How to freeze a pumkin pie

pumkin pie
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

How to Freeze a Pumpkin Pie

Make your favorite pie crust.

Mix up pumpkin pie filling according to the directions on the can. Add two tablespoons corn starch to the pumpkin pie filling. Mix thoroughly.

Corn starch stabilizes the custard (pumpkin pie filling) for freezing. Adding corn starch makes the pie not runny when you unthaw it.

Pour filling into pie shell. Bake pie following the directions on the can. After baking cool the pie. When the pie is cool, wrap it up for freezing. Freeze pie. Unthaw pie in the refrigerator.

tuna cobbler

tuna cobler
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Filling
One can of Tuna
¼ cup butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoon flour
¾ chicken or vegetable broth
¾ cup milk
2 tablespoons Dijon style mustard
pepper to taste
1 cup Frozen peas and Carrots
1 cup frozen corn

Grease a 9 x 9 inch baking pan or casserole.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Melt butter in pan, add garlic. Cook until brown. Add Flour, Stirring. Combine milk, broth and mustard. Warm in microwave. Slowly add broth mixture stirring into flour mixture. Whisk until thicken. Microwave peas and carrots according package directions. Drain peas and carrots. Add drained tuna and peas and carrots. Stir until combined. Pour into baking dish, Set aside.

Cobbler Crust
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ cup melted butter
½ cup milk

In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients. Add melted butter then milk. Stir until stiff dough forms. Spoon crust over filling. Bake in 425 oven for about 20 –25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Barley and Bulgur in White Sauce

Barley and Bulgur in White Sauce
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Barley and Bulgur in White Sauce

Optional 1 cup chopped leftover meats: beef, chicken turkey and ham

Sauce
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup broth: vegetable, chicken or beef
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon white pepper

2 or 3 diced mushrooms
¼ onion diced

¼ cup Barley
¼ cup Bulgur


First make the sauce by melting the butter in a sauce pan. Then add the diced onion and mushrooms. Stirring until golden brown. Add flour and seasonings stirring well. Add broth and milk, stirring until thick. Add barley and bulgur, stirring well. Last if you want to add cooked meat, stir it into the pot.

Next simmer on the stove about 1 ½ hours. Add water if it gets too thick.

The dish is finished when the barley and bulgur are soft enough to eat.

Or finish cooking the dish by placing it in a small crock pot and cooking for three to fours hours. This is how I make my lunch putting the dish in a crock pot at breakfast time.

I serve the thick sauce over mashed potatoes. Whole wheat bread works well too.

The recipe originally Called Skillet Dinner came from the Whole Foods For the Whole Family cook book published by La Leche League International 1981.

acorn squash

acorn squash
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Squash and Apple Bake

1 Acorn squash cut in half with seeds scooped out
1 large apple, peeled and sliced
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup melted butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Heat oven to 350 F. Spray a baking dish, that is big enough to hold the squash, with spray oil. Toast pecans. Prepare Squash and apple. Mix melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small mixing bowl. Add toasted chopped pecans into the mixture. Place cut up squash in baking dish skin side down. Place apple slices in the hollowed out bowl left in the squash when the seeds were scooped out. Top with pecan mixture. Place in oven and bake for one hour at 350 F. Remove from oven and enjoy.

To toast nuts: For one cup of nuts use a 10 inch dry skillet on medium high heat. For more than one cup of nuts spread them out on an ungreased baking dish and toast in a 350F oven. Toast of 3 to 5 minutes. Remember to stir the nuts often so that they do not burn.

snickerdoodle cookies

snickerdoodles cookies
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Snickerdoodles are yummy cookies. I like the recipe in The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion book. The recipe is on pages 60 and 61. Try using all butter. Butter tastes better than part shortening. When I make cookies I bake a few at a time. The rest of the cookies are place on a cookies sheet and frozen. The cookies can be placed close together. After they are frozen then take them off the sheet and place them in a freezer container. When I want to have fresh baked cookies I take a few cookies out of the freezer and place them on a parchment paper lined cookies sheet. The cookies unthaw enough to bake while the oven is heating. I like to bake a variety of cookies, snickerdoodles, oatmeal scotchies, chocolate chip. This is easy to do because I have many varieties of cookies frozen.

