"We Tried" - Kaitlin

Yesterday was Sunday dinner! I spent most of Sunday day making pie crusts for the quiche and pizza dough for pizzas we will eat later this week. We made dinner for 11 tonight and had 4 guests - Robbie, Dani, Luke, and Alex. It's great to have guests because as we're learning more about where our food comes from and how to prepare it, it's fun to be able to share knowledge with individuals who are not working with local food everyday.

Tonight's Menu consisted of 3 different kinds of quiche and a delicious salad. Dessert was a little bit of a flop, but we satisfied our sweet teeth with Homeland Creamery Ice cream! Woohoooooo!

Today while making the Quiche crusts, I learned that using lard rather than shortening is better for your health. Although lard usually gets a bad rap, lard consists of fats that your body can break down and use. Shortening like Crisco has a vegetable oil base and has so many partially hydrogenated oil that your body cannot break down the substance - and that's a recipe for clogged arteries! Sooooo, we modified Margie's pie crust recipe and the recipe for pie crust in "The Joy of Cooking" by replacing shortening with lard.

Margie's Recipe (Modified)

1 and 1/4 cup flour (Linley Mills)

1/4 cup lard (Grateful Growers)

1/4 cup butter (Homeland Creamery)

1 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of vodka to 3 tablespoons ice water

Flaky Cream-Cheese Pastry Dough

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (Linley Mills)

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

cut into 1/4 inch pieces and add:

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (Homeland Creamery)

3 ounces cold cream cheese

The "James Wants Bacon Quiche"
Onions (Barbee Farms)
Zucchini (Barbee Farms)
Thyme (Know Your Farms)
Bacon (Grateful Growers)
Ostrich Egg (Bird Brain)
Cream (Homeland Creamery)
Pepper Chevre Log (Goat Lady Dairy)

Christy's "Mexican Quiche"
Sausage (Wild Turkey Farms)
Bell Peppers (Aaron Newton's last year crop)

Pepperjack Cheese (Ashecounty Cheese)

Ostrich Egg (Bird Brain)
Cream (Homeland Creamery)

Margie's "Gudaitis Family Spinach Quiche"

Spinach (Inspired Garden)

Onion (Barbee)

Kale (Know Your Farms)

Ostrich Egg (Bird Brain)

Gouda (Ashecounty Cheese)

The "We Tried" Salad

Romaine lettuce (Know Your Farms)

Red lettuce (Know Your Farms)

Spinach leaves (Inspired Garden)

Carrots (Barbee Farms)

Onions (Barbee Farms)

Broccoli (Know Your Farms)

Zucchini (Barbee Farms)

"Lusty Monk" Dressing

1 part balsamic to three parts extra virgin olive oil mixed with one spoonful Lusty Monk Mustard from Asheville, NC