Beef & Lentil Tacos

"Old El Paso" taco shells & seasoning packs are usually what I turn to for a Mexican dinner around here. When I really think about it though, who knows what's in that little magic seasoning pack? Lots of stuff that I probably wouldn't want to sprinkle into a dish I'm making! Ignorance really is bliss, but these beef tacos are so easy, it isn't hard to make them instead.

A couple years ago, I found this recipe in a cookbook I had taken out of the library called, "The Ultimate Slow Cooker Cookbook". Unfortunately, I made this once and then returned the book, not remembering to write down the recipe or even to remember the name of the book. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to find this recipe, realizing what a great dish it was to have for quick weeknight dinners. I finally found it on a quick run into the library, without the kids. It was amazing how many great books I found in the cookbook section, when I had the chance to concentrate on something other than keeping the kids quiet in that unnaturally silent area known as "non-fiction"!

One of the things I love about this dish is the fact that it contains lentils. Come to think of it, when I made it the first time, Gavin kicked up a fuss because I had used what were probably brown lentils and they hadn't lost their shape enough to satisfy his young preferences. This time I used red lentils (which have their skins removed), and they broke down enough that even if you were trying, you wouldn't be able to figure out what the secret ingredient was. The other great thing about this recipe is the use of the crock-pot. I absolutely love the fact that you can put together a meal first thing in the morning, turn it on, and by the time dinner rolls around you can relax a little because the hard part is finished. It makes me think that I need to pull out my crock-pot a lot more as the weather starts to turn cold.

Beef & Lentil Tacos

1 lb. extra lean ground beef, chicken or turkey
2 medium onions, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 carrots, shredded
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/3 c. crushed tomatoes
1 1/3 c. dry lentils
1 c. water
1 T. chili powder
1 T. ground cumin
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, minced (optional)

To Serve:
Soft tortilla shells or Que Pasa tortilla chips to make nachos
Grated old cheddar cheese
Chopped lettuce
Fresh tomatoes, diced
Sour cream
Avocado, sliced

1. Brown the beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Transfer beef to a medium/large crock-pot. Add onions and pepper to the skillet and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the onion mixture to the crock-pot.
2. Stir in the carrots, garlic, tomatoes, lentils, water, chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Make into tacos, nachos, or even serve over brown basmati rice (I love the popcorn smell of brown basmati).

*After the four of us had dinner, I ended up with two litres of taco mixture to freeze for another couple dinners.

Greek Custard Squares

I have wanted to make this recipe for years. The proper name is galatoboureko. I found the recipe in the "Cold Weather Cooking" cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase. In her introduction to this recipe, she calls galatoboureko "a custard cousin to the better known baklava". Who could resist that?!

The recipe calls for a 17x11 inch baking sheet. I got out my ruler to check that I had the proper sized pan. I bought this baking sheet at a restaurant supply store and it is about an inch deep. This must have been the type of pan she used in her recipe because the filling fit in the pan exactly and the phyllo was just the right size. If you don't have this size of pan, I would recommend trying two smaller sized pans - maybe an 11x13 dish with a smaller pan for the rest? Just cut the phyllo dough to fit the pans. Then again, maybe it's worth your while to go and get a 17x11 baking sheet. I just wanted to make you aware of the issue before you get started.

I don't know if you have worked with phyllo dough before, but it is really very simple to use. One of the most important parts is keeping the dough covered with a damp towel. I have lazily tried to skip this many times and the dough starts to dry out immediately, leaving me with cracking and crumbling sheets of phyllo. When I made this recipe, I forgot to make slits in the phyllo before I baked it. This may have been why the phyllo shrank up a little (as you can see in the picture) or maybe it would have done that regardless. The slits in the top are also important for when you spread the sugar syrup on top. My sugar syrup stayed on top of the phyllo, more or less, but it should have soaked down into the dessert, flavouring the custard with the subtleness of lemon and orange.

I would recommend making galatoboureko when you have a crowd to serve. I made them on Sunday, just before Alan was going out of town for the week. Me, an empty house after the kids are in bed, and a huge pan of custard squares staring at me from inside the fridge. Not a good combination. I ended up giving lots of it away before things really got out of hand. I can't wait to make them again, though!

