Cherry Pie recipe

In spite of the fact that I’ve only made it about twice in my life, cherry pie is one of my favorite pies. the juicy sweetness of the cherries, combined with the deliciously flaky and buttery crust, makes it the perfect summer dessert. My Mom and I are the only people in the house who eat it, so I don’t make it often. I usually make cherry pie on the 4th.

HOW DO I PIT CHERRIES?

A cherry pitter is the best choice, but I don’t have one, so I actually used a 1/4 tsp. to pit my cherries. It took a while, but not as long as I expected. Using a cherry pitter is easier and less messy, but their are several other ways to do it if you don’t have one.

The cherry filling is made with cornstarch, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extract. You can use sweet or sour cherries, but I prefer sweet. If you use sour cherries, you’ll have to add more sugar. I added the cornstarch last so I could taste the filling and add more sugar if needed.

Refrigerate the filling while you make the pie crust.

When the crust was ready I Dotted the filling with pieces of butter and lay the crust on top. I brushed the top of the crust with milk, sprinkled it with sugar, and then baked the pie in a 375 degree oven for about an hour.

Link to the original recipe here:

Homemade Cherry Pie (With Thick Filling)

Fried Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup water
3 cups Italian bread crumbs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cornstarch
oil for frying
2 (16 oz.) packages mozzarella cheese sticks, cut in half lengthwise

1. In a small bowl, mix the eggs and water.
2. Place the bread crumbs in a medium bowl. In a medium bowl, blend the flour and cornstarch.
3. In a large saucepan or deep fryer heat the oil to 365 to 400 F.
4. While the oil is heating, chill cheese sticks in the freezer for about 8-10 minutes. This is so the cheese sticks won’t melt.
5. One at time, coat each mozzarella stick in the flour mixture, then in the egg mixture, then in the bread crumbs and finally into the oil.
6. Fry until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Drain on paper towels and serve with marinara sauce.

 

Fried Onion Rings

These delicious onion rings are perfect to serve at a party.

2 large onions, cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
21/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk, or as needed
11/2 cups dry bread crumbs
oil for frying

1. Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 365 to 400 F.
2. separate the onion slices into rings, and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are all coated. Set aside. Whisk in the eggs and enough milk to make a slightly thick batter. Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat, then place on a wire rack to drain until the batter stops dripping. The wire rack may be placed over a piece of foil for easier clean up.
4. Spread the bread crumbs out on a plate or shallow dish. Place rings one at a time into the crumbs, and scoop the crumbs over the ring to coat. Give it a hard tap as you remove it from the crumbs. The coating should cling very well. Repeat with remaining rings.
5. Deep fry the rings a few at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve.

Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

We recently found this recipe for a chocolate pecan skillet cookie. We’ve had it a couple of times already, and we made it for dessert last Sunday. We left out the pecans though.

We’ve also made mini skillet cookies. We used small skillets that we found at Rose’s. They taste just as good, but a regular skillet cookie is quicker, depending on how many you make and the size of your oven.

I made a cookie cake for mother’s day last year, but it was a little overcooked, because I’d never done it before. And I used store bought cookie dough instead of a recipe. This skillet cookie however, is completely different. This is one the best (and one of the richest) desserts you will ever have, guaranteed!

This cookie is delicious with some hot chocolate fudge, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Creamy herb chicken, green beans and carrots and keto rolls

Since we’re homeschooled, my family is used to being at home, so we haven’t been inclined to eat sweets any more than usual. In fact we’ve been careful to mostly eat low carb foods. (we were supposed to go completely keto, but that didn’t work out for some reason).

So we were very pleased when Mom found a recipe for keto rolls. It’s basically a cheesy bread made with almond flour. And not only is it delicious, but there are only 4 carbs in each roll.

What’s funny is that when I made them I forgot to put in the eggs and they still came out great! The eggs simply add protein and texture and aren’t needed for binding. So if you want texture, by all means add the eggs. But we like them without.

We also found a recipe for creamy herb chicken. I wasn’t sure I would like it at first, but I needn’t have worried. This is one of the best ways to eat chicken. It’s filling and satisfying, and very easy to make. I made a few tweaks to the recipe, so I’ll post my version soon.

We got our recipe for green beans and carrots from an aunt. we simply melt some butter in a large saucepan or skillet, saute some minced garlic, and then toss the carrots and green beans with the garlic and butter. Then we bake it in the oven. We always make sure to use a lot of garlic. As my mom always says, “The more garlic the better.”

This makes an excellent low carb but very satisfying dinner. These rolls would also make an excellent accompaniment to pizza.

Strawberry and Pineapple Punch Bowl Cake

punch bowl cake is one of my top favorite summer desserts. It’s perfect for a party or any other special occasion.

I don’t make punch bowl cake very often, because My brother and I are the only ones in the family who like it. (And my brother doesn’t eat the fruit). But I love the soft, creamy texture from the pudding and cream and the slight crunch from the fruit. I invented this recipe based off of one I got from a friend and a strawberry punch bowl cake recipe I found.

I like to use sliced pineapple, but you can substitute pineapple chunks or crushed pineapple if you wish.

I use angel food cake for this recipe. I always make mine homemade, but you can certainly use a cake mix, or you can use a regular white or yellow cake mix (or even chocolate) if you prefer.

When the cake is cooled, crumble it into small but still fairly large  pieces and layer the bottom of the bowl with half. layer one side with half of the strawberries and the other half with pineapple.

