A family favorite that somehow got missed!

Baked Mac&Cheese Casserole

one medium onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced, if desired
2-3 large pats of butter and equivalent amount of flour
1 1/2 c. scalded milk

1/2 cup fresh ricotta
4 oz grated non-oily cheese (gouda, gruyere, havarti or swiss. Cheddar and American are wrong for this, don't use them)
3-4 c. egg noodles or rotini
1-2 cut up carrots
about 20 small florets broccoli
parsley, caraway, salt and pepper to taste
breadcrumbs
grated cheese (a hard and/or non-oily cheese works best. I like mozzarella or romano, but Monterery Jack is also nice. Cheddar and American are wrong for this, don't use them)

You can make this hours or days ahead of when you eat it. Make it on a Sunday afternoon, then pop it in the oven when you get home from work sometime later in the week.

In a large saucepan, boil enough water for the pasta. Add the carrots when you set the pot on the stove. Two minutes before the pasta/noodles are done, add the broccoli so that it just blanches. If the pasta is done before the sauce, drain it and set it aside in a greased casserole (I use cooking spray, but you can also grease it lightly with butter).

While the pasta is boiling, make the sauce:
Scald the milk in the microwave, about 5-6 minutes at 80% power.

While the milk is scalding, cook the onions (and celery if you like it) in a 2-quart saucepan in about a 1/4 c of water, until transparent. Melt the butter in the onions; before it browns add the flour and saute over very low flame for 2 minutes, stirring constantly and not allowing it to brown. Turn off the flame; when the sizzling stops, turn the heat back on low and add about 1/4 cup of the scalded milk. This will instantly create a thick paste; immediately start adding the rest of the milk very slowly, stirring constantly to create a creamy sauce. Add the seasonings and cheese and simmer uncovered very low for about 10 minutes, until cheese is completely blended, stirring occasionally, and being careful not to let it burn.

When the cheese is blended, fold the sauce into the pasta/veggie mixture, making sure that the carrots, and broccoli are evenly distributed throughout. Lightly sprinkle just enough bread crumbs to cover the top, then same thing with the grated cheese.

Bake uncovered at 350F for 25-30 minutes (depending on how browned you like your cheese).

Serves about 4

Let's try this

The kids are making Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year. I think we'd be here anyway, even if the family hadn't disintegrated as a unit; nearing 30 it's time. Wei and I had cooked Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter at least half a dozen times by the time we were 30.

So I am passing on to them two of our traditional (traditional for us, anyway) recipes.

Apple-raising stuffing
Makes 10 cups

This can be made the day before eating.

1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup butter
1 quart peeled, chopped apples
1 cup chopped celery
2 quarts toasted croutons*
1/2 cup golden raisins (NOT the dark ones)
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 egg
1/4 cup apple cider
1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning or herbes de Provence
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a Dutch oven (borrow one from your mom), saute onion in butter over medium heat until transparent (about 5 minutes). Stir in apples and celery, simmer uncovered over medium heat, stirring occasionally, again about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients, beating egg lightly before adding.

Set aside 4 cups to stuff the bird. The day before, or if you have a second oven, for the remainder, leave in the Dutch oven. Lightly brown two turkey drumsticks over high heat on the stovetop (don't cook through, just leave til they sizzle). Place these on top of the stuffing, cover and roast at 350 for an hour or until the drumsticks are cooked through. To reheat: take out of the fridge about an hour before reheating; place in a warm (300F) oven for 20 minutes after you take the turkey out.

*Easiest: buy the bag of plain croutons, (don't get the herbed ones). To make your own, cube bread (most recipes say French bread or baguette, but these aren't dense enough. Use a good polish whole grain loaf or other heavy white or whole grain bread). Spread on a rimmed cookie sheet (so they don't slide off) and put them in a warm oven, about 250F, for an hour, or until they are completely dry and crunchy.

Harvest Cider
8 servings (we usually double this)

2 cups water
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Zest from one orange
3 sticks cinnamon
2 teaspoons whole clove
1 teaspoon whole allspice (or 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 quarts apple cider
juice of 2-3 oranges
juice of 1/2 lemon

Heat first eight ingredients (through nutmeg) in a 2 quart saucepan. Once it boils, turn heat to a simmer; simmer covered for 20 minutes. Pour through strainer lined with cheesecloth. Transfer liquid to a large pot, add remaining liquids and heat until hot.

