Two Frugal Chicks

We visited Bar Harbor Maine last October and my sister and I had the most amazingly delicious blueberry pie I’ve ever had. I loved it so much I came back to ask the owner at Cottage Street Bakery how they achieved such an amazing crust. He gave me a few tips and I have to say mine is close to as good as theirs. If only I could get my hands on real Maine blueberries. They are smaller and more tart than our large berries of the NW.

Pie Crust
3 C pastry flour (If you don’t have pastry flour you can substitute 1 C all purpose flour and 1 C cake flour)
1/2 C Crisco
1/2 C butter
1 egg beaten
1/2 tsp salt
4 T ice water
1 T vinegar

Put bowl and pastry cutter in freezer while assembling your ingredients. Measure out the flour and cut in the Crisco and butter. Put the flour/crisco/butter mixture in the freezer.  In a small mixing bowl, beat the butter, beaten egg, salt, vinegar and water. Mix flour/crisco/butter mix with the wet ingredients until a dough forms. Don’t overwork the dough or it will be tough. Just work it enough to get it to turn out on to a lightly floured board or countertop and pat out two discs of dough. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and put in freezer for a few minutes to chill. The warmth of your hands and the kitchen will warm up the butter and you want it to be ice cold. Take out and place dough disc between two large pieces of plastic wrap and roll out. Peel off wrap and assemble your pie. Put the whole pie back into the freezer while you preheat the oven. Take pie out and bake.

Why I like this crust – the butter and crisco blend keep it flaky and buttery. Chilling every step of the way keeps the butter/crisco cold. When the cold butter/crisco hits the heat of the oven it releases steam and keeps the crust flaky and tender.

For my blueberry pie filling, I mixed 2 C frozen blueberries with a jar of blackberry jam. So I guess it was really a berry pie but the pronounced flavor was blueberry.

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Mmmm…beef vegetable soup, just what I was craving.  Warm and salty, comforting.  It’s definitely soup season.  For a soup like this, its all about the broth.  The broth has to be rich and flavorful, then you can add whatever veggies or meat you like.  Here’s what I did…..

First, I went to the store to pick up the beef.  I opted to buy a sirloin steak after seeing that I could get it much cheaper than already cut up stew meat.  Then I headed home and out to the garden.  I gathered leaks, kale, carrots, celery, jalapenos, potatoes, and beans. Out of my pantry, I grabbed a can of diced tomatoes with basil, tomato paste, beef broth, garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, flour and frozen peas from the freezer.  I chunked up the beef, and washed and diced up the veggies.

Grab a soup pot and put in about 2T. of olive oil.  Heat on medium-high heat.  While the oil is heating, in a pie plate, put 1-1/2C. flour, seasoning salt and lots of black pepper.  Coat each piece of meat in the flour, then brown it in the olive oil on all sides.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Add a little more oil to the pan if needed and add the leek and jalapeno and saute till tender, about 2 minutes.  Add 3 minced garlic cloves to the leeks and cook another minute.  Dump the leeks, jalapeno and garlic on top of the browned meat you have sitting to the side. Now add the celery, carrots, and potatoes to the pan, and saute for about 10 minutes to get them slightly browned.  To the veggies, add 6 cups of beef broth and stir to pick up all the golden deliciousness on the bottom of the pan, then add a can of diced tomatoes, 3 T. tomato paste, 3 bay leaves, the meat, leeks and garlic, 2C. of torn up kale and 1-1/2C. frozen peas.  I also added a handful of fresh beans that I shelled.  I used scarlet runner beans and when cooked, they had a lima bean thing going on, which nobody cared for but me.  Anyways, turn the heat down and let everything simmer.  The longer it simmers, the better.  Serve with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top and some crusty french bread.

Here’s the ingredient list (customize it to what your family likes)……

1-1/2 pound stew meat or chunked up beef (the longer the soup simmers, the more tender the beef will be)
1-1/2 C. flour
1 leek (white and light green parts only) or 1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 smallish potatoes, diced – I left the skin on
4 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped – use the leaves, too…they add great flavor
2 C. kale, torn into pieces
1-1/2 C. frozen peas
1 C. fresh beans
6 C. beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes
3 T. tomato paste
3 bay leaves
Olive oil
Seasoning salt
Pepper.