Greek Custard Squares (Galatoboureko)
Sugar Syrup
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
3 T. fresh lemon juice
1 slice orange

Custard
2 litres milk
1 c. sugar
1 cup farina or Cream of Wheat
1/2 c. unsalted butter
Pinch of kosher salt
12 large eggs
2 t. vanilla extract

Phyllo Pastry
1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
1 lb. phyllo dough, thawed

1. Prepare the syrup: Place all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan and boil 10 minutes, skimming off any froth that rises to the surface. Remove and discard the orange slice. Set aside to cool.
2. Prepare the custard: Scald the milk with the sugar in a deep saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. Gradually stir in the Cream of Wheat. Add the butter and salt. Continue cooking and stirring until the butter has melted and mixture is thick and smooth. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.
3. Beat the eggs and vanilla together in a large bowl until light, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cooled Cream of Wheat mixture and blend thoroughly.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. To assemble, brush a 17x11 inch baking pan with a thin coating of the melted butter. Unwrap the phyllo dough, lay it out flat on a clean surface, and cover it with a slightly damp tea towel to keep it from drying out. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough on bottom of the pan and brush it with a coating of melted butter. Continue laying and buttering the dough in the same manner for 8 sheets.
6. Pour in all the custard and spread it evenly. Cover the custard with 8 more layers of buttered phyllo dough. Puncture the top sheets with a sharp knife in several places to allow the custard to breathe during baking.
7. Bake until the custard is set and pastry shakes loose from the pan, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
8. Let cool 30 minutes, then pour the sugar syrup over the pastry. Let cool completely. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature, cut into small diamonds with a sharp knife. Makes about 48 diamonds.

* These really taste much better if they are at room temperature, as opposed to still hot out of the oven!

Homemade Pizza

If you read through the recipes for the pizza sauce, the dough, and then baking off the pizzas, you may start to feel daunted by what seems like a lot of work. Don't let the length of the recipes throw you off. Make the pizza sauce well ahead of time and have it in the fridge or freezer, ready to go any day. For the dough, you only need a couple of hours before dinner to have it ready. If you want to eat at 6, start making it around 4, or earlier if you are more organized than myself!

When it comes to the toppings, the sky's the limit. I let the kids top their own mini pizzas on Friday. Fresh mushrooms, onion, green olives, black forest ham, baby spinach, mozzarella cheese. For the pizza cheese, I love the balls of mozzarella (usually made by Tre Stelle or some brand like that) that I have to grate myself. I find that pre-shredded mozzarella has a weird way of melting. When you grate the mozzarella just before using it, it is absolutely oozing over the pizza when it comes out of the oven.

About the pizza stone; I bought one not too long ago, after borrowing one from my neighbour to make homemade pita bread. It worked like a dream and I decided I must have one, too. When I was finishing the kid's pizzas the other night, all of a sudden there was smoke coming from the oven and the fire alarm started going off. The bottoms of their pizzas were burnt black. I can't really understand why it happened, but if you are going to use a pizza stone, put the pizza on it for a minute and then check it. Another minute, then check it. Don't assume that if I say leave it on for two minutes, it won't burn. The cookbook that I was following said to leave it on for 4 minutes, and if I would have done that, I would still be airing out the house this morning.

The dough and baking directions for the pizza come from a cookbook that I haven't seen around much. "The Cheese Board Collective Works" by the Cheese Board Collective, a group of people running a bakery in Berkeley, California. I have made many pizza doughs over the years and I found this one to be what I was looking for. It could have something to do with baking the pizza at a high temperature, but the pizza ends up with a really nice chewy crust. The pizza sauce came from my friend Elaine. She emailed the recipe to me in 2004 and I happened to keep a hard-copy of it in my recipe file. I spoke to Elaine last week and told her that I was making the pizza sauce and she asked me to send her the recipe back so that she could make it! (she actually had it in one of her cookbooks, "The Best of Better Baking" by Marcy Goldman & Yvan Huneault)

I am officially starting "Pizza Fridays" at our house from now on. If you have any favourite pizza topping combinations, let me know.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

4 oil packed sun-dried tomato halves
1-28 oz. can plum tomatoes or an equal amount of fresh tomatoes
1-12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. sugar
1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper
2 T. fresh basil, minced
2 T. fresh flat leaf parsley

1. In a small bowl, cover the sun-dried tomatoes with boiling water. Let stand for 5 minutes and drain. In a food processor combine the roasted red bell peppers and the sun-dried tomatoes and process until smooth.
2. In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red pepper mixture and all other ingredients. Cook until thick and saucy. Using an immersion hand blender or a food processor, blend the sauce until it is thick and fairly smooth (see picture above). Adjust seasonings to your taste.
3. Let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate for up to two weeks or freeze in 1 c. portions. Or if you're in a canning mood, use 1 c. jelly jars and process as you would for canned tomatoes.

