This pie was inspired by the simple fact that I had an abundance of strawberries and blackberries in the fridge that needed to be used up. The kids and I did our best to eat as many as we could but I still was left with a bowl that were just on the edge of going too ripe.

Pie Day was coming up, I needed a pie and I love strawberries and blackberries together. This is an incredibly simple pie to make, but the flavor is anything but!

Ingredients Needed:

3 cups of hulled then quartered, ripe strawberries
2 cups of blackberries
3/4 cup white sugar
4 tbsp flour
1 pinch salt
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice

1 double pie crust for a 9.5 inch pie

Prepare all of your berries then combine them in a large bowl with all of the other ingredients. Make sure to toss them so that they are coated well. Let this sit for a couple minutes while you prepare your pie crust.

Lay your bottom crust into the pie plate gently, letting it settle into the plate rather than forcing it in. Spoon your filling into the pie crust, spreading it out evenly. Take your top pie crust, lay it over and trim the edges of the pastry. Pinch together the two crusts to seal. Score steam vents onto the top of the pie in whichever pattern you like.

Bake on the lower oven rack at 375 for 40-50 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the bottom of the pie is brown. You will most likely have to cover the pie crust edge with tinfoil or a crust cover to prevent it from over browning.

Let it set a couple of hours before serving and let me add it’s fantastic with vanilla ice cream.

Happy PieDay everyone! Today brings….a nap. Oh yes, a nap. My son decided to sleepwalk last night and had us up in the middle of the night. This isn’t a surprise but nor is it a frequent occurrence. The late nights thanks to playing outside in the sunshine combined with allergies making him exhausted and the excitement of our upcoming trip most likely is the culprit, it only happens when he’s utterly worn out, poor kiddo.

I’m also getting up the the usual household chores, but who wants to hear about laundry and scrubbing toilets on such a sunshiney morning? I’ll spare you the details.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Love,

Dreaming Of a Rhubarb Pie Soon Magpie

]]> http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/strawberry-blackberry-pie/feed 0 http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/strawberry-blackberry-pie http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kitchenmagpie/~3/WwQeFOWf1A4/old-fashioned-banana-cream-pie http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/old-fashioned-banana-cream-pie#comments Sat, 05 May 2012 02:01:59 +0000 Karlynn http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/?p=17674

Oh boy.

There is nothing I like better than an amazing banana cream pie. With that said, however, the kind I like are not the pre-made, banana pudding type pies. I was searching for a real, old-fashioned, before instant pudding kinda pie and found the perfect pie in this recipe, literally called Old Fashioned Banana Cream pie. I first made this pie at Christmas and attempted two versions. This version worked well, but a deep, evil part of me likes a little fake banana flavor in the pie, so I used banana flavoring in it.

This pie is so good that it’s worth the extra time to make a real filling, not an instant pudding. It’s also incredibly easy, I kid you not. I whipped this up this afternoon while having a nice coffee visit with a friend, chatting the same time as putting it together.

It’s just that easy.

Ingredients Needed:

3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 tsp banana flavoring (optional) or 1 tsp vanilla
2-3 small,nicely ripened bananas

Graham Wafer Crumb Crust:

2 cups of graham wafers or cookie crumbs of your choice
1/3 cup & 2 tbsp melted butter
(Combine the crumbs and butter, press into a 9.5 inch pie plate on bottom and sides to form crust. Refrigerate till using.)

Prepare your graham crumb crust as described above.

Combine your sugar,flour and salt into a large, heavy saucepan and set aside for the moment.

For this recipe you will need to scald the milk and my favorite way to do that is in the microwave. I use my 4 cup Pyrex glass measuring cup, put in my three cups, nuke it until scalded and voila. No mess, no waiting, no using the stove. My mom is the one who taught me this and we do it whenever we make Babka and need to scald our milk fast. Scalding is NOT boiling the milk, true scalding occurs at 82 degrees, well below the 100 degree boiling point. If you like, measure the temperature to make sure you have scalded it. You will get to know the look and smell of scalded milk the more you do it. Just make sure you don’t boil it!

Place your heavy saucepan that contains the dry mix on the stove on medium heat then slowly whisk in the scalded milk.

Cook this mixture until it starts to thicken up, about 5-8 minutes depending on the heat of your element. Once it reaches the thickening stage, turn down the heat a bit and cook for a couple more minutes longer, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn or stick to the pot.

Beat your egg yolks together and then once your hot mixture is ready, we need to temper the eggs. This involves taking a small amount of the hot mixture and combining it into the egg yolks completely. Once you have done that, you are safe to whisk the egg yolks into the whole pot of the hot mixture without fear of it clumping up.

Cook the egg yolks for a minute then remove from the heat.

Here’s where you are going to have to make the “purist or not” call on this pie.

Purists will use 1 tsp of vanilla.

Heathens – like myself- will use banana flavoring to kick the banana burst up a notch. I have a confession to make; I also eat those fake little marshmallow bananas. And enjoy them. So I am a half purist : I adore a homemade, custardly milk and egg filling for my banana cream pie, with a dash of fake flavor added to it.

There’s just no accounting for taste some days.

When the mixture is cooled down to being just warm, slice 2-3 bananas and place into the pie shell you made and refrigerated earlier on. When you have all the bananas you want, pour the filling evenly over the bananas and smooth out the top.

Refrigerate a few hours so it sets then top with as much whipped cream as you want.

The kids wanted a lot.

Of course.

So, again, here’s to another Happy PieDay everyone!

Plans for this weekend include sleeping in, sleeping in some more and the going to the Slow Food Gala tomorrow night. Oh, am I excited.

