Apple Pie!

I finally made a pie. Refer to here for a story about the last few pies that I've made...

0.5 cup of sugar

3 tbsp whole wheat flour

cinnamon and/or whatever spices you like

3 giant apples (You know, the ones from Costco), sliced. I had one Rome, one Royal Gala, and one Golden Delicious.

Pie crust!! (whole wheat!)

All you do is layer apple with sugar and flour. I managed to get three layers of apples in my glass pie pan (which doesn't seem to have issues with dough sticking on it, so it's cool).

On the bottom rack, I baked for 20 mins at 375F and 15 mins at 350F. Then, I let it sit in the oven (while the oven was cooling down) for about 50 minutes to an hour.

I guess it's a matter of preference, but I really don't like apple pie when the apple parts have the consistency of mashed potato/applesauce. I also don't want super sweet apple pie.

So, for me, improvements to this recipe would be

1. Less sugar in apple filling. For sure.

2. Bake pie in less time (Possibly bake the crust for 10 minutes first, then add in the apple, to get less soggy apple).

3. More sugar in crust.

We had leftover pie crust because the top design didn't really use much crust, so my sister ended up making cookies with it (microwave for 45 s). Pie crust cookies are really yummy, actually.

Pie Crust!

I made pie crust today because it has to sit overnight for the apple pie tomorrow. I've already figured out a design for the top! No, it will not be a crumble top.

I looked through my old photos to see if I ever took a picture of the pie I made 5 years ago, and unfortunately, I didn't.

I guess the rules for this pie crust are that it's made with patience and whole wheat flour. I know it's rare to see whole wheat pie crust, and it's even rarer to see pie crust made with chunks of butter (not melted) without the use of a food processor.

I found a pie crust recipe here and I altered it specifically for whole wheat flour and apple pie filling.

Ingredients for a 9- to 9.5-inch pie base and top

2.5 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon sugar or just plain sugar (more if you want)

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter cut into chunks

5 to 7 tbsp apple juice (or water)

Method

1. Sift flour. Add everything except juice/water into bowl.

2. Cut butter using a metal spoon. I suppose a plastic knife would work well too.

3. Cut butter. Now, the dough starts smelling phenomenal. For some reason, my dough smelled like cheesecake-graham-cracker crust, or just pie crust in general.

4. Cut butter. The dough looks browner, the butter pieces are smaller, and ... I smooshed some butter too because cutting butter took a lot of time. In retrospect, though, leaving a few lumps may not have made much differenc.

5. Add juice/water until you can form a ball.

6. Stick in fridge overnight. I didn't wrap it in plastic wrap... I just stuck it in a container. For cookie dough, at least, it doesn't seem necessary to wrap stuff in plastic.

Well. Let's see what happens tomorrow!

Chocolate Pudding!

Something is wrong about my blog. Something terrible and ignored for 17 months.

The pie is a lie.

Despite calling my blog PIE-314, I've yet to make a pie and blog it on here. Sure, cheesecake has some sorta shell, and egg tarts can be considered open-top pies, and I've posted about pie before (made by others). I've just never made pie from scratch.

Actually, scratch that. I've made pies a few times in my life and I believe that they all turned out to be pretty much disasters. The chocolate pie I made when I was in year 8 turned out to have super overwhipped filling (it was still delicious, though). The berry pie with lattice top I made when Harry Potter 5 came out was really sour I didn't follow a recipe and I used only a few teaspoons of sugar.

The apple pies I made nearly EXACTLY 4 years ago, on Memorial Day 2007, were made with some biscuit mix and cracker crumbs (cracker crumb top). If THAT doesn't sound bad enough, I used dried apples that I tried to rehydrate by sticking them in water for half an hour (figuring osmosis would do something). I also followed no recipe, meaning that I had this dried-apple-and-preservatives-and-water sludge sitting on biscuit-mix-mixed-with-crackers concoction sitting in the oven for some random amount of time...but it didn't burn.

The best part was that the crust actually turned out pretty delicious.

The worst part was that I gave one of the two pies that I had made to my neighbour...and I actually felt proud of what I had made. So, now I cringe.

On Friday, I will actually make an apple pie. (Why? To show that in 4 years, I taught myself how to bake. It's not for a patriotic reason.) From scratch. I guess you all know by now that I dislike the whole pre-made crust, cake mix, pudding mix etc. enterprise.