Two slaws

Basil coleslaw
1 small cabbage, shredded
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 carrot, grated
1/2 medium onion, grated

Dressing:
1/2 cup (homemade, see below) mayonnaise
1 T honey
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

Toss the vegetables together. Whisk the dressing, and mix.

Traditional cole slaw
1 green cabbage, shredded
2 large carrots, grated

Dressing:
3/4 cup (homemade) mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 small red onion, sliced very thin
1 T honey
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons celery salt (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Toss the vegetables together. Whisk the dressing, and mix.

Homemade Mayonnaise
Adapted from The Perfect Pantry via Little Blue Hen
Makes about 1 1/2- 2 cups

2 egg yolks, at room temperature
4 tablespoons warm water
1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 cup canola or olive oil, or a combination (using olive oil gives the mayo a pronounced olive oil flavor)
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 1/4 lemo

Put egg yolk, water, and mustard in the bowl of a 3-cup food processor. Run the blade to make sure it catches the mixture, dribble in a bit more water if needed or stir up the yolk to get it to catch. Run the food processor until the mixture is pale yellow (about 30 seconds or so).

The oil must be added very slowly to ensure that the mixture emulsifies. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil in a narrow (pencil tip width) steady stream. You can tell the emulsion is working because you'll start to hear slapping sounds as the food processor runs. Some recipes recommend stopping when about 1/3 of the oil has been added, and then continue to add by teaspoonfuls, but I've found it works fine to just keep the steady stream going. Stop the motor and check the mayonnaise to make sure it is emulsifying. If so, continue adding the oil slowly until it is all combined.

When all the oil has been added, add the salt and lemon juice. The lemon juice will help increase its shelf life. I've had this mayo last 3 months in the fridge.

It took me about 3 tries to get my rhythm on homemade mayo, but it is so superior to even the best store bought that once you get the hang of it, you'll never buy mayo again.

Originally posted 2/12/2011

Enjoy the recipes!

After a little more than 3 years of posting recipes, I'm suspending Mahlzeit for a while.

I started it as a family cookbook, and it got away from that a bit. If I come upon a recipe that we really like, I may drop it in here, but for now, I'll just keep cooking but not writing about it.

Visit me at my original blog, House of the Blue Lights, where I write about the empty nest, drawings at AlexandraSamiosNelson.com and poetry at Xanku.

Gute Mahlzeit!

Oh, just one more

Ran out of butter, so I made this instead of scones:

Walnut quick bread
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4  cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup evaporated unprocessed sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (for a sweeter bread use vanilla yogurt)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons walnut oil
1 cup (3 ounces) chopped walnuts
1/2 cup plumped golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat the eggs in a large bowl then whisk in the buttermilk or yogurt and the oils. Quickly whisk in the flour, and fold in the raisins and walnuts. Scrape into a prepared bread pan. Test at 40 minutes, to see if nicely browned and a tester comes out clean. If tester is not clean, continue testing in 5 minute increments. Cool on a rack. Serve with butter and honey.

based on: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/health/nutrition/02recipehealth.html

No Buy Feb becomes Plastic-free March

I did really really well not spending in February.

So in March it's cash all the way.

Pray for me.

Still not buying (much)

When you pay close attention to what you're buying, you start to notice all the things you buy without thinking about it.

Restaurant meals. Extra apples. A magazine. A book.  Lip balm.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy these things in No Buy February. The point of the exercise is to get rid of conspicuous consumption, not all consumption.

But when you're not whipping out that plastic to buy those cute pink gloves (I don't have pink gloves! They're only $15! They match my hat!), or the new Stephanie Plum novel (it's on Kindle! That's not like buying at all!), or the twofer day at the consignment shop (consignment isn't like buying, because someone else already bought it before me!), you start to notice all those nickles and dimes that financial planners are always telling you could put your kid through college.

And they really can. I did finally spend half that forty bucks that was in my purse, but it took nearly three weeks, because I stopped nickle and diming, partially because I was thinking about it, but partly because I simply haven't been going into any stores.

I did have to get a new card reader; mine has vanished without a trace. Otherwise, I'm still good.
Oh, right a recipe:

Marvelous maple oatmeal-raisin cookies
Use the recipe on the box, but substitute 2/3 cup of maple syrup for the sugar, and drain off about 3 tablespoons full of the egg to adjust the amount of liquid).

No Buy Valentine's Day

The universe, or at least American society, conspires against a "no-buy" pledge. The car needed a new drive belt. Otherwise, that's it. I have the same $40 in my wallet today that I had on Feb. 2.