I have a purty outfit all brand spankin’ new.

I have my cute little rubber boots to wear.

I will have my appetite ready to feast upon 8 courses created by 8 different chefs, some of whom I consider the crème de la crème of Edmonton’s chef community. This is a gathering of the most amazing culinary talent that Edmonton has to offer, their superb skills matched with locally sourced food,  all in one evening, all under one roof. This is such a unique and exciting culinary opportunity that I am excited beyond words to be able to attend. *insert giddy screech of excitement*

Of course, the wine pairings with each course are also something I can’t wait for.

Good luck to all of the chef’s participating in the gala tomorrow, congrats and bonne chance to Valerie who has worked tirelessly and passionately to put this event together and kudos to the Slow Food community here in Edmonton. I know you are going to do Edmonton proud.

Love,

Seriously. I’m Like a Kid on Christmas Eve About The Gala Tomorrow Magpie

To celebrate May the 4th Be With You today, I am writing up a little review of the book Star Wars – Year by Year A Visual Chronicle and let you know about all the cool things going on at DK Publishing.

Anyone who loves Star Wars knows that today is a fun day where you celebrate everything Star Wars. I’m sure everyone gets the “May the 4th” be with you, correct? I don’t need to do any ‘splaining?

In the spirit of the day what other book could I review than one that covers everything Star Wars?

This is 320 pages of sheer delight for the Star Wars fans, young and old. It simply has everything; from toys that were produced, the actual movies themselves, to bed sheets to books. The format is very fun to read, the year by year synopsis makes it easy for one to check out exactly the time frame you want to know about.

Check out 1975. I’m happy to say I wasn’t even born then.

I absolutely love this page, the Muppets Star Wars episode is well-loved by my whole family and is beyond a classic.

This book has been on my list to read and review for a while now so I was incredibly happy to receive it this year. I am tucking it away for car trip reading for my 8-year-old. His beady eagle eyes already spotted it and was just about to settle onto the couch to read it when I had to crush his Star Wars dreams and tell him it’s for our trip to the States. I’m mean. However this is primo reading material for a long car ride!

This is a book that will be well loved by the entire family and one can spend hours delving into it’s awesome depths. What an amazing treasure trove of information this is for the Star Wars lover!

To add to the celebrations of May the 4th, DK Publishing always celebrates the day in a big way and this year is no exception. Here is a list of what is going on for the 2012 celebrations!

- For every DK Star Wars book sold at Chapters / Indigo stores on May 4-6, DK will be making a donation to the Indigo For the Love of Reading Foundation  

- Several Chapters and Indigo stores across Canada will be having special May the 4th parties this weekend sponsored by DK and featuring costumed characters from Star Wars provided by the 501st Legion. Here’s a full list of stores ( asterix means the 501st will be there )

NEWFOUNDLAND – Saturday May 5th / Call for details  – Chapters St. John’s

70 Kenmount St A1B 1W3  –709.726.0375

NEW BRUNSWICK – Saturday May 5th / Call for details  – Chapters Halifax  – Bayers Lake Power Centre, 188 Chain Lake Dr – 902.450.1023

OTTAWA* – Friday May 4th – 12 noon – Chapters Rideau – 47 Rideau Street –613.241.0073

OTTAWA*– Saturday May 5th – 3.00 pm – Chapters Kanata – Kanata Centrum, 400 Earl Grey Drive Unit # 1- 613.271.7553

TORONTO* – Friday May 4th – 12.30 pm – Indigo Eaton Centre – 220 Yonge St –416.591.3622

TORONTO – Saturday May 5th  / Call for details   – Indigo Yorkda

le – 3401

Dufferin St, Unit #29 – 416.781.6660

WINNIPEG*– Saturday May 5th – 12 noon – Chapters Po

lo Festival, 695 Empress Street – 204.775.5999 CALGARY*– Friday May 4th – 2.00 pm – Chapters Shawnessy – The Boulevard Shopping Centre, 16061 Macleod Trail S.E. – 403.201.5660

VANCOUVER* – Friday May 4th – 12 noon – Chapters Robson – 788 Robson Street – 604.682.4066

-  Everyone will be able to submit pictures of the Chapters / Indigo events and either post them on the DK Publishing Facebook page at facebook.com/DKCanada or Tweet them using the hashtag #DKmay4th – for each photo DK gets they will make a donation to the Love of Reading Foundation!

- For the entire month of May DK Publishing is having a photo contest where people can send photos of themselves or loved ones reading DK Star Wars books. For each picture DK receives, they will again make a donation to the Love of Reading Foundation. Info about the contest will be posted under “PHOTO CONTEST”.

DK will pick an Office Favourite photo and that person will win a DK Star Wars library worth $200 and DK Publishing will donate a complete set of DK Star Wars Readers to the library of school of their choice!

Make sure to take part in the contest and good luck!

I have written before that I am slowly in the process of moving everything from the SuperMom, another website of mine, over to here on The Kitchen Magpie. I can’t keep up with 3 blogs (now that I have the Culinary Cook Off one to do as well) and all the content I write on the interwebs has to be streamlined somehow. I have kept all my family related reviews on that site more than here, but that’s going to change with the move.

If there is one subject that my children are obsessed with lately, it’s the Titanic. It has always been a topic of fascination in our household, one that we all like to discuss. We’ve visited the exhibit that was at the Science Centers here in Alberta and even my daughter enjoyed every moment of it. It was amazing to see actual artifacts that were salvaged from the Titanic itself.

