Fresh Peach Pie!

The peaches are plenty and perfect right now and we've been having lots of peach pie in the last week and are not even close to sick of it :)  I even canned about 12 jars of peach pie filling with Devin's mom for a quick, ready to go dessert this fall! Sorry the pie filling I canned is different than this one. 

Devin saw this in the fridge and said "That looks like a good peach pie!" - opposed to my other ones that are not good peach pies? Not sure, but either way I thought it was necessary to dig this post out of the archives and share with you again! I also made an update to the filling. 
My favorite thing about this recipe: a unique, crumbly crust! Check it out :)

Fresh Peach Pie

Devin and I both grew up loving peach pie in the summer.  This is my mom's recipe, as most of them are.  The reason I'm using hers is because this crust is not your ordinary crust.  It's moist, crumbly, and the saltiness of it goes SO well with the sweetness of the filling.  

THE CRUST

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together.  2. In a measuring cup, mix the oil and milk together and then add to the dry ingredients. I used vegetable oil this time and I think I like it better with canola oil. 3. Using a fork, mix ingredients together right in the dish until moist enough to where you could form a ball with the dough. 4. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of your pie dish and bake for about 12-15 min @ 350 degrees.  The crust should be dry to the touch - it doesn't get very "golden" until it's been out of the oven for a little while so even if it still looks kind of white, it's okay.

The Filling

 Boil 1 c water. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add to the boiling water and heat while stirring until it gets a little thicker.  I think if you let the mixture boil while stirring it will make the jello set firmer.  Devin prefers the filling a little more gel-y than firm.

 Once the jello mixture is a little thicker, you can remove from heat and add all of your sliced peaches or you can add about 2/3 and place the other 1/3 in the crust and pour entire mixture over them. 

 Place in the fridge to set for about 2 hours.  Some things will affect how long this takes: If your crust is cool when you pour in the filling it will chill faster, I also think it sets faster if your mixture came to a full boil when stirring. 

ENJOY!

Serve with whipped cream!

**Updated 9/9/14 - Corrected amount of jello powder to be used in filling

Ingredients:

Crust  

1 1/2 c. flour

2 T sugar

1 t salt

1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil

2 T milk

Pie filling

3 T cornstarch

3 T Peach flavored Jello powder (about half of a 3 oz pkg) - Raspberry is also a good alternative if you want to change it up a bit!

1 c. sugar

1 c. boiling water

3 c. sliced peaches (we used 3 peaches)

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together.  2. In a measuring cup, mix the oil and milk together and then add to the dry ingredients. 3. Using a fork, mix ingredients together right in the dish until moist enough to where you could form a ball with the dough. 4. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of your pie dish and bake for about 12-15 min @ 350 degrees.  

5. Mix dry filling ingredients together and then add to boiling water.  Stir until thickened.  6. Remove from heat and add peach slices. Pour into cooled crust and chill for about 2 hours.  7. Serve with whipped cream!

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Cooking with Claire: Hearty Dishes

In honor of Thanksgiving, which I am not hosting nor cooking much for, I thought I'd share some 

Hearty Dishes 

I've been loving.

Butternut Squash Risotto

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/01/butternut-squash-risotto/
I'm a huge butternut squash fan! I love dicing it up and roasting it with potatoes and spices, I love baking it and eating it with butter and brown sugar, etc.  So this was a great find.  This would be a great side at Thanksgiving or - I added some left over chunks of chicken breast when I made mine so you could make it with turkey leftovers.  I just cooked my chicken breast with the onion so you could add it after that step.

Chicken Meatball & Orzo Soup

http://willcookforsmiles.com/2013/11/chicken-meatball-orzo-hearty-soup.html

So I'm really dumb and was planning on making the risotto above and bought orzo pasta instead of arborio rice.  So then I went searching for something to use orzo pasta for and I found this delicious soup.  For the ground chicken I just cut up some raw chicken breast and threw it in my food processor which ground it up great.  There is so much flavor in this soup and tasted great on a cold day!

Chicken (or turkey) Pot Pie

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2009/07/chicken-pot-pie.html

I'm sure everyone has a good recipe for Chicken Pot Pie.  I ended up using like 3 different recipes I think but this one pretty much sums it up.  I like that it didn't use canned cream of anything soup.  It made it taste really fresh.  I used the Our Best Bites pie crust recipe.  You could also use leftover turkey in this.  

