Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Barrett Potato Farms- Springlake, Texas

Do you ever look at the grower on that sack of potatoes you buy? I read everything on a label these days, from calorie count to country of origin. Maybe it's because my husband worked many years for a major food company, I do like to support America's farmers. What that makes me is possibly the worst kind of shopper to get behind in the grocery store aisle!

Potatoes make their way into millions of shopping carts every day. It's the old standby for most of us, it goes with practically any meal and there's hardly a person who dislikes them. I'm never without potatoes, I only vary the kind I buy. Right now we have baby reds and russets in the potato bin. How you store your potatoes makes a big difference in their shelf life. When you bring home a bag of potatoes, you need to go through them to make sure there aren't any green, bruised or soft ones. In fact, give that bag a good once over before you leave the store. You can easily spot a bad one. The best tip of all is to find a cool, dark place with good ventilation to store your potatoes. The ideal temperature to store them is between 50 and 60 degrees, the temperature of many garages in the winter is perfect. Transfer them to a brown grocery bag or a cardboard box to keep the light out. A single ripe apple will prevent the potatoes from sprouting since the apple produces ethylene gas and will lengthen the time you can keep your potatoes. Armed with all these suggestions, go ahead and buy that 20 pound bag of russets and reap the rewards of buying in bulk!

When we think of potatoes, Idaho comes to mind... but actually potatoes are grown commercially in 36 states. It's almost the perfect food; fat, sodium and cholesterol free, low in calories and loaded with nutrients. One medium potato has nearly half the day's requirement for Vitamin C and more potassium than a banana. A great antioxidant, potatoes contain glutathione that may help protect against some cancers. That's well worth the 110 calories! You thought there were more calories in there, didn't you? Well, it's what we do with the potato that gives them a bad reputation! By the time we load them up with butter, sour cream, shredded Cheddar and bacon bits... that healthy baked potato is now a full meal of calories! The russett also is the chosen potato for french fries and potato chips, all I can say is... "Thank you Lord" for the potato!

I want to share a great recipe that I found on Pinterest (duh!) It's a Pioneer Woman recipe so you can be assured it is slap dab delicious! She posted this one around Easter, perfect for our ham leftovers. I had never thought of adding meat to scalloped potatoes and serving as a main dish instead of a side dish. It was a BIG hit, what's not to love if you start with potatoes and cheese ;)

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham 

(adapted slightly from The Pioneer Woman's recipe, I halved the recipe since it's just the two of us)

3 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes, Washed Thoroughly

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced

3 cups Diced Ham

1-1/2 cup Half-and-half

1-1/2 cup Heavy Cream (I used all half and half, I can't imagine how good it would have been w/whipping cream!)

1/4 cup Flour

 Black Pepper To Taste

1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese

1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese (I used all cheddar, cause that's what I had!)

 Chopped Parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large casserole dish. 

Heat butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until they start to turn translucent. Add ham and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine half-and-half and cream in a microwave-safe container and nuke for a minute or so, until no longer cold. Whisk in flour and black pepper until totally combined. Set aside. (You may add salt, but cheese and ham are salty, so add sparingly.)

Combine the two grated cheeses. Set aside.

Using a mandoline or slicer, slice potatoes into 1/8-inch slices (very thin.) Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the ham/onion mixture, then 1/3 of the cheese, then pour on 1/3 of the cream mixture.

Repeat this twice more, ending with a sprinkling of cheese and a pouring on of the rest of the cream mixture. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes at least, or until bubbly and hot.

Cut into squares and serve. Sprinkle on chopped parsley if you'd like!

(Note: To speed along the process a bit, you may boil sliced potatoes for 3 to 5 minutes before assembling the casserole. Just drain and slightly cool before assembling.)

I used Ree's tip on boiling the sliced potatoes for 5 minutes and it really does make them cook faster and have great melt-in-your-mouth texture. That CAN be a dangerous thing though!!

Print Recipe~

Celebrating...

Marydon from Blushing Rose and husband Harold were celebrating an anniversary recently, and because she's the kind of person that likes to share her happiness, she had a huge giveaway! I was one of the lucky winners, a lovely Victorian desk set!  She and Harold had a whirlwind romance, he actually proposed on their very first date! Two weeks later they were engaged... and two weeks after that she was a Mrs.

 .