Yeasty Pizza Dough

1 T. active dry yeast
1 1/2 c. warm water (around 110 degrees)
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 t. kosher salt
3 1/2 to 4 c. flour (the recipe calls for bread flour but I used all-purpose)

1. In the bowl of your KitchenAid mixer (or a large bowl if you are going to mix by hand), whisk the yeast into the warm water until dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Add the olive oil, salt and 2 cups of flour to the bowl. Using the paddle attachment on low speed, mix for 5 minutes to form a wet dough. Switch to the dough hook, add 1 1/2 more cups of flour, and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup flour by the tablespoon, as needed to form a soft dough with a nice sheen; it should be a bit sticky but not too wet. (I didn't have to use any of the last 1/2 cup of flour)
3. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large oiled bowl. Turn the dough over to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Or put the dough in the fridge and let it rise overnight; the next day, let it stand at room temperature for 2 hours before proceeding with the recipe.

Baking Your Pizzas

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you have a bread stone, place it in the bottom of the oven. Place one of the oven racks near the top of the oven, and the other rack in the middle. Prepare three baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle each piece of parchment paper with cornmeal.
2. When the dough is ready, divide into three pieces. Form each piece of dough into a round circle of about 10 inches. Proceed with adding your pizza sauce and your favourite toppings.
3. Place one pizza on the middle rack of the oven for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, put the first pizza on the top rack and add the second. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, slide the first pizza onto the baking stone for about 2 minutes (I left mine for 3 or 4 minutes and it was burnt on the bottom. Watch them very carefully!), and at the same time, add the third pizza to the middle rack. After the 2 minutes that the first pizza is on the stone, continue cooking the second and third pizzas in the same manner.
4. Cool pizzas for about 5 minutes once they are out of the oven. They taste so much better if they aren't piping hot and burning the top of your mouth!

The Art of Canning

As long as I can remember, my Mom has canned tomatoes at the end of every summer. This summer she informed us that she wasn't going to do too much canning this year, and that if we wanted our own stash for the winter, we would have to do the canning ourselves. A bit harsh to cut the apron strings like that, but there you go!

Essex County, just south of Detroit, Michigan, is full to the brim with produce this time of year and the perfect spot to buy tomatoes (Leamington is the tomato capital of Canada). I ended up with 2 bushels of Roma tomatoes for $8 each. My Mom loaded up my car with extra jars and lids she happened to have stashed away (barely made a dent, believe me!), and I felt a surge of confidence that, yes, I too could "put up" summer's bounty and enjoy it throughout the year. What a great feeling.

Upon arrival home, the tomatoes were left in boxes in the garage until I was ready to start. By Friday, I was beginning to wonder if there would ever be a perfect day for canning, so I informed Alan that Saturday was for tomatoes, and that was that. I had several conversations with my Mom and my sister about methods, getting started, etc. Saturday morning 7:15am - Mom calls. "How are the tomatoes going?" I just laughed and told her I would get to it soon. She warned me that it would take all day and that I better get moving.

I think it was around 10:30am when I started bringing the jars and the tomatoes into the kitchen. My sister recommended that I put all the jars and in the dishwasher and run it, therefore saving myself the time of washing each jar by hand. I had just started the dishwasher. Scrap that idea, I would wash them the old-fashioned way. Note to self: put them in the dishwasher next time. My hands were red and raw before I even began any of the important stuff! Next step was washing the tomatoes. It was at this point I realized that my kitchen could not possibly hold all of the tomatoes at one time. This was really turning into a production. Next coring and then scoring the opposite end so that the skins would come off easily after their blanching in boiling water. It was around this time that Alan asked if I would be able to cut the grass while he and the kids were out running errands. Oh Alan...


