Triple Berry Pie

Mom and I made this pie from Tastes Better From Scratch together.  Yum!

Ingredients

• homemade pie crust for a 9'' deep dish pan. This recipe makes 2 crusts: one for the bottom and one for the to
• 7 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, blueberries and blackberries about 2 1/3 cups of each type of berry*
• 1 cup granulated sugar (plus a little extra to sprinkle on top of the pie)
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 large egg white beaten with a fork

Instructions

• Cook berries: Add berries, sugar and lemon juice to a large saucepan over medium heat. 
• Simmer, until warm and juicy, about 5-10 minutes, gently stirring occasionally. (You can taste it at this point and see if it's sweet enough for your liking. I don't like to make mine too sweet, but if you want it sweeter you can add 1/4 cup more sugar.)
• Thicken filling: Spoon out about 1/2 cup of the juice from the pan into a bowl. Stir cornstarch into the juice until smooth. 
• Bring pot of berries back to a simmer and slowly pour in the cornstarch. Gently stir mixture (being careful not to mash the berries), until thickened, about 2-5 minutes.
• Cool and add to pie shell. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell (in a 9 in deep dish pan).
• Add lattice top or a whole top with holes pricked on top for steam to escape. (See directions for lattice crust below).
• Pinch the edges of the top and bottom pie crusts together and crimp the edge, if you like. Brush a thin layer of beaten egg white over the top of the pie and sprinkle lightly with sugar. 
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 40-45 minutes. Check it after about 25 minutes and place a piece of tinfoil over it if the top crust is getting too brown. 
• Remove to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool for several hours. Once cooled completely, you can cut into it or cover it and refrigerate it overnight to serve the next day.

Mom's Amazing Pie Crust

 Paula's Pecan Pie

aka: Grandpa Ballou's pie crust!!

1 cup flour

Scant ½ cup Crisco (shortening)

½ tsp. salt

¼ cup COLD water minus 1/2 TB

1/2 TB chilled white vinegar

 

Put flour and salt in bowl.  Mix with a fork.  Take your fingers and “cut” the shortening into the flour by running the flour and shortening together between your thumb and fingers of one hand until the mixture looks like small peas.  Add the water one Tablespoon at a time moving the flour/shortening mixture around with a fork until it sticks together.  Put the dough into a ball and place it on a lightly floured surface.  Roll out the dough to fit a 8-9” pie tin.  If you are going to bake the pie with a filling in it, pour the filling in and bake.  If you are going to bake the pie crust FIRST and then fill with a pudding filling, bake the pie crust at 425 for exactly 10 minutes.

 This recipe makes one bottom crust.  If you would like a top crust, you need to double it.

THIS IS GRANDPA BALLOU’S PIE CRUST RECIPE!!!!!

Kalua Pork in a Smoker

I know not everyone here has a smoker, but I needed to record how I made this somewhere so I can do it again! This will be something I will be making over and over again. For those without a smoker, the following link is to a slow cooker recipe for kalua pork that I have used which has also been delicious. 

Slow Cooker Kalua Pig

Ingredients:

• 7-10 pound bone in pork shoulder
• 2 tablespoons pink or red coarse Hawaiian sea salt (Alaea sea salt. You can order this on amazon if you can't find it elsewhere. Use about 3/4 tsp per each pound of meat)
• Banana leaves (you can find these in the frozen section of most Asian markets)

1. Fire up your smoker to 250, preferably with a mix of mesquite and cherry woods. (I did 250 this time but different recipes went up to 300, so if you need it to cook more quickly set it to 275 or 300).
2. Remove the pork from the packaging and wipe it down with a paper towel. Season each of the sides with the Hawaiian sea salt, and pat into the meat.
3. Place the pork in the smoker, fat side up, and smoke for about 2 hours.
4. Set overlapping banana leaves on the counter large enough to wrap around your pork shoulder. Remove the pork from the smoker and place it in the center of the banana leaves. Wrap the pork tightly in the banana leaves and tie them in place with kitchen twine. 
5. Place the wrapped pork in a disposable pan and return the pork back to the smoker. Continue smoking for another 5-9 hours (the larger the roast, the longer the cook time), or until the temperature of the pork is at least 200 degrees F.
6. Remove the pork from the smoker and allow it to rest from 30-60 minutes. 
7. Drain the liquid and shred the pork. Taste, and feel free to serve as it is or add back in some of the liquid if needed to add in more moisture or salt flavor. 
8. Enjoy what all of my children said was the best pork they had ever tasted. :)

Note: The recipes said the Hawaiian salt gives it a unique and traditional flavor, but you can use regular coarse sea salt if you are in a pinch. Also feel free to skip the smoking without the banana leaves step if you just want to put it in once and not have to do anything with it again until it is done. For my 7 pound shoulder I cooked it for a total of 8.5 hours at 250 for it to get to the right temperature. I found a Traeger recipe that said to cook a 7 pound pork shoulder roast at 300 for 5-6 hours, so higher temp will get done quicker and I am sure will still be delicious!