When I was asked if I’d like to try out the new EBook by DK Books, called the Story of the Titanic, I quickly said sign me up.  Not only does it pair my children’s love of everything Titanic but also their love of everything IPad related as well.

The description of the EBook :

This is the tragic story of the Titanic, the biggest and most luxurious ocean liner the world has ever seen, which sank on her maiden voyage in April 1912. Follow the fateful voyage of this world-famous liner through vivid original artwork, discovering how she was built and equipped, and what kind of passengers and crew she carried. This new eBook contains interactive zooming features to illustrate where the Titanic is on her voyage and a gallery widget showcasing incredible photographic imagery of the ship, its construction, its lavish interior, a taste of life onboard, and the aftermath of the disaster. Experience the history of the Titanic like never before, watching the sinking ship in its 4-step sequence and listening to the distress calls made from on board. Explore it all, with a 3-D model of theTitanic at your fingertips. Watch newsreel footage documenting the Titanic being built, the ship’s launch, and relatives waiting for news of the survivors. Story of the Titanic takes a closer look at the passengers and crew of the Titanic, following their different fates from the exciting start of the voyage to its tragic end.

As you can see in the very top photo of this post, my son was more than happy to delve into this book. He and his sister read it together and the he proceeded to read it again by himself. The interactive parts are extremely cool, how amazing is technology that we can have a video of actual Titanic events embedded right into what we are reading?

The page below has footage of the actual Captain of the Titanic himself that you can touch to play. Other pages such as the one above have a little “who’s on board” symbol, which is a hide and seek type of activity that the kids can enjoy. My son commented that this was one of his favorite parts.

The cost of this app is $4.99 and I think if you have a Titanic obsessed chlid – or adult- in your family, it’s a must-have for an EBook. I know my son is going to enjoy this for a while and I like having it tucked away on my IPad to pull out for entertainment purposes when needed!

I’ll start today’s pie post with a disclaimer:

I know that not everyone has leftover chocolate in their house.

I know that “leftover chocolate” is indeed, an oxymoron in some houses and to be  honest in this household that’s usually exactly what it is. “Leftover” and “chocolate”  are completely contradictory terms that in no way, shape or form should go together.

 Like “housecleaning” and “Magpie”.

Or ” Airline Food”.

These are things that just don’t mesh well.

However, at holiday times in this household, something just crazy happens. Some magical, forgetful fairy sprinkles her dust over my children’s heads while they sleep and they forget about the candy that we dole out in small portions after the Easter Bunny or Halloween Bat load them up. I then have the conundrum of leftover chocolate.

This rare bi-annual occurrence spurred me to bake a pie this week using my children’s leftover Easter chocolate that has been in the cupboard, lonely and forgotten.

This is so easy there should never, ever, EVER be a reason you are EVER tempted to bake a pie using chocolate pudding. Rarely do I turn my nose up at ingredients, hey, we are all a busy lot of mama’s and bakers, but chocolate pudding makes my gag reflex act right up. Gets right up in my grill and nasty with me.

I think that everyone should have a basic knowledge of how to whip together a chocolate mousse.

Don’t fear the mousse.

It’s very easy, very forgiving, very adaptable and there are so many ways to do it. This is by far the easiest, using whipped cream instead of egg whites to fold in, giving it that lift we are looking for in mousse.

Filling:

1/3 cup whipping cream
8 oz chocolate of choice
2 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups of whipping cream – to fold in later

Topping:
3/4 cup of whipping cream
1 tsp sugar
shaved chocolate bits, if desired

Crust:

2 cups of graham wafers or cookie crumbs of your choice
1/3 cup & 2 tbsp melted butter

Prepare your pie crust by combining the crumbs and butter, then pressing into a 9.5 inch pie plate, covering the sides and bottom evenly. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes then cool.

 You probably thought I was kidding about the leftover chocolate, weren’t you? That would be 8 oz -measured with my kitchen scale- of leftover foil wrapped Easter eggs. Sans the foil, of course.

Melt your chocolate and whipping cream together in a thick pot on the stove over medium-low heat. Adding the whipped cream makes this slightly more like a ganache but when using chocolate that isn’t the greatest quality, it’s important that we make sure we have fats and milk solids in here so that the chemistry works properly. I knew I couldn’t depend on this chocolate to be a good quality, so added in the cream. Plus let’s face it, is fatty fat whipping cream going to ruin it? Nu-uh.

Once that is melted together, beat your egg yolks until creamy colored, then whisk into the chocolate mixture as fast as you can, making sure there are no lumps and it doesn’t cook in clumps. Make sure it doesn’t boil!

Cook this mixture further for another 5-7 minutes, it will thicken up slightly.

Remove from the heat and let it cool.

When the chocolate mixture is cooled completely, whip up the next 1 1/2 cups of whipping cream. I did not add any sugar knowing that my Easter egg chocolate was very sweet. I wouldn’t add any, the whipping cream cuts the sweetness making the pie actually more palatable and guests partaking in this pie most likely won’t go into a sugar coma.

Most likely.

Cool the pie for 4-5 hours, until it’s set.

I really like my plastic wrap pattern on the top. It really works.

When you serve it, you can use as much whipped cream as you want for topping, I chose a very thin layer using only 3/4 of a cup. I did add sugar to this, just a small amount. You can decide the amount you ‘d like and if you want to top with chocolate shavings or not.

Now I know that Mr Magpie always likes each pie better than the last, but he’s in love with this one. He loved – shudder- chocolate pudding pies in a graham wafer crust as a kid so he was in seventh heaven. I was truly glad to awaken his taste buds to the next level of chocolate pie, but may have created a monster now.

