Easy as Pie: A Step Toward Healthier Desserts

Here at Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, we not only provide food assistance to members of the Bloomington community. We actively try to build community with food. By providing whole foods, we offer the idea that people don’t have to settle for processed meals as learning how to make your own meals and maintain your own garden can be free and easy. Simply learning the basics can provide a versatile skill set that can be used in countless ways. This even applies to dessert. Yep, you read that correctly. Every type of meal can be made into a healthy treat simply by paying attention. When you build community with food, you don’t leave dessert out.

Last week, our resident kitchen guru, Kayte, walked us through how to make a perfectly healthy dessert pastry with the accompanying perfect pastry/pie crust. I know what you may be thinking, “A healthy dessert? Perfect pie crust? Get outta town!” Well, ladies and gentleman, before I close up shop and leave Bloomington forever, let me explain. Making your own desserts from scratch can (and will) give you more control over what goes into them. Don’t like your desserts to be overly sweet? Add less sugar. Is it impossible to find the kind of fruit pies you like in the dessert section of Kroger? Obtain your favorite fruit and make it happen; show Kroger that its your pie and you’ll put peaches and rhubarb together if you so please.

           

The point I’m trying to make here is that having more autonomy over your own meals, even desserts, can be extremely beneficial to one’s diet. It can also help to build confidence in one’s self-sufficiency. The task may seem daunting at first, but once you start making your way through you’ll see how easy it can be.

Is that it?" You ask. I say "Trust Me"

Less ingredients than you have fingers. Surprised?

    So, on this day Kayte walked us through a very low maintenance type of pie called a galette which is French for  a rustic free form pie. We used a blueberry filling as it is the easiest to work with but any fruit can be used. In addition to the above ingredients you’ll need a cookie sheet, any size will do really. After reading you will be the proud owner of a tasty treat that should look a little like this:

I can attest that it is as delicious as it looks

Of course it would be great if I was able to accurately transcribe Kayte’s instructions for all you wonderful people but, alas, I am not able to write/type as fast as natural speech progresses (shout-out to all the court reporters in the audience). All is not lost though; I have pictures of every step. The following directions come from another pie post here on our blog, they are very thorough and virtually identical to Kayte’s method.

·      Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in the container of a food processor; pulse once or twice. Add the butter and turn on the machine; process until the butter and flour are blended and the mixture looks like cornmeal, with a few pea-sized chunks (about 10 seconds).

·      Dump the mixture in a bowl and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of water over it. Use a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula to toss and combine, then sprinkle 1more tablespoon of water, and toss to combine. Gradually gather the mixture into a ball; if the mixture seems dry, add another ½ tablespoon ice water. When you can make the mixture into a ball with your hands, do so. Wrap in plastic wrap, flatten into a small disk, and freeze the dough for 10 minutes (or refrigerate for 30 minutes); this will ease rolling.

·      Sprinkle a countertop or large board with flour. Unwrap the dough disk and place it on the work surface; sprinkle its top with flour. If the dough is hard, let it rest for a few minutes; it should give a little when you press your fingers into it.

·      Roll with light pressure, from the center out. (If the dough seems very sticky at first, add flour liberally; but if it becomes sticky only after you roll it for a few minutes, return it to the refrigerator for 10 minutes before proceeding.) Continue to roll, adding small amounts of flour as necessary, rotating the dough occasionally, and turning it over once or twice during the process

·      Finally, move the dough onto whatever medium you’ll be placing in the oven (pie pan for standard pies, wax/parchment paper for galettes, tart pan for (you guessed it) tarts).

Ms. Lindey got creative w/peaches

Standard sugar and berries

Now that your dough is all rolled and placed, you’ll need to stop staring at your magic hands (because yes, they did make the perfect dough) so we can move on to the next step: the filling. This step is incredibly easy, mix together your blueberries and sugar gently in a mixing bowl and *boom* done. Now you may be wondering how long you’ve possessed super speed comparable to “The Flash” and my answer to you is “always.”

So close to being done

 At this point you’ll want to pour your filling onto the rolled out dough and start pulling the edges over the filling, making sure to leave an opening on the very top; this will ensure even baking. After that, brush the top of your dough with butter or cream (to help with browning), sprinkle with sugar and its ready to bake.

Intern Thomas assisting Kam

     Kayte suggested baking on high heat (450 degrees) for about 10 mins and then turn that oven down to about 350 degrees for another 15-20mins. Be sure to keep an eye on it throughout this time, though. No need want to burn the artwork.

