Pie Crust, Pantries, Yadda Yadda Yadda

I had to laugh at the variety of comments on my Six Word Saturday post yesterday, which read:  Practicing pie crust, Thanksgiving preparatory precursor.  A few people wished me luck, but most others mentioned the availability of frozen pie crusts, pre-made graham cracker crusts, etc. Well yeah, I know, but...

Part of being able to cook (and bake) for me is the desire to be self-sufficient, to not have to rely the likelihood of having a certain pre-made item on hand. If I don't have a frozen pie crust on hand, but want to make a pie, I then have to (a) have money to purchase a frozen crust, and (b) have the time and willingness to drive to a store to obtain one. Whereas if I am capable of making my own, all I have to have are ingredients - in this case, Crisco, flour, and water. Guess what? Ingredients for MANY things (not just pie crust) are much more readily available and almost are less expensive than a single pre-made item.

I read something a while back that advised people who wanted to eat both less expensively and more healthily to "shop for ingredients, not 'food.'" I think this makes a lot of sense.  I have a well-stocked pantry, full of ingredients  that can be turned into a huge variety of meals and treats. Now, this is not an exhaustive list nor is it necessarily a blueprint for anyone else, but the ingredients that I try to keep stocked in the pantry, fridge, and freezer are:

• oils/fats - olive, canola, and sesame oils; butter and Crisco; nut butters (peanut and almond)
• vinegars - white, cider, red wine, white wine, rice
• baking soda and baking powder
• yeast
• beans - dried and canned: black, pinto, Great Northern
• rice - white jasmine, brown, wild
• whole wheat pasta in a variety of forms (including couscous)
• grains - unbleached white and whole wheat flours, oatmeal, cornmeal
• sweeteners - white and brown sugars, powdered sugar, molasses, honey, pure maple syrup, cocoa powder, a variety of chips (milk, dark and white chocolate; peanut butter, butterscotch)
• canned tomatoes - diced, sauce, paste
• spices - I have an extensive collection, but the ones I use the most are garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, ginger, oregano, basil, thyme, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, turmeric
• onions, garlic, bell peppers, potatoes (sweet potatoes, red potatoes, Yukon Gold, russet)
• cheeses - sharp cheddar, jack, mozzarella, Parmesan, feta, cream cheese
• other dairy - milk (2% and whole), heavy cream, buttermilk, sour cream, plain yogurt
• meats, according to sales - ground beef, ground turkey, whole chicken, boneless/skinless chicken breast, flank steak or cube steak, stew meat, beef roast, pork roast
• vegetables/fruits, according to season and sales - canned, fresh, or frozen: corn, green beans, carrots, pumpkin, green onions, apples, bananas, pineapple (canned), olives (canned), broccoli, cauliflower, salad greens, spinach, berries (usually frozen)
• condiments - real mayo, ketchup (with no HFCS), Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon and lime juices, salsa
• tortillas - corn and flour

With the ingredients above, I can make almost ANYTHING that anyone in the family desires, and almost any meal that we would want. With a little planning (oh, how I love my weekly meal plans!), we can eat at home,less expensively, more healthily, and more deliciously, than we can eating out or buying prepared foods.

Back to the pie crust... I've seen a boatload of recipes and methods on blogs lately touting the "perfect" crust for Thanksgiving pies, but I decided to keep it simple and just follow my basic-but-trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. For a two-crust pie it was simply 2 cups flour, 2/3 cups shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco), and 6 - 7 tablespoons water. I followed the directions and everything came together just fine! I used a pastry cutter rather than the food processor, and it was very quick and easy. I was a little worried about over-working the dough as I formed it into two balls and then rolled them out, and they were a bit crumbly, so I added just a splash of water during the rolling.

I realized that I didn't have a "regular" pie tin, only a deep-dish ceramic one, so my pie was"rustic" - that is, no pretty edges! The deep-dish was the right choice in the sense that I had a bunch of apples that really needed to get used, so "rustic apple pie" is what I made. Really, it was all about the crust anyway.

GolfDad showed up around 6:00, having received my Google Calendar update for dinner. (Aside: In addition to filling out a little form that I created with the weekly meal plan and sticking it on the fridge, I also put each night's dinner on a Google Calendar which is shared with Mr. Mamie, GolfDad, and the Igor Family. That way, Mr. Mamie and I know what's for dinner when we're at work, GolfDad can show up when the mood strikes him, and the Igors can know what's being offered as well, since parts of their family are often eating dinner at our house.) I was glad that GolfDad appeared, becasue GrandmaT was still over at the Igors' dog-sitting while they were out of town for football, and Mr. Mamie was still at his sister's, fixing her virus-riddled computer. I was hungry but didn't want to eat alone, so GolfDad's arrival was a welcome surprise. We snarffled up shredded BBQ beef from the CrockPot (GREAT recipe, Mrs. Chili!) and some baked beans (Bush's from a can this time), and then sampled the apple pie... YUM! It tasted great and the crust was tender and flaky! I even got the seal of approval from GolfDad, which can be hard when it comes to baked goods.

The whole point of the crust-making practice was that I wanted to make Wombat's favorite pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving, and I wanted to make the CRUST, too. It seemed like a good idea to do a trial run on the crust, but I didn't want to make pumpkin pie this weekend AND for Thanksgiving. We had apples sitting around, so voila, apple pie! And now we get to nom nom nom that yummy pie
for a couple of days, yay!

If you made it to the end of this long, rambling post - congratulations! You are truly dedicated. :)

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)