turkey apple pot pie

turkey apple pot pie
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Turkey and Apple pot pie

1 onion
2 golden delicious apples
2 medium size yams
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 lb ground turkey
1 ½ teaspoons caraway seeds optional
2 teaspoons chicken base or bullion
2/3 cups dry sherry
1 cup apple juice
1/3 cup water
Or any combination of liquid ingredients up to two cups
3 tablespoon corn starch
Salt and pepper to taste
1 puff pastry sheet, thawed

Peel, core and thinly slice apples. Peel and thinly slice yams. Peel and chop onion.
Heat oil in large skillet. Add crumbled ground turkey. Cook ground turkey until brown and not pink. Add onion, apple, yams, and caraway seed. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minute stirring occasionally. Uncover pan. Turn heat up to high. This is to cook off some of the moisture to brown the onion. In a measuring cup combine the liquid ingredients, sherry, apple juice and water. Stir in the corn starch until smooth. Add liquid mixture to pan. Stir quickly to make smooth sauce. Take off heat and let cool a little. Prepare baking dishes. Either two 8 x 8 inch or one 13 x 9 inch. Spray baking dishes with cooking oil. Pour filling into baking dishes. Cut puff pastry into strips weave a lattice over the top of filling. Bake at 400 F until pastry browns and puffs about 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Let set for about 5 minutes. Serves 8. I bake it in two casseroles and freeze one.

This is a nice casserole for fall. Like all casseroles it works well for potlucks, picnics and tail gate parties.

Taco Picnic

We have a lot of fun bringing all the ingredients for making tacos to picnics. Yesterday I brought and set up a taco bar picnic at the waterfront. I made up taco meat, this time I used ground turkey. I buy my taco seasoning at Costco. I cooked the ground turkey until it wasn’t pink any more then added the taco seasoning and water according to the package directions. I put the hot meat in a plastic container with a screw on top lid. I put the hot ingredients in one cooler and the cold ingredients in another cooler. I use a gel pack warmed in the microwave to keep the food hot. The other ingredients that I brought were Tillamook Mexican grated cheese, olives, salsa, lettuce and taco shells. I put everything in its own container. At the picnic I handed out plates and taco shells and passed everything around. Everyone built their own tacos.

Dry Sautéed Green Beans

green beans
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

When cooked the green beans will be blacken on the outside. Do not over cook. Dried up charred bits are hard to eat. It takes a little practice but is fairly fun and easy to learn how to cook dry sauté beans. Adding purple beans to the beans makes it easy to tell when the beans are cooked. Purple beans turn green when cooked.

1 pound green beans, washed trimmed and cut into two inch pieces.

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Alternative seasoning:

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sesame oil

OR use any combination that you like.

Currently I am using sesame oil, sesame seeds and garlic powder.

Heat oil in sauté pan to very hot. Add green beans. Stir. Listen to the beans sizzle. After the beans have started to cook add seasonings. Sprinkle sesame seeds on when adding seasoning. Watch sesame seeds dance in pan. Last ingredient to add before serving is sesame oil. Sesame oil doesn’t like heat. The beans take only a few minutes to cook. Serves four.

This is a fun quick recipe to make.

Portland Farmers Market Thursdays at Ecotrust Building

Last night I wandered through the farmers market at Ecotrust. It had an impressive number of berry sellers. There were many types of yummy berries to choose from. I tasted a nice cold white wine poured by Twist Wine Company. I drank a sample of Hot Lips soda pop. I would like to get a mixed case of Hot Lips Soda pop. It is a nice Farmers market with plenty of food items to make a summer picnic out of.