No buy Valentine's Day is actually a breeze, comparatively. I made pie.

I used this recipe for the filling (although I cut the sugar in half), and a standard lard-based crust, using honey liqueur instead of water.

This is also a Dark Days recipe-- the only non-local ingredient was the sugar, which I purchase at a locally-owned mom-and-pop.

Role reversal

It's been a topsy-turvey winter, and it's a traditional topsy-turvey month, what with it having too few, but still too many days in it and all.

February 29 is even rarer than a blue moon, so on that day, the girl gets to ask the boy out, which is probably why it got the honor. Well, as far as every Sadie Hawkins Dance I've ever heard of, anyway.

Originally, Sadie Hawkins Day was in November, having debuted on November 15. All the sources tell you that Sadie Hawkins Day is NOT February 29, that this is a "common misperception," but it seems to me to be one of those "common misperceptions" that everyone holds, except scholars, your annoying cousin who has to be right about everything, and Sheldon from Big Bang Theory (just speculating). Reading about it has kind of been one of those "I hate Google" experiences.

The Wikipedia article doesn't even acknowledge the concept that it might be associated with Feb. 29, so apparently your  cousin edits the Sadie Hawkins wikipedia page.

So, with all due respect to the mavens, your cousin, and Al Capp:

Sadie Hawkins cookies
Use original recipe for toll house cookies, but cut flour to 2 cups, substituing 2/3 cup cocoa powder; substitute white chocolate chips for semi-sweet.

Ladies, use them to invite your sweetheart up to see your etchings (of L'il Abner).

No Buy February

I'm a day late, but it doesn't matter if I'm a dollar short, because February is "No Buy" month!

Basically what you're trying to do is not buy anything you don't need. What starts to happen is you begin to define "need." Clearly food, but how about clothes? Dinner out? Valentine's Day card or gift (can't you make something instead?).

I'll extend it this year and say if you do buy something not strictly necessary, no using the credit card. This month pay for what you buy, when you buy it. (Sorry, that means you can't buy anything on line, unless you use your debit account, which is not a good plan on line.)

Check out last year's post for the "rules."

Baking to share

One of the better side effects of baking is a warm kitchen. Our kitchen is freezing because it (like the rest of our old house) isn't insulated.  Unlike the rest of our old house, however, the kitchen is new(ish) and it's our fault it isn't insulated. The criminal that we hired to do it sold us on the concept that the plastic moisture barrier "has the same R factor as insulation" and we were such idiots we didn't call him on it.

So it's a good idea to bake in the winter--it gets the kitchen nice and warm.

Of course, the downside of baking so much is lots of fattening goodies in the house.  Last week's turtle cupcakes are still calling my name and now there's almost 3 dozen of these tormenting me as well.  I will need to be giving them away, or I'll just sit here eating them, because they're pretty yummy.

Glazed lemon-coriander cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 T crushed coriander
zest of one lemon
juice of 1/4 lemon*
2/3 cup honey (or 2/3 cup sugar, which will make a sweeter, heavier cookie)
2/3 cup plain yogurt*
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
optional: 1/4- 1/3 cup crushed walnuts or pecans (I like the crunch)

Preheat oven to 375F/190C

Cream together first six ingredients. Beat the honey, yogurt and egg, and beat about 1/3 of it into the butter mixture.  Slowly add the flour, alternating with the remaining wet ingredients. Fold in the nuts and drop dough in rounded teaspoons onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Makes a soft, cake-y cookie.

Allow to cool completely, then glaze with a lemon glaze:

1T butter, melted
pinch of salt
juice of 1/3 lemon
powdered sugar, enough to make a thick but pourable consistency (about 1/3+ cup)

Drizzle over the cookies and allow to set.

*the recipe I based this on called for buttermilk or sour milk and no lemon juice, just zest. Since I added lemon juice for a lemonier (is that a word?) flavor, I substituted the less-acidic yogurt. Also, I had no buttermilk. If you really want to punch up the lemon flavor, add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon extract, but I think that would overwhelm the delicate coriander flavor.

This is a Dark Days treat-- only the lemon is not local.

No such thing as "one pot"

So, I'm Greek, which basically means that I am constitutionally incapable of using only one pot.  The following "one pot" meal actually used 4 pots, a jar and two bags and that was before I got to the biscuits.