A phone call to Lori revealed that the big pasta pot I had borrowed from my neighbour was not going to cut it. I was going to cold-pack the tomatoes in their jars and then process the full jars in vigorously boiling water for 15 minutes. Turns out, canning pots have a wire rack thing inside of them which keeps the jars from having direct contact with the bottom of the pot most of the time. It was Lori's prediction that if I used this ordinary pot, the heat would break the jars. I tore my apron off and ran out the door, finding exactly what I needed at our local Home Hardware. I also picked up a 5-piece canning utensil set (I wonder how I would have gotten the jars out of the boiling water safely if I hadn't bought the utensil set??).

Back in the kitchen, things were humming along. I started blanching the tomatoes, shocking them in cold water, and peeling the skins off. I had decided that I would dice my tomatoes as opposed to leaving them whole. Lori used a European Tomato Press that makes a lovely sauce, just like in the old country, I bet. I bought it for my Mom several years ago and it had never been out of the box. Right after my Mom cut us loose, Lori declared that she would like to take the press home and use it for her tomatoes. I really think it should have been my call, since I bought it in the first place, but Lori insisted.

My first batch was in but I had put 4 large jars in the pot and they still weren't covered with water. Maybe they weren't supposed to be? I called Lori again. She told me they had to be covered with boiling water and that it would probably be very close to the top of the pot. She wasn't kidding. It was around this point that I called Lori's house for something else. Her husband Jake answered and he said Lori was feeding Hugh, could he help with something? "Oh, not really... Are you sure she doesn't have a free hand?" Jake's comment was something about us sisters being like magnets; you could try to keep us apart but it was very difficult! After that phone call, I noticed that every time I tried to call their house, the message centre would pick up on the first ring. I think Jake did something to the phone to stop the insanity! I should have known he was reaching his limit when he answered the phone, "Bernardin Hotline. How may I help you?"

The second batch went in and after a while I lifted the lid to see how the boil was coming along. There were tomatoes floating in the water. I had a hard time comprehending this development as the tops of the jars looked perfectly fine. I lifted the jars out of the water and found that two large jars had the bottoms broken right off. Not a good sign. What had I done wrong? It was fruitless calling Lori's house, so I called my Mom. She was in the middle of a Scrabble game with my Dad and our neighbour, Auntie Carol, a super-canner herself. I explained what had happened and my Mom said very matter-of-factly, "It's probably because those jars are old." Well, thanks for giving me your old jars, Mom! "Here, talk to Auntie Carol." she says. I explained what was happening and Auntie Carol tells me, "That's why I don't cold-pack my tomatoes anymore. You lose too many in the process." In the background I hear, "Yeah, me too." from my Mom. Turns out, Mom and Auntie Carol cook their tomatoes first and then fill very hot, sterilized jars. Seems much easier than all this rolling boil stuff, but I had gone with the method that Lori had recommended and she was no longer available for comment!

I continued on, using more of the smaller jars. As I worked, I would hear the occasional "pop" sound come from the jars. That popping sound is like music to a canner's ears. Each time, I would raise my eyes heavenward and smile. Now, time was flying and it was getting to be dinner-time. I hoped no one would notice that it was past 7 o'clock and we hadn't eaten yet. Finally, Alan & the kids pulled rank. I was barely finished, and certainly not cleaned up, and they were waiting in the car. We headed over to our local pub for a well-deserved beer and dinner.


It is now Sunday morning and the dishes are still not washed. I have a large bowl of tomatoes I need to turn into something today - maybe pizza sauce. I am happy with the results of my first try at canning. I'm pretty sure that all of the jars sealed and now I just need to find a place to store these little works of art. I have learned why my Mom loves canning, and I now understand that when she gives someone a jar or two of her canning (be it jam, tomato sauce, relish, etc.), it is her way of saying that she cares about you. With that said, don't be offended if I don't push a jar of tomatoes into your hand the next time we meet - I'm feeling more than a little attached to my tomatoes at the moment!


*What I put into each jar along with the tomatoes: 1/4 t. cider vinegar, 1/2-1 t. kosher salt, 1-3 basil leaves. For more detailed instructions, contact me directly!

A Few Extra Tidbits...

The Harrow Fair 2008 blog entry seems to have left people with questions that I didn't think to answer before.

There were a few entries that I forgot to mention last time. Lori (who brought it to my attention!) won a third for her Johnny Cake (cornbread). I have also had a request to show the prize-winning photos. The 2nd place Winter Shenanigans is above, and the Honourable Mention Transportation photo is below (did I mention that Alan took both the photos?).


