Pie Crust with Butter (aka Reason #572 why I love my food processor)

It's been awhile! I have a longer draft post waiting for some time when my daughter isn't attacking my keyboard. But I'm super excited about how easy this crust was to make, so I wanted to share.

I wanted apple pie. My brother has been taunting me with pie on Facebook (okay, so he wasn't actually taunting me, but posting pictures of your pie on Facebook when your sister is in the third trimester is basically the equivalent of taunting). I NEEDED apple pie. But my standard pie crust recipe uses shortening, which is basically partially hydrogenated oil in solid form. I'm trying to avoid the partially hydrogenated stuff. So, in my handy-dandy Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook I found a recipe for a tart crust that is basically pie crust, but with butter instead of shortening. I modified the recipe a bit from the original, but it still worked rather well

Pie Crust with Butter

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. (1 stick) cold butter
1 egg
1 T. cold water

Here's the exciting part; I made this pie crust in the food processor. I had seen on other sites how you could use the food processor to cut the butter into the flour mixture, and I wanted to try it, given how time-consuming it is to use a pastry blender to cut in butter or shortening. I don't have any pictures of this part, because I was afraid it wasn't going to work, but it was AMAZING.

Combine flour and sugar in food processor with the chopping blade and process for about 30 seconds to mix. Add cold butter (yes, put it in straight from the fridge; thermodynamics says so) and process for about another 30 seconds. Check to make sure you don't have any huge chunks of butter left; if it's working right, it will look like the butter disappeared into thin air. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and add the cold water. Add the egg mixture to the food processor and process for about 1 to 2 minutes, until the dough comes together. It won't form a ball, but you should have several larger lumps of dough.

I ignored the original recipe instructions to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes to make it easier to handle, which is why my pie crust looks slightly zombiefied in the pictures. It doesn't affect the taste at all, but the dough did have a tendency to come apart as I transferred it to the pan. I would highly recommend chilling the dough, and using extra flour to reduce the stickiness.

Conclusion

I was a little afraid to try this, having only had crust made with shortening in my entire life. But it was delicious, and didn't taste noticeably different from the crust I was used to. I will need to experiment with if it's possible to get pretty crust from this recipe, but for me, taste is a much, much higher priority than looks.

You gotta have ice cream with your pie!

Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip

This is yet another of my Super Bowl recipes. It doesn't really count as a new recipe, since I've made it a few times before. But this time, I harnessed the power of my food processor to make it much, much easier to prepare. Have I mentioned how much I love my food processor? $30 clearance at Wal-Mart and some of the best money I ever spent. But for those of you poor souls without a food processor, don't despair. This recipe can still be delicious if made by hand.

Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip


Based heavily on this recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. The tweaks are mostly things that happened accidentally when I had more or less of a certain ingredient, or was just feeling adventurous.

10 oz. package of baby spinach
14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained
8 oz. mozzarella
4 oz. Parmesan
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
3 T. minced garlic

I make this recipe in my 6 quart crock pot, but there's enough extra space that it could probably fit easily in a 4 or 5 quart.

First, chop or tear the spinach; I usually tear it by hand, but this time, I decided to use the food processor.

Before

After

I had to do it in three batches, but it still took about two minutes, as opposed to the 5 or 10 it can take if tearing or chopping by hand. I dumped the chopped spinach into the slow cooker, getting so excited by my cleverness that I forgot to put in the liner at first (no, I didn't take a picture of that).

Then I used the food processor to chop the artichokes, because who wants a big slimy piece of artichoke in their dip?

Before (no, I didn't clean the food processor. Why do you ask?)

After

Then the artichokes joined their chopped spinach brethren in the slow cooker. 

After that, I shredded the cheeses in the food processor, and added the cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and garlic.

And I cooked it on high for 3 hours until the guests got there, stirring it at about 2 hours to mix everything together once the cheese was all melty.

Before stirring (big, gloopy mess)

After stirring (lovely, edible dip)

It was a big hit, and there was enough for me to have leftovers :D Mwahahahaha! And have I mentioned how fantastic the slow cooker liners made by Reynolds are? I know they're non-renewable, but after a big party, being able to just pull the mess out of my slow cooker and throw it away makes me very, very happy.

Favorite Recipe Friday: Guacamole

I grew up thinking I hated guacamole. I didn't like avocados, and any guacamole I'd ever had at a Mexican restaurant was sickly brown-green and tasted disgusting. This might have had something to do with the quality of the Mexican restaurants I frequented, but I digress.

So around the time I was pregnant with my first child, my mom started making homemade guacamole. I was highly skeptical, but I tried some to be polite, and I fell in love. It was amazing! The perfect balance of flavors, saltiness, everything. It was perfect. I swear it tasted green (I also swear I don't usually go around tasting colors). I knew I had to start making it for myself. I made it by hand, mashing the ingredients together with a pastry blender, but the texture was chunkier than I really liked, and it was waaaay too time-consuming for someone with a baby who wanted to be held all the time. So one day in Wal-Mart I saw a food processor on clearance for $30, and my love affair with guacamole has continued unhindered. Except when the food processor is dirty because I forgot to wash it. This happened a lot before we got a dishwasher.

Anyway, this recipe can be scaled up or down as desired; the quantities below are the small size I make for myself and my daughter to eat. It can be made by hand if you like a chunkier texture, or in a food processor if you like it smooth. You can even add tomatoes if you want. I know some people like them in guacamole, but I have a hate/hate relationship with tomatoes in their basic form, so I leave them out.

Guacamole

2 overripe avocados (You want them a little soft. Not super squishy, because then they're usually bruised)
1 T. minced garlic (I like a lot of garlic)
1 T. lime juice
1 T. dried cilantro
1 t. salt
1 slice onion
1/4 Anaheim pepper (optional; since my daughter started eating this with me, I usually leave it out)

Slice the avocados in half, cutting around the pit. Remove the pit and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Combine avocados and all other ingredients in food processor and process until desired texture is reached

If processing by hand, mash all ingredients together in large bowl using fork, potato masher, pastry blender, or other tool  until desired texture is reached.

To keep guacamole from turning brown , pat it down smoothly in the bowl and make sure there are no air pockets (air is what makes it turn brown; stupid oxidization). Take a piece of plastic wrap and press it down gently into the surface of the guacamole, making sure there are no air pockets under the plastic.