Pumpkin Pie

When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher was Mrs. Saddlemire.  She had been my Dad's Kindergarten teacher, too.  Bart says she had 11 children.  One day she brought in pumpkin pies for our class.  I loved it, but afterward, no-one else's pumpkin pie was as good - or even any good.  Then I found the Comstock recipe, and fell in love with pumpkin pie again.  

2 pie crusts
29 oz canned pumpkin
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
425 degrees for 15 minutes,
350 degrees for 35-40 minutes

I even found a recipe for homemade pumpkin pie spice.  I think I made a link to it.  Go check if you like.  

I also made Maple Pecan Pie again.  I bought 10 pounds of pecans online for $70 including shipping.  I put them in 3 gallon ziplock bags and froze them.  

I also slow cooked a big pork butt roast and will shred and freeze most of it for Bart's 50th Birthday party on October 8th.  We're inviting friends from his work, plus both of our parents are coming out from Berne.  We'll make fresh apple cider and have a bonfire.  His real birthday is the 11th, and we'll go out to North Shore for drinks and pub grup with friends that night.  

Egg Rolls

Bart is chopping wood today.  We got 2 big loads of logs from Mark, and now we have plenty to get us through the winter.  The new loads will be sawed with the chain saw

And left to age.  The wood Bart is chopping was sawed up last year, and now he’s

Splitting it.  Plus we have plenty already split and dry. 

Allen is taking Liz Bowe’s Senior pictures.  He and Irene brought Lizzie to a few places around here that have scenic backgrounds – like the 5 Arches Bridge in Avon, Letchworth State Park, and a huge tree at the DEC with great branches to climb.

I was going to make coleslaw, but Bart mentioned that he’d hoped I would make egg rolls. 

So, 

I'm making egg rolls to use the last of the huge cabbage my parents gave us.  I sent Allen, Irene and Lizzie to Tops Market to get me wrappers, and they don't sell them anymore.  Not enough people were buying them, and they were having to be thrown away.  I called Shurfine grocery store, and they don't have any either.  Now we were down to coleslaw, or me making egg roll wrappers from scratch.  I found a recipe online - good old google.  The recipe called for ground pork.  I had pork in the freezer, but not ground, so I cut it into strips, and figure I'll chop it finer when it's cooked.

Egg Roll Wrappers - Recipe from About.com

Homemade egg roll wrappers are easy to make and often less dry than store bought wrappers.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

·         2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 large egg

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 cup ice water

·         Cornstarch

Preparation:

Sift the flour into a large bowl.

Lightly beat the egg with the salt. Stir in 1/4 cup of water. Add the egg and the ice water to the flour. Stir in as much of the remaining 1/4 cup of water as needed to form a sticky batter.

Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Cover the dough and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Knead the dough briefly, then cut in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll each half into a cylinder. Lightly score so that you have 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece out into a 3 1/2-inch square.

Stack the wrappers while you are preparing the remainder, covering with a damp cloth so that they don't dry out. If necessary, lightly dust the wrappers with flour or cornstarch to prevent them from sticking together. Use immediately, or refrigerate or freeze in a plastic bag until ready to use.

I doubled this, and will freeze the leftovers.  Maybe I'll make dessert egg rolls with apple pie filling.  

Here is a general egg roll recipe.  I'm very into using what we have on hand, and will substitute or leave out ingredients.  So my egg rolls taste different every time. 

Egg Roll Filling:

• 4 cups minced fresh cabbage or chinese cabbage
• 1 lb pork, ground or cut small
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 can water chestnuts, minced
• 1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, minced
• 1 can or 2 cups bean sprouts, chopped
•  

·         Sauce for Pork:

·         1 teaspoon oyster sauce

·         salt and pepper to taste

·         a bit (less than 1 teaspoon) cornstarch

·         Gravy:

·         4 tablespoons water

·         1 tablespoon cornstarch

·         1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

·         2 teaspoons oyster sauce

·         salt, pepper, accent (if desired) to taste

·         2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons cold water*

·         2 tablespoons oil for stir-frying - I use Sesame Oil

Mix seasoning ingredients together. Cut the pork into thin strips, add the seasonings and marinate the pork for between 10 and 15 minutes.

Preparation:

While the pork is marinating, prepare the vegetables, and the gravy mixture.

Heat the wok over medium-high to high heat. Add Sesame oil for stir-frying. When the oil is ready, add the celery and onion and stir-fry.

Taste and add salt and sugar if desired. Remove from the wok. Add the pork to the wok and cook until well done (place cover on wok). Remove. Clean the wok and stir-fry separately the mushrooms, water chestnuts, and bean sprouts. Check the seasoning while stir-frying the bean sprouts and add salt and/or sugar as desired. Stir-fry the suey choy, covering and cooking for approximately 1 minute, again adding salt and/or sugar if desired. Combine all the ingredients in the wok. If necessary, drain some of the juice from the vegetables out.