For Lori's Bacon Three Ways entry, she used baked beans with bacon, a delicious potato salad with double smoked bacon, and cornbread with double smoked bacon. She served a ramekin of each on a plate. If she were doing it again, she would label each ramekin with the proper names. The three bacon dishes weren't actually tasted by the judges, they were judged on appearance and probably thoughtfulness. This category was a special one to go along with the theme "Hog Wild", and I doubt it will be in again next year.

Speaking of themes, next year's Harrow Fair will have the theme "Flower Power". I bet they will have some new categories for food with flowers in it. Earlier this summer on a trip down to my sister's, I tried a rose petal angel food cake, made by the wife of the chef of "On the Twenty" (the restaurant attached to the Cave Springs Winery, and also where we had our wedding reception). She had said that her roses were going crazy this year and she was trying to find different things to do with them. The flavour in that angel food cake was subtle but automatically you knew it was roses. And the pink flecks throughout the cake were beautiful. That would be an excellent entry for next year!

This weekend is the Lincoln County Fair down in Beamsville (Niagara). Lori decided she would enter a few things, one of them being the angel food cake category, which had a top prize of $85. Tuesday afternoon, Lori & my gorgeous nephew Hugh arrived, partially to babysit my kids while I was out teaching a knitting class, and partially for me to help with the baking for the Beamsville Fair.

We decided that she should enter the deviled egg category, along with an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, sticky buns, and the angel food cake. There are some things about eggs that I have learned in the last little while. Really fresh eggs don't peel nicely. For deviled eggs, the eggs should be at least a couple weeks old, if not more. Since I get my eggs right from the source, I rarely have eggs that are suitable. However, I used what I thought were the oldest eggs in the fridge and I did end up with a few perfectly peeled eggs. I followed Bonnie Stern's recipe for "Old-fashioned Deviled Eggs" and they would have been really good if I hadn't added the 1 teaspoon of salt that it called for in the recipe. They were way too salty and then we had to try and doctor them up, even boiling more eggs so that we could add more yolks. Lori said she didn't care for the fresh tarragon that I added either. Maybe next time I would just add fresh chives.

On Tuesday night, I looked through a bunch of my cookbooks for a suitable recipe for angel food cake. Lori suggested we use the Canadian Living recipe, which sounded good as they often have all the standards. That first cake was overdone, unfortunately, and we agreed that I should try again. For the second one, I used Bonnie Stern's recipe from her "Essentials of Home Cooking" cookbook. It was better, but neither of them had the really light texture (that you can probably get with a box of angel food cake mix). Turns out, some recipes call for superfine sugar, and the 1st prize winner's recipe showed that she used superfine sugar. I should have run the regular white sugar through the food processor and I probably would have had a lighter cake.

After making both the apple and pumpkin pies in my own pie plates, Lori read the rule book and said that they needed to be in disposable aluminum pie plates. Thanks for reading the directions ahead of time, Lori... However, a variety of my friends and neighbours didn't mind in the least! I quickly whipped up some more pie dough and Lori went home and baked another apple pie.

For the sticky buns, I assured Lori that I still had a log of the frozen buns that took 1st place in Harrow. When she actually forced me to check the freezer, I realized I had left them in the freezer at my parent's house. Luckily, I had a small dish of three apple cinnamon twists that hadn't fit in the other pans. I pulled the buns out of the freezer and in the morning they were ready to bake off. Lori called yesterday to let me know that the apple cinnamon twists took 1st place in the sticky bun category! If you haven't made these yet, check them out on the blog (April '08). They are really very easy and they are a great way to "make friends and influence others"!

This might be it till next year on the country fair front. I hope that you have maybe been inspired to enter a local fair or at least attend and check out all the wonderful things they have to offer. We will be making our annual visit to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, coming up this fall. I wonder if they have baking contests? Hmmmm...

Harrow Fair 2008

What a week we had down in Harrow! The kids and I arrived in Harrow on Sunday. All of our fair entries had to be submitted anywhere from 9am to 9pm on Wednesday. Thursday morning the judging began and by Thursday afternoon, we were able to check out the results. At 6pm on Thursday, the pie auction was held on the main stage. Read on for more details!