Squash soup with caramelized onions
2-3 cups veggie stock
Cream or half-half
1 quart squash puree (I used acorn)
3 medium garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1 large onion
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 T molasses

Make stock using the frozen bits and pieces you've been saving.  Add the puree, salt and pepper to taste and blend with a whisk.  In a cast iron skillet, melt the butter until it foams, then add the onions. Turn down the heat and sautée at least 10 minutes until onions start to brown and lose their shape. Add the molasses and continue to sautée on low heat, stirring occasionally. Add to the soup and stir.  Use the cream or half-half to thin and cool the soup after serving. Do not reheat the soup with the milk product in it as it will curdle.

For a little crunch, garnish with walnuts or pecans. Serve with....

Spicy cheesy biscuits
Standard biscuit recipe
1/2 cup grated cheese (any cheese at all will do)
roasted jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

Mix the biscuit dough, adding the peppers and cheese to the dry ingredients, then blending with the wet. Cook per biscuit instructions.

This also qualifies as a 100% Dark Days meal, as all ingredients were preserved from my garden, or acquired from local sources.

Stop SOPA and PIPA

Just taking a break for a political statement (since I can't figure out how to actually make the site go dark).

I want to help to raise awareness of two bills in congress: H.R.3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" and S.968 "PROTECT IP", which could radically change the landscape of the Internet. These bills provide overly broad mechanisms for enforcement of copyright which would restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user-submitted content, such as all those great recipes you love to make, and important articles that get shared on sites like this one. (Thanks reddit for the content, most of which I stole verbatim)

Please take today as a day of focus and action to learn about these destructive bills and do what you can to prevent them from becoming reality.

Make a call.


Sign the petition.

Thanks.  Come back tomorrow for a one-pot meal!

Reconstructing a memory

My mother used to make pineapple-apricot pie using whole fruit. Given that this was the 60s and 70s, she probably used canned fruit; I'm pretty sure I never saw a fresh apricot until I was an adult, but still, this was a whole fruit pie.

Mom kept all her recipes in a little wooden box; after she died I always knew the recipes were in there, but didn't have the heart to open the box. Crispy, crumbly cheese crackers; spice cake with caramel icing; pineapple upsdie-down cake. And this pie.

I've written before about opening the box finally, more than a decade after she died, only to discover that the box was empty. Wrenching.

The pineapple pie is one I've always wanted to make, so I started hunting around the web for recipes, and I can't find one that uses whole, let alone fresh, fruit. One calls for dried apricots, another for frozen pineapple concentrate. All use canned fruit in heavy (!) syrup.  So I'm making it up folks. Call it hubris.

Fresh Pineapple-apricot pie
Crust:
2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup finely ground walnuts
2/3 cup shortening (yes, I use lard)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 T apricot liqueur

Filling:
1 fresh pineapple, cut into bite-sized chunks
2-3 T crystal sugar

1 quart halved, pitted whole apricots
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup wheat pastry flour
1 T corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg white, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 425

Crust:
Toss the ground nuts, flour and salt, cut in the shortening until crumbly. Add the liqueur one tablespoon at a time, and work it in with a fork, using only enough to wet the dough until it sticks together. Divide into two equal pieces and chill. (You can roll them into thick disks first if you like.)

Butter or spray a 9-inch pie plate. Remove half the dough from the refrigerator. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to form a disc, 1/8-inch thick and 2 inches larger than the pie plate. If it's a weird shape, as mine always is, trim it and puzzle-piece it into a disc, lightly rolling again to make the extra pieces stick.  Use a spatula to help lift the dough and transfer it to the pie plate. Press it lightly in the plate to fit.  Trim, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Place in the refrigerator to keep cold. You'll use the rest of the dough to create a lattice top. Note: the nut crust is not quite as elastic as a traditional flour crust, so you have to handle it very gently.

For the filling, start by draining off some of the juice from the pineapples: macerate the pieces in the sugar for one hour. Because this recipe uses honey instead of sugar to sweeten, there's a lot of liquid, so don't skip this step. Drain and conserve the juice.*

Once you've drained the pineapple, place all fruit in a large bowl. Toss with the vanilla, honey, cornstarch and flour; mix thoroughly.

Lightly brush the bottom crust all over with the lightly whipped egg white; spoon in the filling and dot with butter.

Roll out the remaining dough and cut nto strips 3/4-inch wide to make a lattice cover over the filling. Trim the overhang to 1 inch. Moisten the edges of the crusts where they meet with a little water, then press them together lightly and turn them under. Crimp the edges.

