pie crusts suck!

So like, last Saturday I cooked some more. I made all-day macaroni and cheese in my mom's crock pot, I made my garlic bread, and I made a butterscotch pie. I'd never made macaroni and cheese from anything but the box, but it's something I had wanted to try for a long time. Well my mom had found a recipe a few weeks before and was going to make it herself, but she had to go out of town to help my sister, so I made it instead. I was only supposed to put 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese in it, but I added a bunch of velveeta cheese, which I really really hate, but added it anyways. Then of course I added much more than 2 cups of sharp cheddar, just to make it so much more cheesy. I added a can of milk and turned the heat up and let it go to town for several hours. It turned out great, and tasted pretty much like the most amazing macaroni I've ever eaten. No, I didn't take a picture of it. I was too hungry to take the time out to do so :D

So yeah, then I also made my garlic bread. It made me angry. First off, I dumped too much dried parsley in it so it turned the dough a slight green color. Then I let it rise much too long, and I killed the yeast in the process. So when I baked it, it got very ugly and flat and was stupid. It tasted pretty good, but I hated the way it looked. Oh well, when it comes down to it, the taste is the only part that really matters, right?

I made a butterscotch pie. I decided to make a butterscotch pie because my dad claims to hate chocolate, and the desserts we make usually have some sort of chocolate in them, so I decided to make something he'd really love. (my posts make my Dad sound like a really picky eater...well, he is :P)

Now, I've always had horrible luck with pie crusts. I can't ever figure out how to get the whole crust baked, including the center part, without the edges turning way too dark. Last year, I think during Thanksgiving, I made the perfect pie crust, and I was really excited for it. But I got lazy, and I lost the recipe. So I'm back on the hunt for a good pie crust recipe. The dough was pretty cool, the consistency was really nice and it formed a really good crust. However, I still ended up burning the edges before the center would bake, and after eating it later I realized with horror there was far too much salt in the crust. So, other than the edges and the taste...it was an awesome crust. Though that doesn't say much. Hahahaha.



The filling was pretty dang good, though. I've made a few butterscotch recipes in my lifetime, but this was one of the best. I cooked brown sugar, butter, cream of tartar, and a few other ingredients over the stove, poured it into the pie shell, then made a meringue topping for it. I'd never heard of putting a meringue on anything but a lemon meringue pie, but the few butterscotch pie recipes I researched all called for a meringue...so I made one. Lemon meringue pies are a specialty of mine at Thanksgiving, so I already have the whole meringue thing down pat. I baked it for a bit, until the meringue was a loverly golden brown color, then let it chill in the fridge for a few hours. Besides the ugly crust...and the saltiness of it...the pie was pretty dang good. I liked it.

Oh, also, I made those muffins I mentioned in my last post. I researched muffin recipes for a good hour or two, gathering general muffin information and such, and scribbled out an experiment to try. I was up until 1 am baking, and the outcome was a delicious blueberry-buttermilk-oatmeal giant muffin. The only thing I didn't like about them was that they didn't rise like I wanted them to. I want muffins that come up and out of the pans, like the kind you buy in a professional bakery. So I made them again the next night, reducing the liquid and adding more baking powder, but it didn't do much but make the muffin more dense. So I'm sticking with my original recipe, and next time I'm going to fill the cups up more and see how that works. Yeah, I took pics, but they all turned out crappy and we ate them all before I took anymore :)

For my next project, I have in mind something like a cupcake tower, but that's all I'm telling you for now. Oh, also, tomorrow after working at my church's v.b.s. program, I'm stopping by the market to get some fresh mushrooms and mozzarella, as well as maybe some artichoke hearts, depending on how far I can make my money go, and I'm going to make some pizzas tomorrow. Pizzas are one of my favorites. I'm excited.

Happy eating, foodies.

~lacey

"Life is a combination of magic and pasta."
Fellini