Pie Crust

Want to know the perfect recipe for the most delicious pie crust? Okay then, here you go! My mom is famous for a lot of things, including her scrumptious pies. Around the holidays she'll make up to 7 or 8 pies at once and we feast on them for days! Pecan, pumpkin, chocolate, lemon meringue, apple, cherry, etc. Whenever she did that, her daughters turned into pie elves, and I was usually assigned to the pie crust station. This is not to say that I've perfected the recipe, but I've had lots of practice. The one thing she emphasized time and time again: DO NOT OVER MIX. This recipe is very simple, and makes a delicious, flaky crust...unless it is over mixed. Then it just crumbles once it is baked and you've put in all that hard work for nothing. Just give it a shot, and see if you ever buy those pre-made crusts again...

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup mazzola corn oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp cold water

Directions
Put flour in a bowl and mix in salt. Make a well in the center of the flour. Pour the water and oil into the well.

With a fork, pull flour into the oil mixture.  Stir just about 10 times. Do not over mix. Make a ball with the dough. (There will still be some unmixed flour). 

Put on floured wax paper and cover with wax paper. Roll out with rolling pin in a circle shape. Again, try not to overwork it. Peel off wax paper, lift bottom sheet, and put crust into pie plate. Shape. Add filling. 

  
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Roy's Lasagna

Does lasagna make anyone else think of Garfield...? Or is it just me?  Well either way, making lasagna has always intimidated me, even though I love to eat it! And I'm not a big fan of the huge frozen dishes that take 3 hours to bake, but are still cold in the middle no matter what. So I finally opened my cook book and conquered my fear.  It's officially called 1981 Roy's Lasagna.  My mom knows who Roy is...but I don't, (I was born in '86...maybe that has something to do with it). All I know is that he has one heck of a lasagna recipe. As always, I made the whole recipe (which could feed a hungry family of 6) and so I still have some in the freezer for another time.

Meat Filling:
4 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 lg onion chopped
1 3/4 lb ground chuck
1 lb sausage
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
2 tsp sugar
salt to taste
15 oz tomato sauce
28 oz plum tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste
1 cup water

 Saute onion and garlic in oil.  Add meat and remaining ingredients.

 Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally...yummm

Cheese Filling:
2 cartons of ricotta cheese
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1 egg
1/2 c finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Combine these ingredients and mix well.

And finally:
1 lb lasagna noodles cooked until just tender
16 oz mozzarella cheese, grated

Layer in pan starting with some sauce, noodles, filling and cheese. Repeat ending with cheese.

Cover with foil bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 25 min
Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 25 min.

Pictures taken by helpful hunny/sieu chef. He recently got his new baby named 7D and he is the best videographer around. He's not bad at taking stills either, and he makes my blog much happier. :-D

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