Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

Pie Crust Ingredients: (or you can use an unbaked, prepared crust)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup cold lard (non-hydrogenated if available)*
1/2 cup cold butter, chopped
3-4 tablespoons ice cold water
1 egg and 1 teaspoon heavy cream for egg wash
*you can substitute vegetable shortening here if you wish, but I highly recommend the lard!

Filling Ingredients:
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar, reserve 1 tablespoon
Dash salt
1 cup sour cream (not fat-free)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. To make the crust, pulse flour and salt together to combine. Add scoops of lard and pulse into the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Add in chunks of butter and pulse until butter pieces are no larger than small peas, about 10 pulses. Add minimum amount of water and pulse on low. If dough remains crumbly and doesn’t come together, add another tablespoon of water. Add as little as is required to enable the dough to be rolled into a ball. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 20-30.

Roll disk of dough out to around 2 inches larger than your pie plate and transfer it, situating it in the plate. Fold the excess dough around the edges and crimp, trimming where necessary.

Hull and wash the strawberries and slice them in half. Set aside. Sift flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add sour cream, blending until creamy. Gently fold in the berries without overmixing. Pour fruit into pie shell and spread to edges without packing down — there should be spaces throughout the filling. Sprinkle the top with the last 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake the pie for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (I leave the oven door open a minute during this period to let the temperature drop a little) and bake an additional 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Broil the pie for 2-3 minutes to brown up the top. Allow to cool completely before cutting, and serve with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.

Skinny Enchiladas

Cook time: 20 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 lb. chicken breasts
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained
• 16 oz. fresh salsa
• 3 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup water (optional)
• 12 small corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup crema (see notes)
• fresh cilantro, Cotija cheese for topping

Instructions

1. Put the first 6 ingredients in a crockpot. If your salsa is not very saucy, be sure to include the 1/4 cup water or more if necessary. Cook on high for about 3 hours (or longer on the low setting) until chicken is cooked through. You can also cut the chicken breasts into halves to help them cook faster. Use 2 forks to shred the chicken and mix everything together.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soften the corn tortillas in the microwave, 3 at a time, for about 25 seconds. Fill them with a few tablespoons of filling, roll once, and place seam-side down in a large baking dish (I did 2 smaller baking dishes). Continue until all tortillas have been filled, rolled and placed in dish. Be sure to pack them in tightly next to each other so that they don’t come apart.
3. Sprinkle evenly with the shredded cheese and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and everything is heated through.
4. Remove from oven and drizzle with crema. Sprinkle with avocado pieces, fresh cilantro, and Cotija cheese crumbles.

Notes

The corn tortillas will start to break apart on the top during baking if you don’t warm them up enough prior to baking.
For the crema, I just made a fake-out version with about 3 tbs. sour cream and 2 tbs. cream. I whisked it together until it was smooth, creamy, and drizzle-able. Also, I used part yellow corn and part shoepeg corn, which made the texture more interesting.
Serving size for the nutrition facts is 2 enchiladas.

Candied Spiced Almonds

Ingredients:

5 cups sliced almonds, or a 1 pound package*
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cumin*
1-1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika* - some smoked paprikas are quite hot, if you don't like "hot", just use 1 teaspoon and they will be mildly spiced.
1 teaspoon vanilla
sea salt

*The cumin and the smoked paprika give just a hint of mysterious, delicious flavor - even though these are savory spices, these almonds are still wonderful served with sweets like ice cream or yogurt.

Directions:
1. Place a large sheet of foil on a work surface. Spray with cooking spray or rub a teaspoon of oil over foil with a paper towel.

2.  Place sugar in a large non-stick sauté pan and heat over medium heat , occasionally tipping and swirling the sugar until it is all melted into a pale golden syrup.

3. Lower heat immediately and add butter, cinnamon, smoked paprika and vanilla. Stir until well combined and all butter is incorporated into the sugar syrup.

4. Add the nuts and stir gently to coat. Don't worry if you have some clumps of caramelized sugar - they will melt as you continute to sauté the almonds. Cover and continue to cook on low, stirring every minute or so until almonds are a delicious golden brown. Watch very carefully as they can go from beautiful to burned very quickly! Turn out onto prepared foil and sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Spread out on foil to cool. 

*If you have a Costco membership, they recently started carrying 2 pound bags of beautiful sliced almonds for $7.99 - a great deal as nuts have become extremely expensive! Get some fun little jars or containers and at this price, you could give a nice-sized gift (about a quarter pound) of these yummy, addictive almonds for
just slightly more than a dollar!

Cranberry-Avocado Salad with Candied Spiced Almonds and Sweet White Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients for the dressing:

⅓ cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
1 ½ tablespoons sesame seeds
½ teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried mustard
1 tablespoon minced sweet onion
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup white balsamic vinegar
⅓ cup vegetable oii
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients for the salad:
12 ounces baby spinach, arugula, field greens

1 small bunch cilantro, washed and dried, leaves removed whole from stems
2 medium avocados, peeled and halved
¾ cup dried cranberries
¾ cup Candied Spiced Almonds

Directions:
1. For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a pint sized glass jar and shake well to dissolve sugar.

2. For the salad, place greens and cilantro leaves in a large bowl. Add avocado and dried cranberries and about 1/4 cup of the dressing and toss gently. Scatter candied almonds over salad and sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pass extra dressing at the table.

6 dinner size salads, 8 side salads

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Skillet Baked Ziti

1 T. olive oil
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
1 jar spaghetti sauce
3 cups water
12 ounces ziti- 3 3/4 cups (I used penne)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1 cup shredded mozzarella

1. Heat Oven: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Simmer Ziti: Combine oil and red pepper flakes in 12 inch ovensafe nonstick skillet and saute over medium high heat about 30 seconds. Add spaghetti sauce, water, and ziti. Cover and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as needed to maintain vigorous simmer, until ziti is almost tender, 15 to 18 minutes.
3. Add Cheese and Bake: Stir in cream, parmesan and basil. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over ziti. Transfer skillet to oven (or if your skillet isn't ovenproof, transfer to a baking dish) and bake until cheese has melted and browned, about 10 minutes.

French Dip Sandwiches

French Dip Sandwiches

1 3-lb. beef roast

2 T. olive oil

S & P

1 packet lipton onion soup mix

2 C. water

2 cans beef broth

ciabatta rolls

sliced provolone or swiss cheese

Season roast well with salt and pepper. Sear in oil in large pan over med-high heat, just a couple minutes on each side. Place roast in crockpot, add soup mix, water and broth. Cover and cook for about 10 hours on low. When sufficiently tender, shred beef. Arrange shredded beef on rolls and top with cheese. Broil in oven for just a minute or two- you can't watch too carefully. Ladle juices into small cups for dipping.

Mini Smores

Mini S'mores
Golden Grahams
mini marshmallows
chocolate chips
votive candle
toothpicks.

FHE Treats AND activity? DONE.