So how does all this tie in with chocolate pudding? Well, I was going to make a chocolate pie, and I was determined to follow the recipe for once (instead of tweaking everything), because it was a tofu recipe by Alton Brown, and he's pretty awesome. However, I was pretty occupied most of today, and it was also really hot, so baking just didn't sound appetizing. Instead, I just made chocolate pudding from the pie recipe. No, not pie filling, because instead of using 13 ounces of chocolate, I only used 4 (116 g). Why? ...I only had 116 g of chocolate. It's perfectly fine, though, because 4 oz of strong chocolate makes the pudding taste like chocolate, too. I'm never going to buy pudding again! Those pudding cups are silly now!

Ingredients for pretty bitter but so intensely chocolately pudding (just the way I like it!)

116 g (4 oz) 65% cocoa chocolate

1 tbsp honey

1 lb silken tofu

2 tsp instant coffee

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

vanilla

Method:

Stick everything except tofu in the microwave for 30 s.

Blend with tofu.

Stick in fridge overnight.

Eat.

Since my pudding is still chillin' in the "chill chest" (Alton Brown terminology), I guess I'll take more photogenic pictures tomorrow at breakfast time [Update: it's the first photo]

What? You don't eat pudding for breakfast?

Nutritionally, it's the same as eating scrambled tofu and drinking hot chocolate, which many people do for breakfast. So why can't I eat pudding?

I'm making apple pie on Friday.

(By the way, it's world thyroid day...not that much happens)

PIE FOR MY PI!!!

Monday Night [13th]: PIE!!!!

Study Break by my dorm house!

There were myriad pies of all shapes and colours and burns...

Oreo (3)

Coconut (2)

Chocolate (2)

Peach/mixed fruit (1 or 2)

Berry (2?)

Cherry (?)

Pumpkin (2)

Pecan (2)

Apple (?)

More? 18 total... x 12 slices each

And the coconut pie crust tasted like bacon. I am serious. I honestly doubt that they used lard, and the aluminium containers were new... so the crust really shouldn't've tasted like bacon.

Maybe, relative to the coconut and custard, the crust was bacon flavoured.

AND FUDGE! I didn't eat any cookies but the fudge... the chocolate fudge tasted a bit on the chocolate side rather than the soft, gooey side of fudge that I'm used to [I'm guessing there were no marshmallows in this batch]. The white fudge was literally gritty powdered sugar stacked into cubes. It was densely packed sweetness. Sort of like compact chunks of aspartame without the aftertaste [not that I would know, but they really don't give that much sweetener in those little packets, since each artificial sweetener is ~200? times sweeter than sucrose].

It's in a bucket.

BEST PIE EVER. I love chocolate pie. I actually also love key lime pie.

Actually, I like pie a lot more than I like cake, but cupcakes are much easier to draw.

I brought my coconut, cherry, chocolate, and fudge back to the computer lab because I had to study/write an 8-page final. The pies mixed together was... interesting. I liked the cherry chocolate combination.

Ice Cream and Pie.

Five years ago, when I saw no error or consequences in organic foods, my science teacher did the unthinkable. He created a science project in which one group would argue for ORGANIC food, and one group would argue for GM food. I was in the group for GM food, and I was utterly speechless. My narrow mind believed that there was NO SUCH THING as a negative side to organic farming. It was like telling me that I didn't exist. I'm not sure what I said in the debate [probably something with a lot of eye rolling], but I remember that one of my group members said "Well...GM food makes food taste good. Like, carrots actually taste like CARROTS".

This is something I thought of today when I got back from the Eco-Reps meeting. What defines the taste of food? I'm currently eating tempeh. I think a piece of tempeh tastes like tempeh [I'm still relatively new to eating it], but how would I describe it to TJ? TJ tried tempeh for the first time today, and I was trying to get her to eat it. I said that "it tastes kinda fishy... and nutty..." but tempeh does NOT taste fishy or nutty. Today, the tempeh in my sandwich tastes like cattle slices. But that may be because I associate mustard with cattle slices. I mean, the first time I tried tempeh, it tasted like fish, but that maybe have been due to the sauce [tomato? I don't think I've ever had tomato sauce with fish before, though...].

Last Friday I ate a lot of ice cream and pie. This only happens when I eat meals with people [which is why, perhaps, I should start being a hermit]. I'd never had egg nog ice cream before [actually, I've never had egg nog. I've had egg nog soymilk, though], so I asked what it tasted like. "It tastes like egg nog", TJ replied.

So, if egg nog ice cream tastes like egg nog, why is there such thing as egg nog ice cream? Egg nog is some gelatinous type custard, right? So is ice cream... except colder. So, I guess the question is also about texture, and not just about taste.

