Happy Halloween

We’re off trick-or-treating with our little Elmo!

We hope you all have a safe, fun and candy filled night!

BOO!!

(and no I did not dress like this to go trick or treating with little kids!)

Project Pie: Week 16

Wow. 16 weeks of pie and my pants still fit!
This week brought us back to the beginning and fruit pies. Adam chose French Crunch Peach pie.
Peach pie is my all time 2nd favorite pie (behind blueberry) And this recipe is one for the books. It’s not as good as mom’s but it’s good!
Of course he made the perfect crust.
Mixed it all and up and dumped it in.
Charlie helped with the topping:

Baked it
And ate it warm!

mmm good!
Crunch on top isn’t too overpowering and the egg gives it bit of a custard flavor, but it all works well together. It’s not too sweet so adding ice cream is a welcomed topping.

Project Pie-Week 15

I had ice cream pie this week and since my folks were in town I thought I’d let them choose. So my dad picked out a mocha pie. I nixed that since adam won’t touch anything coffee and decided on Banana Split pie. Dad was fine with the choice.

First thing, I didn’t feel like making a pie crust so I bought a gram cracker crust. The rest was pretty simple. Just a lot of waiting for things to freeze.

When it came time to do the chocolate topping (at 10pm) I found out that in fact I didn’t have a bag of marshmallows like I thought I did. So we just used Hersey's syrup. (I know I’m really failing on this easy pie)
But mom and dad both liked it!
Dad didn’t want to share. I only cut one piece because it wasn’t quite set yet.
Adam and I thought it was ok. It was easy, but it won’t be going on the “top 10” list.

Recycled Bathrobe

I had this short red fuzzy bathrobe someone had given me as a gift that I never used. So it was in the bin to donate when I started thinking “that bathrobe looks a lot like Elmo”

Elmo is pretty popular in our house with Charlie and with Halloween coming up, my mom visiting I thought I’d try and re-use the robe to make her a costume.

I ripped out as many seams to get the max fabric. Then I just used a Simplicity pattern I had for a bubble dress. I did dress D

After a couple hours I ended up with this:

(it is really hard to get this girl to pose!)

I used a sleeve to make the hat and hot glued on some pompoms for his eye and nose.

I plan on shortening the skirt to her knees and having her wear red tights. The skirt is filled with tulle to help fill it out so it will create quite the “Muppet” body once it’s shortened. I will just do a temporary stitch because I’m pretty sure this could double as a queen of hearts costume next year! (it’s a little big in the chest too)

Charlie seemed to like it and will hopefully keep on the hat. If not I saved some ties I can add to it.

I am so looking forward to taking her out this year. It will be such a change from last year now that she’s walking, talking and Ms. Independent! Stay tuned for Halloween Pictures & Fun!

Project Pie: Week 14

Adam made his pie late last week due to work schedules…and I think I’ll be doing the same this week!

His refrigerator pie turned out great! we had a friend over for dinner and my parents visiting so this is not our opinions only this week!

Pineapple Fluff Pie

The main thing that made Adam choose this pie was the coconut crust. It was pretty simple to make. Mix the coconut with melted butter and press it into the pie pan.

The rest of it was pretty straight forward.

Mix and cook:

Pour and chill:

Our friend Kristi loved it so much she had a second piece. Charlie devoured her piece. My mom and dad both raved. Adam and I though it was the perfect mix of sweet and sour. A nice light fresh tasting pie. No tweaking needed on this recipe and it moves up to our top 5!

Lyric

“Wherever I go, whatever I do
I wonder where I am in my relationship to you
Wherever you go, wherever you are
I watch your life play out in pictures from afar”
~John Mayer

There is something about this lyric and the way Mr. Mayer sings it that just tugs at me.

If you haven’t heard this song, give it a listen. 

One of my favorites.

That’s all.

Project Pie: Week 13

When I got back (LATE) from NH Sunday night the last thing I wanted to do on Monday was bake a pie. I was ready to just throw in the towel. But by Tuesday I had got some sleep and didn’t want to disappoint Adam (who was salivating for pie). And when I found this recipe in our book for a pie that didn’t have a crust I was all over it!

Miracle Custard Pie:

As you can see…no crust! And you make it in a blender! It took me about 5 minutes to put all the ingratiates in.

10 seconds later…

I mixed the coconut right in the blender (with a spoon) then into the pan it went. Topped it with some nutmeg and done. Total time…maybe 10 min.

40 minutes later…

The pie needed to chill so the next day we had it for desert.

It cut easily and we had no issue getting it out of the pan.

Charlie inhaled her piece and started getting fussy when she couldn’t get it on her fork fast enough. Adam and I thought it was ok. It definitely tastes like custard. And that’s about it. We don’t love it, but we don’t hate it. I think with some tweaking (adding a little flavor) it could be something special and an easy go-to-pie.

48 hours in New England

This past weekend my friend Tara and I traveled to New Hampshire to see one of our dear friends get married.

It was a lot of traveling but a whole lot of fun and worth the 8 hours on a plan and 4 hours in a very small rental.

Jared and Maggie got married in the small town of New London NH. the reception was in the even smaller town of Andover at the Bluewater Lodge. The lodge is where we stayed and it was great! Upstairs there were bunk rooms with some bunks 3 high!

We got in LATE Friday night and stayed up even later playing games and catching up. Saturday we went Apple Picking! It may have been raining and overcast, but I was not leaving NH without getting some apples. Even some of my Florida friends tagged along for their first time. They were impressed. (the apples we get in Florida are a joke)

The wedding ceremony heartfelt. Both Tara and myself had to choke back tears.

Back at the lodge we were served hors’de ouves and spiked cider while we mingled about the lodge. Dinner was great and dessert was the best I’ve ever had at a wedding.  We danced so hard the floor shook and when the dj said good night we all kept going. A fire was lit or I should say tried to be lit outside and I sat with some of my best friends from grad school and discussed our lives and the direction they have gone in the last 8 years.  It was a perfect day.

The view from my bunk:

Sunday after cleaning up we made the 30 min drive to see Jared and Maggie's house before we hit up the local pancake house for a much needed greasy breakfast. With full bellies Tara and I headed back to Boston to catch our flight. we were exhausted, hung over and ready to go home to our sweet girls (and boys).

This was the first time in a long time I had taken a trip by myself. While I missed both Adam and Charlie it was nice to be only responsible for myself. Luckily Erin had a 10 month old boy I was able to snuggle. 

It was also nice to take a trip with my best friend. We haven’t done that in a long time. We may be older and married, but we proved we are still a whole lot of fun and can still hang with the guys!!

Project Pie: Week 12

This week for his cream pie Adam chose Lemon Meringue. And boy was it an improvement on the lemon Alaska. Even his dad, who was here visiting, said it reminded him of his mothers and brought him back.

By know you should know what making a pie looks like, so we’re cutting back on the photos unless there’s something tricky going on. The one thing that probably could have improved on the presentation was another egg white for the meringue. You want the the meringue to seal with the crust and Adam didn’t have quite enough to get a good seal. If this happens, its not ruined, but the pie will start to separate from the meringue and it’s not as pretty.

But again…it was a great pie. It didn’t take him to long to make, but it does have a chilling period so you do have to wait a bit to eat it.

Next week is custard and I’ve got my eye on a few…

(NOTE: If you’ve been following along and want the recipes for the past few pies I’ve went back and updated the posts to include them)