From Sue's Kitchen: Welcome to my first blog post

Welcome to my first blog entry!!

I think it is so appropriate to start this adventure with you during the week of Father’s Day because there is nothing my Dad would have loved more than to socialize with friends and family at a Farmers’ Market and graze his away around the various vendors’ tents. He especially loved anything chocolate and any kind of cookies or pie, except maybe strawberry rhubarb, although my strawberry rhubarb pie is AWESOME and I probably would have changed his mind on that. Anyway, here’s to all you Dads for your love of family and friends.

My goal is to make 40 mini pies and 20 large pies this week to bring to my two markets. It’s Father’s Day and Dads like pies and we need to celebrate our Dads, hence the focus on PIE. Plans are for Apple, Cherry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry-Rhubarb, Peach and Pecan. I might have mini red raspberry as well. I always tell my customers the mini pies are just big enough for a dollop of their favorite ice cream plopped right in the middle…and all they need is a fork.

Here is a picture of a Big-n-Bold Blackberry Pie - those of you who know me know my pies have to be pretty.

I’ll share with you Sue’s 3 rules for terrific pies:
1. I think pies need to be visually appealing. Sometimes I get a little carried away in this creative process but it is fun!
2. It’s all about the crust. All homemade. All hand rolled. All hand decorated.
3. Fruit pies should have lots of fruit. Fresh fruit when it’s available and delicious frozen fruit during the off season. Nothing canned. I currently have about 60 pounds of rhubarb in my freezer and a gallon of red raspberries. YUM!

For those of you who want sweets but not pie I also make lots of old fashioned cookies. These, unlike my pies, are not fancy. They are sturdy, big, one-in-each hand cookies like Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodle, Oatmeal Raisin, Peanut Blossom, Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Crispie. Many of these recipes are heirloom, meaning they’ve been handed down over generations from my Gramma Rose, Gramma Fannie, Mom (Effie) and my Aunt Eileen. I’m sure a dietitian wouldn’t agree with my motto but it brings a lot of smiles to my customers’ faces-------

My motto is “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.”

Kissable Peanut Blossom Cookies

I don’t stop at pies-n-cookies, however. I guess I’m a baking fool…or a glutton for punishment. You will find I make various goodies depending on the market: Coffeecakes and Cinnamon Rolls for the morning market; Dessert Breads for evening markets. I’m just now delving into the fun world of cupcakes. Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting…….German Chocolate with Pecan and Coconut topping………..Vanilla with buttercream frosting….the list can be endless. Here’s a picture of a mini Carrot Cake cupcake with Cream Cheese frosting. I think its really cute (pretty darn delicious too)!



So, here's to all you Dads out there...pray for good weather and I'll see you at the market!

All photo images belong to Sue's Kitchen and may be used with permission only. ©2009 Sue's Kitchen. All rights reserved.