Prepare 1 package of vanilla pudding according to directions and pour over the fruit and cake. Layer half a container of cool whip over the pudding. Repeat with second layer.

Chill for at least a few hours or overnight. I like to reserve one slice of the pineapple to put on top.

Serve cold.

 

 

Cinnamon Scones

These delicious scones make a perfect breakfast, either by themselves or as a side dish. You can eat them plain or spread them with jam or butter.

 

 

Aside from the fact that we can’t go anywhere except to the store, being quarantined hasn’t really affected my family much. We took spring break last week, and it was just in time too, because on Friday the weather suddenly turned cold again. My siblings and I are homeschooled, so Mom always schedules spring break whenever the weather turns warm.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN SCONES?

Technically, American scones aren’t real scones. Real scones aren’t very sweet because there almost always meant to be served with cream and jam. And while British scones resemble biscuits, American scones are cut into triangles and sometimes have a glaze drizzled over them.

 

These cinnamon scones are based off of a recipe I found in my Narnia cookbook. When I made them the first time, I felt that there was something missing.  I didn’t know anything about scones back then, so I had to do a lot of research before I found out that scones usually have baking powder in them.
I also learned that one of the reasons why my scones didn’t taste right was because I didn’t use vanilla extract. So I added 1 ½ tbsp. baking powder, 2 tsp. vanilla and some extra cinnamon. I also reduced the butter in the recipe to ½ cup. A whole cup made the scones crumble to easily.

 

Scones are usually made with cream instead of milk. There are substitutions, but I recommend using cream for best results.

 

 

Pat or roll the dough out on a floured surface until it is about 13 inches by 4 ½ inches.

 

Cut into 12 triangular wedges and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

 

 

Bake for 12-14 minutes until light golden. Rotate halfway through baking time. Cool on wire rack.

 

 

 

 

Fried Pork Chops

My pork chop recipe calls for bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, but we didn’t have any, so these were breaded with flour.

I didn’t make them though, My brother did. Usually I make dinner, but mom decided it was time my brother learned how to cook.

He did a really good job too. In fact, he did it so well that when My older brother Alex tasted them, he declared that Samuel should make them from now on. I was somewhat indignant, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Mainly because I’m so territorial over the kitchen.

We don’t have a particular list of seasonings that we use when frying pork. It usually depends on what we’re making. I always double dip the pork chops, but mom told Samuel not to so there would be less carbs.

Click here for my Parmesan pork chops recipe.

Oven Fried Chicken and Bread Rolls

I remember how fun it was watching my mom fry chicken when I was little, and how I was afraid of the popping oil when she first taught me to cook when I was nine. Now I’m sixteen (I’ll be seventeen in July), and I’ve been officially cooking for my family since I was thirteen.

I’ve always loved my Mom’s chicken, but as I got older and started creating my own recipes, I started looking for ways to make it better.

Then recently we started buying boxes of hot sauce from the store or from online. My Dad loves hot sauce so much that my Mom even bought him a collection of hot sauces for Christmas.
Even though it technically belongs to Dad, I use his hot sauce a lot when I’m frying food. Chicken is no exception. My sister cooks also, though she doesn’t like it as much as I do. It was her idea to mix hot sauce into the egg wash for the chicken, and to use Cajun Seasoning in the flour mixture along with the other seasonings that I use. (We always get it from Walmart). It doesn’t matter what kind of hot sauce you use. My favorite is Garlic Habanero.

I also found this easy recipe for no knead bread rolls.  I’m not gonna lie, my rolls didn’t turn out the same way at all because when I started measuring out the flour I remembered almost at the last minute that I didn’t have enough flour to double the recipe and fry the chicken also. Unfortunately I had already put the sugar in the flour. I managed  to salvage most of it, but I ended up having to add more sugar because I couldn’t help taking some out with the flour; and Mom had to go out and get more.  I also have a tendency to let bread rise a lot when I’m busy, so they turned out to be very big. But that’s not a problem in my family. There are six of us, and my sister loves bread. And of course my two brothers are, well – boys. My younger brother will eat just about anything that’s not a vegetable. Especially if it’s something like bread.

Since I had to add more sugar to the flour,  my rolls where sweeter. The original recipe doesn’t make the rolls sweet. If you want a sweet roll, I would use about 1/3 cup sugar instead of a 1/4 cup.

When I fry my chicken, I always coat them in the egg and flour mixture twice to make them extra crispy.  While the chicken was frying I greased a large baking sheet with canola oil spray and preheated the oven to 400 F.

I baked the chicken for 17 minutes on each side. The drumsticks that I had weren’t very big, but you might have to cook yours longer if the pieces are really fat.

I also made some green beans and rice and gravy. Brown rice is a lot healthier than white rice; and once you get used to it actually tastes a lot better and has a delicious, nutty flavor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fried Fish

vegetable oil for frying
7 cod fillets
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. salt
11/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
approx. 11/2 cups Dr. Pepper

1. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 365-400 degrees F. Rinse fish, pat dry, and cut in half lengthwise. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Combine flour, garlic powder, paprika, 2 tsp. salt, and 11/2 tsp. pepper. Whisk egg into dry ingredients. Gradually mix in Dr. Pepper until a thin batter is formed. You should be able to see the fish through the batter after it has been dipped.
3. Dip fish fillets into the batter, shaking off the excess, then drop one at a time into hot oil. Fry fish, turning once, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels, and serve warm.