One thing about true love, you know it when it hits you. When I met my husband 45 years ago, I felt weak in the knees. Our eyes met and even though there were people all around us, it felt like we were the only ones in the room. In a very short time I realized he was the one, I think it took him a little longer! We dated for the next 3 years and after his first year of college, we married. I was just out of high school. I can remember feeling very nervous the night of our rehearsal dinner that we were making a big mistake getting married so young. I tried my best to back out, but he wouldn't let me.... he told me that everything was going to be fine and that we WERE going to get married the next day! 

But for the record, I did give him one.last.chance.

Thanks Marydon for the generous gifts!

Love them all....

Sticky Note Wisdom

The Coop Keeper has lost nearly 90 pounds in the last year. Along the way Jayme has changed what she eats, her morning routine and even how she blogs. I have to say I'm missing those bread recipes but even without the added carbs, her blog is "food" for me in an inspirational sense. She's talked about it all along the way, as she shed pounds she shed some of the heavy thoughts that had been weighing her down too. It's not all about calories when we eat, sometimes we are feeding that empty spot that developed years earlier in our lives. We all have it, no matter how good our life has been... feelings of disappointment, unrealistic goals that weren't met. She's a list maker just like me and yesterday she posted her "To-Do List" ...

Make egg rolls for cooking club

tend the chickens - morning, afternoon

feed cats

finish garden section C

go to the Poultry Auction (Phyllis needs a man)

Cooking Club 12pm at Terry's

Call Terry

Upper body weight training

one hour cardio

do laundry

finish deep cleaning the kitchen

do coaching reviews

write a blog post

make dinner

get Aaron to ALC at 5pm

plan my week

take a jar of honey to Debby

pay cell phone bill

varnish the kitchen floor

Paula's Birthday!

call re: pavilion rental for the beekeeper's picnic

go to Sunrise Farms after Cooking Club and pick up rest of annuals

I can see her problem... she is writing these daily lists on BIG pieces of paper! I suggested she make a trip to Target for sticky notes, but not just any sticky notes. I found some at Target last year that are 2"X2". Half the size of regular sticky notes they allow only for the most important "To-Do's." If you can't fit it on the 2x2 square, then your plate is too full for any given day and you need to cross through the stuff that's not important. We have to take time each day to breathe and smell the roses....

♥♥♥

Dear Photograph

source

A photograph tells a story. It shows where we called home, it shows the decade that we claim for our childhood and often, it shows much more. The above picture is one of thousands that have been shared on Taylor Jones' Dear Photograph. Digital nostalgia at it's best, it will make you smile, it may even make you shed a tear, but the most important thing that it does is make you want to go through all those old pictures and relive the moments that shaped our past. 

His book, Dear Photograph (Morrow Avon) that's coming out in May is a way to celebrate these powerful memories. When I go through our old pictures... the ones from my childhood I remember like yesterday riding in that big back seat on our way downtown to the Shrine Circus. Mom and Dad were in the front, the radio on and I would watch as we made the turns, left and right. Some things familiar...

Spradlin's Market up on Commercial Street where Mom and I would walk to on warm summer days to buy fresh produce ~

Stinger Sam's Automotive at the corner of Lyon and Commerical where Daddy would go on Saturdays to pick up oil or sparkplugs~

Past Katz City where we'd shop on Friday nights and I'd spend my 50

cents allowance for a bag of candy~

And Burge Hospital where I was born in 1952~

We'd park along the street in front of the Shrine Mosque, put money in the meter and for the next two hours I'd watch beautiful trapeze artists fly through the air, brave lion tamers and through the eyes of a child I dreamed of where my life would take me. Go over to Dear Photograph and go through those wonderful old pictures...

Best Bran Muffins

How can Sarah Fennel only be a 20 year old college student and have an arsenal of BEST recipes already under her belt? I've added her to my sidebar so I won't miss a single recipe! Visit her at Broma Bakery and you will see what I'm talking about...

Best Bran Muffins
from BromaBakery
2 cups wheat bran (I used All-Bran)
1 cup, plus 1/2 cup dark raisins
1 cup, plus 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk or plain low- or non-fat yogurt
a few swipes of fresh orange zest
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
*I added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Spread the wheat bran on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for six to eight minutes, stirring a few times so it cooks evenly. Let cool. (I just used All-Bran Original cereal, it's the box you probably have seen in your Grandma's kitchen cabinet... the one you wouldn't eat when you were a kid but now CRAVE the taste! It's wheat bran, a single serving is 10 grams of fiber, 40% of your daily fiber requirement making these muffins a very good choice for breakfast or snack.)

While the bran is toasting, heat 1 cup of the raisins with 1/2 cup of the water. Simmer for ten minutes, or until the water is all absorbed. Puree the raisins in a food processor or blender until smooth.

