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. )