Ecotrust NW 10 and Irving 3:30 to 7:30 pm on the street car line.

www.portlandfarmersmarket.org

The Barn

The Barn
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

The Barn
Farm Fresh Produce
I stopped in the Barn today to purchase my produce. I enjoy having berries on my cereal for breakfast. They have raspberries, blueberries and several kinds of blackberries. The local corn, beans and tomatoes are ripe and available. Call them if you want large quantities for canning. They have fresh herbs like dill and basil. I am going to go outside, heat up the gas BBQ and roast the corn and the red pepper that I got at the Barn. Bing Cherries from the Barn will round out our dinner.
Seasonal Fruit and vegetables, Canning supplies and they accept food stamps.
Trapold Farms Inc. 5211 NE 148th off Airport Way, Portland, OR 97230 503 253 5103 Open June to November Monday thru Saturday closed Sundays

pizza roll

finished
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

I like to roll up pizzas to bring to picnics. A pizza roll keeps all the goodies inside and is easy to pack. The pictures of the technique are on flicker. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryannethygesen/sets/72157606467657488/

This pizza roll used the ingredients that I had on hand. As long as it isn’t too thick you can use any of your favorite pizza toppings. If the topping are too thick the pizza will not roll up and the topping will gush out the sides.

1 first make pizza dough. I make mine in the bread machine. Sometimes I put dried basil in the dough.

2 Roll out the dough it should be shaped like a long oblong or rectangle.

3 Spread olive oil on the top of the rolled out dough. Oiling the top keeps the pizza from getting soggy.

4 Spread pizza or pasta sauce on top. Keep the sauce thin.

5 Top with toppings

6 Roll up pizza starting at shorter side and rolling up the long side.

7 Let rise about 45 minutes. Brush olive oil on top.

8 Bake at 400F 20 to 25 minutes.

Let cool a little before serving.

Dysphagia

Excerpts from Nutrition, Diet Modifications and Meal Plans by Ruby P. Puckett and Sherryl E. Danks 1996. Peter loaned me this book to cook for my Mom.

The Dysphagia diet is indicated for patients who have difficulty in swallowing liquid or solid foods.

Mashed solids: These foods do not require mastication. The mashed solids contain more bulk than liquids, but they are controlled by the tongue. Examples include plain or flavored yogurt without solids, pureed meats, pureed fruit, applesauce, thinned mashed potatoes, cream of wheat or rice, custard or pudding.

Semi-solids: These foods require some mastication. The semi-solid foods form a very soft mass that can be held and controlled by the tongue. Examples of these include plain or flavored yogurt without solids, cottage cheese, minced meat, soft scrambled eggs, soft mashed fruit, soft mashed vegetables, cooked cereals, custard or pudding.

Soft chunks: These foods require mastication, but do not lead to early fatigue. Soft chunk foods will not adhere to the palate or teeth and are easy for the tongue to control. Examples of these include yogurt, soft and semi soft cheese, minced meat, scrambled, poached or hard boiled eggs, canned fruit without skins or seeds, mashable vegetables, bread, toast, pasta, rice, noodles, smooth peanut butter and plain soft cookies.

After reading this book this is what I served my Mom this weekend. I thought that it sounded a lot like how you feed toddlers to prevent choking. I served meatloaf, mashed potatoes and canned peaches for one dinner. I cooked tortellini and cooked carrots for lunch. We had a yogurt smoothie for a snack. Spaghetti and cooked beets for another dinner. Raspberries, cheese stick and toast for breakfast. Adding too this was zucchini bread and blue berry muffins. Mom was well fed when she went home.

Quiche

quiche
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

I made a quiche today for lunch. I enjoy making and eating this version of quiche. I often bring it to picnics and potlucks. My mom asked for the recipe over and over again. Today I made the quiche with Yukon gold potatoes as the base. I used mushrooms, walla walla sweet onion, green zucchini and red Swiss chard as the vegetables. I sautéed the vegetables before adding to the dish. I used Tillamook Jack cheese for the cheese.

Quiche
Original idea from Whole Foods for the Whole Family La Leche League International Cook book 1981

Crust
3 cups grated potatoes
3 tablespoons canola oil or olive oil
½ teaspoon paprika

Heat oven to 450 F. Grate potatoes into 9 inch pie plate. Toss with oil. Press into pie plate forming a crust. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes. While it is baking make filling.