However, someone decided to come along and say that people don't enjoy food as much if they eat it in the dark. I personally disagree, but I personally think/obsess over food more than the "general population".

Anyway, I think I started digressing.

If carrots do taste better after modification [after all, GM corn is sweeter and juicier], then what is the negative side? A loss of nutrients, perhaps, but evolutionarily speaking, haven't we evolved so that we can get our nutrients through foods? Why would we pick bland carrots over flavourful carrots? We wouldn't. But, the bland carrots are the ones that have more nutrients...according to various sources that tell me that organic farming is healthier for both myself and the environment. I suppose a counter-argument would be that humans like to eat sweet stuff because of the calories which we needed, way back when people ate once every few days instead of once every few hours. But what about texture? One can't generalise on that; we like moist, soft apple pie filling, but we dislike squishy peaches and overripe bananas [which, by the way, are also very. Very. Sweet.]... but they have similar macronutrient profiles [SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR!!!]

So, my Goldfish cracker obsession for the past two weeks still hasn't receded.

National Apple Day?

Apparently, the 4th of November was National Apple Harvest Day...

I don't believe it is. I just think that commons had a surplus of apples. Either way, everyone literally clamoured to grab chunks of baked apple goods... It was sickening [and I was part of it]. I overheard one of the workers remarking that the consumers were piling their plates with these apple-y goods so fast that they had to keep bringing new pies and cakes out. Again, consumerism demonstrates our inherently greedy personality. I didn't try the apple crumble cake or the pie. I also just mooched off TJ for some apple muffin and doughnut [she didn't finish them, anyway]. In the end, all I actually got for myself was a mini cake, some fritter and a coffeecake.

The coffeecake was extremely moist.

Crumble that I didn't eat.

Amazing AMAZING moist apple cake... with very few chunks of actual apple. The icing was amazingly gooey. I was not aware that this sort of viscous-ness existed. However, on the apple scale I'd give it a mere 20%...

The muffin was just a standard muffin, with an apple-ness of maybe 7%. I only have this picture because the reflection on the table is really pretty. I've never realised how reflective the table is...

Apple cake. Appleness? 40%. The chunks of apple are actually visible and the top was nicely crusted with cinnamony-appleness.

Contrast that to the fritter..

Tasteless doughnut...apple cider doughnut, perhaps, but an apple rating of zero %.

The fritter has an apple rating of 1%. It was fried dough. Coated with sugar icing. There were a few cubes of apple, but this reminds me of the time when I was 6 [or 10?], and my parents' friend bought my brother and I a cake with whipped cream sandwiched inside. After unsandwiching the layers, however, all I found was a thin outline of whipped cream on the perimeter of the bottom cake layer. Hm.

My Grad Party!

Too much dessert from Costco.

YES APPLE PIE!! Though, I like pumpkin pie more. SD likes apple pie.

Fried rice [one vegetarian], cold noodles, grilled corn, water gun, croutons, POTATO SALAD WITH APPLE!, some weird cow-flesh thing [in the background].

Snack table: trail mix [I made it], fried corn kernels, tortillas, Goldfish crackers, Doritos, crudites and honey mustard dip [I made it], mango salsa, potato chips, toasted pine nuts.

I made rice pudding for the first time of my life. SC and JM liked it. :D YAY

Crudites!

Pasta with thyme and Monterey jack cheese!!

MORE RICE PUDDING!!!!!

I needa get better at estimating the amount of food to make. We had pretty much 60% of the food left, after the party. and maybe 80% of the dessert. This does not bode well with the fact that I will be home [since school is over] for the next few weeks, as I will be consuming that food.

TH's Grad Party

"Party" is synonymous with "food".

Hate to break it to you all, but TH had a party today and I didn't take any pictures. However, I can basically summarise what happened today at Costco and at TH's backyard. Sooo... party first.

We had really nice mozzarella with tomato slices, and water crackers with cheeses [brie, cheddar, and this other pungent one that I didn't like]. There was orange punch, fruit salad [awesome!] and garden salad. The potato au gratin was really awesome, but the sauce for the penne was way too sweet for me. The dessert was the Costco cake [you know, the giant one. The one everyone has] and those highly decorative but not-flavourful cookies]. Thus, I didn't really like the dessert part.

Okay, now for my party planning!

My party is tomorrow. My mum and I have been arguing about it for the past week. Or, two weeks, really. We keep arguing about the cake, the decorations, the "whether I should grill stuff" or not. It goes on. We ended up going to Party City, Amazing Savings, Costco, Shoprite, then 5 Below, then Costco again, in the past three days.

