It has been crazy busy for me this past couple of weeks. I got a contract to draw a machine called the VersaLift for a local company and that has been a real fun challenge and I got a chance to speak to the teens out at Camp Yamhill at a retreat called Leadership Seminar. That was a blast, but it took a lot of my time in preparation...well worth it. I drove out there today and I had planned to drive right back home when I was invited to stay for lunch, I was told the food had improved dramatically and i can attest to that from being out there for Junior Teen the last few years. The improvement has been the result of new management of the kitchen. A lot less prepared food, a lot more "scratch" food and some real knowledge of food preparation. Alex and Pam run a pretty tight ship. No more mid-night raids on the goodies in the kitchen, no more lounging in the kitchen after hours playing Trivial Pursuit, but the trade off is some really great food and a legal kitchen.
Well I have not been blogging for two weeks, but I have been cooking!
I made an Apple Galette that was so light and delicate that it shocked me. The whole family loved it and it was light in flavor and in sugars, I had two pieces and still kept my glucose levels within reason. The Galette is like a "free-form" pie with, like I said, very little sugar and it was fun to eat, because the recipe said you could serve it with whipped cream I ate it like a pizza and my sweet little girl, Rachel dipped hers in the whipped cream.
The Pizza Rustica (Italian Meat Pie) was nothing like what we call pizza. It was instead a meat pie with sweet Italian sausage, prosciutto, pork loin, cheese and more cheese. It called for two pounds of ricotta cheese, where a 9 x 13 pan of lasagna only calls for one pound and this pie was only an 8 x 8! It was a lot of cheese. The family liked it...well, not so much. I, on the other hand thought it was delicious. OK, I would cut the ricotta in half next time, but it was a very good dinner, for me. The most fun was making the crust. For this pie Irma had me mix the dry ingredients and then gave me the choice of mixing it with the wet ingredients in a bowl or right on the table. Of course I choose to make it on the table. What fun to crack the eggs in the well, beat them with a fork and then mix with the flour mixture. It was messy, but I had a blast. You can see the pictures.
The other recipe I made was Empanadas. Irma said that you can fill them with anything from fruits to nuts, but mostly they are filled with meat. That is what I chose. I made them the day before I had to go in for a medical procedure and was on a liquid diet and could not eat them. When I made the filling with ground beef, potatoes, tomato, raisins, green olives, oregano, etc. it nearly drove me nuts not being able to even taste the darn things. I decided to make them for lunch and take them to Sues' work and let them eat them. The unusual flavors of beef, raisins, olives, etc. were a big hit, as a matter of fact one of the gals is having some kind of event this Sunday (wedding, maybe, IDK) and she wanted the recipe so she could make them for the event. I also asked our Youth Minister's wife if she would like to get together and make them some time. We made pies together before and she is a delight.
Must run. Busy weekend. Back soon. I will be baking!