This last one is kind of random, I just figured I'd add it because they were a different twist on enchiladas that I found and I ended up loving them and so did company.  These could also work for when you're sick of eating turkey and just want some chicken or pork in your life:

Honey Lime Enchiladas

 

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2008/03/honey-lime-enchiladas.html

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Conversation Heart Cookies

I posted a pic on Instagram yesterday of 4 bowls, each with a different colored sugar cookie dough in them and asked people what they thought they were going to be. I got icing, "a tie-dye cake?", and cookies.  Cookies, yes. But not just any cookies.

 Conversation Heart Cookies made using my William-Sonoma Cookie Cutter :)

I got the idea from Pinterest, but specifically THIS BLOG POST

The William-Sonoma cookie cutter set comes with this heart shape, a star, and a rectangle with cute scalloped edges.  It also comes with a little bag of phrases like Thank You, I Love You, Welcome, etc. and letters to be able to make your own phrases. This was a fun thing I picked up with some gift card money from our wedding and it's my first time using them.  I love it!

Things to do differently next time:
-Not put so much flour in the dough - it shouldn't have been so firm that I didn't need much flour for rolling, etc and they weren't as melt-in-your-mouth-sugar-cookie-y as I had hoped.I don't have much sugar cookie experience though, so I didn't realize how soft the cookie dough is supposed to be before chilling.
-Roll thicker. They are more forgiving when they bake and they have a puffier look to them
-Put a glaze on top everywhere except for the words Pin It

Cooking With Claire: Fresh Peach Pie

The reason I wanted to start Cooking with Claire is because I have quite a few go-to recipes that I simply love and make over and over again.  The Banana Ice Cream post was more of just something that I was totally fascinated with at the moment and had to try.  But I'm assuring you that the rest of the recipes I put on here will be some of mine and Devin's all-time favorites :)

Fresh Peach Pie

It has been a while. Being out of town so much and just plain old being hot, pregnant, and tired has not led to very many good meals around here lately.  BUT...peaches are on sale at Smith's/Fred Meyer this week for 88 cents/lb. And that's awesome, so you have to make this. This weekend!

Devin and I both grew up loving peach pie in the summer.  This is my mom's recipe, as most of them are.  The reason I'm using hers is because this crust is not your ordinary crust.  It's moist, crumbly, and the saltiness of it goes SO well with the sweetness of the filling.  

THE CRUST

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together.  2. In a measuring cup, mix the oil and milk together and then add to the dry ingredients. I used vegetable oil this time and I think I like it better with canola oil. 3. Using a fork, mix ingredients together right in the dish until moist enough to where you could form a ball with the dough. 4. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of your pie dish and bake for about 12-15 min @ 350 degrees.  The crust should be dry to the touch - it doesn't get very "golden" until it's been out of the oven for a little while so even if it still looks kind of white, it's okay.

The Filling

 Boil 1 c water. Mix the peach jello, sugar, and cornstarch together and then add to the boiling water and heat while stirring until it gets a little thicker.  I think if you let the mixture boil while stirring it will make the jello set firmer.  Devin prefers the filling a little more gel-y than firm.

 Once the jello mixture is a little thicker, you can remove from heat and add all of your sliced peaches or you can add about 2/3 and place the other 1/3 in the crust and pour entire mixture over them. 

 Place in the fridge to set for about 2 hours.  Some things will affect how long this takes: If your crust is cool when you pour in the filling it will chill faster, I also think it sets faster if your mixture came to a full boil when stirring. 

ENJOY!

Serve with whipped cream!

**Updated 9/9/14 - Corrected amount of jello powder to be used in filling

Ingredients:

Crust  

1 1/2 c. flour

2 T sugar

1 t salt

1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil

2 T milk

Pie filling

3 T cornstarch

3 T Peach flavored Jello powder (about half of a 3 oz pkg) - Raspberry is also a good alternative if you want to change it up a bit!

