Sunday, October 11, 2015

Fall preview























Hi there,
It's been a beautiful autumn day. We're finally getting to enjoy the pretty fall mums following many days of rain and clouds. Some leaves are starting to shed when the wind picks up, but it will be later in the month before we see a color change in the trees.









































































I added about six (really long) rows to The Stole, a project I love but didn't work on over the summer. I'm officially at the half-way point and look forward to the four remaining colors. I had forgotten about the soft and luxurious feel of the Isager Strik Alpaca Merino yarn.



















Wednesday I heard (on the news) there was going to be a shortage of canned pumpkin, so I stocked up a bit. Then on Thursday I heard (on the news) that was not the case, and the store shelves would be fine. Oh well, I'm very happy to see those cans in my pantry and decided today would be a good one to whip up a pie. I'm very much a snob when it comes to my pie crust.  I've tried every method there is: all butter, all Crisco, half of each, mixed with the Kitchenaid, etc. After many tweaks and tests, here is the recipe that works best for me:

Tam's Perfect Pie Crust
(Makes 2 single crusts)

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (keep very cold)
1/2 C Crisco shortening
1/2 C ice water, plus additional tsps

Use pastry blender to mix flour, salt, sugar with the butter and Crisco. Drizzle in water to form dough. Halve dough, wrap in plastic, and press into discs.

Chill for at least an hour. Remove from fridge and roll out into crust.

I love this short videoclip from Southern Living for the best method of putting the dough together by hand. That's exactly how I do mine, although I use the butter/Crisco mix.

Recipe from back of the Libby's pumpkin can






































xoxo Tammy 

2 comments:

  1. Pumpkin is by far my favorite kind of pie. Yours looks tasty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. beautiful fall photos, I do hope there is NOT a shortage of anything. Maybe they are trying to drum up business by saying that. Love your mums!!

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