Can she make a cheesy pie?

I've been known to get excited about stuff I read and try to make changes in my life. A very wise friend told me that I can only do what I can do, and as long as I am trying, it's a positive start. Reading Ultra-Processed People has sent us down a pretty deep rabbit hole about additives in our food. So where did we go for reassurance that store-bought food can be healthy? Blessed be the name of Whole Foods.

Making the cheesy pie

After I wrote the post about making a quiche, I actually made one. I followed the simple crust recipe from More-with-Less, substituting Kerrygold butter for the part butter-part vegetable shortening ingredients. 

1 c. sifted flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

5 tablespoons chilled butter cut into 1/2" bits

3 tablespoons cold water

Then, given my penchant for Smitten Kitchen recipes, I followed her Leek and Mushroom Quiche recipe, which she says is mostly Julia Child. I didn't have any port on hand, so I just made the leeks and mushrooms as the recipe suggested, without the port. We agreed that it was really good, but it was a little heavy on the butter and I was not satisfied with the flakiness of the crust. I have struggled with pie crusts for years; somehow my lack of Mennonite genes shows up in my inability to make a good pie crust. (Have you ever tasted a Shoo-fly Pie from a real Mennonite baker?)

The Rabbit Hole

After making my own less-than-successful pie crust AGAIN, I convinced Music Man to go to Whole Foods with me to see what was available in ready-made crusts. What a revelation was in store for us!

The first thing we found was a graham cracker crust. We were pleased to find that most of the ingredients are pretty clean, but it has lots of sugars in it. Not surprising for a sweet crust.

Next up was the premade frozen pie crust. While relatively clean, the packaging on this one made us put it back on the shelf. Encased in plastic, and in an aluminum pie pan, which may or may not be recyclable, it doesn't meet our requirements.

Then we found the holy grail. A clean premade crust, packaged in recyclable cardboard. I haven't opened the box, but there may be plastic wrap inside. At least in this case, we can cook the pie in our own glass pie pan. This one is now in our freezer for the next time.

As an aside on this photo, I was trying to capture the box against the black cherry sparkling water we bought, and then I moved it to our cart, filled with plastic bags, containers, and a couple of bottles of Gruner Veltliner. Please don't judge. We are trying.

More rabbit holing...

The best quiche I ever made was with this Crab Quiche recipe, and I definitely bought a crust for it. This puffed up nicely and made a big impression on us. We like to use leftover seafood bits for quiche and chowder, so this has shrimp and salmon in it, but you can follow the recipe or not as you choose.

And here's one for Spinach Herb Quiche from the archives on my Wordpress site. Be sure to read the comments -- I'm still amazed when an author comments on my book reviews. The recipe for Spinach Herb Quiche does not seem to be on the web site anymore, but there are a lot of Regency-era recipes still there for you to make, if you are so inclined.

Last thoughts

As Chris van Tulleken tells us in Ultra Processed People, if an ingredient is not in your normal household pantry, you probably shouldn't be eating it. I'm not adverse to chemicals -- after all, humans are just a bunch of chemicals strung together -- but it makes sense to see if we can fill our bodies with naturally-occurring compounds rather than those created in a lab.