When I went to the fridge today to get a piece to photograph – totally last minute this is what I found on the pie:

Most people would be freaked out by a random note on their pie, saying Sorry, I couldn’t resist. It was yummy.

Really ups the creep factor of someone else being in your house.

Eating your pie out of  your fridge and leaving notes.

Luckily my heart stopped beating out of my chest when I remembered my sister had popped in earlier when I was out.

This is why you never, ever, give your family keys to your house and garage codes.

Because it’s still creepy, even though they are family.

I think I’m going to give her the nickname of Pie Burglar.  PB, for short.

I like it.

She’s totally going to hate it.

And the true sister I am, that makes me love it even more.

Now that was a rather short babble, wasn’t it? You’re probably thinking one of two things at this moment.

1. Thank God she stopped blathering on PieDay and just wrote the recipe post. About time.

2. WTH Magpie, where’s your story? The running off at the mouth beak? 

Well, #1′ers, of course I have to keep going, I just mixed up the order to throw you off.

Today…oh today has been a flurry of activity.

Two hours cleaning the house.

Lunch at Zinc at the Alberta Art Gallery. We – Mr Magpie and I – were jonesing for their burger. Lawd Almighty, I love the cheese bun that Chef Omar uses on it. And peppers and mushrooms? Just a beaut, I tell you. A beaut.

Edmonton chef’s are spoiling Mr Magpie far, far too much when we are eating out it seems, almost every time we are out, he’s comparing their cooking to mine. (Oh, Mr Magpie, what a fatal mistake this is. Ask any wife)

Today’s conversation went like this.

Mr Magpie turns to the server and asks: ” What are these green things in my salad? They are amazing!”

Server: “Pickled Capers.”

Mr Magpie: “They are fantastic!”

Mr Magpie turns to Mrs Magpie -who by the way, just wants to eat a dang burger- and asks: “Why don’t you ever use these?”

Mrs Magpie, thoroughly annoyed, speaks through a mouth full of burger: ” I do, I use them in my chicken picatta.”

Mr Magpie” Well, they sure don’t taste like this.”

I’ve readied the couch for him.

Other than preparing the couch for Mr Magpie, I had to hurry up and photograph the pie for this post.

This afternoon.

This is what my table looked like, trying to grab a quick picture while the measly, stingy, rainy day light was out.

Tonight is a school dance for my kids which is going to top off an incredibly crazy day. Pizza lunch at school, followed by afternoon field trip to see a play, followed by piano/voice lessons right after school, topped off with a dance going until 8:30.

Anyone who’s a parent is shaking their head right now. You see the meltdowns forthcoming, don’t you?

It may be tears at the end of the dance when it’s time to go.

It could be tears in the van on the way home.

It most likely will be one sibling hitting the other. I’m laying bets on this one.  Let’s play Clue for one moment here.

I say:  ” The daughter, hitting the son,  with her hand, in the mini van, on the way home from the dance tonight”

Oy. I’m thinking a small, discreet flask of wine for the dance might be in order.

Love,

Colonel Mustard Magpie

Way back, in the pre-cook off days, Bogs Footwear contacted me and asked me if I wanted to review a pair of their boots for them. To be completely forthright and  clear as a bell honest, I have been jonesing for a pair for quite some time now. A friend of mine has been raving about them all winter long and her family is shod in Bogs, from the shortest to tallest member, boys and girls alike. So when the email arrived in my inbox I leapt at the chance faster than Simba would jump on a gazelle.

With a slightly cynical heart, because as most people who are regular readers know, I hate shoe shopping.

Hate. It.

I have mentioned before how I would rather have a root canal than look for shoes and boots, due to my gargantuan size 11 feet. They used to be a 10 and then I had children. Size ten used to be hard enough to find and now 11 is almost impossible. If you don’t get the one pair a store has in stock, you are hooped.

I was ecstatic to find many pair of Bogs available in size 11 for women.

Especially when I saw these babies:

These are MY kind of rubber boots! Hard working but beautiful. These are called the McKenna  and the description from the website reads below:

The Bogs® McKenna is as stylish as it is functional. Constructed with leather over a Neo-Tech upper to protect from the elements. Non-slip, non-marking and self-cleaning deep lug outsole for optimal traction. Molded EVA sockliner with Aegis anti-microbial odor protection. Comfort-rated from temperate to sub-zero conditions. The gold buckle detail adds an equestrian flair so you can look good while going about your day.

The only change I would add to that is that the buckle is a gorgeous pewter, not gold. And so much prettier.

Not only are they a size 11, they are wide, comfortable and warm. These babies are good in subzero conditions and just right for spring weather. They are also an extremely fine looking boot. So pretty, in fact, that I won’t wear them in my yard.

Remember my post about my yard?

This is now all mud.

My Bogs are too pretty to get all muddy.

This is a serious conundrum.

These babies are meant to get down and dirty, be hard working, waterproof, awesome gardening boots.

I just want to wear them out in public and be all purty.

I will compromise and use them once the yard is in, for rainy days and slogging around. I just can’t bring myself to use them in the muck.

Due to the insulating they are most definitely too hot for the warmer weather we have had recently, but I suspect I will be able to use them for my winter boots this year, another reason not to get them muddy. I also wanted to wear them to the Slow Food Gala coming up – rubber boots are welcome!- but again, far too hot for an inside event.

Considering that we get 9 months of winter and 3 months of rain it seems, I am going to get some great use out of these babies.

My other two top choices, which I agonized over were this red Alex:  (which also comes in purple and teal!)