Add the gravy, pushing the vegetables up against the sides of the wok to form a well in the middle for the gravy, and stir to thicken. Mix thoroughly. Add green onion. Set the filling aside to allow to cool before wrapping.

Wrapping: Mix the cornstarch and water, slowly adding the water to the cornstarch until you have a "glue" which will be used to seal the wrappers.

To wrap, lay the egg roll wrapper out with the short (4 1/2") side directly in front of you. This will be the dry side. The two long sides will be called sides 1 and 3, and the other short side directly across from you will be called side 2. Place approximately 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper, spreading it out but not getting too close to the edges. Using your fingertip, spread a bit of the cornstarch/water glue along edges 1, 2, and 3. Fold over the dry side, then take side 2 and fold it over, making sure the two sides overlap. Press down firmly on sides 1 and 3, making sure they are well sealed.

Deep-frying: When oil is 375 degrees, slide each egg roll carefully into the wok - or deep frying pan, or even a 2qt sauce pan if that's all you have -  one at a time. Deep-fry until they are golden brown, then drain on deep-fry rack or paper towels. Keep on a tray lined with fresh paper towels until needed. The egg rolls should not be stacked. If possible do not reheat in the oven, as this can dry the eggrolls out, but if necessary, reheat them on low heat for 10 minutes on each side.

Serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce – I just buy a jar, and Hot Mustard – recipe below.

Hot Mustard - Bart's favorite!

Adding vinegar keeps the heat in this recipe for hot mustard. Feel free to spice it up further by adding other seasonings such as chili powder or horseradish at the same time as the vinegar.

And leave out the sugar if you want, also.

Ingredients:

·         1/2 cup dry mustard powder

·         4 teaspoons water

·         4 tablespoons vinegar

·         2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste

Preparation:

Slowly add the water to the dry mustard, until it is fully moistened. Wait fifteen minutes, and then stir in the vinegar and sugar.

Boston for Labor Day

Last weekend we visited Eli in Boston and helped him move furniture into his and Matt Reese's new apartment.  Now his bed and desk and dresser are set up in his room.  We had a great time visiting.  We got a tour of Brandeis and dinner in a Mexican restaurant on Sunday, and on Labor Day a trip on the T to Harpoon Brewery with  a tour and tasting, and a late lunch at a sports bar on the harbor with outdoor seating along the boardwalk.  We also got to walk around downtown for awhile, drop in on final days at Borders, and see a beautiful park where the Boston "Massacre" took place.  The flautas and enchiladas at the Mexican place were so, so good.  At the Harpoon Brewery we sampled over 8 varieties, including their most famous IPA, the Octoberfest, the Raspberry, and the Dark.  We bought 2 growlers to bring back to the apartment.
On Tuesday we drove back to Conesus, stopping in Berne on the way, and getting a puffball from my parents. That night I made puffball parmesan and spaghetti.  Later in the week Bart fried some puffball with spices and we put it on our hamburgers.  Yum!  Then he tossed the left over uncooked puffball in our woods in hopes it'll reproduce for us.  I also diced some puffball and fried it in omelet this morning with ham, onion, and "frying cheese."  That cheese doesn't melt when heated, and tasted great in the omelet.
Home with Bart, Allen and Irene now.  Today is Autumn in the Village at Livonia.  Tonight Bart and I are going for a moonlight kayak ride with some of our friends.  I made more Caramel Chocolate Bars, and substituted dried blueberries for the raspberry jam.

Zucchini Bread

Add to sifter:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Sift into mixing bowl and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray pans with Pam: Muffin, loaf or mini-loaf
In a separate bowl, mix:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract
Optional: 1 cup raisins or craisins, and 1 cup chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds
Beat thoroughly.

Stir egg mixture into flour and combine.
Pour entire mixture into pans
Bake 40 minutes for loaves, or 20 minutes for muffins or 30 minutes for mini-loaves.
They are done if center springs back when they are lightly touched.

In my cookbook I wrote: "brought to playground w/Dana and Alisha 7/25/92."
"6/23/07 w/Fran + Henry, Rachel, Jtte + Ralph - Eli graduated H.S."
"8/1/11 w/Allen, Anna, Saige, Liz, Mollie + Irene"
I make this every summer several times, and sometimes even buy zucchini out of season because the family requests it.

Flatbread Tacos with Ranch Sour Cream

1 cup fat free sour cream
2 tsp ranch salad dressing mix
2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 Tbl hot pepper sauce
1 tube large refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
Optional toppings: sliced ripe olives and shredded lettuce and cheddar cheese

In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, dressing mix and lemon juice; chill until serving.
In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.
Add the beans, tomatoes, taco seasoning and pepper sauce; heat through.
Meanwhile, roll out each biscuit into a 6-in. circle.  In a small nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook each biscuit for 30-60 seconds on each side or until golden brown.  Keep warm.
To serve, spread each flatbread with 2 Tbl ransh sour cream; top with 2/3 cup meat mixture.  Sprinkle with toppings if desired.
Yield: 8 servings.