In a large bowl, mix together the toasted bran, buttermilk or yogurt, 1 cup water, then mix in the raisin puree, orange zest, and brown sugar.

Stir in the oil, and eggs.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and sift directly into the wet ingredients. Stir until the ingredients are just combined, then mix in the remaining 1/2 cup raisins.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, making sure the batter is mounded slightly in each one. Because muffin tins can very in size, if your tins are larger, make fewer muffins. (I did use my jumbo muffin tins and a 1/2cup ice cream scoop, it made 10 big, yummy muffins.)

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the muffins feel set in the center. (I baked them for the full 30 minutes since they were larger.)
PRINT RECIPE

As good as these are warm from the oven, they are even better a day later... moist and delicious!

What's for Dinner?

This week's cool, spring weather was perfect for soup, I made a great chowder from Closet Cooking. I love Kevin's blog, homestyle recipes but with a kick! Pop over for a visit and use his handy print button to save this recipe... it's a keeper!

Buffalo Chicken Chowder from Closet Cooking

All the flavors we love with Buffalo Wings in a hearty chowder!

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound chicken, cut into bite sized pieces ( I used leftover rotisserie chicken)
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup celery, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup carrot, cut into small pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• * hot sauce to taste (I added about 4 good shakes of Tabasco, you can use Frank's too!)
• 1 large yukon gold or other boiling potato, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half since I'm watching my girlish figure!)
• 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled (Didn't have, but this definately would put it over the top)
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken and saute until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes (I used rotisserie chicken so I skipped having to brown the chicken, I just chopped it into bite sizes pieces). Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the garlic and flour and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Add the hot sauce and potatoes, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. (I didn't have blue cheese, but this would really make the soup take on the same wonderful flavors of Buffalo Wings. I would definately make this again and again!)

Buffalo Chicken Chowder

Buffalo Chicken Chowder from Closet Cooking

All the flavors we love with Buffalo Wings in a hearty chowder! 

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound chicken, cut into bite sized pieces ( I used leftover rotisserie chicken)
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup celery, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup carrot, cut into small pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• * hot sauce to taste (I added about 4 good shakes of Tabasco, you can use Frank's too!)
• 1 large yukon gold or other boiling potato, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half since I'm watching my girlish figure!)
• 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled (Didn't have, but this definately would put it over the top)
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken and saute until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes(I used rotisserie chicken so I skipped having to brown the chicken, I just chopped it into bite sizes pieces). Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the garlic and flour and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Add the hot sauce and potatoes, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. (I didn't have blue cheese, but this would really make the soup take on the same wonderful flavors of Buffalo Wings. I would definately make this again and again!)

Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffin

Knock-Offs of Whole Food’s 6 Dollar per 4 Chocolate Chunk VitaTop Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c oats

3 egg whites

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or regular plain low fat yogurt)

1/2 tsp cream of tartar (or 1-1/2 Tbsp. vinegar)

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup hot water

1 cup sugar substitute (like Splenda granular) OR 1/4 cup + 2 tbs stevia

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or use white chocolate or peanut butter chips!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with foil cupcake liners, or spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a blender, (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. Place mixture in a bowl and gently stir in 1/2 of the chocolate chips (set the rest aside). Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pans. Place muffins tins in the oven for 10 minutes.

*After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the oven (but don’t shut oven off), and distribute the other half of the chocolate chips on top of each muffin. Place the muffins back into the oven and bake for an additional 2-5 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

*Note, you could skip this step by putting all of the chips in the batter, and baking the muffins for 12-15 min straight, but this method gives the muffins the traditional ‘VitaTop Muffin’ look with the chocolate chips on top! Cool muffins before removing from pan. ENJOY!!! 

Servings: 12 Regular Muffins or 24 Mini Muffins
Calories: 116 Calories Per Regular Muffin or 58 Calories Per Mini Muffin 
PRINT RECIPE

Compost Cookies

Compost Cookies from the Oatmeal Cookie Blog
Creamables
1 1/2 sticks butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons dry, used coffee grounds (this is NOT a misprint, save them from this morning's coffee!)
Wet Ingredients
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
Dry Ingredients
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
3/4 cup roughly crushed potato chips
1/2 cup roughly crushed pretzels
1/2 cup roughly crushed Fritos
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking soda
1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
4. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
5. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined. (At this point you can chill the dough to bake later)
7. Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
8. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