Now, theres only a couple things left to say. When you take your pie out of the oven, you may notice a nice amount of blueberry juice that has spilled out. This is perfectly normal so no need to be worried. It just means that some part of the dough was a little thin. Once you give the pastry a little time to cool, you can easily lift the pie off the cookie sheet and onto a clean dessert pan, plate, stand or what have you.

Pre-bake

Post-bake

    So, thats it. You've successfully made a flawless pastry that the whole family can enjoy (or just yourself, no judgment). Now, any time you want a unique dessert that you are tired of searching for you can whip it up at home in less than an hour and a half.  Remember, this recipe is incredibly versatile; you could even fill your crust with a savory blend of vegetables & eggs to make a quiche if you are so inclined. 

We were

Until next time, or as the french say, "Au Revoir!"

    

       

Pork Loin and the Weekly Specials with Mary Anne

Finally! Some good prices! Kroger did the best this week, with good prices on produce, meat and dairy. I’ll get to the grocery store ads in just a sec, but don’t forget to get your Market Bucks for the Farmers Market and buy your produce there for half price! Applies to those with food stamps only.

Kroger has blueberries for 99 cents a pint. Peaches, plums and nectarines are all 99 cents a pound. Four pounds of strawberries are $4.99, or $1.25 per pound; smaller boxes cost more per pound. Bananas are 39 cents a pound. Sweet corn is 10 ears for $3.00, or 30 cents an ear. It’s Indiana sweet corn. Zucchini and yellow squash are 99 cents a pound. Milk is $1.88 a gallon, limit two. Eggs are $1.29 a dozen. Kroger “singles” (processed cheese) is $1.99 for 16 slices, but it doesn’t say how big the slices are. Chicken of the Sea canned tuna is 69 cents for a 5-oz can. Boneless pork loin is $1.77 per pound, limit two packages. Prices are good through next Wednesday, July 16.

Marsh has boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 per pound. 9-ounce smoked sausage is four for $5.00, or $1.25 each. Prices are good through next Wednesday, July 16.

IGA has peaches for 99 cents a pound. Tomatoes on the vine are $1.49 a pound. Cabbage is 49 cents a pound. Salad dressings are 99 cents for a 16-ounce bottle. Hamburger and hotdog buns are 99 cents for a package of eight. Ground chuck is $2.99 a pound in packs of three or more pounds. Prices are good through Sunday, July 13.

Aldi has blueberries for 99 cents a pint (two cups or about 12 ounces). Red grapes, peaches, plums and nectarines are all $1.98 for a 2-pound package, or 99 cents a pound. Mangos are 39 cents each and avocados are 69 cents each. Cherries are $1.99 a pound. Bone in chicken thighs are 89 cents a pound in packs of three pounds or more. Prices are good through next Tuesday, July 15.

By the way, here are some equivalent measurements for some of this week’s produce. A “medium” tomato weighs about 6 ounces half a cup of finely diced tomato, or about a cup of chopped tomato, or about one and a quarter cups of sliced tomato. (There’s about a tablespoon of tomato in a cherry tomato, which weighs about one ounce.) A pint (two cups) of blueberries is about 12 ounces. A “medium” peach weighs about 3 to 4 ounces. You get about two-thirds of a cup of chopped peaches or three-fourths of a cup of sliced peaches from one peach. That’s about two and half cups of either chopped or sliced peaches per pound. These are all from howmuchisin.com .

With pork loin for $1.77 a pound at Kroger, let’s see what we can do with that this week. I don’t think I’ve talked about pork loin in a long time. Check out pork loin and pork chop recipes here and here, or find a list of all the pork recipes under the MEAT heading here.

You can either cook pork loin as roasts or you can slice it up (or have it sliced up) as chops. You’ve heard of pork loin chops? That’s just the pork loin that’s been cut into slices. The loin that’s on sale is boneless, so you’ll end up with boneless chops. You can use a recipe that calls for bone-in pork chops, but the cooking time will be a bit different. Of course, you can also cut it up into cubes or chunks if that’s what your recipe calls for

A bit of quick math. A pound and a half is 24 ounces, or six ounces each for four servings. That’s plenty; in fact, the nutrition gurus would tell you that you only need 3 ounces. (I can’t help but wonder how much they really eat themselves.) If you’re like me, when you cook a two pound roast when you only need a pound and a half, it’s all likely to be eaten. Ask the butcher if he’ll cut the package into one or more one and a half pound roasts and the rest into roughly six ounce chops. If he won’t, or if you forget, you can do it yourself, but the butcher may be more accurate about the weights and will probably be better at cutting chops that are of uniform thickness.

