Heat oven to 400°F. Combine 2 cups flour and salt in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until flour is moistened.
Divide dough in half. Shape each half into ball; flatten slightly. Wrap 1 ball of dough in plastic food wrap; refrigerate. Roll out remaining ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold into quarters. Place dough into ungreased 9-inch pie pan; unfold, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Trim crust to 1/2 inch from edge of pan.
Combine sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, nutmeg and cinnamon in large bowl; mix well. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon blueberry mixture into prepared pie crust.
Roll out refrigerated ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Place dough over filling. Seal, trim and crimp or flute edge. Cut 8 to 10 slits in crust. Cover edge of crust with 2-inch strip of aluminum foil.
Bake 35 minutes; remove foil. Continue baking for 10 to 20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
Cool pie 30 minutes; serve warm. Store refrigerated.
Recipe Tip
If fresh blueberries are unavailable, substitute frozen blueberries and increase baking time by 15 minutes.
I’m a total fruit fanatic and can never have enough fruit on hand. It’s healthy, delicious, fragrant, and a bowl of fruit (nature’s dessert) just makes a whole room look more attractive.
Below is one of my favorite recipes for fruit salad. Feel free to experiment with different fruits, but don’t even think about leaving out the peaches.
Fresh Fruit Salad Recipe
2 Peaches
2 Apples
2 Nectarines
2 cups Strawberries
1 cup Red Seedless Grapes
1 cup White Seedless Grapes
2 Bananas
1 pkg. Peach Glaze
3 Tbs. Honey
3 Tbs. Lemon Juice
Use fresh fruit – very important! Slice and place the fruit combination into a large bowl. Combine the peach glaze, honey, and lemon juice. Pour over fruit and mix gently but well.
Keep refrigerated and just TRY not to eat it all at once! I kid you now when I say this can easily pass for dessert.
Crisco Pastry for 2-Crust Pie (or 2 store bought crusts)
6 large cooking apples
3/4 cup sugar
2 TBS flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBS butter
Line a 9 inch pie dish with pastry Pare, core, and slice apples. Place the apples in the pastry-lined pie dish.
Combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon – sprinkle over the apples. Dot with butter (very, very important!). Place top crust over apples and gently cut slits in the top crust for the steam to escape. Seal the edges carefully, trying to keep a neat pattern of uniform “pinches.”
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
APPLE PIE RECIPE VARIATIONS: Dutch Apple Pie
Add 1/2 tsp nutmeg to sugar mixture in the apple pie recipe above. Combine with apples and 1/2 cup whipping cream. Proceed as directed above, but rather than just topping the apple mixture with the other crust – cut the crust into strips and create a lattice top for the pie. When using a lattice top crust, be very careful not to overcook the pie. A dark brown lattice crust is nothing short of a pie-tastrophe.
Cheese Apple Pie
Substitute 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese for the cinnamon. Proceed as you would for the basic pie recipe.
TIPS:
Use a Pie Crust Shield to keep the edges of your crust from becoming darker than the rest of your crust. Personally, I don’t like the crumbled aluminum foil technique – too cumbersome – but if it works for you, go for it. Just protect those edges!
Whatever you do, if at all possible, serve your apple pie with great vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.
For the absolute best pie crust – as in the kind that refuses to fail, you’ll need to know only one recipe: Classic Crisco Pie Crust
If you bake a lot of pies, you’ll love the Magic Dough 18×24.5-in. Pastry Mat, pictured above. This dough mat has lots of features! It’s thin, flexible, lightweight and has an exclusive anti-slip backing so it stays in place on your countertop. It has a nonstick surface, so it easily releases dough (no flour needed) and anti-bacterial construction. Measurement equivalents are printed right on the mat. When your work is done, simply roll it up, slip it back into its storage tube (included) and put it away.
Now tell me that’s not too cool for school.
The recipes used in this post are a few of my favorite “golden oldies.” They’re from a wonderful little cookbook in my cookbook collection from 1973: “Crisco’s Favorite Family Foods Cookbook.” It’s been in our family forever. My grandmother gave it to my mom, then she passed it along to me. I absolutely cherish the heirloom cookbooks and recipes in my collection. If you have any floating around your family, take it from me – you’ll want to hang onto and protect them.
They’ll mean more to you as the years go by. As a bonus, a lot of classic recipes simply can’t be beat!
One of my most beloved people to ever walk the planet (she’s still walking it and doing so in style) is my aunt Penny. She’s one of the people responsible for my odd sense of humor, obsession with coffee, extreme love of animals, and killer passion for cooking. She’s a great little cook but she once blew it big time with a cherry pie.
Crust? Perfect.
Presentation? Lovely.
