Sunday Randomness #84 Out and About eating with Boiled Beef, Pie, and a Cupcake

The Home Cafe in Conrad, MT.

Boiled Beef-sounds gross, tastes heavenly-buttery soft and flavorful beef with homemade roll, mashed potatoes, and gravy

Berry Crumble Pie

The Cocoa Bean Cafe in Provo.  Now closed.  So Sad.  There are three locations left but they're all in Idaho.

Apple Pie from a picture book

An Apple Pie for Dinner by Susan VanHecke complete with recipe at the end.



Baked apple pie from the book.


And, happily, it was an apple pie that set up correctly.

It was a pretty good apple pie but not the best we've ever made. I still think Romes with Granny Smiths make a great apple pie but its almost impossible to find Rome apples anymore.

Find more books and info on Susan VanHecke at: http://susanvanhecke.com/ (She also wrote some books on the history of Rock and Roll.)

Read more about projects by Carol Baicker-McKee at: http://www.doodlesandnoodles.blogspot.com/ (She has some wonderful projects for valentines and other holidays with advice about art supplies.)

Pioneer Woman's Pecan Pie

Pie shell with pecans. (Pie shell made from Lion House recipe.)

Eggs, sugar, corn syrup and other ingredients whisked together and about to be poured onto the pecans.
Pour.
More pouring (this looks so much better on the Pioneer Woman's site.)

The pecans magically rise to the top within seconds.

The finished pie. We actually made two of these pies and the first one turned out a golden brown just like the one on Ree Drummond's site but the second one (in the picture above) got a little over toasty. It still tasted pretty good, but the first pie was better. Thank you, Pioneer Woman, for another great recipe!

Pies, Pies, Pies

Although there is dispute about the origin of pie (some say the Egyptians started pie while the Greeks started pie pastry), these flaky delights can be filled with either savory or sweet fillings (sometimes both-as with mincemeat!) We engaged in some pie making of our own and made two Caramel Pecan Pies and a Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie. Thanks to the Taste of Home magazines for the recipes. Thanks also to Linda Stradley from the What’s Cooking America website for the historical information.

Carmel Pecan Pie:

37 caramels (used Kraft caramels)
¼ cup water
¼ cup butter, cut into small chunks

Melt above ingredients in a small pan over low heat, stirring constantly and watch closely so mixture doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and let cool a bit while doing the next step.

3 eggs
¾ c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Beat above ingredients until smooth then add to the caramel mixture.

1 1/3 cups toasted chopped pecans

Add to the mixture and stir well. Pour mixture into:
1 unbaked deep-dish pastry shell (9 inches) Top the filling with pecan halves if desires and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate leftovers.

The pies were both good and we finished off the pecan pies the next day. (The one on the left had a gluten free crust and the one in the center was a frozen pie crust. The Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie had an oreo cookie crust.)