CUBAN PORK is sort of like Mexican  carnitas, or at least like some recipes I have seen for carnitas. The cubes of pork are cooked in a mixture of fat and liquid (sour orange juice in this case, or a mixture of orange juice and lime juice), and then they fry in the fat when the liquid has simmered off. They end up crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. A batch costs about a bit less than $4.00 if you use orange juice and lime juice. Add corn on the cob and coleslaw (either your recipes or one of ours) and it comes to just $6.00.

Pork and blueberries is a trendy combination, and with blueberries on sale again this week (99 cents a pint at both Kroger and Aldi) as well as the pork loin at Kroger, it seems like I should include a recipe. Personally, though, I’d rather eat my blueberries on their own. Not that I have anything against blueberries and pork, but if I have just a limited number of blueberries (aka a limited budget), I’d rather have them separately. I almost decided not to include a recipe, because most of the recipes I found either called for frozen blueberries or else frozen blueberries would work just as well. No point wasting fresh blueberries when frozen ones will do. But then I found this recipe for GRILLED PORK CHOPS WITH BLUEBERRY SALSA and decided it was worthy of fresh blueberries. (The BLUEBERRY SALSA should be good with chicken or turkey, too.) I had to guess at the price of some of the ingredients, but I think the pork chops and salsa will come to something like $5.40, which doesn’t leave much room for anything else. I’m going to include corn on the cob (grilled if you’re grilling the pork chops, boiled or nuked if you’re not) anyway, which brings the total to about $6.60, which is a bit higher than I like. Make my 50 Cent Breakfast (below) or another of my BUDGET BREAKFASTS and it will bring the total cost for the day back down to where it belongs. 

If you’re looking to cook the pork loin as a roast, try HERB ROASTED PORK LOIN. I don’t know whether it would work to use fresh herbs, but it seems a shame to use dried ones this time of year. (Do you grow your own? They’re easy to grow. I have a small planter with a variety of herbs that I move outside in the summer and inside in the winter.) Anyway, there’s practically no cost to this other than the pork itself, which will run about $2.65. Let’s call it an even $3.00, with the garlic and oil. (Don’t forget that it’s usually cheaper to buy herbs and spices in bulk at Bloomingfoods rather than in the little jars at the grocery store.) Serve it with ZUCCHINI/TOMATOTOSS ($1.40) and twelve ounces of peaches (about a cup and a half) mixed with a cup and a half of blueberries (total cost of the peaches and blueberries - $1.50) and have a summery meal for four for less than $6.00.

50 Cent Breakfasts

With milk on sale for $1.88 a gallon, a cup of milk (and thus a cup of yogurt) costs 12 cents. A pound of peaches (99 cents) makes about two and a half cups of chopped peaches at 25 cents for a little more than half cup. So a cup of yogurt and a bit more than half a cup of peaches costs less than 40 cents, even if you decide to sprinkle a bit of sugar on it. Or you can make a PEACH SMOOTHIE for about 45 cents.

Chicken Breasts and the Weekly Specials with Mary Anne

Before I get to the sales at the stores, a quick reminder for those of you who use food stamps. Don't forget that you can exchange up to $18.00 of food stamps each week for up to $36 of Market Bucks to use for fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. at the Farmers Market. You're getting the Market goods at half price. A wonderful deal!

Aldi has lots of fresh fruit on sale again this week. Strawberries are $1.49 a pound and blueberries are 99 cents a pint. Mangos are 39 cents each and seedless watermelons are $2.99 each. Cherries are new this week at $1.99 per pound. Five-pound chubs of regular (73% lean) hamburger are $10.99, or $2.20 per pound. Feta crumbles are $1.99 for 4 ounces. Kalamata olives are $2.79 for 6 ounces. “New low prices” include canola oil for $2.49 for 48 ounces, vegetable oil for $2.29 and corn oil for $2.59, both also 48 ounces. Steak sauce is 95 cents for 10 ounces. Heavy whipping cream is $1.79 per pint. Nonfat yogurt is $1.69 for 32 ounces, or one quart. Canned salmon is $2.39 for 14.75 ounces. Salad dressings are $1.29 for 16 ounces. Ketchup is $1.29 for 38 ounces. Prices are good through Tuesday, July 8.

