Strawberry Pie

A friend gave us 2 pints of very fresh strawberries last week.  I knew they wouldn't last long, so the best thing to do was to cook them into something quickly.  I immediately decided I wanted to make a strawberry pie.  I researched several options, finding that some strawberry pies are raw and some are baked.  I knew I wanted to bake the pie, or the strawberries wouldn't last long enough.  Here is my adaptation of several different recipes.

The crust : 1 stick of butter (1/2 c), 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 3+ tbsp cold water.  Cut the butter into the flour and salt until mixture is crumbly.  Add cold water 1 tbsp at a time, mix until dough forms a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for an hour.  Then divide the dough into 2/3 and 1/3.  Roll out the 2/3 portion and place in a pie plate. Roll out the 1/3 portion and cut into strips.

The strawberries : Wash and hull the strawberries.  Separate the mushier ones from the firmer ones. Slice the firmer strawberries, mash the mushier ones.  I ended up with about 1/2-1 cup of mashed strawberries.  I added those plus 1/2 cup fresh blueberries to a small saucepan along with the juice of 1/4 lime, 1/4 c sugar (much less than online recipes call for), 1/2 c water, and 2 tbsp corn starch.  Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens.  Place sliced strawberries in pie plate on top of the crust.  Pour over the cooked strawberry mixture.  Place strips of top crust over the pie in a lattice pattern.  (I was in a hurry and feeling lazy so mine is not a real lattice...just strips laid in one direction, and then on top of those I laid the strips in the other direction instead of weaving them.

Bake at 425 for 35 minutes, or until crust just starts to brown.

Lazy lattice crust because I care way more about taste then presentation...

I have no pictures of the finished pie...I was too busy eating it.  It was delicious!  We ate it for breakfast all weekend.  I also had some for an evening dessert with chocolate ice cream...so good!

Meal Prep 3/25/19

Leeky Mac n Cheese : 1 lb shell pasta, cooked according to directions on box.  2 large leeks, chopped, thoroughly washed, and steamed with olive oil.  Cheese sauce : 2 tbsp butter, 1.5 cups milk, 8 slices Swiss cheese, 2 large handfuls shredded monterey cheese, 1/4 c flour, garlic powder. Melt butter in saucepan, add milk and flour, stir til well combined.  Add garlic powder and cheese, stir til cheese is mostly melted.  Mix cooked pasta and leeks together in a large glass baking dish.  Stir in cheese sauce.  Cover top with a single layer of Swiss cheese slices.  (8 slices fit on mine).  Bake for about 30 minutes at 375-425.  Check after about 20 minutes, you are looking for the cheese on top to brown, but you don't want the pasta to burn.


Brussels Sprouts :  Halve 2 lbs of Brussels sprouts, layer onto 2 large baking trays, coat with olive oil and garlic, roast in the oven at 425-450 for about 10 minutes.

Chicken & Brats : 1 package boneless skinless chicken thighs (2.5-3 lbs), 2 packages Bratwursts.  I had one package of regular brats, and one of beer brats.  I reserved 2 beer brats for dinner Saturday, and cooked the remaining 8 brats in these lunches.  Chop the chicken and brats, cook in a large, lidded saucepan in their own juices.  Stir occasionally.  Add garlic powder to taste. Remove the lid when the pieces look cooked through.  When liquid is getting close to cooked off, add 6 ounces chopped mushrooms.  Cook til done.  Chop and brown a large sweet onion, add a spoonful on top of each serving of meat.

Extra :  We had some sauerkraut leftover from our St Patrick's Day Reubens, which is why we decided to buy brats.  We will have some sauerkraut with these lunches until it is gone.

Meal Prep 3/18/19

Pot Roast : 3+ lb roast.  Place in crockpot, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder.  Add 1 can of Guinness and 1 can of Yuengling.  (Or whatever beer you have lying around that you think will make a tasty roast.) Cook on high for 5-6 hours.

Potatoes : 8-9 medium sized red potatoes.  Chop into chunks and boil til soft.  Mash with butter, salt, garlic, and milk to taste. 

Broccoli :  2 lbs broccoli, roasted in oven for 10 minutes.  450-475 degrees-ish?

Extras :  I sautéed about 3/4 sweet onion and a giant handful of mushrooms to top off the meat. 

Makes about 10 meals.

