Sadly I am an ingredient list shopper. Certainly, I am not much of a greenie, nor do I think that organics are worth any marketing energy, rather, I am a "particular" cook. By particular I mean that I have learned through my time working within the food industry, that there are substitutes and extenders in food and that will extend the volume, the weight, to cheapen the input price or to lengthen the life of the product. Thus, as I select food for our attempt at simple lives, I do not choose to purchase puff pastry using palm oil, other oils, colours or unnecessary preservatives, it must be made from butter (hey, I did spend 17 years in the NZ dairy industry). Hence, I have returned to the good old Edmonds Cook Book and the New Zealand Presbyterian Cook Book and seemed to have delighted both two legged food critics in the house!
Fake - on and egg pie: great for dinner and cold on lunch!
Beef pies: fabulous hot and when made in mini-muffin pans, two put into Teagan's lunch seem to be enough to replace the sandwich and is rather filling.
Beef pies: in normal sized muffin pans make a great cold pie finger food for a poolside picnic.
My next task is to write up the recipe for the pie fillings as they were rather good! (lean beef mince (browned really well sprinkled with flour), onion, garlic, pureed tomato, parsley, teaspoon of regular tomato sauce per pan, and plenty of salt and black pepper)
