Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sunday Stills Challenge ~Food~

I bet you've never given or received pickled eggs for Christmas. Several weeks back I proposed to our old neighbors (Mike & Bea) that we'd stop the traditional gift card swap and try doing something a little more homemade instead. We've filled a bag full of goodies. Much of it is homemade (pickled beets & eggs, body spray, soap, earrings, cookies, oatmeal bread, kids school pictures) but we did add some store bought wine & a magazine subscription (that is one of my favorite Christmas gifts, it is the gift that keeps giving all year long)

MM made a couple Tourtiere Pie's, one for us and the other for Mike & Bea. If your not familiar with them they consist of ground pork, potato and spices like nutmeg, sage, and thyme. It is a traditional pie that the French (& others I'm sure) make and eat around Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Even though both of us are of Canadian heritage it was our first time making them and they came out great. Actually MM gets the credit because I just added the spices. There are many variations of tourtiere pie and some strong opinions to go along with them. French have a reputation for fairly particular. When we make it again we will use ground pork only (we used half hamburg) and add a bit more potato.

Leah made the above yummy creations as seen at Henbogle and another blog which I cannot recall??? What we haven't given away, we've eaten. :0 Salt & sweet are a good combo. :)


Merry Christmas to ALL! HO! HO! HO!

(This is what you get when you tell your boy to go put some lotion on his face because his chin is chaffed from wrestling with his Dad)


Challenge link here for anyone that wants to join or peek around.



As requested, here is the recipe we used:


Rochelle’s Tourtière Pie
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried sage
1 small onion, chopped fine1 cup water
1 cup plain mashed potatoes, with no butter and no milk
Pastry for a 2-crust 9-inch pie
In a saucepan combine beef, pork, seasonings, onion, and water. Cover and simmer for two hours. Uncover and cook ten minutes. The mixture should be quite dry, and if it isn’t, then drain the excess liquid. Add the mashed potatoes.
Heat oven to 425° F. Put meat mixture in crust and then bake for about 30 minutes. (Foil wrapped around the edges of the pie crust helps prevent excessive browning.)


The recipe came from
Maine Food & Lifestyles website

Please take a moment and read the article that goes along with the "Toochay" pie recipe.
(That is really how we pronounce it. )

15 comments:

Amy said...

We're doing the homemade Christmas thing this year too. By the way, I think magazine subscriptions are a great gift. I give cooking magazines to my SIL & MIL and music/guitar mags to the boys. Everyone is happy! That pie looks really good. Can you post the recipe or suggestions on how to make one? Meat pies are especially wonderful in the winter. Leah's creations look very tasty! Chocolate kisses are one of my favorites. I'd have a hard time assembling those treats because I'd eat half the kisses.

Throwback at Trapper Creek said...

yummy, I think you and MM should post a recipe for that pie. :)

GreyWolf said...

Your son looks like he could use a little more lotion.

Don said...

I think we need to maintain or re-capture traditions! Yea for you and the pie. i wish I was french so I could re-start that one in my family. Maybe I can start it anyway. I'll goodle some recipes and wait for you to post yours!

Merry Christmans!

Anonymous said...

Great tradition! Great wrestling too it looks like!

Queenie said...

How do you make your pickled eggs? They look wonderful...

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

I made gift baskets/stockings this year and I enjoyed it much more, I'm not going the retail gift-buying route anymore.

Anonymous said...

Lookin' good!

Anonymous said...

Neat post, Kim! Yummy-looking creations you have on there!

citygirl said...

Mmmmm...tasty!

Leasmom said...

Thats a wonderful ideal!!!

Jodi said...

You're pie recipe makes me think of the minced meat pies my great-grandmother used to make. I'm going to compare your recipe to the one I have at home (it will drive me crazy if I don't. HA).

I, too, have a french background. I'm 100% french acadian. I knew I liked you. ;-)

Your goody bag sounds wonderful. I love homemade gifts because they're filled with so much love.

Rabid Outdoorsman said...

After years of walking into small country stores and seeing the HUGE jars of pickled eggs. A few months ago I decided to throw caution to the wind and try one of those pickled concoctions. Well after the initial dry heaves I realized that they are all that bad . . . well except for the after taste that stays on your breath of days. :)

I am with Queenie! Bring on the recipe!

YD, sometimes with ♥June and ♥Angel Samantha said...

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Country Girl said...

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AS ALWAYS! I POSTED THE PIE RECIPE AS YOU CAN SEE FOR ALL WHO WERE INTERESTED AND THE PICKLED EGG RECIPE IS UNDER MY RECIPES AND I'LL POST AGAIN SOON.