Month: December 2022

Sebreena’s Pie Crust

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Sebreena’s Pie Crust

  • Servings: 4, 9 inch single pie crusts
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Pie crusts. Who hasn’t had a need for some. Well I tried making them once and they could have been used as weapons. Never did that again. A couple of days ago, I wanted to make Tourtiere a.k.a Meatpie, see this link. My recipe makes two meatpies. So off I go downstairs to the freezer and oh oh, I only have one package of 2 frozen pie shells. Stores are closed. Now what??? I asked a friend, who makes great flaky pies if she was willing to share her recipe. Here it is.

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces divided, 3/4 and 1/4
  • 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of ice water

Directions

  1. Layout 3/4 of the butter pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze until hard, at least 30 minutes. Refrigerate remaining butter.
  2. Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor.
  3. Add refrigerated butter and pulse to combine, about 10 times.
  4. Add frozen butter and pulse until mixture resembles course meal, with some blueberry size clumps.
  5. Add ice water, and immediately pulse until water is absorbed about 10 times. Squeeze a small amount of dough to make sure it holds together. Pulse a few more times if needed.
  6. Layout 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Empty half of the dough onto each piece Bring edges of wrap together to gather dough. Press into disks.
  7. Roll out disk, still wrapped in plastic, to 1/2 inch thick rounds about 9 inches in diameter.
  8. Refrigerate at least 45 minutes.

    9. Note, I’m not including the baking time, as it will depend on the recipe you are using this pie dough for.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 690
  • Fat 46.8 g
  • Sugar 8.3 g
  • Carbohydrates 60.4 g
  • Protein 8.75 g
  • Fibre 4.1 g

This dough can be refrigerated for 2 days or frozen up to a month. Now I must reiterate what Sebreena made sure I understood. ICE WATER and FROZEN BUTTER are key to success. She told me that once I’ve succeeded in making this, I would never go back to frozen pie shells. You know what, she was right. As you see in the pic, the ones on the left are her recipe and the ones on the right are the frozen pie shells. I was intimidated on trying this but I will be making these going forward. This is the one time that I will not tell you to make it your own. What you put inside is where you can get creative, have fun and make it your own.

Benson’s Shortbread Cookies

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Benson’s Shortbread Cookies

  • Servings: 24 cookies
  • Difficulty: Easy
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*Due to a typographical error, the original posting states 2 cups of icing sugar, when in fact the correct amount is ½ a cup. Sincere apologies for the error.*

What says Christmas more than cookies. I remember there always being shortbread cookies. Oh no, I don’t have a recipe! Tried a couple that didn’t quite turn out like I wanted. While talking to my best friend, she said she had a recipe from an old box of Benson’s corn starch that her mom used to make. To this day, those cookies reminder her of her mom. Well Benson’s is no longer around, but their recipe brought a smile to a lot of young faces. This recipe is too good to go forgotten with the times.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of corn starch
  • 1/2 cup of icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup of softened butter

Directions

  1. Sift together flour, corn starch, and icing sugar
  2. With a wooden spoon, incorporate butter until a smooth dough forms
  3. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes
  4. Preheat oven to 300
  5. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters for fun shapes
  6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned
  7. Cool on wire rack

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 90
  • Sugar 2.54 g
  • Carbohydrates 8.9 g
  • Protein 0.61 g
  • Fiber 0.17 g
  • Fat 5.8 g

As you see in the picture, I added sprinkles. I did that to the dough as I was mixing the dough. (they are not counted in the nutritional facts) I’m not great at decorating. The size of your cookie cutters will determine how many cookies you get. Mine are approximately 3 inches from top to bottom. They are low enough on carbs and sugar that even diabetics can indulge in a cookie or two. Have fun and make them as festive as you like and make this old recipe your own.

Quebec Style Yellow Split Pea Soup

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Quebec Style Yellow Split Pea Soup

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
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There are many variations of this soup. You will find this in many restaurants, in Quebec, on Fridays. This is a hearty soup with lots of protein. You can half the recipe and it will still serve 6.

Ingredients

  • 2 lb of unsmoked ham hocks
  • 4 tbsp of butter
  • 4 medium carrot peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 celery rib finely diced
  • 2 medium onion finely diced
  • 3 1/2 cup of dried yellow split peas rinsed and sorted
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tsp dried savoury
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • 8 cups of chicken broth
  • 6 cups of water
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Trim off and discard skin from ham hocks.
  2. In a very large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.
  3. Add carrots, celery and onion. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
  4. Stir in dried split peas, bay leaves, savoury and thyme. Cook while stirring for about 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in broth, water and ham hocks. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 2 hours. Stir regularly until the peas are soft and soup has thickened.
  6. Remove bay leaves.
  7. Remove ham hocks. Take the meat off the bones and shred. Add back to soup and serve.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 445
  • Fat 18 g
  • Sugar 6 g
  • Carbohydrates 39 g
  • Protein 32 g
  • Fibre 16 g

This is a very filling soup. Serve it with country biscuits, if carbs are not an issue and it is a full meal. If you serve it as a side or appetizer, it is thick enough that you don’t need to serve it with anything at all. Ham hocks often come frozen. If you can’t find any, you could use left over ham. Be careful on the salt you add if you use ham. When you come to reheat, you will need to add water or chicken broth. You can also freeze this soup. Like I mentioned at the top you can half the recipe easily and it won’t alter the recipe at all. Just have fun and make it your own.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

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Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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No two recipes for aglio e olio are the same, but this one is pretty true to the classic. The key is roasting the garlic to perfection, a golden brown. If it’s too light, you don’t get the full flavour and if it’s too dark it gets bitter. My advise, do this slowly and you will succeed.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of spaghetti
  • 1/3 cup of olive oil
  • 6-8 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup of fresh italian parsley chopped
  • 1 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large pasta bowl.
  2. While pasta is cooking, combine olive oil and garlic in a cold skillet. Cook over medium heat to slowly toast garlic, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat when the oil starts to bubble and continue to cook until garlic is light brown.
  3. Stir red pepper flakes, salt and pepper into the pasta.
  4. Pour in hot oil and garlic and sprinkle the italian parsley and half the parmesan, toss until well combined.
  5. Serve pasta topped with the remaining parmesan.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 755
  • Fat 35 g
  • Sugar 3 g
  • Carbohydrates 87 g
  • Protein 23 g
  • Fibre 4 g

This is not a recipe to do if you are on a diet. I am a firm believer that everything in moderation’s is ok. You can serve it as a sided and then it’s only a half guilty pleasure. I have the nutritional facts as 4 smallish servings. You can make it quite spicy, you can add toasted pine nuts. Just have fun and make it your own.