PRINT RECIPE

Old Dog, New Trick #47

I'm guessing at the exact number of new things I've learned since I started blogging, but I'd say one good idea a month is pretty close. Next week I'll be celebrating 4 years of sharing my life, cleansing my soul, spilling my beans. There are days I don't have a clue what to write, but I read a few blogs and I see something new to share. That's what happened yesterday when I went for a visit up to Glenda's Living and Gardening in the Ozarks. She's a Missouri blogger, we speak Missourah to each other! She and her husband are retired dairy farmers so I love living vicariously through her, she still milks nearly everyday but just one instead of dozens. She has learned a thing or two since she's been around the block more than once, and there's hardly a visit I don't pick up some tip that saves us money or betters my life. Yesterday when I was leaving my comment I saw she had a neat little option where she could reply to the comments. Now I am slow to notice new things, but I think it was new and I wanted it! So I went to Blogger Help and entered reply to comments and there it was... New Trick #47! You just go into Settings then Comments, change from Full Page to Embedded and POOF you can talk to each other! The full instructions are HERE... If I could just figure out how to add about 2 more hours to each day that would be perfect!

1 Corinthians 13: The Christmas Version

"If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook. 
 

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child; Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse; Love is kind, even when harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. 
 

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.  

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of LOVE will endure."

May the joy of Advent bring God’s love into your life in a special way this Christmas!

*Graciously shared by A Mom of Three Girls at Land of Fluff.blogspot.com

Tennessee Treasure

Time has a way of erasing the past, especially in rural America. All along the roads that lead to Mom's house at Lead Hill are homesteads that were once thriving farms. They now stand empty, in decay. The fields that once grazed cattle are now overgrown with Johnson grass and cedars dotted every few feet, it breaks my heart.

A couple of weeks ago when I found Gary Loucks' Outdoor Wanderings, I was immediately hooked by photography that will take your breath away. Locations and waterways, nature and wildlife that is rarely seen. Gary's job puts him right smack dab in the middle of Mother Nature's best and most beautiful. 

 The day I found Gary's blog, he was right in the middle of uncovering the mystery of Scona Lodge, Alcoa Aluminum's exclusive resort on the banks of Tennessee's Lake Chilhowee.

The once thriving resort has literally disappeared from the face of the Earth. Every brick, board and shingle gone... as if it never existed. The Lodge and three other exclusive houses, sheds, roadways and patios all evaporated, vaporized.

The grounds once boasted golf courses, shooting ranges, trout ponds~ now the mountain top that welcomed the privileged from big business is hidden under layers of forest and Kudzu.

Follow along with his faithful companions Scout and Shade, as Gary paddles along Tennessee waterways with Douglas in his heart...

To read about Scona Lodge start HERE, more on the mystery at...

http://garysoutdoorwanderings2.blogspot.com/2011/11/scona-lodge-search-continues.html

http://garysoutdoorwanderings2.blogspot.com/2011/11/scona-lodge-search-for-past-climb-and.html

http://garysoutdoorwanderings2.blogspot.com/2011/11/searching-scona-lodge-site.html

Thanks so much Gary for allowing me to post some of your fabulous photography! I'm hooked like a big fish now and can't miss a single blog...

"Make the Bread, Buy the Butter"

Mom was a stay at home Mom back in the 1950's and honestly, I can never remember a time when I'd get home from school that she wasn't in the kitchen cooking something. It was a given, I never had to go searching for her. She cooked from scratch, she canned, she even made bread. No wonder she was always in the kitchen! She wasn't Super Mom, she was just another 1950's housewife who was making things like her Mom did and pinching pennies.

When I got married in 1970, I knew nothing about preparing a meal. The previous 19 years Mom had shooed me from the kitchen so that she could get dinner ready. I remember peeling potatoes ONCE and I did know how to wash dishes, but the rest of kitchen duties were a mystery to me. I received one lone cookbook as wedding gift so I was sorely prepared for my first year of marriage. We ate tuna casserole, jello salad and spaghetti. That was it, that was all I could make that was remotely edible. About a month into it, I went to the library and checked out some cookbooks, Betty Crocker saved my marriage before it was ever seriously in trouble. Thank you Betty! That was the beginning of a love affair with cookbooks. After all, cooking with love= cooking from scratch, right? Wrong. You can make a meal that's totally from your heart without ever breaking a sweat. It's taken me 40+ years to learn the secrets, but now there's a book written for all of you newlyweds out there that need to cut to chase!

