A Strawberry Pie

Strawberries are coming out the wazoo in Louisiana. This pie is a delightful way to enjoy them.

Part 1: Crust

I followed Martha Stewart's Press-In Shortbread Pie Crust recipe to a T. This is super easy. If you are intimidated by the idea of making a traditional roll out pie crust you can do this! No rolling or measuring of thickness is involved. Martha wouldn't lead you astray.

Once baked allow the crust to cool and moved on to the filling.

Wash and trim about 2 pints of strawberries and dice them up.

In a large bowl combine 10 oz softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, a dash of nutmeg and half of your strawberries.

Time to make whipped cream. I do this in my magic bullet. 1 cup heavy whipping cream plus 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Whirl it around for 30 seconds and like magic whipped cream pops out.

Fold the whipped cream into your cream mixture along with the rest of the berries. Pink worm, pink ice cream. This must be a silly dream.

Pour your mixture into your cooled pie shell and beautify. A little garnish really AMPLIFIES the class.

Chill a few hours or overnight before cutting in.

Ah fall...

The leaves started to fall this weekend. We had 3 weeks of summer this year and it didn't start until after school began. So my classroom was a billion degrees for the first three weeks of school (AC was broken, of course) and then today it was freezing, I had to wear my Northface, that is how you really know it is fall (obviously as the temperature dips, the AC magically gets fixed).

By the way, if you couldn't tell, Atticus loves the fall.

End of the garden time always means lots and lots of zucchini. Of course, I did not have any because my garden stunk. However, they are very very cheap at the farmer's market so I didn't feel too guilty about buying and not growing. I really wanted to make a quick bread that didn't have too much sugar and I could put some healthy ingredients in for a quick b-fast.

Here is what I came up with...(I made some adaptations to a regular zucchini recipe):

Ingredients

1 egg

1/2 vegetable oil

3/4 c. sugar

1 c. grated zucchini (2 medium zucchinis)

1/2 t. vanilla

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 and 1/2 t. apple pie spice (or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.)

1/2 c. flaked unsweetened coconut

1/2 c. walnuts (I used more because I love walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan. In a mixing bowl combine the egg, oil, sugar, vanilla, and zucchini in a medium bowl.

In another bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and soda, salt, apple pie spice, coconut and walnuts. Pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture and stir until just moistened.

Pour into the pan. Bake for 1 hour (check at 45 minutes with a toothpick). Let cool and eat.

I apologize for not taking a "done" picture, I forgot and then I ate the entire loaf (not in one sitting). But trust me, it was golden and delicious.

The garden miracle...

Look at all the amazing produce that my garden presented me! Yet not. As my students say,"Oh Mrs. Longoria, quit clowning me."

I have to admit that only about 1/3 of the tomatoes are mine and pretty much nothing else came from my garden. The rest is from the lovely little German grandmother who lives next door to us. What did I do wrong? Which gardening god did I tick off? What can I do to appease the universe's karma?

It is finally hot enough for tomatoes to start taking off, but wait, it is Sept. which means in 2 weeks the frost date will arrive andgrowing season will be over.

I digress...

In good news, my back to school whoopie pies are delicious. I made a bunch, wrapped them individually and keep them in my freezer to put in my lunch each day (and, of course, I shared with other fellow teachers). I used an official whoopie pie pan, which looks sort of like a shallow muffin pan. However, I have been told by many people that you can scoop out the batter like cookie dough and drop it on a sheet pan for a more free-form pie. The middle (or the whoop of the pie as Daniel likes to call it) is good 'ole fashion marshmallow fluff straight from Beantown.

Here is what I used for my "back to school red velvet whoopie pies":

3 c. flour

1/3 c. cocoa powder

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. crisco

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. regular sugar

3 t. vanilla extract

10 drops red food coloring (more or less if you prefer)

1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease whatever sort of cookie sheet or pan you are using.

Mix together: flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat together in a separate bowl: butter, crisco and both types of sugar. Mix on low until just combined then increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy (4-5 minutes). Next, add one egg at a time while beating the batter. Add food coloring and vanilla. Next, add half of the flour mix and 1/2 c. buttermilk to the batter, after it has incorporated into the batter, and the rest of the flour mix and buttermilk.

Use a cookie scoop and put about 2 tablespoons of batter into each cup of the whoopie pie pan (or see above if you do not have this pan). Bake for 10 minutes. Here is my warning as I over baked about 1/4 of my pies :( Check at 8 minutes and do a toothpick test. As oven is on longer, the latter batches will cook faster. Burnt whoopies=a sad baker.

Fill with marshmallow fluff, jam, or cream cheese.

Enjoy!

The First Official Blog Contest!

The Longoria family has invested in a new kitchen appliance...or should I say a new family member. Ironically, I was not the catalyst in decision: Operation Espresso Machine. Daniel, the naysayer of all things coffee-for as long as I have known him, decided that as an alternative to his morning chocolate milk he would like a mocha instead. Thus, the search commenced. After chatting it up with a Sur La Table employee for a lengthy amount of time he concluded that the Breville was for us. He (she?) arrived last week and we have been LOVING it! Seriously, words can not express my excitement when I wake up and have a cafe' latte' (as Kramer would say it) within seconds of walking into the kitchen.

To share our good fortune I am hosting the first LoTC contest! All you have to do is think of a clever name that we can call our new family-errr, I mean-kitchen appliance. Post your best idea in the comment section and feel free to enter as many clever names as you can think of. To the reader who posts our favorite name, I will be awarding a complementary coffee card to the Longoria coffee cart (good only at one local)-your pick of drink.

Daniel and I will consider all entries and post the winner next week!

P.S. Sugar detox is over tomorrow! I will be providing a recap of my sugar free weeks shortly.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

No one knew these gems were not full fat and my book club scarfed them down like they were going out of style. I took an Ina recipe and tried to make it a bit less naughty. You could probably even tip the flour ratio in favor of whole wheat and not be any worse for wear. Next time I will try 1/2 AP flour and 1 1/2 cups whole wheat.


Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cups vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups grated carrots

For the frosting

• 8 oz low fat cream cheese at room temp
• 4 oz unsalted butter at room temp
• 1 generous teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Beat sugar, oil, yogurt, and vanilla together in large bowl
3. Add eggs, one at a time
4. In another bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well
6. Add the grated carrots and mix until just combined
7. Line muffin pans with paper liners. Scoop the batter into muffin cups until each in 3/4 full.
8. Bake at 350 14 - 18 minutes (mine took more like 20)

For frosting: Cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Beat in the sugar until smooth