1 c. sugar

1 c. boiling water

3 c. sliced peaches (we used 3 peaches)

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together.  2. In a measuring cup, mix the oil and milk together and then add to the dry ingredients. 3. Using a fork, mix ingredients together right in the dish until moist enough to where you could form a ball with the dough. 4. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of your pie dish and bake for about 12-15 min @ 350 degrees.  

5. Mix dry filling ingredients together and then add to boiling water.  Stir until thickened.  6. Remove from heat and add peach slices. Pour into cooled crust and chill for about 2 hours.  7. Serve with whipped cream!

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Cooking With Claire: Banana Ice Cream

Okay so banana ice cream isn't so much cooking as it is creating a concoction of some sorts, but I've had the time lately to be making yummy/healthy things for dinner/snacks/etc that I'll be sharing here and there as part of "Cooking with Claire" :)  

Now for the most exciting discovery of the day...

ATTN: anyone on a diet, giving up "sweets", or just needing a smooth, cool treat - this is for you!  I've seen this floating around Pinterest and decided to give it a try. You can find the post that I based ours off of HERE.

STEP 1: Slice & Freeze

Slice bananas and put onto cookie sheet or any flat surface and place in freezer.  It usually only takes about 1-1.5 hours to freeze (we used 3 bananas). They weren't rock solid when I took them out, which is fine because it will be easier on the blender. Speaking of which...make sure you cut up the banana slices before freezing and don't try to cut up/use a banana that's already frozen.  It just doesn't work and kills your blender.

STEP 2: Blend

You can see, above, that for the first 30 seconds or so the bananas will be in a granulated state.  Just keep blending and you'll notice them magically turn into this creamy mixture.  It'll make you wonder if some little ice cream fairy came and poured some cream in there...no ma'am!  Pure banana it is :)

STEP 3.5 (optional): Add more flavor

Devin seemed intrigued by the idea of banana ice cream but he gave me the stink eye when I told him I wanted to add some peanut butter and cocoa to it.  So, I just took a little ice cream out into my own bowl and put a spoonful of pb and a 1/2 tsp of cocoa into my bowl and stirred until well mixed. Delicious. What's that Devin? You want to try? Here you go...Devin approved. 

So, if you were to add PB & cocoa, you could start with about 1.5/2 Tbsp peanut butter and 1 T cocoa.  Add more or less to your liking.  The nutritional facts below calculate these amounts.

It would also be delicious with some strawberries, or for an even healthier version - oatmeal.  But I just love oatmeal in everything so, try at your own will.  

STEP 4: Store or Eat. or store and eat. or eat and store. 

This ice cream is very "soft serve" so if you don't eat it all right away it might get a little too melty for your liking.  Throw what you don't eat it in the freezer to keep it firm.   3 bananas gave us about 10 oz. 

Pricing:

THIS RECIPE -  3 or 4 medium bananas = 1 lb @ .54 (that's what I pay, anyway). Since this is the only ingredient, that makes it $0.054/oz.

BREYER'S ICE CREAM - 48 oz in a normal carton.  The cheapest you can usually get this w/o a coupon is $2.50.  That makes it $0.052/oz. 

WHAT? This isn't cheaper than ice cream at the store?  Why did I waste your time?  

...price isn't everything when it comes down to GUILTLESS ice cream!

Nutrition:
Without add-ins: 1 serving = 3 oz. (3 servings per recipe) Calories 108.5; Total fat 0.6 g, Saturated Fat 0.3g, Polyunsaturated 0.2 g, Monounsaturated 0.2 g; Cholesterol 0 g; Sodium 1.2 mg; Potassium 467.3 mg; Total Carb 27.7 g, Dietary Fiber 2.8 g, Sugars 14.6 g; Protein 1.2 g.  (Okay, it's like eating one banana)

With 2 T PB & 1 T Cocoa (added to whole recipe): Serving = 3 oz. (3 servings per recipe) Calories 176 g; Total fat 6.2 g, Saturated Fat 1.5 g, Polyunsaturated 0.2 g, Monounsaturated 0.2 g; Cholesterol 0 g; Sodium 51.5 mg; Potassium 494.8 mg; Total Carb 31.0 g, Dietary Fiber 4.1 g, Sugars 15.6 g; Protein 3.9 g.

    (I used regular JIF creamy PB and store-brand cocoa powder for baking)

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