Marsh has Oscar Meyer franks at buy one get one free, but don’t know how much that first one costs. Seedless watermelons (average 10 – 12 pounds) are $2.98 each. Prices are good through Wednesday, July 9.

IGA has boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders for $1.69 a pound, which is the lowest I can remember seeing in a long time. Corn on the cob is 5 ears for $1.00. BBQ sauces are 99 cents for 18 ounces. Frozen veggies are 10 for $10.00 or $1.00 each, for 12 – 16 ounce bags. That’s a good price for 16 ounce and ok for 12 ounce. Kraft cheeses are $5.00 for 3 packs, or $1.67 each, which is good for the 8 ounce packs and not so good for the 5 ounce packs. Tomatoes on the vine are $1.47 per pound. Prices are good through Sunday, July 6.

Kroger has 8 packs of hamburger and hotdog buns for $1.00. Cheeses are $2.99 for 12 to 16 ounces, which is good at 16 ounces and ok at 12 ounces. Sour cream and dip are $1.00 pint (16 ounces). Ice cream is $1.98 for 48 ounces (a quart and a half) but that may just be through Sunday. The ad wasn’t clear about that. Regular (73% lean) ground beef in packages of three or more pounds is $1.99 per pound. Again, that may be just through Sunday. Eckrich hot dogs are 89 cents a pound. Ground turkey is $2.50 a pound. Oscar Meyer franks are $1.50 per pound. Green beans are 99 cents a pound. Cherries are $1.88 per pound. Red, orange or yellow bell peppers are 99 cents a pound. I’m guessing that’s somewhere around 50 cents each, but it depends of course on the size. Prices are good through Wednesday, July 9.

Rats! Kroger did it again. I try to get as much as possible done on Wednesday (especially when the Hub is closed on Friday), but that means that I have to select my meat before seeing the Kroger ad. I probably would have gone with their ground beef for $1.99 a pound if I’d known they had it for sale. Oh well. I just talked about ground beef a couple of weeks ago, and anyway, you can still get it at that price and have it for hamburgers on the Fourth. Buy some extra at that price, too, if you possibly can, so you can eat it later in the month and get some variety then. Ground beef recipes are under the Meat heading of the Other Recipes page.

So, since I didn’t know about the ground beef, it’s chicken breasts this week. Which is fine since I found a whole bunch of new chicken recipes recently. Don’t forget the links to chicken recipes on the special Fourth of July post, too, and the complete list of chicken recipes under Other Recipes.

Speaking of the special Fourth of July post, be sure to check it out if you haven’t already done so. It’s got links to all of the picnic-type food that’s been posted on the new blog so far.

A bánh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich which includes meats and vegetables. (Here’s a site with a bit of info about the bánh mi.) Since I’m not doing bread, I’ve changed it to a GRILLED CHICKEN BANH MI SALAD by serving it on a bed of lettuce instead of between two slices of bread. I’m using grilled chicken breast, since chicken breast is the featured meat this week, but other meats can be used instead. And if you don’t have a grill, go ahead and season the chicken and then cook it in a skillet instead. It comes to right about $6.00 for four big servings of salad, though I had to estimate on some of the ingredients. I tried to err on the side of higher costs. Unfortunately, this doesn’t leave room in the budget for anything else. If you can squeeze it in, some fresh fruit would go well with this. A two cup serving of watermelon would run about 20 cents. Or serve WATERMELON ICE POPS for dessert for less than 10 cents per serving.

A traditional ingredient in bánh mi is do chua, or pickled daikon radish and carrots. I haven’t included it in this recipe because the recipe I’m copying from doesn’t use it. Here’s a link for a recipe for do chua  in case you want to try it for yourself. Daikon is available at the farmers market, though I’m not sure if this is the right season for it.

Summer, tomatoes, basil and grilled chicken all seem to go together, don’t they? BASIL AND TOMATO STUFFED CHICKEN is another take on that combination. This makes four servings at a cost of about $4.70. Add some GARLIC CORN ON THE COB and MINT WATERMELON SALAD for a summery dinner at a tad under $6.00.