And this Rider One.

The McKenna won out but man, I really want to get my hands on that red pair, even over purple, which is odd for this purple loving girl.

I think I could get those red boots muddy. I could give it a go.

Wouldn’t I look cute in my backyard mud pit in those red ones?

Love,

This Gardening Gal Could Totally Have a Bogs Addiction

All opinions on products I receive – and you know Magpie, I always have strong ones! – are my own. Completely unbiased, sometimes too honest, not scared to completely disagree with people and running off at the beak is what you get.

I left off the last post with a picture of the above crowd in the gym of the school for the Culinary Arts Cook Off.  Believe it or not, that picture was taken about 15 minutes into the event. I was so busy the day of the event that I didn’t have my camera with me, instead I handed it off to Doug, one of the parent volunteers for the event and said “Here. Don’t break it and get pictures of everything please.”

And he did. Get pictures, that is, the camera was returned intact with a card full of pictures. That picture above was one was in the very first set that he shot that day.

The reason would be that this was the line up right at the start of the cook off:

Speaking of Doug, he’s one of the few volunteers there are pictures of, but luckily he has a family picture from the day.

It just got busier and busier as the event went along. Here’s Chef Andrew Parker handing out his mac n’ cheese, which was Mr Magpie’s favorite of the day.

These two handsome gentlemen are Senior Chef de Partie Lalit Upadhyaya (right) and his apprentice Phil Tran from the Shaw Conference Centre.

The crowds also had these two serving up their mac n’ cheese as fast as they could get it out!

Everywhere you looked, people were enjoying some of the best mac n’ cheese in town for only $1 a serving! Smart and lucky people, they knew a bargain when they saw it.

Liv from Battista’s Calzone serving up her mac n’ cheese stuffed calzones.

Those calzones were pretty darn popular, I think especially with the younger crowd!

Traditional mac n’ cheese….

…along with even more mac n ‘cheese…..

..not quite traditionally served by the Muppets.

Where else you get the best mac n’ cheese served to you by Kermit and Miss Piggy? Only at an Arts Core School, I tell you.

I’m thinking I might ask all the chefs to dress up next year.

I take suggestions.

An utterly amazing time was had by all, we were graced with so many amazing people from the Highlands community that came out to show their support. Brian Mason, the MLA for Highlands and the Leader of the NDP is pictured (right)  here talking with Ted Smith, (middle) a noted local Highlands artist. Mr Smith was incredibly generous and donated the most beautiful stained glass art for the auction part of the cook off and then came to the event the day of to support us. His gorgeous art went to a very lucky home. Mr Mason was kind enough to fit us into his incredibly busy schedule – election time!- and come present the People’s Choice award to the winner and eat some mac n’ cheese.

I love this picture of the Heard family, owners of UnheardOf, feeding their granddaughter some of their yummy mac n’ cheese.  I had mentioned that their grandson attends the school, making this a family event for them!

Principals came…..

..many mac n’ cheese sold out completely……

…and crafts were made in the Family Fun Room that was run by Little Einstein’s Daycare, right in Mount Royal School…..

…and winners were announced.

In my next post.

Love,

The Totally Going To Make You Wait Magpie

Just writing this post stressed me right out, I kid you not. My chest is tight with stress- and the upper respiratory infection I have isn’t helping things.  As exciting as it is to have a blank canvas, as a non-landscaper I am completely and utterly overwhelmed right now trying to decide what the heck is going into this yard.

It doesn’t help that Mike’s been gone a week – home tonight thank God-  I have a miserable cold that means no sleep, a yard full of mud and time is ticking down madly, crazily and stressily. I just invented that word, by the way. Stressily. I am stressily thinking about this yard.

The topsoil is going to be finished within weeks, as soon as the weather cooperates our landscaper is in there getting the final grade finished for us. The rest, however, is mine to do.

There are a few things I learned in my last yard :

- sod is an incredible  PITA to rip up when you want more garden space.

- you always want more garden space

- south facing fences are the best hot micro-climates you will ever find. The heat rebounds off the fence like a hell-spawned demon onto the soil.

- my children eat raspberries faster than the bushes can grow them

- I love Sasktoons. Thiessen variety the best, apparently.

- we must, MUST have lawn. Must.

- trees are hard to move once you plant them. (duh)

-  nothing but mossy grass grows on the south side fence of an east facing yard.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated, that means you, Edmonton gardeners. Heck, anyone who is a northern gardener can chime right in please. I have so much space. SO. MUCH. SPACE. And I want to use it well.

Here’s my first area at the front, which faces west. Tons of sunlight. This is 3.5 feet wide and I was hoping to get a hedge of Saskatoons between here. Looking at the varieties however I am thinking that Northline – gets 6 feet tall and I can control the spread easily- will be my best bet. Hedge of Saskatoons and then mulch to keep the weeds at bay.

Thoughts?

The other side of the front yard.

I need a 2.5 inch caliper tree and 8 bushes. I have contacted a local nursery and I might just be able to get a large caliper fruit tree, I will know next week. I moved my Honeyberries with me so I have three bushes.

I would like all fruiting bushes in the front, if I have to have 8 damn bushes for the landscaping requirements.

This is over 11 feet wide and 21 feet to the corner there.

Fruiting bush suggestions?

Oh god, the back now.

Lord help me.

The yard faces east, so this is my hot little micro-climate once the fence is up. It radiates heat back so fiercely. You can see the lines I have drawn in the dirt, that’s 6 feet out from the fence. 6 x 27 feet to the back.

All veggie beds? Raised? Not raised?