Last week on Good Morning America I saw a great new cookbook Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese. She spent a year of her life testing out her theory that some homemade recipes can save you big bucks, other ones not so much. She did the work for us, testing and compiling homemade versus storebought, figuring in flavor as well. Her blog The Tipsy Baker  is simply a vehicle to cook her way through her huge collection of cookbooks. It's all here... recipes, family, goats, and finances!

I always say I can't buy anymore cookbooks, I've really run out of room. But this one will save us money so it's on my Christmas Wish List...

 

Order from Amazon here.

       

"I baked two pies, identical except for the source of the pumpkin. Pie number one contained the flesh of a sugar pie pumpkin that I roasted for an hour, peeled, seeded, de-stringed, and forced through the food mill. Pie number two contained the flesh of a pumpkin that Libby’s had processed in a plant and I scooped out of the can. Results: The canned pumpkin was (obviously) more convenient, and I did not have to wait for it to roast. It was also slightly more expensive—about $0.50 more than the whole pumpkin. But those were fifty cents well spent, because it made a superior pie—the flavor was bigger, rounder, more pumpkin-y. I have no idea how you get more pumpkin-y than an actual pumpkin. According to the label, Libby’s canned pumpkin contains nothing but pumpkin. Did I just have a dud pumpkin? Confusing. My advice: When you’re standing at the supermarket the day before Thanksgiving pondering your pumpkin options, grab the can and get in the checkout line before it grows any longer. You’re not being squeamish, you’re being sensible. However, you should absolutely bake your own pie."

Cost comparison: Homemade: $3.68. Sara Lee frozen: $5.99. Safeway in-house bakery: $8.79

Pumpkin Pie
1¼ cups canned pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
 ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup half-and-half
One 9-inch pie crust (page 153), partially baked

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl combine the pumpkin, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and half-and-half and beat until smooth. Pour into the crust.
3. Bake for 35 minutes. This is incredible served warm out of the oven, and almost as good cold.

"People are unnecessarily intimidated by pie crusts. Your first ten crusts may look like kindergarten art projects, but so long as the edges are presentable—so long as there are edges—no one who eats the pie will know or care. Many recipes are very specific about what type of fat to use. Cooks swear by all-butter crusts, Crisco crusts, lard crusts, even vegetable oil crusts. My favorite is this butter-lard crust, which has the most flavor and shatters when you bite into it. But use whatever fat you want; the crust will be better than anything you can buy. Homemade crust tasted against Safeway’s frozen shell was delicate and rich, as opposed to brittle and bland. Likewise, it outperformed Pillsbury roll-out dough, which is oversalted and contains suspected carcinogens BHA and BHT. Not that a trace amount will give you cancer. It’s the principle. Make it or buy it? Make it."

Cost comparison: Homemade: just under a dollar. A Safeway-brand frozen pie crust: $1.70

Pie Crust
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
½ teaspoon kosher salt
 2 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons (½ stick) cold butter, cut into bits
4 tablespoons cold lard (recipe follows), cut into bits (if you have time, freeze the lard bits)
¼ cup ice water

1. Sift the flour, salt, and sugar into a large bowl or a food processor.
2. Add butter and lard, a few bits at a time, blending with your fingers or pulsing in the processor, until the mixture forms a coarse meal.
3. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time (you probably won’t need all of it and should use as little as you can get away with), and mix just until the dough begins to form a ball. Shape it into a disk, wrap tightly, and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours.
4. Flour the work surface and roll the dough into a rough circle, ¼ inch thick or less. The circle doesn’t have to be perfectly round—ragged edges are fine. This recipe makes a little extra dough in case of mistakes. Lift the dough and place it in a 9-inch pie plate. (If you fold the dough in half and then in half again, it’s easier to place in the pan.) Don’t stretch the dough. You should have a lot of overhang. Tuck the edges over and pinch decoratively. I like to squeeze the dough between the side of my middle finger and my thumb to create a tall, fluted crust, like a garland. It will collapse during baking, but the ruins of its beauty endure. You can also crimp the pie crust by pressing it against the rim of the pie plate with the tines of a fork. That’s easier, if not as pretty.
5. To prebake pie crust: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place a piece of foil in the shell and pour in enough rice, dried beans, or pie weights to keep it from puffing.
6. Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the weights and foil and return the dough to the oven. Bake 5 minutes more. Cool before filling. If you’re not using the crust immediately, cover and store at room temperature for up to a day.

Makes one 9-inch crust
Excerpted from MAKE THE BREAD, BUY THE BUTTER: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch—Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods by Jennifer Reese. Copyright 2011 by Jennifer Reese. Published by Free Press