Cherries? Unpitted.
It’s only by the grace of God she didn’t crack a few teeth. He looks after people like Penny and me.
Needless to say, we’ll never let her forget that. Below is a deliciously simple and simply delicious Cherry Pie recipe that’ll wow your household. Just be sure to pit the cherries, okay?
As-Easy-As “Bing” Cherry Pie Recipe
Bottom Crust: (9 inch) refrigerated pie crust in oven-safe aluminum pie pan
Pie Filling: 5 cups fresh California Bing cherries, pitted, 1 cup sugar, and 1 Tablespoon tapioca flour
Crumb Topping: 1/2 cup regular rolled oats, 1/4 cup white sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon butter – melted, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt
Vanilla ice cream (optional)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Remove the refrigerated pie crust from its wrapper.
Pit the fresh California Bing cherries. You may wish to use a simple cherry pitting tool (available at most grocery stores) and wear an apron to protect your clothes from juice spatter.
Combine the pitted cherries in a bowl with sugar and tapioca flour. Mix well and spoon into the prepared pie crust.
Combine the crumb topping ingredients in a small bowl and mix until evenly distributed and crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the filling.
Place in the oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes until bubbly and browned on top. Allow to cool to room temperature.
We all know that fruit is wonderfully healthy for us and we try to put it in front of our families as often as possible. Sometimes it’s a hit, sometimes not so much.
I love fruit so much that it’s like dessert for me, but not every member of my family feels the same way. I encourage my husband to eat more fruit with Cottage Cheese and vanilla yogurt (usually with added nuts or granola). My oldest daughter, Emily, is a huge fan of breakfast food, so I can easily serve her raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries in oatmeal, in pancakes, or alongside French Toast. Both of them also like fruit salads and cereal with fruit.
Our youngest daughters, Brittany and Stephany, have always been a little bit of a challenge – especially Brittany. The following Fruit Dip recipe (along with caramel sauce for apples and pears) is one sure-fire way I can get fruit into ALL of my family members.
Delicious Creamy Fruit Dip Recipe
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of your favorite syrup (not butter-flavored or light, though)
Fresh Fruit (or you’ve defeated your purpose!)
In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, sugars, and syrup. Beat until smooth and creamy. Chill until ready to serve.
This fruit dip is excellent with strawberries, apples (stir in a little caramel sauce in place of the syrup for an extra treat with apples), pears, peaches (have mercy!), grapes, blackberries, your fingers…. did I type that out loud??
Another Idea: If you’ve made a killer fruit salad, this dip is delicious and beautiful when drizzled over the whole shebang.
Yield: 2 delicious cups
Click the following link to find out which fruits made the Top 20 list of Superfoods according to South Beach Diet.
The recipe below is in the June issue of Cosmopolitan. It sounds so simple and delicious that I knew you’d be as interested in taking it for a test drive as I am.
Banana Pudding Parfaits Dessert Recipe
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2-1/2 cups reduced fat milk
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 bananas, sliced
20 vanilla wafer cookies
Whipped Cream, for garnish
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in the milk and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes to a low boil and becomes thick – about 7 minutes.
Reduce the heat to low.
Stir a couple tablespoons of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, then stir egg yolks back into the hot milk mixture. Stir constantly until thickened to the consistency of pudding, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla. Let cool.
Layer the pudding, cookies, and bananas in 4 to 6 glasses, depending on size. Chill in the refrigerator until serving time – then garnish with whipped cream.
One of the biggest perks of publishing a food blog is the opportunity and privilege to try new products or take a new look at old products. I was recently contacted by the very friendly people with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. They wanted to send me information and a coupon to try their I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread. My first thought was, “Do these people (friendly as they are) realize who they’ve just contacted? I’m the self-appointed butter queen!” Seriously, it doesn’t take too long to realize my stand on butter – how many of the recipes on Get Cooking beseech you not to use anything but butter. I’m pretty sure I’ve even threatened (a time or two to hunt you down and swat your hand) if you used a substitution.
Geez, in fact, in a recent e-mail I told someone that one of the cornerstones of my cooking (in addition to a great set of knives, buttermilk, olive oil, real peppercorns….) was butter.
Then I had to go and try I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Honesty? I expected to laugh in the face of the bright, enthusiastic yellow tub. Heck, even it’s friendly.
I whipped out my spreader and put some on a fresh biscuit. I thought, No way… this can’t be! So I tried again. My cat and I exchanged looks as I headed to the refrigerator to take out a stick of the real thing (always on hand, you know). I put some of it on a piece of biscuit and the taste was just like the one I’d just tried. Twice.
I called in my youngest daughter (the Princess of Butter). She flipped for it and said she had a new favorite “butter.”