Brush the lattice crust and the rim with the cream. Optional: sprinkle the surface with 2 tablespoons of turbinato sugar.

Bake 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375°F and bake until it is golden and the juices are bubbling, about 50 to 60 minutes.  Let the pie cool on a wire rack before serving. 

*Pineapple syrup
Use the rinds and conserved juice to make a simple syrup: Boil the rinds all in 5 cups of water until the fruit starts falling off the rind. Drain and continue to boil, adding juice of 1/2 lemon, and 1 1/2 cups sugar, until volume is reduced to 2 to 3 cups (depending on how syrupy a syrup you want). Drain thoroughly. Keeps about 2 weeks.

A Dark Days offering

Seasonal, Organic, Local, Ethical

And vegan (which is about as ethical as a meal gets). All the ingredients in this meal came from my garden, except the chili powder, which is the hot organic from The Spice House.

SOLE chili

2 Thai peppers (or other hot pepper, I just happened to have these)
1 medium onion, diced
1 roasted green pepper, diced
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
5-6 small carrots, cut into rough chunks
1 quart roasted eggplant
1 cup heirloom beans (I used Tiger Eye)
 Spinach, 4 oz uncooked
1 quart roasted tomatoes
1 pint tomato sauce
2-3 T chili powder (to taste)

Saute the onion and peppers in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add the cilantro and simmer a couple of minutes. Add the carrots, tomato and eggplant, season to taste.  Simmer about 10 minutes, add the beans. Continue to simmer about an hour. Serve with cornbread.

I used the roasted vegetables--peppers, eggplant, tomatoes--that I had cooked and frozen from last summer's garden.

Served with this cornbread, but Snarky Vegan recommends this vegan recipe.

Chamomile

This year's One Seed Chicago choices are chamomile, basil, and cilantro. I think it's the first year that I've actually liked every choice, and would feel just fine no matter which one wins (last tiny sniff for last year's loser- eggplant). I'll do some posts on the other two choices as well.

Therefore, I'm not tipping my hand, (I'll do some posts on the other two choices as well) but I want to depress some misinformation that has started to get out there via Mike Nowak's show during the announcement:

Chamomile is not hard to grow

I first planted chamomile maybe a decade ago. It's the only time I've ever planted it, and yet I get more chamomile every year than I can use. This is because it reseeds. And I just let it go--I have

Grown for a plant sale in 2011

chamomile in the ornamental beds, in the herb beds, in the berry patch, in the tomatoes, in the onions. It's kind of fun to see where it pops up. If it's really somewhere that I don't want it, I let it get about 5 inches tall, and then move it.

Chamomile is pretty, and it behaves itself. Unlike other flowering herbs, like dill, it doesn't get leggy or wild. The biggest drawback of chamomile is that it's a drag to harvest.

I suppose there are probably other uses for chamomile, but primarily I use it for tea. The tea is made from the yellow seed heads, and you want them without the white petals. I wait for the petals to drop, then I grap the top of a given plant, and just hack all the seed heads off with their stems. Then, unfortunately, you have to remove the stems from all the hundreds of tiny seed heads, and any petals that are left. I put it in a pie pan to dry. Don't crumble it (it may fall apart on its own); store in jars.

What you're left with is the most flavorful tea you can imagine. You'll never drink commercial chamomile tea again--the flavor is a pale shadow of the real thing. I grow enough every year to get me through the winter, because you barely need any to make a pot since the flavor is so strong.

As far as next year, it's just about impossible to harvest it all, so some of the seed heads will fall into the soil, and you'll have chamomile next year too. I'm a little worried this year, because a lot of chamomile has sprouted already because of the extended warmth this year.

Self-seeded chamomile in my Savory Walk

Maybe it will be the first year I need to replant! If so, I might get some seeds from One Seed Chicago.

Ginger

I had a large piece of ginger left from the ginger pie (with ginger whipped cream*) thatI made for Christmas, so I decided to play around with it and made honey-candied ginger, pickled ginger, crystallized ginger, and ginger syrup (another "waste not" recipe!)

The honey ginger is the winner.

Ginger Syrup
2 cups water
ginger peels from the other recipes
about 2 cups ginger "stock" from making the candy and pickles

1 1/2 cups sugar
juice of 1/4 lemon
lemon zest
pinch of salt

Make 1 more cup of "stock" by boiling the ginger peels in the water; turn heat to simmer and continue to cook until it is reduced by half. Add to the stock from the other recipes. Add the remaining ingredients and heat until the sugar is completely melted. Continue to simmer until the syrup is reduced by a third to half (depending on how thick a syrup you want). You should end up with about 2 cups of syrup.

