Adventures in Baking: Blackberry-Peach Pie

In a bit of a break from the typical breads I've been baking, I decided to bake a pie.
This is my favorite time of year b/c of the farmer's market. A week or so ago, I picked up some peaches. Last week, I picked up some blackberries. My original plan had been to make a peach cobbler and later a blackberry cobbler, but we got busy and the peaches just kept sitting in the fridge, unused.

Then, as it turns out, I hadn't purchased enough of either fruit to make cobbler.

I started browsing the internet for recipes using what I had and stumbled across a pie recipe that used both. It sounded pretty good and not all that complicated, so I printed it off and decided to run with it.By far the most intimidating thing about making a pie is the crust. It just seems like a really big deal. I have memories dating back 2 decades of my grandmother rolling out pie crusts so the whole idea wasn't foreign to me, it just seemed like it would be difficult to get right.

I decided to give it a go anyway. I pulled out my trusty red and white gingham Betty Crocker cookbook (holla to Jake's Gram, who got that for us as a wedding gift), found a crust recipe, and got to work.

Amid the screaming and gnashing of teeth going on by my children, I managed to roll out two pie crusts that actually fit in the one pie pan I had. I laid the first in, put in the filling, put the second on top, cut the slits, and popped it in the oven.

Just before going in the cooker:

It had been baking about 20 minutes when Jake got home from work. He is currently on a low-carb diet in preparation for an Army combatives class in September, so he took on look in the oven and let me know what an injustice I was perpetrating. He wouldn't have liked it anyway; he has a thing about seedy textures and blackberries are, of course, pretty seedy.

Anyway, after about an hour the pie came out of the oven looking and smelling delicious.


I managed to wait until after dinner to cut a slice. I was nervous. I'd never made a pie before, much less a pie totally from scratch. I was afraid it would taste bad. Afraid that the insides would just kind of liquefy and run all over the pie pan when it was cut.

Fortunately, I am an expert recipe follower and the pie was delicious.


I dedicate my first pie to my grandmother, who is the queen bee of all pies. May I acquire her stash of recipes soon! ;-)

Parents, In Love

Spencer has assigned us all train names. I am Mavis or Molly (there is a shortage of girl trains in Thomas-land, FYI), Spencer is currently James, Jack is Henry, and Jake is Hiro.

When we visit my grandparents, as we did a few weekends ago, Spencer always sleeps with my grandmother. I told him I was going up to bed and gave him a kiss and he said, "Mommy! I have to tell you something!"

"What, sweetie?" I said to him.

"I want you to have good sleeps and sweet dreams of Hiro."

Maybe it is all the pregnancy hormones, but it made me tear up. Ever since, I've been thinking about how wonderful it must be for children to see their parents in love.

Our boys see us snuggle, kiss, flirt, and laugh together. They also see us bicker, argue, and huff at each other. My biggest hope is that they can take these situations, as enacted by their parents, and kind of log the memory of how it all went down and use it in their own lives.

I feel so lucky to have Jake and my wonderful boys.

V is for Vasectomy

By the look on his face, you'd think it wasn't totally his idea, huh? ;-)

On Friday, Jake had a vasectomy. I can't claim that I was 100% on board, b/c I wasn't. I haven't been too happy about having another baby, but it isn't necessarily the baby itself that has me freaked out, it is the age gap between Jack and the baby. And I think I've said to him more than once, "Why stop at 3? Let's have more!" I really do enjoy being pregnant for the most part and I adore older infants and toddlers. Just not little babies, so much.

But Jake was adamant that he was done after Jack and I put the idea of a vasectomy off as much as I could. The permanence is quite scary to me, especially b/c Jake and I are still quite young. 27 just doesn't seem old enough to make such a permanent fertility decision.

The surprise of Fin, not to mention the terrible age gap, was enough for me to relent no matter that I'd have 1 bazillion kids if he'd let me. Three really is a good number for us. I'm one of three and so is he, so I'm happy with the decision to stop here.

Recovery wise, it has been up and down. The first day was ok. I expected the second to be really terrible, but it wasn't. It seems to be a bit worse today, but Jake said he feels it in his abdomen, presumably b/c they severed some connective tissue in the process of the procedure. He is planning to go back to work on Wednesday and I've encouraged him to stay off work as long as it takes to feel ok. Pushing it won't help him heal any more quickly.

Things That Are Hard

(That's what she said!)

Ok, no, this post isn't about that. It is about things in my life that are HARD! Tough, if you will. Difficult. Whatever, get your mind out of the gutter.

1. Peeling carrots without a vegetable peeler

RIP to my veggie peeler. About 4 years ago, I got a veggie peeler from Wild Oats (now Whole Foods) in Little Rock. It has been a good peeler. A loyal peeler. And last weekend it died. I thought this was no big deal. It was actually easier for me to peel the potatoes without it. Carrots are another story. I've already put a new peeler on my grocery list for next week.


2. Being pregnant while having a toddler who doesn't sleep through the night.

Separately, these things aren't so hard. Being pregnant? Not so hard. Having a toddler? Trying, but not necessarily hard. Having a toddler that doesn't sleep through the night? