Best Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

Best Homemade, From Scratch Pie Crust 

If you are looking for a from scratch pie crust recipe that is easy, foolproof and downright melt-in-your mouth then here ya go!!

Pie are ALWAYS in season...apple pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie. (OMG I can so relate to Forrest Gump's friend, Bubba right now)  So many pie possibilities I'm smiling just thinking about it. (I really am smiling right now by the way)

A good pie must first start with a good pie crust! Most homemade, from scratch pie crust recipes I've tried are pretty bland, which probably isn't the recipes fault. Pie crusts are usually boring in order not to compete with the pie itself. Understable. Not agreeing but understandable.

However, I'm a sucker for a scratch- made pie crust that is buttery tasting (yes pie crust should always be made with REAL butter in my book!), tender and just makes you wanna keep pinching lil pieces of crust off the edge to eat. You know what I'm talking about? Oh Oh Oh and it also has to be EASY and fool proof because it is no secret that I suck am still learning how to make breads and thangs from scratch.

I honestly can't tell you when was the last time I've purchased a store-bought pie crust.  Now that I know how to make an incredible homemade pie crust I've actually gotten a little uppity when it comes to store-bought crust. I don't like there odd color or the smell of it's fake, processed ingredients. Butter, sugar, flour and salt. Yes that's what makes a REAL pie crust. Oh wait...this recipe has butter Crisco in it...um.... Ok so ONE questionable ingredient doesn't count! (p.s I will still nail a store bought pie crust because I'm greedy, but that doesn't mean I would buy it myself!)

I call this recipe The Best Homemade Pie Crust  because well... I have yet to taste a homemade crust with this much flavor yet still remains subtle. Yes, it knows it's place. It compliments any pie beautifully and that makes it perfect!

One of my readers told me that if you substitute the cold water for cold half n half it takes the curst to whole different level of yumminess! Well she didn't use those words but I'm soooooo ready to try it out and see!! Thanks so much to whoever sent me that tip! I'll update this post once I try the halfnhalf method

Watch me make this homemade pie crust recipe from start to finish

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick of cold butter, chopped in pieces
1/2 cup cold butter-flavored shortening
1/2 cup ice cold water (add more by the tablespoon if the dough is too dry)

Thanksgiving Cooking Tips

How To Survive Thanksgiving Cooking

Is it me or are these holidays just coming and going at the speed of lightening??? Geez Thanksgiving will be here in a few weeks! Well you know what they say, the older you get the faster time flies.  Wow....that was kind of depressing huh?  Anyway, I'm rambling. Let's talk THANKSGIVING!!

For some people the mere thought of having to cook a Thanksgiving meal causes their stomachs to do all kinda strange things and for others it's like a kid at Christmas time. I'm somewhere in between. I've only cooked a full Thanksgiving meal a couple of times. It's not as hard as it may seems but it does require work, proper planning and a glass of wine.

Here are a few tips to make prepping that Thanksgiving meal as stress-free as possible!

Leave your tips for minimizing the stress on Thanksgiving cooking below!

Marinara Sauce Recipe (Vegan)

We rarely eat tomato sauce in our house due to Sam's and my tomato sensitivities. We can have tomatoes every now and then, though, and every once in a while we crave spaghetti with tomato sauce. I don't cook with onions and garlic, so my marinara sauce is flavored with lots of dry spices. This marinara sauce is rich and flavorful - perfect to put over spaghetti/pasta, gnocchi, or even on a pizza.

Marinara Sauce Recipe

2 tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 cups of canned tomato puree or crushed tomatoes(about half of a 28 oz. can)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (depending on your taste)
1/4 tsp pepper
2 bay leaves

In a medium size sauce pan, add the olive oil and turn the heat to Medium High. Add the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined. Let the sauce heat up to a boil, then cover the pot, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 30 minutes or longer. Remove the bay leaves before serving. Serve over your favorite pasta. Serves 2 adults (and one small child).

Halloween Treat Recipes

Adorable Halloween Treats

Halloween food, haunted houses, tons of candy, scary movies... Hallooooooweeeeeeen is right around the corner!! When Oct. 31st rolls around I get all antsy and excited! I can spend hours in the Halloween store just browsing and visually party planning. There is just something fun about being spooked (although I refuse to watch scary movies) because weird things always happen around this time.

If you have a Halloween party in the works then here are a few quick and easy Halloween treat recipes that are great for kids parties or even for adults! 

Watch this video to see how I create all of these adorable Halloween treat recipes!

Halloween Googly Monster Cupcakes 
I love a unique looking cupcake and these googly monster cupcakes certainly fit the bill! Great for kids Halloween parties. (Thanks Taste of Homes for providing this cool recipe!!)

Ingredients:
6 chocolate cupcakes, prepared (I used black cupcake liners)
1 can of vanilla icing
Orange food coloring (or any color of choice)
1 cup of chow mein noodles
12 pretzels sticks
12 mini marshmallows
blue or black icing pen to make eyeballs (got mine from walmart) 


*NOTE:* If needed, clean up any running frosting off the cupcake paper while the icing is still wet.

Halloween Bones
These bones are just so adorable and pretty realistic looking if you take your time. (clearly I didn't) Arrange them in a heaping pile on a tray.


Ingredients:
15 preztel sticks
30 mini marshmallows
4-5 squares of almond bark (can also use white chocolate)


*NOTE* Be sure to clean up any extra almond bark on the bones. These bones will freeze exactly how you leave them, so try to get them as neat looking as possible before you freeze them. If you're a perfectionist, use a paint brush for a flawless finish. Be careful when removing them from the baking sheet. Store in the refrigerator.

Halloween Severed Witch Finger Cookies
These little boney, wrinkled, green witch cookies are so fun to eat! Make them look even more gross by adding red food coloring around the fingernails and the bottom with a food coloring pen. Or tint the "fingernail" dough brown or even black! (Use my homemade sugar cookies recipe if you have time, it taste much better than the tubed stuff)

Ingredients:
Sugar Cookie dough (can use homemade or store-bought. If using store-bought make sure you get the roll and cut-out kind, not the kind you slice and bake)
green food coloring

Bake at 350 for 6-9 minutes.
(cookies will look sorta undone when you bring them out of the oven. This will allow them to be chewy yet firm once cooled. Let them cool in the pan completely and then place the pan in the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm them up a bit.

*NOTE* Do a test run and bake 1-2 fingers so that you will know how much the dough will spread. that way you will know how thin you need to make your witch fingers. 

Be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter over on the right and be on the look out for my Halloween Edition newsletter filled with more Halloween recipes and tips!

Need more great Halloween recipes? Check out these other yummy Halloween treats!

Moderation Nation Contest

Contest Closed
Moderation Nation Giveaway!

Must be an Email Subscribers To Be Eligible.

WINNER ANNOUNCED ON NOV. 3. 2010

WINNER IS COMMENT #5!!!!

(chosen by random.org)

Congrats SunyBlak!!


Redrew on Nov.18
Winner is comment #1
Congrats Diva_Beaute!

Please send me your mailing address.

Thanks to all who took the time to enter and for leaving such great comments! More contests to come this month!

Ok so The Hershey Center for Health & Nutrition, has collaborated with the American Dietetic Association and created Moderation Nation!! (Ahhh I love how it just rolls off the tongue) Moderation Nation! Seriously, say it. You like? 

Anyway, www.themoderationnation.com is full of all kinda stuff to help you stay fit and fabulous! You can still eat your favorite stuff, just do it in, you guessed it, moderation! Moderation Nation provides tons of tools to make it easier for busy peeps to stay fit like seven-day meal planners, healthy snack ideas, and even a meal balancing calculate that takes the guess work out of what to fix with foods you already have on hand.

My Thoughts:
I love the concept of this website! It's neat and clean, very easy to navigate. I was so excited to use the meal balance tool . I selected my meat that I had on hand (chicken) then selected the way I wanted to cook it (baked) and filled in a few more options before hitting submit. It showed my results but no recipes. Maybe it was just my computer or I was doing something wrong but I tried several times. I really love the moderation menus, just wish they were on the site and not in a PDF file. I like how lowfat hershey's desserts are listed on the site. Who doesn't love a good, low-fat chocolate dessert? Sign me up!