Use as pancake syrup, or to flavor tea, cocktails, or sparkling water.

*Ginger whipped cream
1 cup heavy cream
2 T powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 cup ginger liqueur

In a small bowl, whip the cream until it starts to thicken. Add the remaining ingredients and continue to beat until stiff, about 3-5 minutes.  For best results, put the bowl and the beaters in the freezer for at least 3 hours before hand.

Playing with pie crust

I did a lot of baking this week and didn't want to make a dessert pie, so I made a quiche instead.

 I always avoided pies because I was afraid of the crust. Well, it turns out the crust is the easy part. I make quiche a lot, but only recently started using my own crust once I realized this. Today I added green tea powder and dried mint (about 1/4 teaspoon each) to the flour, and mixed it with some green mint tea still sitting in the pot from this morning.

After a couple of false starts, I seem to have developed a bit of a knack for a tender and flaky crust.  I've been playing around with the basic recipe; here are some of my variations.

Basic pie crust
2 cups flour (I use a wheat pastry flour)
2/3 cup shortening (yes, I've been using lard, from humanely-raised local pigs)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4-6 teaspoons water

Whisk the flour and salt, then cut in the shortening until it's mixed to pea-sized bits. Add the liquid a tablespoonful at a time, mixing it with a fork, and being careful not to overwork any single portion of the the dough. The more you handle it, the tougher it will be. I've found because lard is so moist, I usually need only 3-4 tablespoons of liquid.

Finish the last bit of combining with your hands, divide dough into two equal pieces and flatten into disks. Put one away while you roll out the other, it's easier to handle when it's slightly chilled.

Some variations:

You can alter the flour. I've substituted

1/4 cup oats + 1/4 cup ground walnuts

1/4 rice flour

mixed white and wheat flour

used only whole wheat (nice for a quiche)

I've add the following to the crust (not all at once):

dried orange zest

a tablespoon of raw sugar (this is nice for dessert pies)

various sweet or savory spices including 

ground coriander, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, ground clove

green tea powder

dried mint

You can mess with the liquid you use too. I've substituted

tea (including a green mint)

apple cider

orange juice

liqueur

Christmas dinner

I make menu cards every year for our Christmas dinners, using seasonal photos from the garden. Here are the ones from the past few years.

2008

2009

2011

 ( Don't know where 2010 disappeared to!)

Waste not

Apple, pear or peach peels. Cherry pits. Lemon rinds. Orange rinds. Chard stems.

You should not be throwing any of these away. Any time you use a lemon, orange or lime, zest it before you discard the rind. Leave the zest out for a couple of days on a paper towel, or zap it for a minute (literally, just one minute) in the microwave to dry it, and save it in an old spice jar. This will be the best zest you ever use short of fresh, and essentially free.

All vegetable discards, with the possible exception of potato peels, should be thrown in a ziplock and frozen for a quick stock.

Fruit peels can be turned into simple syrups--a couple of cups of peels, a couple of cups of water and some sugar and lemon juice makes enough syrup for a drink or two.

Here's another stick-to-your ribs Dark Days meal for a gloomy cold day, using this principal!

Potato-leek soup, with a twist
1 large or several small leeks
2 very large russets
3-4 white carrots
2 small parsnips
1 small turnip
2 T butter
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon white peppercorns
Apple stock

Now, then, you've frozen those apple peels from all that apple sauce and pie, right? Right? Good. Because it makes a wonderful stock for soups--sweet and heavy, and able to give vegetarian soups the closest thing to an umami flavor you can get without adding soy sauce.  To make stock, put a quart or more of the peels into a quart of water and boil down to three cups (about 10-20 minutes). Drain and set aside.

Peel and roughly cut, into bite sized pieces, the root vegetables and boil until very soft.  Drain. Slice the leeks and saute in a couple tablespoons of a high-heat oil like grapeseed or olive. Add butter and the drained roots to the pan and stir over medium heat until the butter is melted. Grind the seasoning and stir it in.  Add the stock and simmer a couple hours (or less, if you're impatient). This is not a smooth soup, don't blend it please, you'll want to taste all those lovely chunks.

If you must, fry up some bacon and add it. Cool the soup with a little half-and-half (don't add it directly to the pot; if you reheat this soup with dairy in it, it will curdle).  I served this with homemade cheesy biscuits.