Seems like there have been a lot of recipes lately that call for cooking on a grill, and not everyone has one or knows how to use it. So this final recipe is cooked on the stove top instead. CHICKEN LAZONE has a rich buttery cream sauce that would be good over rice or noodles or something starchy like that. Instead, buy a big zucchini at the Farmers Market and grate it coarsely. You want pretty big pieces – bigger than grains of cooked rice – but not too big. Maybe about the size of a piece of macaroni cut in half lengthwise? Put the grated zucchini in a bowl, cover it, and nuke it for a couple of minutes. It should still have some bite to it. Serve that alongside the chicken to sop up the sauce and, if there isn’t enough sauce, add some butter. Add some color to the plate with some sliced tomatoes.

The CHICKEN LAZONE will cost about $3.40. You should be able to get an overgrown zucchini at the Farmers Market for $1.00. A pound of tomatoes on the vine is $1.49, which brings the total to $5.90. By the way, when I say an overgrown zucchini, I mean it. Not baseball bat size, but bigger than normal. They aren’t much good for slicing that way because the seeds are too big, but grated or julienned (cut into matchsticks) they’re fine. And the farmers are usually glad to get rid of them and price them cheap.

50 Cent Budget Breakfasts

This week’s STRAWBERRY & BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE DELUXE uses plain milk instead of yogurt. You could use yogurt if you wanted to but you might need to add a bit more sugar. For a special summer treat pour the smoothie into popsicle molds (or small paper cups), stick in popsicle sticks, and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours. Send the kids outside to eat them! This makes two smoothies of not quite 2 cups each, for a total cost of $1.00, or 50 cents each.

Enjoy!

Mary Anne

Broiled Peaches and Blueberries

(based on a recipe in The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, Thirteenth Edition, by Marion Cunningham)

Per person:

  1 peach or 2 apricots

  a few blueberries

  2 t butter

  2 t brown sugar

Wash the peaches or apricots, cut them in half and remove the pit. Place them in a shallow baking dish, cut side up. Fill the hollows with blueberries. Dot each peach half with one teaspoon of butter and sprinkle with one teaspoon of brown sugar. (Use half a teaspoon of each per apricot half.) Broil until the sugar melts.

Blueberry Salsa

(from a recipe by Molly O’Neill at nytimes.com/recipes/9288/grilled-pork-chops-with-blueberry-salsa.html)

Salsa

2 cups fresh blueberries, cleaned

1/2 medium red onion, peeled and diced small

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

1 red bell pepper, cored, deribbed and diced

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

To make the salsa, coarsely chop 1 1/2 cups of the blueberries. In a bowl, combine the chopped and whole berries and the remaining salsa ingredients. Let stand for 1 hour.

Grilled Pork Chops with Blueberry Salsa

(Molly O’Neill at nytimes.com/recipes/9288/grilled-pork-chops-with-blueberry-salsa.html)

Salsa

2 cups fresh blueberries, cleaned

1/2 medium red onion, peeled and diced small

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

1 red bell pepper, cored, deribbed and diced

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Pork Chops

4 pork chops, 3/4-inch thick (about 1-1/2 lbs total)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

To make the salsa, coarsely chop 1 1/2 cups of the blueberries. In a bowl, combine the chopped and whole berries and the remaining salsa ingredients. Let stand for 1 hour.

To make the pork, prepare a charcoal grill. When the coals are hot, grill the chops until just cooked through, about 8 minutes per side. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among 4 plates and top with the salsa. Serve immediately.

Note from Mary Anne – If you don’t have a grill, cook the pork chops on top of the stove or in the oven. It won’t make much difference.

Strawberry & Blueberry Smoothie Deluxe

(based on a recipe in Easy Smoothie Recipes: 100 Recipes for Kids, by Debbie Madson)

1-1/2 c ice

2 c milk

3/4 c blueberries

3 strawberries (about 1.6 oz total or 1/10 of a 1-pound box)

1-1/2 T sugar

Put everything in blender and blend until smooth. Makes 2 servings of about 2 cups each.

Or make ice pops out of the smoothie by pouring it into popsicle molds or small paper cups, adding a popsicle stick, and freezing until firm, at least 6 hours. 

Blueberry Muffins with Flaxseed Meal

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup whole flax meal
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt, or goat milk
1 ½ cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
course sugar to sprinkle on top, optional

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a muffin tin; or line it with papers, and grease the papers.
Whisk together the flour, flax meal and seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy.
Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the vanilla and buttermilk and mix again. The batter may look a bit curdled; that’s OK.
Add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed just until the batter is smooth. Fold in the berries by hand.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, using a heaping 1/4 cup for each; a muffin scoop works well here. Sprinkle each muffin with a bit of coarse white sparkling sugar, if desired.
Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to finish cooling.  Yield: 12 muffins.