1st place - Orange Pound Cake (entered under Any Other Variety (AOV) quick bread)
No dice - Pumpkin bread

This category gave me some troubles. I figured I would make the loaves ahead of time and freeze them. At first I was going to use a banana, coconut, and maraschino cherry recipe from a cookbook that my friend Elaine worked on in NFLD. I have made it many times before and it is really good (yes, I do know about that red dye they use in the cherries but for this loaf, I make an exception). Not so good the day I made it for the fair, though. Too dark on the outside, sunken in the centre. By Tuesday, I decided that I wouldn't risk losing more time. I decided to make the Orange Pound Cake from the "Barefoot Contessa's Family Style Cookbook" which I hadn't made before but trusted Ina not to lead me wrong. For the pumpkin bread I used Anna Olson's Sugar cookbook, I recipe I have made several times. Unfortunately, I forgot that it makes enough for two regular loaves or one big one (the recipe says it makes one loaf). I put all of the batter into a regular loaf pan and it wasn't too long before I could smell something burning. The pumpkin bread was oozing over the sides of the pan and most definitely was not fair-worthy. The next batch was fine, but not good enough for a ribbon. This might be a good time to mention that the smoke alarm only went off twice while we were there!

There were a few items that we could do ahead of time, but the majority of items were better fresh. On Tuesday morning my Dad decided that he would make his items. Barbecue sauce for pork and oatmeal raisin cookies - both in the "Men's Only" section. I won't give you all the details of that horse & pony show, but let me share a couple highlights. At one point, Dad asks me where the brown sugar is. I didn't know and he quickly tried to give up the hunt. "Can I substitute corn syrup for brown sugar?" he asked. Um, NO! A quick phone call to my Mom and he was back in business. The first batch comes out of the oven. They are very thin and have all run together, as you can see from the picture above. I wasn't paying too much attention as I was already starting to work on my own recipes. The next batch, same thing. He calls Auntie Carol from next door. She soon walks through the door and says, "Did you forget the flour?" My Dad used the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe that you can find on the internet. Of course, he added his own touches and in the end he had some really good cookies.


1st place - Chocolate Layer Cake (iced)
1st place - Best Chocolate Dessert

I was thrilled with these results! The recipe I used for the cake can be found here on the blog (Sept. '07) and in the "Barefoot Contessa At Home" cookbook. It was getting pretty late on Tuesday night when I started making the cake. Luckily, I licked the spatula just before putting the cakes into the oven. I hadn't put any sugar into the batter. I quickly added the required amount of sugar, swirling it around gently, and popped them in the oven. When I took them out of the oven, I wasn't quite sure that they were finished. They seemed a little too underdone. This actually worked out because, in the end, the cakes were seriously moist.

I wonder if you might remember when I blogged about the Fair last year (Sept. '07)? My Uncle John, from Vancouver, was very vocal about the fact that his better half, Toni, made a pumpkin pie that would beat mine any day. I kept telling him to put his money where his mouth was and enter the Fair, putting the issue to rest with concrete results. Well, Uncle John just happened to be in town for a few weeks and was able to enter! Not only did he enter the pumpkin pie, he also made a Key Lime pie. Both pies had to go into the AOV category. I don't know if it's really fair to be judging banana cream pies against pumpkin and key lime or not (it certainly wouldn't be easy). Uncle John ended up with an Honourable Mention for both of his pies, which is pretty incredible considering that these were the first pies he had ever made! My Dad said that he didn't even have a beer after their golf game because he needed to go home and bake the pies. Now that is dedicated! Uncle John mentioned that he had a secret ingredient for his pumpkin pie. Toni had instructed him to cut out the words "Hog Wild" (the theme for this year's Fair) and also a little piggy. We've now realized that the judges love to see references to the theme, and Uncle John could very well have beat me in this category (if his pie would have been better, ha!). But seriously, I was really impressed by the fact that he entered the pies and they were recognized by the judges. Did I mention that he also entered the "Rooster Crowing Contest"? He does a darn good crow, but he didn't fluff up his pretend feathers and flap his wings (like the winner did)!