We’ve since used it on garlic bread, pancakes, oatmeal, pasta, potatoes, and steamed vegetables. Not once have we wished for real butter because not once did we remember that we weren’t eating real butter.
So. If they taste the same, why should you be tempted to try I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter instead of butter? Glad you asked. Here’s one simple fact: Soft spreads contain 70 percent less saturated fats than butter and no cholesterol. For more interesting facts and nutritional information, please visit The Big Fat Truth!
Orange Pound Cake Recipe
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
1 Tbsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. grated orange peel
3/4 cup I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® soft spread
3 large eggs
Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan; set aside.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Combine yogurt, orange juice and vanilla in small bowl; set aside. Combine sugar with orange peel in large bowl.
Beat I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® soft spread into sugar and orange peel mixture with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately beat in flour mixture and yogurt mixture on low speed just until blended. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
Bake 55 minutes or until lightly browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.
Frost, if desired (you’ll most definitely want to do this), with Orange Glaze (See Below). Orange Glaze: Combine 1 cup confectioners’ sugar with 1 Tbsp. orange juice. Add more orange juice if needed
Find lots of outstanding recipes using I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter on their website. I’ll add a few more of my favorites to the site over the next few days. Don’t forget to visit The Big Fat Truth and grab a tub or two or twenty of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter the next time you’re in the store.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups sifted, all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk (the secret behind these sensational muffins)
3/4 cup blueberries (washed and well-drained)
Cream together the butter and sugar until light. Add eggs – one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Add to creamed mixture alternatively with the buttermilk. Beat well after each addition.
Fold in blueberries. Fill paper-lined muffin pans 2/3 full and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Yield: 14 – 16 muffins
Note: Experiment with different berries – blackberries and strawberries make excellent muffins as well. I’ve never tried raspberries, oddly enough – but I think I’ll do that one morning this week! My problem is that I’m SUCH a blueberry fan that pulling me away from them isn’t easy.
The recipe below is for Fluffy Blueberry Pie and couldn’t be easier to make – this I promise. I also promise that it is so delicious, you’ll fight for the last bite. You can substitute peeled, sliced peaches for the blueberries and the pie will be just as remarkable. Either fruit would make an ideal Easter Pie recipe or a simple dessert for warm summer nights.
In a heavy saucepan, combine marshmallows and milk. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, stirring several times.
Stir in 3-1/2 cups of the blueberries (or peaches, if you go that route). Take out and set aside 1/2 cup of the whipped topping. Fold remaining topping into blueberry mixture.
Pour into crust. refrigerate for at lease 2 hours. Top off with the remaining blueberries and reserved whipped topping.
Once your familiar with the recipe, you’ll want to try out different fruit. I would imagine that raspberries would be amazing and blackberries would probably have your family throwing themselves at your feet. Note to self: Put blackberries on the grocery list….
I bought a new blender yesterday with one thing in mind – Smoothies! I’ve tried out a few and I’m completely hooked. So far, my favorites are Blueberry Smoothies, Strawberry Smoothies, and Banana Smoothies.
A banana smoothie is a healthy, quick cold treat that you can make any time of year, not just in summer. There are a variety of ways to make a banana smoothie, but in this article we’ll stick with the basics.
Here are the tools and utensils you’ll need to make your banana smoothie:
A blender
Knife to cut up your banana
Serving glasses
Measuring cups
And here are the ingredients that we’ll be using to make our banana smoothie:
1 ripe banana
1 cup of crushed ice
1 cup of cold milk
1 tbsp of brown sugar
Here’s how to make the perfect banana smoothie every time
Some people like to freeze their banana first before adding it to the blender, but I find it turns out great using a regular room temperature banana.
Peel your banana and break it or cut it up into pieces and add it to your blender. Then pour in the ice, milk and add the brown sugar.
Turn on your blender and hold the top of the lid firmly in place. This is important because with something hard like ice inside, there’s a possibility that the lid could get knocked off and then you’d end up with a mess. If you don’t have crushed ice, use ice cubes instead, but pulse the blender a few times to break the ice cubes into smaller pieces.
Blending time should take about 30-60 seconds, but make sure your banana smoothie has a smooth creamy texture before serving.
When the mixture is finished blending, pour it out into a glass and if you decide to use a straw to drink from, use bigger straws to make it easier.
Video: How to make a banana smoothie
(I have no idea who this is in the video below – I just thought it might be helpful for my readers!)
I’ve become a Smoothie addict, so you’ll be seeing plenty of smoothie recipes, tips, and what not. I’m working on iced coffee drinks as well…. I’ll bet you already assumed that. So transparent.