Standing at that back corner now. Again, 6 feet marked out. All garden again?  The problem I have is that I would LOVE fruit trees planted across the back yard, but that means  that those trees are going to grow and eventually shade this area, making it not so great for  gardening. This is the conundrum I can’t figure out. Plus those trees have to be 5 feet forward to make sure the roots don’t crack the concrete swale.

Speaking of that swale, this is also on my property.

This is 40 freaking feet by 2 feet of dead space. All my neighbors have grass or rocks.

I’m thinking raspberries and mulch to keep the weeds down?

Do I really need 80 sq feet of raspberries?

Lord love a duck.

The kids will be thrilled and  the swale will help keep the raspberries from suckering out into the rest of the yard. Plus I do love raspberry jam….

Thoughts?  Has to be something with small roots, no trees or very large bushes.

View from where the deck will be.

What about 3 fruit trees on that right side, where it’s muddy in the picture? If I can’t grow them along the back, maybe along the side? How far from the fence, about 5 feet? That allow enough for spread?

View of that side. So remember we are facing east right now. The trees will still get sunlight enough is they are moved away from the fence and there is still room for a climber/swingset for the kids.

Arial view. Through a screen.

Ok gardening people.

Hit me with your garden loves, hits, misses, favorite fruit tress, fruit bushes, all of it.

What have you learned from YOUR yards? What were your mistakes? Successes? Best thing you ever did?

Help!

Love,

I’m Just Going To Pave the Whole Damn Yard Magpie

Today’s pie day brings with it coffee. The needs for lots and lots of coffee.

We are a crazy travelling  family circus this weekend, only the kids and I, to visit my parents in Airdrie. The kids have a 3 day weekend thanks to a school PD day and I haven’t been out to visit my parents in a long, long time thanks to the cook off taking up so much of my spare time.

We arrived last night at around 6 but that didn’t stop my children from already getting into everything they possibly could out at Nana and Papa’s acreage.

Papa was soon delegated to pull out bikes from the magic tickle trunk that old farm barns can be.

The Princess was out loving up the barn cat and Arthur the horse, getting her fill of animals while she can.

Mr K was busy trying to break a leg/arm/skull by climbing the hay bales. I swear he is gauging the beams in the barn ceiling to see how and where he can climb further to freak his mother out.

I won’t tell him his mother used to do far more dangerous things and lived. I would have already been in the rafters, hanging above everyone thinking I was hilarious.

His mother has become far to citified, I’m afraid. Rarely do you catch me hanging from rafters anymore.

After hours of adventures last night and my children not getting to sleep until well after 10 pm – this just does not happen in our house on a regular basis – this is what Mama Magpie needed this morning.

Straw included.

After a lovely visit with an old friend in Crossfield this morning, it’s time to get my pie post out for the day. Last week I whipped up a lemon cream pie with a spice cookie crust and it all happened because I had a bag of lemons to use up.  Most people would go straight for a lemon meringue but to be honest – and here again goes my street cred as a food blogger-  I don’t like the meringue on lemon meringue pie. The part where the pie meets the meringue always gets gluey and I literally cannot stand it, I literally shudder thinking about it.

So I had to think of something else to make and usually lemon cream pies have some cream cheese in them or perhaps a dollop of sour cream.

I just wanted whipped cream mixed with lemon curd at the right moment, then topped with my lemon whipped cream and some sort of zingy cookie crust.

And here it is.

Ingredients Needed:

2 tbsp grated lemon zest
2/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup of butter
3/4 cup of white sugar
5 egg yolks
1 cup of whipped cream

2 cups crushed Simple Pleasures Spice Snaps , 1-2 crushed cookies for topping
1/3 cup and 2 tbsp melted butter

Lemon Whipped Cream Ingredients

1 cup of whipping cream
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp unflavored gelatin (optional)

To prepare the pie crust, mix together the crushed cookies and melted butter, then press into a 9.5 inch pie plate. I like a really nice, thick crust on my cream pies and this is enough to make a great crust. Refrigerate while you are making the pie filling.

These tea cookies are my favorite of all to snack on,the spice is lovely in them and it’s not quite as tongue burning as gingersnaps can be. The flavor was delicate but strong enough to match the lemon filling it’s paired with.

Whisk the cornstarch into the lemon juice completely while it’s cold (thus no lumps) and add in the grated lemon zest as well.

Put the butter and sugar in now as well and heat on a medium burner.Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and let boil for a minute. Remove from the heat.

Take the egg yolks and whisk them until they are light yellow.

You now need to temper the eggs, which means you take some of the hot liquid from the pot and whisk it into the egg yolks.

By doing this you can then whisk the yolks into the pot of hot liquid safely, without lumps forming, so once you temper the egg yolks,  whisk those egg yolks into the hot mixture completely.

Cool for an hour or so until it starts to become nice and thick. You don’t want it to set completely, you have to fold in the whipped cream so if it’s too thick you can’t properly mix it in.

In a medium-size mixing bowl using an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the lemon curd completely and scrape the filling into the prepared pie shell. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate it.

If you are doing whipped cream on top without stabilizer, cover up the pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it’s set, about 4-6 hours. You will have to have the pie ready to serve before you take on this next step.

I wanted to have a topping that was firm, wouldn’t weep and cut nicely, retaining its pretty shape. In order to do that with whipped cream, you add gelatin to it, which is stabilizing the whipped cream. This step can be completely ignored if you wish to top this pie right before you serve it with whipped cream.