Peach Pie (entered in Peach Pie category) - Better luck next time.
Peach Pie (entered in the Pie Auction category, vying for the Best in Show) - Same.
3rd place - Pumpkin Pie (entered in the AOV category)

The Pie Auction at the Harrow fair is a lot of fun, especially if you have a pie that is being auctioned off. I had one peach pie go for $85 and another for $45. There were just under 120 pies to be auctioned off for charity and they raised over $11,000. The biggest winner of the fair had a pie auctioned off at $2400! I'd love to pick her brain!

I thought all of our pies turned out pretty well. I don't think any of our pies (of which Lori & I entered 5 pies plus 3 extra pie shells for judging) received any notes from the judges for anything gone wrong. By the time Wednesday afternoon rolled around and we were trying to finish up, I didn't have a clue whose pie dough I was even using. It was a real marathon (my cupcake knee has been acting up ever since!)


1st place - Sticky Buns (used the recipe for Pecan Sticky Buns from "Baking with Julia") picture above
3rd place - Sticky Buns (used the Apple Cinnamon Twist recipe from the blog - April '08)

The two recipes of sticky buns were made ahead of time. The Pecan Sticky Buns take some work but the results are out of this world. You start out by making a brioche dough, a very rich, buttery bread dough. Add more butter, sugar, cinnamon, and pecans and voila! They are rolled and sliced, creating the perfect looking bun. These buns also won "Best Sticky Bun in Show" and I received a Mazola & Beehive apron and some other promotional materials from those companies. Just for the record, neither of the buns contained any Mazola or Beehive honey, which might mean that I wasn't eligible for that apron, but I'm going to assume that the judges know what they are doing!
The Apple Cinnamon Twists were my old standby in the sticky bun department. They were delicious and I was able to deliver a hot plate of the buns to Al as well (who has always loved them) three doors down (to read about Al and the buns, see the blog - May '08)


The cookies that we entered this year didn't do so well. I made Gingersnaps from the "Great Cookies" cookbook by Carole Walter. I should have realized that they weren't an exact gingersnap by the introduction in the book that said they were a little unusual. These cookies didn't have any molasses in them and the traditional gingersnap does. The judges let me know by writing a note on my entry tag. "Gingersnaps are a thin molasses cookie." My friend Kristin's oatmeal raisin cookies looked great to me, but not according to the judges (overdone). Lori's oatmeal raisin cookies didn't have a comment but they weren't ribbon winners either. The oatmeal raisin cookie category was tough and there were a lot of entries, probably because most people think they can bake a pretty good one. My Dad got a little note from the judges for the jar he used to hand in his barbecue sauce ("improper container"). There was nothing saying what container it should be in, but apparently Mason jars are the norm and he used an old horseradish jar.


Some other ribbons that were taken home by our family and friends...

1st place - Rhubarb Pie (my sister, Lori)
3rd place - Bacon Served Three Ways (Lori)
1st place - Crabapple Jelly (my Mom)
2nd place - Pencil Sketch 5-6 year olds (Gavin)
3rd place - Design your own Bookmark (Gavin)
Participant ribbon - Ellen (her proudest entry was the macaroni pig, painted)
3rd place - knitted poncho, cape or shawl (Moira)
1st place - Counted cross-stitch article, not mounted in frame (Moira - Ellen's Christmas Stocking)
2nd place - Winter Shenanigans photo (Alan)
Honourable Mention - Transportation photo (Alan)
1st place - Ice Cream cone Christmas Tree (our friend Andrew, age 4)

Items that we entered that I haven't mentioned were as follows...

3 empty pie shells (two by me, one by Lori)
2 peach pies (Moira)
banana muffins (Moira)
banana snack cake (Lori)
biscuits (Lori)
oatmeal raisin cookies (our friend & Andrew's Mom)
banana blueberry cake - Best Dairy Dessert category (Aunt Evie, Kristin's Mom)
zucchini loaf (Aunt Evie)
strawberry freezer jam (Lori)
tomato sauce (my Mom)

Over the last couple months, Lori & I have deliberated over what the judges would be looking for. A lot of times, our favourite recipes have a special addition of this or that, and therefore stray from the original recipe. This is not the sort of thing the judges want to see. They want the quintessential recipe, not a modern rendition with something like "craisins" in it. We learned a lot this summer and we are definitely looking forward to next year! As a matter of fact, I have been baking again this week, helping Lori with a few things to enter at the Lincoln County Fair, in Niagara. As I said to my Dad last week, "Some people really take this stuff seriously." He sort of rolled his eyes and said, "You don't say..."