Homegrown Eggplant II

I eggplant has been producing more eggplant. I've had about 5 eggplants since my last harvest. I had to throw away 2 because I didn't pick the eggplants and I don't think that is edible anymore so I threw the 2 in the decomposing bin. I quickly picked up the 3 eggplant that looks edible.


My plants are actually growing pretty good every since I try to water my plants more. Even my ONLY tomato plants is producing tomatoes. So far 3 ripe ones and more in the plant. My chili plants are producing a lot of yummy chilies too..

The weather is summer to get below freezing this Friday and Saturday night and early morning I'm going to have to take in the plants or cover them. Hopefully I'll remember to move my lazy butt to bring in all the plants if I still want them to grow.

My battle with making pie crust....

I've been making pie crust for a couple of years now and I've been trying many different recipes out there. Anyone that says that they can never make pie crust but this or that recipe works for them I'm there trying it. Almost all the pie crust I've tried making taste pretty good so what's the problem? The problem is that I have a hell of a time rolling the pie crust. You might wonder why not make no roll pie crust. I need to make pie crust that's easy to roll like the ones you get from the grocery store because most of the time when I make a pie I normally need a crust for the top so I'm going to need to roll it out so that I can top the pie with crust hence no roll pie crust will not work for me.

I've tried everything I've read from refrigerating the food processor, making sure the shortening/butter is very cold to freezing/refrigerating the dough and make sure is very cold before I roll it out. I've also tried now pulsing my dough less but nothing works. Every single time I roll out my dough it cracks and I have to put it together like a jigsaw puzzle. Today I rolled out my pie crust between two wax paper and the side still cracked or broken like puzzle!

I'm wondering why people can have such success with the same recipe while I fail to have the same success.

Pie Crust

Ingredients
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter flavor shortening, chilled
1/4 cup plus 2tablespoons ice water (As needed)

Method
1. Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.
2. Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling. (I put mine in the freezer for a several hours)
3. Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake.

This is a really good recipe. I was able roll it between two wax paper and the middle was great but the edges were cracking like a puzzle and I had to put it together like a puzzle too..How can I make a pie crust that rolls out like the once we get from the grocery store. Any comment, suggestion or any idea is welcome! Thanks!!!

Sweet Potato Casserole

Uncle Richie brought over some ribs for me to cook on Sunday but it was so frozen that we knew that it would not thaw in time for me to cook it on Sunday night so we decided to eat it on Monday instead. I started the ribs in the evening late because I was on the phone and I forgot to turn on the oven also I misread the direction hence we didn't have dinner until pretty late (it all worked out because hubby came home late).

I made garlic mashed potatoes for our thanksgiving meal so I'm almost out of potatoes. I have one potato left so I would not and didn't want to make a potato dish. I had some sweet potatoes and I decided to make sweet potatoes instead. I hubby don't like sweet potatoes so I don't normally buy sweet potatoes but I am intending to make some sweet potato bread and I know sweet potato is suppose to be healthier for us so I just bought some even though I knew that hubby won't eat them.

This don't look that appetizing but trust me is GOOD!

Ingredients
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (about 3-4 medium ones)* I steamed my potatoes to maintain the nutrient
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Topping

2 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped walnut
1/3 cup margarine, melted
Mini Marshmallows

Method
1. In large mixing bowl,mix sweet potatoes,sugar,eggs,margarine,milk and vanilla.
2. Pour into 9 inch square greased baking dish.
3. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over potatoes.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes .
5. Sprinkle marshmallows the last 15 minutes of baking. (I had too much marshmallows and it got burned a little)

* If you are not going to add marshmallows at the end u should top the topping sugar to about 1/2cup-1cup.

Aunt L and Uncle Richie loves this dish. I was surprise myself that it was good too! Uncle Richie loves it so much that he intends to make this dish again this weekend. Towards the end of the meal we made hubby try some and he actually liked it! So I guess that this can be an approval meal in our house from now onwards.