups water
4 chicken stock cubes ( boullion )
5 medium sized potatoes
2 cups milk
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice ( I used a mix of mozzarella and "tasty"... I'm not sure what tasty cheese is called outside of Australia ... it's a white cheddar )
Pastry. You could use shortcrust but I use puff !!

If I have them on hand, I will also add carrots and sometimes broccoli and often times mushrooms.

Whatcha do :

Preheat oven.

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and brown with garlic, til cooked through.

In the meantime, peal the potatoes and chop into small cubes ... do the other veggies too if you are using. Place potatoes in a large pot with water and stock cubes. Bring to a boil, cooking til potatoes are tender. I usually chuck the carrots in for the last 5/10 minutes just to soften a bit. Broccoli and mushrooms don't need it ...

Mix milk and flour. Add slowly to boiling water. Let thicken. ( don't let it burn .... keep stirring ! ) Add chicken, other veggies, salt and pepper and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and contents are well combined.

Line casserole dish with pastry. I use a 13X9 or sometimes a big round deep casserole dish.

Dump mixture in pot into casserole dish. Cover with pastry. I usually make a nice think crust border around the top ... and maybe a few pretty things with the extra pastry bits on top ... With a sharp knife, cut slits into crust to allow steam to exit.

Bake 350F or 180C for 30 minutes of til crust is nicely browned.

This will be quite runny when you first cut into it. We find it is best to pull it out of the oven, and cut it open, well before you want to serve it. Even like 1/2 an hour before !!

Raw ...

Don't judge this before you try it ! I made it tonight and it is delicious !!!
I got this recipe from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen website. Actually, Shay told me about it (surprise, surprise !!) first but I lost the paper I wrote the recipe down on ! The other day I stumbled on it here.
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Here's the one I made tonight !
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All-American Apple Pie from pg 211 of “Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen”

makes 1 pie

ALMOND PIE CRUST
2 cups almonds, dry
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups pitted dates

SYRUP
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 orange, peeled and seeded
splash of water, as needed

FILLING
5 cups apples, peeled, seeded, thinly sliced, about 5 or 6 apples
1 cup raisins and/or cranberries
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

Ok ... watch this little video I found on YOU TUBE and then I'll tell you the rest of the instructions.

Ok ... so first thing you need to know is that you need to soak the almonds over night and then let them dry for the day before you make this. I dried them til about 3:00. They were still a bit moist but it worked.
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Put the almonds in the food processor and process til well processed. I didn't leave any chunks. Set aside 2 cups of the processed stuff and pour the rest into the bottom of your pie dish (like she did in the video) Put the 2 cups back into the processor and add 2 cups dates. Process til doughy. Press into pan (again, refer to video) You did watch it, right ?
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To make the syrup you just blend all the syrup ingredients together.
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Add to the bowl where you've mixed the filling ingredients together. Speaking of the filling. I found 1 cup of raisins way too much. Next time, I'll do 1/2 cup only.
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The rest should be self explanatory after watching the video ...
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Give this a try ... I think you will like it ! If not, drop it off at my place ... I'll eat it !!!
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