Another action packed weekend, but what can you expect?  It is the summer and we are super busy.  Friday evening I sold the Honda Accord and on Saturday I knew it was time to start looking at vehicles immediately.  We were looking for a truck with an extended cab for the little turkeys.  I surfed the classified ads and lined up a number of vehicles to look at for Saturday.  When I was off to look at the first couple, my mother-in-law started making one of my favorite pies - Rhubarb Pie.

When I walked back in the house, all I could smell was fresh pastry and you could not whip the smile off my face.  It was ridiculously good.  Tart on the inside and flaky on the outside.  Topped with a little Vanilla Ice Cream ( or a lot), I was in heaven.  Remember just the other day when I did a post on rhubarb - it is very good for you!  You have to try it.  Here are the steps to make this treat.

Ingredients

• 2 – 4 tablespoons ice water
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
• Egg wash of 1 yolk whisked with 1 tablespoon water
• 4 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1 1/3 cups white sugar
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Sift together the flour and salt; sift again. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
3. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time (approximately 3 tablespoons in all), stirring the dough around the bowl with a fork.
4. As soon as it is moist enough to gather into a ball, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
5. Handle the dough as little as possible. Roll half of the pastry dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8-inch thickness.
6. The pastry should be about 1 1/2 inches larger than the the pie plate.
7. Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of it over pastry in pie plate. Heap rhubarb over this mixture. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and flour. Dot with small pieces of butter. Cover with top crust.
8. Sprinkle top crust with sugar.
9. Place pie on lowest rack in oven. Bake for 15 minutes.
10. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes.
11. Serve warm or cold.
12. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Don’t over sugar the rhubarb as it is supposed to be tart.  Using a little flour in the filling will allow the rhubarb to create somewhat of it’s own sauce and not become too runny or loose.

Saturday afternoon proved to be exciting.  We made a decision on a new truck!  We ended up buying a Dodge Dakota Sport and so far we are very pleased.  Here are a couple of smaller pictures.  I have not had a chance to take any pictures as of yet.

So there you have it.  A zesty weekend summarized in 20 lines or less.  I hope you have a great kick off to your week and I will be back tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Do you like Rhubarb?  Ever try Rhubarb?  I myself, love rhubarb.  Whether it is just cooked on the stove, gently sugared, chilled and served on fresh biscuits or in a pie/dessert – I cannot get enough.

I thought that this was a fun topic to share with you as I know a lot of people tend not to eat this delicious food.  So I gathered some information both from my head, from family and internet sources to share with you today.

Background

Even though rhubarb is considered a vegetable, it is most often treated as a fruit.  Rhubarb provides a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and calcium. It is usually eaten cooked, and just like fresh cranberries, rhubarb is almost unbearably tart on its own.  It  needs the added sweetness of sugar, honey, or fruit juice to balance out the acidity. Since rhubarb is primarily used for pie, it is also referred to by it’s nickname the “pie plant”.

Benefits

1. Can lower cholesterol – With its sweet taste, rhubarb surely is easy to get down. Along with the bonus of tasting good, rhubarb lowers cholesterol. Because of the vitamins and nutrients, this helps reduce the risk of harmful diseases. Rhubarb is a sure thing to take if you are suffering from high cholesterol.
2. Rhubarb stimulates the metabolic rate – This makes it a great for people who want to loose unwanted pounds. The dietary properties are promoted with the usage of fiber and potassium. With the potassium it is said to speed up your metabolism to help you lose weight.
3. Low in carbohydrates – Everyone is trying to find the latest health benefit for fruits and vegetables. The best health benefit of rhubarb is that it is low in carbohydrates. When you have something that is low in carbohydrates, you can still feel ok when you over consume on occasion.

So there you have my take on Rhubarb.  If you have not yet tried it – you should.  I think you will love it.  If you have any Rhubarb questions by all means let me know and I will try to answer them.  I have grown up with Rhubarb and always look forward to it each year.

Have a great Wednesday and I will talk to you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend.  It was a very very cold weekend here and therefore was a great excuse to do some good old fashion baking as well spend some quality time with the family.

Contest Winners

Lets get the day started with our contest winners! After a very strong response to my giveaway post for 2 copies of the great book “FUNDAMENTALS OF PHOTOGRAPHY” we officially have our winners.   The random number generator popped out 147 and 161 which corresponds to:

VeganLisa                      Teeni

I just want to say Congratulations to Lisa and Teeni and thank you to everyone who participated. It was a lot of fun seeing all the comments, link backs as well as new subscribers. Stay tuned for another giveaway in February.

Homemade Turkey Pot Pie

After any turkey day, for as long as I can remember, we’ve always had a ton of left overs.  All kinds of leftovers in the form of vegetables, gravy, turkey etc.  Sometimes I have a craving for an old fashioned turkey pot pie to utilize some of those ingredients.

Below is a simple little recipe that tastes great on its own or with a quick and simple Caesar salad on the side.

Ingredients

FLAKY TENDER PIE CRUST (makes enough for two pies 9″ diameter)

• 2 – 4 tablespoons ice water
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
• 1/2 cup Crisco shortening
• Egg wash of 1 yolk whisked with 1 tablespoon water

PIE FILLING

• 1 cup of gravy
• 1/2 cup cooked carrots (chopped or sliced)
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1/2 cup peas
• 3/4 cup chopped turkey meat (cooked)

Method

1. In a large bowl, stir together one cup of flour, sugar and salt. With a hand-held pastry blender, cut butter into flour until butter is dime-sized.
2. Add shortening, cut into mixture til dime-sized. Lightly stir in remaining flour. Sprinkle with half the water. With a full palm, squeeze flour together against side of bowl.
3. Rub hands together to drop damp flour into mixture. Add just enough water to hold together; the less water the better, dry crumbs on the bottom are good.
4. Refrigerate. Preheat oven to 375F.
5. Sprinkle work surface with flour. Cut dough in half, return second piece to fridge. Sprinkle dough with flour. Working in just one direction, roll dough into an oval the diameter of the pie plate plus its sides. Slip a bench knife beneath the dough to loosen, turn 90 degrees. Roll again to form a circle. Brush off excess flour.
6. Bake bottom crust until golden brown.
7. Prepare filling in a bowl by adding gravy, corn, peas, carrots and turkey.  Mix together and season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Roll out top crust. Fill bottom crust with your filling. Gently flip top crust over filling, brush off excess flour. Trim excess pastry, then turn under and press to form and seal the edge. Crimp decoratively. Slice top to vent. Brush top (but not edges) with egg wash.
9. Bake 35 minutes or until top crust is golden brown and juices inside are bubbling.
10. Let cool for 5 minutes prior to slicing.



11. ENJOY!

I really hope you enjoyed today’s post.  I want to thank everyone for participating in the contest and send out a special congratulations to the winners.  Have a great week and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty