Sunday, April 29, 2012

Potluck

Hey guys! It's been such a long time. I'm glad to be back, though--and with recipes to share!

So my freezer load has dwindled down over the past several weeks; it's not completely empty, but I've reached a point where I think I can start making food again--and filling it back up with my stock of leftovers. Now, to be completely honest, I have made a few new and exciting dishes over the past month--butternut squash and baked rice casserole, alfredo and smoked gouda with spinach pizza, tempeh stir-fry, tempeh meatloaf--I think that's where my list ends, I promise! (Whoops. One more...smoked gouda mac-and-cheese....) The reason I haven't blogged about any of these things is because I couldn't make myself; it felt nice to just cook and then eat, not worrying about photographing everything. But--don't worry; I plan on making all of these things again, and I will share with you my experiences, my photos, and the recipes!

In any case, I found myself in the kitchen yesterday afternoon; before I knew it, the sun was long gone and it was way past dinner time. My kitchen was an on-again-off-again disaster as I did my best to clean as I went--but it was so much fun. It's been a while since I spent hour after hour in the kitchen moving from one project to the next, taking photos and squealing with delight when something turns out even better than I expected.

My church is having a potluck this afternoon. Everyone was asked to bring a main-dish and a side-dish or dessert, depending on where your name fell in the alphabet. Now you know me, I wasn't about to show up at a potluck with something simple, innutritious, or store-bought. My goal was to make something light, something with a bit of color, and--of course--delicious.

I decided I would make white bean basil hummus--something I have made in the past and found to be absolutely amazing--and homemade pita bread. It was my first time making pita bread, so I was pretty excited--especially because I was told that the flat bread would turn out really well if I used my baking stone. I doubled the recipe and used three different kinds of flour (because I find that if I try and make bread with half whole wheat and half all-purpose, it doesn't rise as well; so I used 3 cups of unbleached all-purpose, 2 cups of whole wheat, and 1 cup of white whole wheat.) Some of my pitas came out with amazing pockets; some came out with alright pockets that may need a little encouragement with a knife, but I'm very pleased with my results. They tasted great.










For dessert, I knew that I wanted to make a pie. My mom had sent me a pie dish that I have been wanting to use for weeks and I haven't found an occasion that warranted me making one.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity. I wanted to make something different than an apple pie and I wasn't finding recipes that I was crazy about--but then I discovered it. Pear Crumble Pie. After I saw it, I knew it had to be made. Why? Because who eats pear pie? Who has even made a pear pie? Who has even heard of pear pie? And I wondered...why don't people eat pear pie? There was only one way I was going to find out! It called for very few ingredients--one of which was an unbaked crust. I looked for a while for a recipe that didn't call for shortening. I don't like having to buy the stuff--because I don't end up using it for anything else. I wound up using this butter recipe, and it turned out beautifully. It was easy to handle, which is always good. Pie crusts can be such a pain! I haven't cut into the pie yet, because I'm saving it for the potluck, but I hope it tastes as good as it looks.



And--last but not least--my favorite thing about making pie is having leftover pie crust dough; my grandma always makes these little pie-cookie-things with the leftovers and I love them. And since this was a 2 pie crust recipe and I only needed the one, I had plenty of dough to cover in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. I baked it for a few minutes and then proceeded to enjoy way too many while I continued cooking!






Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're having a good weekend, and I'll be back again soon.
 

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