My first pie! BLUEBERRY! :)

In honor of Utah's Pioneer Day (or Pie and Beer Day, as some people refer to it as) I decided to make my first pie on July 24!

I picked up a cooling rack and pastry blender at Bed Bath and Beyond. I already had a glass pie plate. Blueberries were on sale at Costco.
The recipe is in the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book" that my mom got for me years ago. I have used TWO recipes in it during the past TEN years: chocolate brownies and pizza crust.

The pie turned out GREAT! My favorite part was cutting the left-over crust into a decorative blueberry with a stem and leaf.

Putting aluminum foil around the crust for the first half hour of cooking was a good idea. The crust didn't burn at all.

The only mistake I made was rolling some of the crust too thin in one spot. Halfway through cooking, a few blueberries burst through and made a daring escape to the bottom of the oven. I patched the hole with raw dough and sugar.

Also, I think the pie was a bit too sweet. Next time I will use less sugar.

I actually used a pancake spatula to get the crust from the counter onto the pie plate. I may invest in a plastic pastry cloth.

Pastry for Single-Crust Pie

1 ¼ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening

3 to 4 tablespoons cold water.

In a mixing bowl stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening or lard until the pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push to side of bowl. Repeat until all is moistened. Form dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with hands. Roll dough from center to edge, forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Ease pastry into 9-inch pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry. Trim to ½ inch beyond edge of pie plate. Do not prick pastry.

For Double Crust Pie

Prepare pastry for Single-Crust Pie as above, except use 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2/3 cup shortening and 6 to 7 tablespoons of cold water. Divide dough in half. Roll out half of dough as above. Fit into pie plate. Trim pastry even with rim. For top crust, roll out remaining dough. Cut slits for escape of steam. Place filling in pie shell. Top with pastry top crust. Trim top crust ½ inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold extra pastry under bottom crust; flute edge.

FLUTING: Press dough with a forefinger against the thumb and forefinger of the other hand.

Blueberry Pie

1 cup sugar

¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

Dash salt

5 cups fresh blueberries or 20 oz frozen unsweetened blueberries thawed

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

In a mixing bowl combine sugar, flour, lemon peel and salt. Add sugar mixture to blueberries; toss to coat fruit. Fill a pastry-lined 9-inch pie plate with blueberry mixture. Drizzle with lemon juice and dot with butter. Adjust top crust. Seal and flute edge. Cover edge of pie with foil. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more or until crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Makes 8 servings.

* If using frozen blueberries, increase the flour to 1/3 cup.

Welcome to my kitchen! :)

Hello All!
First, let's get something straight: I am NOT copying the movie "Julie and Julia"... even though I saw it yesterday. It simply motivated me to finally get started on an idea I had last winter! ;)
A few months ago I started taking pictures of food that I made. And then sometimes I would post the pictures on Facebook. But I thought it would be fun to put the photos all on a blog and include the recipes.
The problem is, I rarely, if ever, follow a recipe to the letter. Why should I? I see a recipe as a skeleton or an outline waiting for some fun and creativity -- or even a low-fat version. Case in point: the peach pie I made Saturday. Why not add cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and rum extracts? Why not sprinkle the crust with a cinnamon and sugar mix? Why not do only 2/3 the sugar and see if it's still sweet enough? Of course, forgetting to add lemon juice was a (not too disastrous) mistake. The peaches look kind of brownish. So this blog will include my cooking mistakes too!
I also want people to read the blog, look at the pictures and recipes, and see how quick and easy cooking can be. My first pie, on July 24, was a fun adventure and so much easier than I ever dreamed.
Also, I think it would be fun if my friends could post their favorite recipes. Such as Mat and Kristina's special hot deli sandwiches! My friend Kristina saw "Julie and Julia" with me and loves to cook as well!
So break out the oven mitts and spatulas... let's get started!