Books, Tea, and the Trinity: Savory Meat Hand Pies

So every Wednesday, starting in October, I have been a part of a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club on The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. This is different from my book club and the Book Club Picks I have been reviewing (and desperately need to catch up on). This week we had Cinnamon Bun Scones, Curry Egg Salad Triple Stack Sandwiches, Savory Beef Hand Pies, Cranberry Feta Pinwheels, and Melt-in-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies.

I though it would be able to post these faster, but I have really fallen behind. I’m trying to catch up though!

So my friend had made some meat pies a few weeks earlier and they were amazing! I begged and begged her for the recipe but she couldn’t give it to me as she didn’t really have a recipe. She just kind of throws things together.

So I instead went searching online and found a site called Longbourn Farm, and I was like “Longbourn”? Do you mean this Longbourn?

Pride and Prejudice’s Longbourn?

So of course I went with it. I ended up using my pie crust recipe from my apple pie recipe.

Ingredients: Pie Crust

• 2 Cups of All-Purpose flour
• 1 Teaspoon of Salt
• 3/4 Cup of Shortening
• Ice Water

Filling:

• 1.5 lbs of Ground Beef
• 1 Cup of Chopped Onion
• 3/4 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Pepper
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Thyme
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Oregano
• 1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
• 1 Cup of Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon of Water

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix up the shortening and flour. Add in water, a tablespoon at a time until dough is more malleable. If you add too much and it is too liquid-y, then just add a bit more flour to firm it up.
2. Put dough aside.
3. In a medium frying pan on medium heat, add ground beef and spices.
4. When ground beef is brown, about 8 mins, add onion.
5. Cook until the Ground Beef is completely cooked through and the onoions are translucent.
6. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
7. Roll out pie dough and cut circles out of the pie crust, they should be about 4-6 inches in diameter. You can use a large cookie cutter or biscuit cutter or just trace a drinking glass if you don’t have a cutter.
8. Divide the Ground Beef and cheese up evenly between the circles.
9. Fold the circles in half and press the edges together gently. Crimp them firmly with a fork.
10. Whisk the egg and water together.
11. Brush the egg-water mixture onto each beef hand pie.
12. Place the beef hand pies on a lined or greased sheet tray.
13. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

So these weren’t as good as my friend’s hand pies, but they were extremely delicious.

I did run out of pie dough though, and ended up having to buy more (I just bought the premade frozen ones).

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Cinnamon Bun Scones

For more recipes, go to Easy Fruit Tarts

For more pie recipes, go to Mini Apple Pies

For more tea posts, go to Brisket and Slaw Roulades

Heirloom Tomato Tart

Do you like pie? I love pie!

LOL j/k

So when I saw this recipe on Tea Time Magazine‘s instagram I pinned it with plans to make later.

Back in October, @SpilltheTeaWithLucy did a 31 Day Tea Challenge and Day 17/31 of 31 Days of Hallotean was an Autumn Tea Bake. Since I had just baked some sweets prior to this with The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club/Bible Study, I decided to make something savory instead. This is my take on Tea Time Magazine’s Heirloom Tomato Tart (I had to substitute a few ingredients) and since tomatoes are red I decided to pair it with Cederberg Tea Co.‘s Classic Red Tea. I also had to use a pink and red mug to match. This cat mug was a gift from a friend Christmas 2019 and part of a 4 set of cat mugs.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 Heirloom Tomatoes
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1/2 Package of Refrigerated Pie Dough (I used Phyllo dough I had bought to make the Fotina Flower Puffed Pastry as the store was out of puffed pastry, but my sister had bought me some so this was all leftover)
• 1.5 Cups of Coarsely Grated, Sharp Yellow Cheddar Cheese (I used leftover Fotina Cheese from Fotina Flower Puffed Pastry)
• 1/2 Cup of Mayonnaise (I substituted with Hummus)
• 2 Tablespoons of Chopped Fresh Flat-Leaf Parsley
• 1 Tablespoon of Green Onion
• 1/4 Teaespoon of Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon of Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Teaspoon of Olive Oil
• Garnish with pepper and additional fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Slice tomatoes, cutting larger tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices and smaller ones into 1/8 inch slices.
3. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer on paper towels, sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 30 mins.
4. Unroll pie dough, and press into a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom, trimming and discarding extra dough.
5. In a medium bowl, combine cheese, mayonnaise, parsley, green onion, and pepper-stirring to blend.
6. Spread half the cheese mixture into the bottom of the pan, in a thin even layer.
7. Blot tomatoes dry with paper towels.
8. Place a large tomato slice in the center of pan on top of the cheese mixture.
9. Cut several tomato slices in half and arrange around the center slice. Fill every space.
10. Spread remaining cheese mixture in an even layer on top of the tomatoes.
11. Apply thinner tomatoes on top of cheese mixture in a pleasing pattern.
12. Sprinkle with vinegar and drizzle with olive oil.
13. Bake until crust is deep golden brown and cheese mixture is hot and beginning to bubble.
14. Remove from oven and let cool, before removing from pan.
15. Garnish with pepper and parsley if desired.
16. Serve at room temp within 3 hours of baking.

 

This was delicious, it was like eating a fancy tea pizza, and you all know how much I love pizza.

It was incredibly delicious and I would most definitely make it again.

For more recipes, go to Lemon Gingerbread Cake

For more Tea Time Magazine recipes, go to Fotina Flower Puffed Pastry

For more pie recipes, go to Mini Apple Pies

For more on pizza, go to My Week With Jane

For more tea posts, go to Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches

The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club: Mini Apple Pies

So every Wednesday, starting in October, I have been a part of a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club on The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. This is different from my book club and the Book Club Picks I have been reviewing (and desperately need to catch up on). The first week we had Cederberg Tea Company Rooibos + Ginger Tea, Cranberry-Spice Scones with Maple Cream, Cucumber-Four Peppercorn Goat Cheese Canapés, Ham and Cheese Tea Sandwiches, Fotina & Pork Puffed Pastry, and Mini Apple Pies.

