“WHAT’S IN YOUR POCKET?”
“WHAT’S IN YOUR POCKET?”
All in Recipes
Back to the kitchen I went, determined to make a solid gluten-free empanada dough that didn’t break and baked well since I don’t have enough oil to fry masa-based dough. After playing around with this trusty King Arthur Pie Crust I finally figured out how to adapt it to have less ingredients to suit what was in my pantry and still be malleable enough to crimp (be sure you’re using the measure-for-measure flour). The delicious solution was simple, add more butter and let the dough warm up a lot (you can be pretty slow with these unlike with standard pie crust).
This quick, healthy weeknight meal comes together in 30 minutes and brings a lot of color and flavor onto the table. The soup is great on its own, but incredibly hearty when dumplings are cooked in the blue-ish broth infused with garlic and scallions. Top with your favorite fresh herbs and pickles and a hefty spoonful of chili oil.
Can I make a vodka pie dough and use bourbon in place of vodka? The answer is yes. Yes, you can.
The original vodka pie dough recipe, published by Cook’s Illustrated in 2007 (RIP), was created because vodka, with its high alcohol content, adds moisture to the dough without aiding in the formation of gluten.
Less gluten formation = a flakier pie crust. Vodka is also used in place of water (which is very good at helping to form gluten) because it is flavorless, so it doesn’t interfere with the taste of the pie filling.
I love homemade pop tarts, but I really love these more than others. These berry pop tarts are simple, full of stuff you probably have in your fridge and pantry, and bring back childhood memories of sitting on the floor in my oversized-dad-t-shirt-turned-nightgown watching Saturday morning cartoons and munchin’ on a pop tart.
"Gujiya is a sweet Indian pocket traditionally served during Holi celebrations. Half moons stuffed with chopped nuts, coconut, sugar, and mawa -- gujiya is also a great afternoon snack to serve with chai, or a quick sweet breakfast bite to eat on the way to work.
Turmeric, black pepper and coriander toasted in hot oil with a lot of garlic and ginger, then vegetable or chicken broth and coconut milk is added to to simmer with hearty greens. Add frozen dumplings to your golden-hued soup and simmer with coconut milk for a very balanced dinner!
The best pocket pal is a salad. I love salads. Mack loves salads. We even love boring salads because we love our veggies, but crunchy, juicy, tangy salads are where our salad-loving selves thrive.
The new year always brings a slew of new health trends (with an unhealthy dose of shame, tbh): intermittent fasting, keto diet, CBD everything, health wines. Some of these seem a lot more reasonable than others, but we decided to start 2019 with a focus on a classic wellness concept: balance.
Making stewed black-eyed peas and collard greens for New Year’s this year slipped my mind until midday on the first of January when I realized we had no “good luck food” on the docket for the day. Too hungry to wait for a pot of beans to cook, I grabbed a can of Black-eyed peas from HEB and made a black-eyed pea avocado salsa to stuff into fresh collard wraps with quinoa, chicken, herbs and pecans. So this year we skirted the traditional beans and greens, but still managed to fit black-eyed peas and collards into a fast, good luck meal.
Homemade chocolate pop tarts started to resonate more with every minute that I thought about it. Because I was tight on time with my holiday baking schedule, I decided to make a quick and easy puff pastry recipe that packed a fiery surprise.
Pumpkin empanadas are a South Texas delicacy and finding them in the local panaderias in North Carolina is near impossible. This fall, I had an insatiable craving for empanadas de calabaza and my now not-so-secret dulce de leche pockets. With brisk autumn weather blowing in and holiday baking ideas swirling around in my head, pumpkin hand pies that you could serve for thanksgiving and empanadas de calabaza y cajeta that you can serve for merienda was my new recipe challenge.
Ellen Gray’s recipe for blintzes stuffed with cheese and topped with cherries brings is inspired by summers spent in Florida with her grandma, “Mama Min”. The idea of cheesecake for dinner over a game of Mah Jong, after a day spent swimming on the beach, makes us yearn for simpler times.
