A Short Week of Cooking

By now, you all know that I am attempting to cook...well, learn to cook anyway. Because I just decided to do this a few days ago, I have not officially started cooking. I have made a few things and I will tell you about those experiences now.

Let's start with the good:
This week my first attempt at cooking involved a pie that I have been trying to master, Hell not even master but just make taste good, for over 5 years now. My arch nemesis pie is none other than Coconut Cream Pie. I have tried umpteen times to make this pie. The crust always turns out, mostly because it is store bought, but next week I plan on making my own crust. The filling delightful...my downfall? The effin merengue! I can never seem to get this right, and it always seems like I made an egg white quiche to go on top of my pie. So, every time I end up throwing away a perfectly good crust and filling because the top makes the entire thing taste like egg. Well, my friends of cookery, I made one this week that was amazing! I browned the merengue a little too long, but it tasted like merengue! And it fluffed up beautifully. I was on Cloud 9 to say the least. I was ubber pissed at the hubs for not trying it though. He tried all the other ones so I was like WTF!? I did send some to the father-in-law so we shall see what he thinks. He's a really fancy food critic in our area. One of the best around. Ok, well not really but he has a tongue and an opinion so I should know soon if it was in fact a delight or a disaster. I'll keep you posted.

I also made a Mexican Cornbread this week...it was good, but I really don't have any fun or exciting stories about it. Oh, except the fact that I gave a piece to my 21 month old daughter thinking it wasn't spicy...umm, yea I was wrong and she looked at me like "Son of Bitch Mom!!!!" I know it was spicy to normal palettes because the hubs who loves all things spicy even had a tough time with its bite. So Dearest Molly, my sincere apologies. Good thing I gave her milk to drink!





 Mexican Cornbread





Now, for the bad:
Nathan asked me to make the corned beef the other night. It was an epic fail, but I don't blame myself. The flavor was good...I mean, all I had to do was throw it in the crokpot with some onions and carrots. The problem...a meijer brand product! The meat was so tough and chewy. Again, good flavor just horrible quality! I am off to plan the menu for next week and will keep you posted as the successes or epic failures that ensue. I am making a chocolate cake today! Yum! Are you getting the vibe that I like sweets and baking over actual cooking? Perhaps I should go on Cupcake Wars instead? Just a thought...oh and below you will find my delicious recipe for Coconut Cream Pie...just the filling and merengue, you're on your own for the crust.
Well, much love and happy cooking
Amelia

Coconut Cream Pie
Ingredients:
Pie Filling:
3/4 Sugar
3 TBLS Corn Starch
2 Cup Whole Milk
3 EggYolks (Save Whites!)
1 Tbls Coconut Extract
1/2 Cup Flaked Coconut
1 TBLS Butter


Merengue:
3 Egg Whites
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp cream de tartar
6TBLS Sugar
Directions:
preheat oven to 350
Mix sugar and corn starch in a pot. Add Milk and Egg yolks, mix together and put on heat. Medium heat works best, but if you're in a hurry you can put it on high just do not stop stirring. Cook til thickens. Take off heat and add remaining ingredients. Put in pre-baked pie crust.


For Merengue, beat first 3 ingredients until soft peaks form. Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook will tell you this only takes a minute...they are liars! Your merengue should look like this before you add sugar. Once it looks like that begin adding tablespoons of sugar one at a time. Beat merengue until stiff white peaks appear. Add it to the top of your pie, sprinkle with additional coconut and bake at 350 until merengue begins to brown. Eat and enjoy!



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