As a prize for one of my beautiful readers Moderation Nation is giving away this wonderful Moderation Nation Prize Pack! Which includes:

1. A moderation nation t-shirt (I use it to work out in)
2. A moderation journal to record your food intake or tips. (I use it as a to-do list)
3. A full-size bag of Hershey's kisses (I know these are only to reward yourself for doing good, but I nailed this whole bag in a 2 days. *sigh*)

 

How to enter:

Simply leave a comment below answering:

What's your best advice for eating healthy and sticking to it???

(I'm all ears because God knows I need to hear this. I can never stick to it when I attempt to eat healthy)

Prize pack, information and giveaway provided by Hershey'st hrough MyBlogSpark.

Fabulous Mixed Berry Pie Recipe (Vegan)

Many years ago I created this pie recipe when I needed a dessert for a holiday meal. The addition of Allspice to the pie filling really adds great flavor. I always use frozen berries to make this pie, and the consistency of the filling comes out perfect every time. The picture above is a mixed berry pie with strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries in it.

Fabulous Mixed Berry Pie Recipe

2 - 12 oz. bags of frozen unsweetened mixed berries (24 oz. or 1-1/2 lbs)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp salt

1 recipe of Flaky Pie Crust (I use 2 cups of just unbleached flour for it, not both types of flour)

Top with Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lay a piece of aluminum foil on the oven rack where you are going to bake the pie just in case any of the filling runs over.

In a medium sauce pan add the frozen berries, sprinkle the sugar and the flour evenly over the berries, and add the Allspice and the salt. Turn the heat onto Medium and gently stir everything together. Continue to stir the berries over Medium heat constantly for about 5 minutes until it is well mixed and the filling has a nice consistency.

Make the pie crust dough and divide it in half. Lay a large piece of wax paper on your work surface, form half of the dough into a ball and set it in the middle of the wax paper. Take another large piece of wax paper and cover the ball and roll it out into a large circle between the wax paper pieces that is bigger than your pie pan.

Spray a 9" pie pan with non-stick cooking spray. Remove the top piece of wax paper, and invert the rolled out pie crust over the pie pan and peel the wax paper off it. Use your fingers to gently press the crust into the pie pan and let the edges hang over the sides. Pour the pie filling into the crust.

Form the second half of the dough into a ball and set it on the wax paper again, cover it with the other piece of wax paper, and roll it into a circle large enough to cover the top of the pie with edges hanging over. Remove the top piece of wax paper and make a few slits into the pie crust. Once again, invert the pie crust over the pie to cover it evenly and peel away the wax paper. Press the two crust edges together and roll them under and just inside the edge of the pie pan. After you've done that around the whole pie, use a fork to gently press the crust to the edges of the pie pan all around the pie. Top the pie with a sprinkling of Sugar in the Raw.

Bake the pie for 1 hour. Let it cool before serving it.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe (Vegan)

I grew up eating my Mom's roasted pumpkin seeds every Fall after we carved our pumpkins. Her recipe was from our neighbor, Mrs. Hallam. It has Worcestershire sauce and butter in it, so I can't make these seeds for my family. I created this recipe so Sam could enjoy roasted pumpkin seeds every Fall, too. We just carved our pumpkins for Halloween yesterday, so we are all currently munching on roasted pumpkin seeds at the moment.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

3 cups of clean, dry, raw, fresh pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Carve your Halloween pumpkins and separate out the pulp from the seeds. Rinse off the seeds to get all of the pulp off of them and lay them out in a single layer on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet or two to dry out over night, or for a few days if need be. When the seeds are dry, you can roast them.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Measure out 3 cups of dry seeds. Add them to a mixing bowl along with the vegetable oil and the salt. Use a spoon to mix it all together.

Pour out the pumpkin seeds and lay them out in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet or sheets. Roast them for 1 hour total roasting time, taking them out every 15 minutes and using a spatula to turn all of the seeds and lay them out again in a single layer. At the 1 hour mark, your seeds will be darkened and crispy. Let them cool, store them in an air-tight container, and enjoy!

----------------

For those of you who can do Worcestershire sauce and butter, here is Mrs. Hallam's original pumpkin seed recipe:

2 cups of clean, dry, raw, fresh pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

(for 3 cups of seeds, use 2 1/4 tbsp melted butter, 1 3/4 tsp salt, and 3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce)

Follow the roasting instructions above, and enjoy!  These are truly decadent.