Filing
2 or 3 tablespoon chopped onion
1 cup chopped vegetables, my favorite are Swiss chard and zucchini; frozen spinach works well too, just be sure to cook and drain it.
1 cup grated cheese I use what we have on hand
4 eggs
1 cup milk
dash of pepper
dash of nutmeg
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Parkrose farmers market

Parkrose farmers market
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

I just got back from the Parkrose farmers Markey located at Parkrose high school NE 122nd and shaver. There was plenty of fresh produce to purchase. The strawberries are gone. Raspberries, blueberries and marionberries are in season. The Cherries from Hood River are Van’s and Rainier’s. The peaches and apricots are from Maryhill. Lots of leafy greens were available lettuces, spinach, and Swiss chard. The Zucchini are green, yellow and light green Mexican. There are yellow and green beans. Gabriel’s bakery is selling their yummy whole grain baked goods. You can purchase tamales, elephant ears and caramel corn. Also there is pottery, soap and nursery plants. Local bands provide music for the market. No Dogs are allowed in the market. It is a small Market with plenty of produce. I am making a stir fry for lunch out of the zucchini. www.parkrosefarmersmarket.org

Picnic Salads

Summer time is great time for having picnics while watching plays and movies, and listening to concerts. One of the foods that I like for picnics is big dinner salads. For the Blues Festival I brought a different salad each night. I start with leafy greens and lettuce. When time is short I buy a bag of salad greens. When I have more time I wash up lettuce purchased at a farmers market. To wash up lettuce and have it keep for a while, spin or shake some of the water off, place it in a plastic bag with a paper towel. The paper towel balances the moisture content and your lettuce doesn’t quickly get soggy and brown.

For the base of the salad you need about 2 cups of leaves per person. If the lettuce isn’t already prepared, tear or cut it up into bite size pieces. Place the lettuce in a bag. Do not assemble the salad ahead of time; preassembled salad becomes a soggy mess. Put your toppings in separate containers. I use the screw top plastic containers.

Salads that I brought were: Chicken Caesar Salad with romaine lettuce, diced cooked chicken, grated parmesan cheese, crotons and Caesar dressing; Taco salad with iceberg lettuce, cold ground beef cooked with taco seasoning, tortilla chips, olives, grated Mexican cheese, sour cream, salsa and tomatoes; Asian chicken salad with mixed greens, chow mien noodles, diced cooked chicken, sliced almonds and Asian dressing; Sort of Cobb salad with mixed greens, diced hard boiled egg, diced cooked chicken, diced cooked bacon, croutons, olives, sliced avocado and the bottle of Caesar dressing.

Pack everything up in a cooler with ice. Bring plates, napkins and utensils. Your favorite beverage if allowed. Most places do not allow glass, a few allow alcohol. Have a fun summer.

Hoagies

Bruce and his hoagie
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

I make hoagies and bring them to Zoo concerts. Hoagies are a favorite picnic sandwich. They travel well and are easy to make up. I buy my hoagie rolls at Fred Meyers. To make a hoagie sandwich, first slice the roll open. Then slather the roll with sandwich spread. Hot mustard is a favorite bread spread. Recent combinations that I have made of deli meat and cheese have been: turkey and provolone cheese, turkey and swiss cheese, roast beef and swiss cheese, ham and swiss cheese, ham and cheddar cheese, ham and provolone cheese, turkey, ham and provolone. Next add the vegetables: lettuce, tomato and onion. Then rap the hoagie up with plastic wrap. Write the owners name on the plastic wrap with a sharpie. Each hoagie is custom made matching preferences, like no mayo. Place the hoagies in a cooler with and go have a fun picnic.

cook books

cook books
Originally uploaded by Mary Anne Thygesen

Welcome to my Food Blog. This blog will be about food. Where to find it, how to grow it and how to prepare it. I will share recipes and directions. There will be lots of photos. I collect cook books. I teach cooking. I am a food writer.