I have been posting the recipes from the first meeting, but am ending on the last thing we had during that session: Mini Apple Pies

Today’s recipe is one that I’ve shared before, but made mini. It an easy recipe and a delicious one. After all, who can resist pie?

Ingredients:

Pie Crust

• Pre-made Pie Dough

Filling:

• 1/2 Cup – 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
• 6-7 Granny Smith Apples peeled, and cut into slices
• 1 Cup of White Sugar
• 1 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons of Butter

Directions:

1. Peel and slice the apples. When cutting up the apples, make sure to remove the hard pieces where the seed grows along with any spots or blemishes.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°
3. Combine the apples, with the brown and white sugar.
4. Add the flour and cinnamon, mixing them all together.
5. Roll out the dough and using a cookie cutter or small bowl, cut round circles out-large enough to fill a cupcake/muffin pan.
6. Lay the apples down on the dough in the pan.
7. Chop the two tablespoons of butter and put a little in each mini pie.
8. Place the second ball of dough down and roll it out into a large circle, cutting it to create a lattice top.
9. Add a dash of cinnamon and sugar on top.
10. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

These were delicious and a great final piece to our tea time. After all, as Mr. Woodhouse says:

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Fotina & Pork Puffed Pastry

For more recipes, go to Tea Time Magazine’s Ham and Cheese Tea Sandwiches

For more apple pie, go to Are Dean Winchester and Jane Austen Kindred Spirits?

For more desserts, go to The Picture of Earl Grey Tea Cookies

For more tea posts, Cucumber-Four Peppercorn Goat Cheese Canapés

Are Dean Winchester and Jane Austen Kindred Spirits?

We all know how Dean Winchester feels about pie:

Did you know that Jane Austen felt the same way?

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving Day and enjoy yourself some pie!

And in case you need it, here is a fantastic pie recipe from my sister blog MysteriousEats.wordpress.com

Ingredients:

Pie Crust

• 2 Cups of All-Purpose flour
• 1 Teaspoon of Salt
• 3/4 Cup of Shortening
• Ice Water

Filling:

• 1/2 Cup – 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
• 6-7 Granny Smith Apples peeled, and cut into slices
• 1 Cup of White Sugar
• 1 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons of Butter

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix up the shortening and flour. Add in water, a tablespoon at a time until dough is more malleable. If you add too much and it is too liquid-y, then just add a bit more flour to firm it up.
2. Put dough aside.
3. When cutting up the apples, make sure to remove the hard pieces where the seed grows along with any spots or blemishes.
4. Preheat the oven to 375°
5. Combine the apples, with the brown and white sugar.
6. Add the flour and cinnamon, mixing them all together.
7. Divid the dough in half and roll into two balls.
8. Take a cutting board and put a little flour on the surface, rubbing it. Rub flour on your rolling pin as well.
9. Place the dough down and roll it into a large circle.
10. Place the dough in a cake pan.
11. Lay the apples down on the dough in the pan.
12. Put the two tablespoons of butter on top.
13. Repeat step 8.
14. Place the second ball of dough down and roll it out into a large circle.
15. Place it on top, to be the top of your pie.
16. Cut a small incision on the top of the pie to allow steam out.
17. Add a dash of cinnamon and sugar on top.
18. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

For more recipes, go to Baked Potato Soup

For more on Thanksgiving, go to Is Love at the Thanksgiving Parade Really Just Pride & Prejudice?

For more on Dean Winchester, go to Loving Me Some Dean

For more Jane Austen quotes, go to A Real Non-Party Animal

For more on pie, go to I Before E, Especially After P

For more holiday posts, go to Let Freedom Ring

My Favorite Martian

How many of you out there are artists or crafters? Hands up.

Well as all artists or crafters will tell you, when we are at work things can get messy.

From splattered aprons…

To residue under our fingernails and dyed skin.

Not to mention burns from hot glue guns, kilns, etc.

Well the experience I had the other day was quite different then I’ve ever had.

So this month at work we are all about space; astronauts, aliens, the sun, planets, etc.

So the other day our theme was the moon. We pretended to be walking on it, read some adorable books: Moon Rope by Lois Ehle, Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes, and Happy Birthday Moon by Frank Asch (all some of my favorites).

After, it was time for our craft in which we were making moon rocks.

I was following the recipe the Crafty Chicks gave out, but things didn’t go exactly as expected.

So the recipe was drier than I expected. We kept trying to make the balls but they weren’t sticking together.

But never fear. I am a prime tortilla and pie dough maker, so I know exactly what to do in this situation, add more water.

So I knead it all together like making pie or tortillas and it comes out great. Except that now my hands are dyed a very dark green.

Yes, the food coloring I used to dye the rocks came off on my hands, like the Crafting Chicks said it would, but I was not prepared for how much.

My hands were super dark green. And then when I went to wash the, it wouldn’t come off.

I tried as much as I could, but they were too stained. Guess I should’ve worn gloves.

The kids all said I looked like an alien.

I told them, maybe I am an alien and my human makeup came off…

But they knew I was just joking. Although it did make me want to go out and say “Klaatu barada nikto” like in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

But there is a limited demographic that will understand what I’m saying. That is what happens when you are an old soul.

It still was weird walking around with green hands. I kept getting all these strange looks from people as they were trying to figure out why my hands looked like that.

But such is the life!

For more on stories from my everyday life, go to Escape to Alcatraz

For more on aliens, go to Someone Has Erased His Memory: Total Recall (1990)