Category Archives: Challenge Recipes

[34] Apple Pie (pg 151)

_NOTE: Because so many recipes in this cookbook have the same name, I will use page numbers to direct you to which pie recipe I am referring to, so when you have your own Pie Town pie cookbook (which you really should get), you can see exactly the recipe in question._

So, on the heels of making enough crusts for five double-crust pies, we actually had to make the guts to fill ’em!

The first one on the list ended up being apple. I had a vague sense that the groom liked apple foods (but he’s not a big dessert guy, in general). Furthermore, apples are typically easy to get your hands on, and many people like apple pie.

Really, though? The decision making factor ended up being, “What in this cookbook looks easy to make with few ingredients?”… Continue reading →

[33] Pie Crusts (Ten Crust Variation)

I almost forgot that I’d made this recipe!

I didn’t expect to cook anything that would end up contributing to this blog while in New Mexico for my sisters’ wedding. I knew I wanted to offer to make some desserts for her rehearsal dinner, but I wasn’t sure it would be anyone’s thing.

My sister & her husband are full of awesome, just for the record. You’re probably wondering why in the world I would have even considered offering to make desserts. It’s because our mother was doing all the cooking for a BBQ pool party rehearsal dinner at our Uncle/Aunt/Grandmother/Cousin’s house. Super fun, and low-stress. I love that about them.

This was also a wonderful bonding experience for my father & I, but I’ll get more into that below, in the “cooking notes”.… Continue reading →

[32] Berry Jam

Cover of Ball's Complete Book of Home Canning and Preserving

I’ll be honest, there’s not a ton to say here. This is the second of the three jam recipes Bill and I made the other day (before our trip to New Mexico). The third recipe will be posted too, but (sadly) it doesn’t count against our total. It didn’t come from a cookbook.

Anyway, my goal here was to make raspberry jam for Bill (not “raspberry ham”, as I originally typed). I am really not a big fan of raspberries, generally, but he is. Since we’re getting to a stage in our life where it’s unlikely we’ll ever buy jam again, I wanted to make sure he didn’t miss out on his favorite jam. Corrine had already helped with this some, by leaving a couple of jars of raspberry jam for him on her way home from the Great Frozen North, but those two jars will go quickly.… Continue reading →

[31] Blueberry Lime Jam

Cover of Ball's Complete Book of Home Canning and Preserving

Slowly, but surely, I’m working through the queue of recipes I built up before my sister’s wedding (and the one or two I made there, and the one or two I’ve made since I’ve been home).

Really, the cooking part of this exercise is going a lot better than the posting. The posting is vital, though, as it’s a big motivator to keep up with the challenge. And, honestly, we’ve been behind on the posting for long enough that I do get the feeling that if we just put the oomph into catching up, the posting will be a lot more fun and stay basically caught up. The real challenge is on the days when we manage to make multiple recipes at once.

The day we made this jam was one of those days.… Continue reading →

[30] Vegetable Frittata

I’m pretty sure this book is available at “Amazon.com”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2F&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957, but it’s not immediately obvious. I guess that, despite it clearly being nationally published and such, it’s still one of the more obscure books in our collection. And we have two from this “collection”. I would link directly to the suspected book, but there’s NO information about it there, so I don’t see the point. Please let me know in the comments if you disagree.

Anyway, this is the book that first introduced me to the frittata. As mentioned in our “About”, I went on to make a lot of them. This recipe makes it clear that they’re very easy, and can be quite healthy. Also, amazingly, tasty!

Unless you’re my good friend, Maria-Sea. She’s just going to skip straight over this recipe, since she thinks the taste of eggs is gross.… Continue reading →