Blue Ribbon Pie Crust

Wow, have I been slacking. My bad, sorry. I could list all of my excuses but it doesn't change the fact that I should have posted something, anything, sooner! Ha, all well. At least now I'm going to put on my mother's deliciously incredible pie crust recipe. Your welcome.

Ingredients:
5 cups AP flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups shortening
1 tsp vinegar
1 egg

Directions: *Prepare ice water first, at least a cup of water  with ice

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter until it resembles cornmeal (this takes a little while and to make good crust you really have to work it). 
In a liquid measuring cup, beat the egg and vinegar. Pour ice water up to the 1 cup mark. Stir and add to flour mixture. Combine just enough to form a ball, it will be soft and sticky.

If you need a pre-baked crust, make vents with a fork at the bottom of crust, preheat oven to 425 and bake for 6 minutes with foil at the bottom. Remove the foil and bake 6 more minutes. 
To save, I wrap in wax paper and either freeze or it can rest in the refrigerator for a couple of days. 

This recipe makes 3-4 pies.

Greek Pasta Salad

Coming home from the beach, I was fishing through our fridge for something to whip up for dinner and decided I had enough to do something Greek. Since I recently bought some whole wheat pasta... Pasta salad it was! By the time it was cold and ready to eat, I snapped one picture before my husband snapped the bowl out of my hands and into his mouth. Smiling, he sauntered off with it...


Ingredients:
1 cucumber diced
1 tomato diced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 cups cooked and cooled whole wheat penne pasta


Dressing:
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
dash of nutmeg


Directions:
Cook and cool penne pasta to package directions.
Combine cucumber, tomato, and sun dried tomatoes with the cooled pasta. Add all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk them until smooth. Toss it over the pasta, adding the feta in. Place in fridge for about an hour before serving.