Shamrock 4 miler 3/15/19

I debated entering this race for various reasons.  It was our weekend with the girls and it meant time away from them.  I am STILL coughing after a month and a half and after 6 days of steroids.  But I also wanted to do the race, to see some runner friends I don't see often anymore, and because I thought it might help wake up my legs after some sluggish runs.  In the end, of course I decided to run.  And I am so glad I did.  I've spent so much of the last 2 years focusing on marathon training and not running the shorter races, I'd forgotten how much fun it is to run a shorter faster race! 

This race starts at 7 PM, I guess to let the Friday evening rush hour traffic subside.  They shut down entire lanes for this race on 2 lane roads, which made traffic a disaster on the other roads for the duration of the race.  It was nice for us to have a whole lane to run in though and to not have to worry about cars at all!

We started out into the wind, but soon were on a mile long gradual downhill with a tailwind.  I had told myself I wasn't going to run toooo hard since that stupid cough still hasn't gone, but once I got started, I just couldn't help myself! (no surprise there...)  I kept the pace and my breathing as relaxed as I could for the first mile, but still clocked a 6:32.  (I didn't mean to look at my split but I glanced at my watch to check the mileage at the wrong time and saw the split...I didn't see any splits after that though.) I was feeling pretty good though, so I kept pushing, picking people off one by one.  Mile 2 went by in 6:43 and I was still feeling great.  I kept pushing, trying to speed up gradually as I went, knowing the race was short. There was a decently long climb in mile 3, but it was followed by more gradual downhill and I clocked a 6:45.  We had the headwind for all of mile 4, and the finish was a quarter mile on gravel path weaving in and out of the walkers, but I pushed to the finish and got a finish time of 27:27.  My heart rate was through the roof by the end of the race, and there was a brief coughing spell on the finish line, but overall I felt spectacular and now am itching to run some more shorter faster races. 

I finished 2nd place female, for which I was awarded the first place in my age group. 

It was great to catch up with my friend Mollie and run my warm up with her!  

1st place age group for me, 2nd place age group for her! 

Meal Prep 3/11/19

I usually try not to do the same carb two weeks in a row, but we went to Lewisburg to see friends and the Pony this weekend, so I wanted something quick and easy to cook when we got back on Sunday.  So here we are with pasta two weeks in a row.  I can't say I mind though...pasta is always my favorite! And just like pasta is our go-to carb, boneless skinless chicken thighs are our go-to meat!  So quick and easy in the oven, and they taste great even if you don't season them.

The Pasta :  2 lbs bowtie pasta, cook according to instructions on the box.  Tossed with 2 giant spoonfuls of pesto and about 14 oz of roasted garlic alfredo sauce.  

The Chicken :  2 packages of boneless skinless thighs (2+ lbs each). Sprinkle generously with garlic powder. The oven was set to 425 for 40 minutes, but knowing my oven it was probably closer to 475.  I had the thighs overcrowded in the baking dish, so that is probably why it took longer than the normal 30 minutes.

The Veggies : 7-8 carrots?  I don't think I ever remembered to count them.  The carrots were chopped and sauteed in olive oil and garlic powder with 3/4 medium sweet onion. I added about 6 oz of chopped mushrooms near the end.  We also chopped and roasted 2 lbs of brussels sprouts, about 1.5 lbs of which was added to the lunches.

I cooked the pasta in my stock pot so that I after I drained it, I could use it as a giant mixing bowl to mix the pasta and veggies together.  The chicken I chopped up in the baking dish after removing it from the oven, and then used a slotted spoon to lift the meat out of the ridiculous amount of fat it was swimming in.  I added about 2 spoonfuls of chicken to each meal.

We got 12 meals this week.

Meal Prep 3/4/19

Back to one of my favorites...pasta and meatballs!  

Meatballs :  3 lbs ground beef (I used 80/20 this time.  It's fattier than I normally buy, but it comes in a 3 lb package for convenience.) Mix ground beef with 2 eggs and about 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs (you know I didn't measure those breadcrumbs, I just poured them).  Shape into 25-30 balls.  Drop into a pot filled with sauce, cover and cook on medium for 90-120 minutes.  For sauce, I used a big 2 lb 13 oz jar of Prego Fresh Mushroom.  

Pasta :  1 lb of penne rigate, cooked according to package instructions.  Mixed with the sauce left in the pot after I removed the meatballs.  

Broccoli :  2 lbs fresh broccoli, coated with olive oil and garlic powder and roasted.  My oven was set to 425, I think it was actually around 475.  The broccoli roasted for 10 minutes. 

I turned the oven setting down to 395 after that to roast something else, and when it dinged to say it was at 395 I checked the thermometer I have in the oven.  It said 450.  A new oven is next on our list of big-purchase items.  As soon as we make time to go pick one out...