Pie Crust

Up until recently, I've been a bit terrified of Pie Crust. However, it turns out it's not that frightening and although it's definitely an art and one I've yet to perfect, it's entirely manageable. 

Ingredients/Directions:

In a large bowl combine 2 cups Flour with 1 tsp. salt, cut in 3/4 cups butter (fingers work great for this!) Gradually add up to 4 Tbsp. cold water (1 Tbsp. at a time) until dough forms a ball, chill for 30 minutes before rolling out. If you leave it in the refrigerator too long it will need about 30 minutes to come to room temperature. I like to roll mine out on wax paper if I'm not using it right away, roll the wax paper/crust into a 'log' and refrigerate until later.

Crepe Variations

Having made a batch of crepes (actually a double batch so we could enjoy some crepes throughout the week), it was time to fill them with a variety of delicious things.

We had the standard Nutella with Banana, followed by Peanut Butter, Yogurt and Banana and finally Orange Curd and Banana. I threw some powdered sugar into an empty and thorougly cleaned out spice canister and went to town sprinkling the warm little crepes with sugary good-ness.

What's you favorite way to eat crepes?

Seaweed Dinner Wraps

The meal and the chef that inspired me ^^

In Korea, it is not highly uncommon to enjoy a variety of vegetables, a meat and some lettuce to wrap everything up in. Many of the man and my favorite meals involve just that, wrapping meat in lettuce. Recently, a friend of ours invited us over for dinner and had a sort of mini-buffet of deliciously marinaded meat, a variety of vegetables, rice and seaweed and lettuce for creating wraps. Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious and inspiring! You can definitely go about this type of meal anyway you wish, our friend included Muenster cheese with her wraps which was fantastic! Ours were a bit more simple just because...it's what I had time for. This particular dinner I cooked up some thinly sliced pork (dae-pae samgyupsal - similar to bacon but uncured), mixed in some bulgogi marinade and a sliced onion for the meat dish. For the vegetables I served up thinly sliced carrots and cucumbers as well as a beautiful mix of sprouts I got at our little grocery store. Throw in some rice and have some lettuce or seasoned seaweed ready to go and you're all set for a most delicious and enjoyable dinner!

Creamy Dill Cucumber Dip

Derby Days. Cinco de Mayo. Children's Day.

May 5th.

A day for celebration and gathering together under the bridge alongside the river.

I took this dish...not to brag, but it was a favorite among the picnic-ers.

Ingredients/Directions:

Mix together one container softened cream cheese with 3/4 of the same container plain yogurt and 1/4 of the same container mayonaise (you can also do this as a cup, 3/4 cups and 1/4 cup - but I didn't want to creat extra dishes, therefore just used the cream cheese container to 'measure'). Add to this mixture two peeled, seeded and diced cucumbers, 2 Tbsp. chopped Fresh Dill and Salt and Pepper to taste. Enjoy with crackers, chips or vegetables and a good group of friends.

Cowboy Cornbread (Mix)

For the same picnic mentioned previously, I decided to whip up some cornbread.

Using the recipe from the Gooseberry Patch's Chili Cookbook.

Ingredients/Directions:

Mix together 1 cup Yellow Cornmeal, 1 cup Flour, 1/4 cup Sugar, 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder, 1 tsp. Baking Soda and 1/8 tsp. Salt. If you want to give this as a gift of save it for another day simply pour into a jar or Ziploc and save for later. Other wise, place these dry ingredients into a large bowl. Separately, whisk together 3 Tbsp. melted, cooled butter and add 1 1/3 cups buttermilk (I did 1 cup milk + 1/3 cup Yogurt), add one egg and mix thoroughly. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until just combined. (If you're feeling funky throw in a few handful so corn kernels before baking). Pour into a square or round pan, bake at 425*F (218*C) for 30 minutes.

Overnight Oats Variation: Strawberry and Banana

Classic and Delicious.

Mason Jar Taco Salad

Mason Jar salads are apparently all the rage on the blogging world...or in the Pinterest world...they are not all the rage in South Korea - but that doesn't mean we haven't heard about them nor that we can't bust out a few ourselves ^^

I try to think ahead. We had some obligations coming up, so I opted to throw together some Mason Jar Salads and see how they worked out. They were quite delicious. I may have needed a bit more dressing, and a bit more space at the top for easier shaking, otherwise - it was a nice dinner and seems like a promising picnic option...time to get into our car and enjoy some road trips!

Ingredients/Directions:

The basics of Mason Jar Salads are to layer up starting with dressing, a hearty set of veggies, cheese and finally lettuce.

For this Taco Salad, I started with a yogurt dressing which I threw together - essentially plain, home-made yogurt with chili powder, cayenne powder, salt, pepper and cumin. (Sour Cream and Salsa would work equally well, if not better for a taco salad). Next, I threw in some corn, followed by tomatoes and black beans. Once those items were layered in, I tore some lettuce into the jar and finally placed some tortilla chip crumbs on the very top. When the dinner hour rolled around, the hubs and I got some exercise shaking our jars and enjoyed some salad (except Mike doesn't really like corn, so he didn't enjoy his as much).