If you want to have a stabilized whipped cream, you will have to bloom your gelatin. This is done by taking your tsp of unflavored gelatin, mixing it with one tbsp cold water in a microwave safe container and letting it sit for a minute.  After this you microwave it on high for about 15 seconds- in my microwave at least- so it becomes a nice liquid gelatin, ready to pour into the whipped cream. Let it cool for a while, but not too long, it will set!

Take your whipping cream and start whipping it in your mixer. If you are adding in the gelatin, add it in now, then add in the sugar, zest and lastly the lemon juice. Whip until it forms soft peaks.

Remove the pie from the fridge and top with the whipped cream. If you feel like being fancy, the stabilized whipped cream will hold it’s shape when piped with an icing tip. I simply spread it all over the top.

Sprinkle the whipped cream with the crushed cookies you set aside for the topping and refrigerate until serving time. If you are not using stabilized whipped cream, serve right away.

This was in my top 10 pies, the flavor is so unexpected in a pie, the lemon tangy and diluted so dreamily by the whipped cream. Topped with a lemon whipped cream instead of plain also makes your tastebuds sing with sweet, sour and gingery snappiness. Yum.

So Happy PieDay everyone! I am looking forward to a weekend out in the country, making sure my children don’t break too many bones, hoping they don’t get up to the trouble their Mama used to and perhaps a visit with some cute adorable babies that are related to me….

Love,

The Can’t Wait To Kiss Some Baby Cheeks Soon Magpie

Hey, look, pie and a story that’s almost completely unrelated!

As always, this pie comes with a side of story for everyone, because what would Pie Day be without a tale to tell?

This tale is about a criminal profiler that I happen to be related to, a familiar tale to many of those who knew me in high school or have the misfortune of being related to me in some way as well. However there are many of you who haven’t met this relative yet, so let me do some introductions here.

Now, I am sure when you read “criminal profiler” this is what popped into your head:

However, Shamar don’t have nuttin’ on my handsome Uncle Bob.

So for those of you unplugged from the TV (though I do love me some Criminal Minds) this is what one of the real profilers out there looks like. Or looked, he’s retired from the RCMP now, so picture him a few years younger.

He’s smarter than Shamar too. At the time he was a profiler he was one of a mere 5 people in Canada who were trained like himself. He’s been to Quantico for FBI training, travelled all over the country and generally is incredibly smart about things most of us don’t really want to think about most days.

Handsome Uncle Bob and my beautiful Aunt Ev were in Edmonton a couple of weekends ago for a very quick trip and we had them over for brunch and a visit. The kids soon saw that Auntie Ev was a soft heart and leapt upon her like jackals to a feast of zebra. They sense a doting relative when they meet one and she obliged more than willingly.

Indeed, she and Uncle Bob spoiled the kids rotten with a present of money for Disneyland as well, bless their generous hearts. Although the kids now think – thanks to Uncle Bob- that if you work at a bank, like my Aunt does, you just get to bring money home. I’ve been trying to explain to them for a couple weeks now that Uncle Bob was just kidding that aunt Ev just picks out money and brings it home from her job every day.

I have started and stopped writing this post about 4 times the past few weeks. I’m going to admit it; I’m feeling a little overwhelmed on how to sum up such an incredible event.

Not only is there the pressure of covering everything, the photo editing alone of that day has kept me busy for hours on end. So many photos of so many amazing things and when I sat and looked at my folder of photos I realized that the only way I was going to be able to even skim the surface of the day was to do it in parts. If I don’t, there is going to be one huge post with 50 pictures and words equalling a novel by the time I was done.

So today’s post is going to be the morning of, which was – to those running the event- as eventful as the actual event hours themselves.

I started out the day of the cook off with an early morning trip to Global Television with Chef Shane Chartrand to do a quick interview one last time about the cook off, one last kick at the cat. I’d like to thank Global for having us on that morning, I know we actually had people come to the cook off who saw it on the news that very morning and decided to come check it out.

Mike came along this time to see the workings of a TV studio and snapped a couple of pictures for me.

He did take pictures of the TV screens that showed us on them, but I’ve discovered that the most unflattering pictures are ones of me talking. Really. Every time he snapped a pic, I had some weird look on my face. You know how  you laugh at what people look like in a movie when you freeze-frame a video? Those faces? Eyes half closed, mouth open like a drunken fish? Indeed, those are the pictures he captured of me.

So I will let you watch the video of us that morning instead and let those weird faces just merge into actual talking.

After the surprisingly stress-free TV stint, it was off to IHOP for a quick breakfast. Like the good friend I am, I kept mercilessly bugging Shane that I was going to take pictures of him in his chef whites sitting at IHOP, slumming it. I guess even chefs have to eat breakfast somewhere. I thought it was funny. Mike and Shane merely rolled their eyes at me and kept on talking.

When we arrived at the school Shane’s two apprentices, Cody Woodland and Jesse Woodland were awaiting us. They were a great help that day, thanks again guys for all your work!

Laura and Boyd, owners of local Highland business Mandolin  Books & Coffee  were generous enough to donate coffee and serve it to patrons the day of the cook off so not only did we receive money from the coffee but they donated precious time as well!  Thank you so much for your help that day and the amazing coffee! What a wonderful thing it is to see local business helping out their schools, this is why it’s so important to support your small community businesses, they give back!

Teresa Spinelli, president of the Italian Centre here in Edmonton, generously not only donated pasta for the kids to craft with in the Family Fun Rooms but she also donated hundreds of cookies for us to sell to the public to go along with the coffee from Mandolin! Another local business proudly supporting the community!