This morning, at Costco, we bought a ton of stuff including a red velvet cake. I personally didn't want one, since there is a long list of ingredients, of which two are HFCS and PHO. To add to the irony, this is the piece of dessert on which I added "Happy Graduation" with butter-sugar-green-colouring icing. I should've added it to the apple pie, but the container is non resealable, unfortunately. However, I believe the red velvet cake is symbolic to not only my "graduation necessity", but also to the fact that it's extremely "American". Eh. I also got a pack of mini cinnamon rolls, mini brownies, and mini chocolate chip cupcakes. Along with this, we bought some cookies, and I'm going to make some rice pudding. I also made some trail mix yesterday, though I doubt any XC/track people would want to consume it [including me]. I think that there is a substantial amount of sweet stuff :)

Later, I made a salad [without the dressing, though I'm thinking of either pesto or honey mustard; we bought some french dressing and HONESTLY - it is ridiculously difficult to find salad dressing WITHOUT HFCS. and I cut up a lot of baguette [for croutons and breadcrumbs tomorrow].

Yesterday, I actually cleaned my room for the first time in a month. Though, everyone is gonna be downstairs [Wii + food], the backyard [frisbee/capture the flag + food] or the basement [dance party + food... if it rains]. Seriously, the weather has been so fickle. It was "supposed" to rain on Sunday, and it didn't. It was supposed to rain today... and it did, two hours later than it was "supposed" to. It better NOT rain tomorrow afternoon...

I guess I'll have tons of pictures tomorrow. It's gonna be hectic!

Mad Cool Grad Partayyyyyz

I have not updated in ages due to:

1. School. I actually had 5 projects.

2. Grad Party planning, and shopping for grad stuff [presents, shoes, dress. Bleh.]

3. Graduation reshopping because the dress I had gotten earlier was too formal. I can not tell the difference between a sundress and a prom dress. Unfortunately, I needed the former and had bought the latter.

So, the past week in pictures... [I don't know why my formatting got messed up, but bear with it].

1. First garden snow peas, thanks to my dad :D We also got our first two strawberries, and a bunch of blueberries.

2. JB's grad party, 19th - pasta was really hard at the top, but not crispy. So, it was hard to bite, but I liked it. Something I noticed is that nobody's pasta has herbs in it... I'm gonna put basil or oregano in my pasta dish at my party :)

JB's dessert. Costco on a plate, pretty much. I didn't know the ingredients of the stuff in the cake [turns out there was trans fat], so I think I should be more wary, next time. Well, now I've decided that I'm not gonna get a red velvet cake for my grad party. Actually, I think that I'm not gonna get a cake. Just get cookies. And pie.


MJ's Grad Party - 19th - This is the best damn picture ever... you can see the mood - summer chillaxin'. My first legitimate pina colada, and it was great. The crushed ice added a nice touch to it and I could definitely taste the coconut and the pineapple. To cap it all off [haha. Think bottlecaps], there was no alcohol! Yes!


MJ's grad party - 19th - Seriously good mashed potato with peas. Funny how no one is making mashed potato with apple [That's what I ate the first time I had it...], then two types of rice - the browner one had some kinda herb in it that I didn't really like, but the rice wasn't too mushy, which is good. The pasta and cheese was really great. Every party has a pasta dish. And cake. It's just a trend I've noticed.

The garlic bread was okay. The fried plantain was simply delicious... I couldn't decide whether it was savoury or sweet, but the inside was soft and gooey while the outside was crispy. After learning about it through The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver last summer, I've honestly been interested in trying it out. And it was great! MJ's got great food. Seriously. She even had green puffed rice and marshmallow treats, but I forgot to take a picture of most of the food I ate. Plus, I was in the pool the majority of the time.

16th - MP and LS's chem project was about baking, so they made carrot muffins and sourdough bread. I'm not in their class but MP gave me some :) The carrot cake was really nice without the icing, and the bread... It didn't really taste like sourdough; it was crumbly, dry, and the crust tasted the same as the inside. I don't know if I have the authority to make a statement on the definition of sourdough, as I have only had it once before in my life. That time, it tasted much more different from what I ate that day.


13th - NYC with my mum. We were dress shopping as I have stated earlier, and for lunch, we went to one of the NY-style restaurants, where a pound of food costs a certain amount. We went to Speedy's, which is around 36th and 6th, I think [Not sure.] A pound of food costs $9.50 there. I suppose if one was obsessed with eating salads, one could get a ton of lettuce and tomato for a pretty low price.