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Fresh Lemon Juice

Rhubarb, Mint, and Vanilla Bean Mini Pies

July 17, 2014 by Dana

rhubarbpies4 (1 of 1) If you are a sweet-tart fan you will love this Rhubarb, Mint, and Vanilla Bean Pie recipe! Rhubarb is a really interesting vegetable (yes it is a veggie), as it has a tart flavor. It isn’t something you can really cook up without the use of sugar but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a natural approach to sweetening it like I did for this recipe. Rhubarb is super duper easy to work with and requires just a minute or two of prep time before putting it into the pot to boil down. I decided to steep some mint leaves into the rhubarb because my husband threw them into the bag the rhubarb was in and they smelled so amazing. Fresh mint is one of my favorite smells, however it isn’t overwhelming in this recipe. The tartness of the rhubarb is overpowering so if you aren’t really a mint fan you can easily omit the mint. rhubarbpies7 (1 of 1) I scored the vanilla beans at the grocery store a few weeks ago for $1.50 a piece! If you know anything about vanilla beans, you know they are really expensive. Usually one vanilla bean is anywhere from $6-8 so when I saw those babies sitting there for that price I had to snag a few. I probably would have bought the whole box if I thought I could have used them all! Vanilla beans are also really easy to work with. After you do it one time, you’ll be a pro! All you have to do is take a paring knife and slice the bean in half lengthwise. You will have two long beans pods with all the little beans (like the black dots in vanilla bean ice cream). At a 45 degree angle scrape the beans from the pod. If you are making something that you can throw the shell of the pod into after you have scraped the beans, you can do that as well. I always try to throw the shell in just incase I missed any of the flavorful little beans ! rhubarbpies3 (1 of 1) These mini pies feature my whole wheat pie crust that I use for pretty much any recipe that requires a crust. Making your own pie crust is so easy it almost makes me mad that the grocery store sells crusts that are loaded with dangerous and unnecessary ingredients. Pillsbury sells refrigerated pie crusts in tubes, and let me tell you the ingredient list is scary to say the least! Their crusts contain partially hydrogenated fats (trans fats!), BHT and BHA (banned in other countries), other preservatives, and even artificial food dyes. Companies love to take advantage of the laziness of American’s and this is a prime example. I made this crust in literally 2 minutes using a food processor, and if you don’t have a processor it takes about 5. I’ll spend 2 minutes to make my own instead of consuming dangerous crap any day! To shape your mini pies all you have to do is roll out your pie dough, take something you have that is a large circle (lid of a yogurt container, a cup, etc.), and cut a circle. Fill each pie with about 1 1/2 Tbsp of filling and fold over. Use your finger to press around the edges to seal the pie and that’s it! You’ll want to let your dough firm up in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes before you score it (cut the lines on the top).

Whole Wheat Pie Dough

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted cold butter (or 3/4 cup)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 5-8 Tbsp cold water

Instructions

  1. Put flour, salt, and cold butter chunks in food processor or Ninja. Pulse a few times to “cut in” butter. If you do not have a processor simply cut butter into chunks, add to flour, and break up into pea sized pieces.
  2. Slowly add in cold water a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together.


Filed Under: Dessert, Recipes

Easiest 5 Minute Flounder

April 18, 2014 by Dana

 

I often hear from busy families that they don’t have time to cook dinner every night. I understand this is a concern when trying to get homework done, change diapers, wipe faces, and get someone to baseball practice all at the same time! I use the phrase “I am only one person” a few times a day myself! On busy nights I know I can make this flounder quickly because there is very little prep time and it doesn’t take long to cook. I also know my kids will always eat it and I can leave one section unseasoned to give to the baby. You could also use other fish varieties as this recipe is pretty basic. Make sure when choosing fish you select a wild caught variety. Fresh or frozen work just the same so we usually buy them frozen because it is a bit cheaper.


flounder

This recipe is also really helpful to people who have been purchasing pre-seasoned frozen fish. I was visiting my mom one day and I was going through her freezer to help her weed out the highly processed junk disguised as health food. When we came to the fish she said “Well that’s just Tilapia.” I thought the same thing but when I read the ingredients I realized you can never assume anything is healthy until you actually read what it contains. Here are the ingredients listed in the Gorton’s Signature Grilled Tilapia:

Ingredients: Tilapia, Water, Canola Oil, Salt, Dehydrated Garlic, Spices, Paprika, Red Bell Pepper, Modified Corn Starch, Dehydrated Onion, Yeast Extract, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Parsley, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavoring, Ascorbic Acid, Natural Smoke Flavor, Carrageenan, Yeast, Corn Syrup Solids, Onion Juice, Sodium Tripolyphosphate (to Retain Fish Moisture), Propyl Gallate and Tocopherol (to Protect Flavor).

I bolded anything that is a questionable or unknown. Here is what you should know about these ingredient:

  • Canola Oil is highly processed and not an oil I would be using on fish at home
  • Yeast extract is just another way to say Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
  • Natural Flavoring could be literally anything, we have no idea what that means
  • Carrageenan is controversial because it may cause cancer
  • Corn Syrup Solids are very much like High Fructose Corn Syrup.. Highly processed and lacking any nutritional value

So it is clear that making your own is a much better option, and I promise it will only take a minute or two more then just taking something out of a box and putting it in the oven!

 

Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes Tagged With: flounder, garlic, lemon

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I'm Dana! Foodie + Photographer. Momma of 5. Baby lover. Coffee addict. Cooking through the chaos one recipe at a time! I've built this food blog out of a desire to create and share. My time spend around the table with my family and friends means the world to me. My hope is that you get to feel that too!

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Foodie + Photographer. Momma of 5. I've built this food blog out of a desire to create and share. I feel most alive when I'm talking with family and friends around the table. My hope is that you get to feel that too!

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