The day before the cook off we had spent hours upon hours getting everything ready, tables up, signs attached, decorations hung and all we needed was out competitors, who started trickling in from 9 am on.

Patrick Saurette from the Marc was a one man team for the day. On a side note, Patrick attended Mount Royal as a child and was thrilled to come back to his childhood school and participate in the event! How amazing is that, for a well-known local restaurateur to come back and support his elementary alma mater!

Chef Larry Stewart from the Hardware Grill came and spent the day there as well, which tickled me pink, as a lot of executive chefs/owners don’t always attend these events but send their sous chefs instead and understandably so, they are a busy lot.  It meant a lot to us to see so many executive/head chefs at the event, which I’ve told everyone countless times but I will say it again.

Unheardof’s chef, David Heard happens to not only be from one of the nicest restaurants in town, his grandchild attends Mount Royal school. How lovely to be able to support your grandchild’s school in such an important way and how proud his grandson must have been to see his family helping out!

Zinc at the Alberta Art Gallery, with yet another executive chef that came to spend the day, Chef Dave Omar accompanied by Chef Richard Toll.

I’d like to add that Chef Omar’s hobby the last few weeks before the cook off was teasing me mercilessly. An example of this would be when I sent out the last-minute detail, round it all up email to my competitors the day before. I signed off with a ” see everyone tomorrow! ” and received this response from him:

“Tomorrow? What’s going on tomorrow?”

He’s lucky I have a soft spot – must be in the head-  for him since he was the very first person to jump on board for the cook off and his teasing somehow kept me sane while planning the event.

And perhaps because I’m just as bad at giving people a hard time and teasing them. Maybe. I’m not admitting to anything here.

Liv Vors, co-owner of Battista Calzone is on the right, getting ready to serve up her mac n cheese filled calzones for the day. What an incredibly unique idea this was!

Chef Lindsay Porter from 4th and Vine, all prettied up. I didn’t recognize her out of her chef white’s at first and then really didn’t recognize her in her Muppet’s costume. Picture of that to come later!

Chef Danielle Majeau who is a chef for E4C’s Elizabeth House here in Edmonton as well as the owner of Creole Envie, a local catering company. I heard a rumor that Creole Envie might just become a brick and mortar establishment soon!

Not pictured during set up is Chef Andrew Parker and Shaw Conference Centre as they were running later and I was taking picture fairly early on. There will be some coming of them in the next few posts!

CBC was kind enough to send us some great signage to put up for Rick Harp, who was generous enough to donate his Saturday morning to help us out by emceeing the event.

The People’s Choice voting table was all set up and ready to go! The chips were later moved to a nearby table to be handed out one by one to people who wished to vote for their favorite.

And here it is.

Ready to go.

Ready to serve amazing mac n’ cheese to throngs of people.

Ready to raise money for the Arts Core programming at Mount Royal Arts Core School.

Most importantly, it was ready for this!

Love,

Just Need to Edit Another 30 Pics and the Next Post Will Be Up Magpie

By now I am sure that everyone has read my goal, nay, my steadfast promise to myself that I am not cooking up a monstrous dinner this weekend for Easter or in fact even for tonight, Good Friday. Thanks to the Four Points Sheraton here in Edmonton I don’t even have to make an Easter brunch for my family this Easter Sunday. We are getting up, questing for chocolate and then taking off for a noon brunch filled with bunnies, magic and me not cooking.

I’m not sure why I am so set on no cooking but it might have to do with a few things. The first would be this past Christmas, where I was decidedly ill with the worst strep throat I have had in a decade. I didn’t feel up to eating until Boxing Day, in fact I couldn’t even taste the food until that evening. I still managed to put on Christmas breakfast and dinner for my entire family – with help from my mom and sister- but the feeling of being so incredibly worn out and not enjoying the holiday as I usually do still lingers.

The other might be the residual effect of running the Cook Off as well, I still am in GO mode, there are loose ends to tie up, plates that needed engraving with the winners names, thank you presents to drop off and emails/phone calls to answer. I would like to just relax and enjoy this holiday instead of slaving over a hot stove.

That doesn’t mean however, that other people don’t need baking and cooking ideas for this weekend.

So if – and a big if- I decided to give up my idea of not cooking this Easter weekend and start baking up pies for Easter Sunday, these five pies that I have chosen out of my PieDay archives would be on my hit list. Click on the links to get the recipes.

I’ll start with my newly found favorite, Raisin Pie. I love the lemony zip that this one has and it’s pictured at the top of this post.

Next is my frozen favorite, Andes Mint Chocolate Mousse Pie. Everything about this pie is perfect. Chocolate, ice cream and mint a trifecta of mouth-watering deliciousness. I’ve put the recipe below.

We eat pumpkin pie literally all year-long. We don’t save it for Thanksgiving or wait until the fall, this is Mike’s #1 favorite pie and it’s almost always on the table for any holiday at any given time.

Blueberry lemon pie. There’s nothing I like better than pairing blueberry with lemon, my favorite flavor in the world. This make what can be almost tasteless – sorry blueberry pie lovers- into something with another tangy dimension to it.

And last but not least, a fast, Cool Whip filled, junky awesome peanut butter pie. It’s evil. It’s loaded with everything bad for you but it’s fast, easy and sure to please everyone.

So there you have it. If I was making the deluxe dinner this weekend, one of these 5 pies would be on the menu. Most likely the Andes chocolate mint one, since the mere picture of it is making me want ice cream for breakfast at this very moment.

Have a lovely Good Friday and a fabulous Easter Weekend full of friends and family!

Love,

The Maybe I Could Put Ice Cream In My Coffee Magpie