I Had A Blast In Culinary Class

I made a pie crust from scratch for the first time ever in my life!  What an accomplishment for me.  If you know anything about me, you know I’m one to buy my crusts already made in the store to save myself a year of my life.

But if you’ve never gone to culinary school before, I’d suggest it.  It was actually fun.  When I saw an apple pie making class on the schedule, I hopped right on it so I could try my hand at crust-making.

I was a late enrollee so the class was already full, but the teacher said she had enough ingredients and space that they could go ahead and squeeze me in.

I arrived early bird style.  And first off, Egads!!  I wasn’t thrilled with the choice of ugly green aprons they had for us to borrow!  You could say I was a little disturbed.  But there was clearly a bigger purpose of me being there.  So I let it slide—after all I am there to learn pie crust making.  Let’s FOCUS.

But, heretofore, let it be known I will definitely be bringing my white Betty Boop apron with me to wear should I find myself at any of these future classes!  (Now where were we?)

First off, the instructor had us gather ’round her as she made an entire pie and gave us detailed instructions while we asked our questions.  Then we went back to our stations and got to work.  The instructor and her assistants constantly walked around and were great at helping us along.

When it was time to make the pie crust, it reinforced upon me WHY I always buy my crusts pre-made in the stores—there was just so much work involved!  Yeah, there’s nothing like crust made from scratch—but only if you have time on your hands you want to fill up.

The only thing I kept thinking and saying out loud at my table was how much quicker this would have gone and at what point we would all be at in the apple-pie-making process had we a pre-made pie crust in front of us.

Granted, I know that was the purpose of the class and it was actually fun to make in the class—but at home??  I had visions in my head of my patience levels and thought ‘I don’t think so.’

Making crust from scratch will be a once-in-a-blue-moon thing for me, sorry to say.  Later in life, that could change.

Apple pie in the oven

The finished product had to be taken home for baking in the oven.  The instructor suggested baking it straight away, but said it was fine to do the next day since we’d be getting home late in the evening.  As you can see, I put a lot of lovin’ into this.  Ain’t she a beaut?  It turned out really good.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, find different classes you can take at your local culinary center.  You’ll have loads of fun.

Take-Away Life Lesson:  Bring your own Betty Boop apron from home to these classes, lest you get stuck wearing an ugly green one.

Is It Strawberry Pie Season?!

Strawberry Pie

Strawberry Pie with whipped cream lovin’.

So, what else is new?  My car made its usual ‘pit-stop’ to the local diner where all my favorite eatins are—and look what I discovered!  We’re in the midst of Strawberry Pie season at the diner.

I’ve never had the strawberry pie at my local diner before so I decided to try one on the advice of a friend.  And weeeeellllll, doggie!! is all I can say.  That pie and those strawberries were luschiously good!

Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding with caramel-flavored whipped cream, caramel, and cinnamon & sugar toppings.

As you can tell, it’s also Bread Pudding Monday.  What else is new in that department?  You know how I do this.  I go in with the intent on getting one……..and I end up getting two.  I couldn’t help myself.  One for now, one for later is the plan—but the later never happens.  So it’s, basically, two for now.  Who are we kidding?

Warm it in the microwave, toss the caramel-flavored whipped cream on top of the bread pudding, drizzle the caramel on top of the whipped cream, and get-down with sprinkling that cinnamon-sugar goodness all over everything!

So, if you have nothing else to do today, find yourself a freshly made strawberry pie and enjoy it like nothing else.

Take-Away Life Lesson:  There’s nothing wrong with having a strawberry pie/bread pudding combo day.  You gotta do what you gotta do.

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And The Desserts Just Don't Stop

Coconut Cream Pie
Coconut Cream Pie

Made with gingersnap cookies, sweetened shredded coconut, melted butter, half-and-half, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, pure vanilla extract, and whipped cream.

I love a good coco pie!  Who, in their right mind, doesn’t?  Now, I’ve had some great coconut cream pies in my life before—like at The Capital Grille, for instance.  Needless to say, theirs was so good I decided to try and make my own homemade coco pie to see how it’d turn out—and, I have to say, I’m proud of myself.

Let me tell you, I definitely deserve this kind of lovin’ in my life.  When you have a hard time getting the kind of love you want from a decent human being—go straight to the coco pie, my friends!  It’ll make up for it many times over.

Try making yourself this uber coconut cream pie and just set it on your lap and eat it while you watch a good action flick.  And if you didn’t already know, I’m a big believer in—if you’re just going to go back for a 3rd and 4th slice anyway—just eat straight outta the pan and save yourself some time.

Recipe for—Coconut Cream Pie

Monkey Bread
Monkey Bread

Made with canned biscuits, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter.

I still haven’t figured out why this is called Monkey Bread, but whatever.  All I can say is—it’s sticky.  It’s just one big doughy, sugary, cinnamony (probably not a real word, but I can’t be worried about it) mess.  Help yourself.

Recipe for—Monkey Bread

Special K No-Bake Cookies
Special K No-Bake Cookies

Made with butterscotch chips, crunchy peanut butter, peanuts, and Special K cereal.

You really need yourself some milk with these cookies—they are that sweet and good.  But, once you have your milk in hand, you can easily just eat one right after the other back-to-back.  Next thing you know, you look around and realize you probably should have tripled the recipe to begin with.

The simplest cookie you could ever make with only 4 ingredients:

  • butterscotch chips
  • crunchy peanut butter
  • peanuts
  • Special K cereal

That’s it!  Aaaannnnnnd, we’re done.  No baking, no nothing.  Just warm, mix, shape into cookies, let them sit a couple of hours, then devour them.  How hard is that?

So, if you have nothing else to do today, stuff that hole in your face with every one of these desserts after you’ve made them and make sure there’s ice-cold milk nearby.

Take-Away Life Lesson:  Everyone at least deserves some coconut cream pie lovin’ in their life many times over.  Ooooo and aahhh.

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No-Bake Cookies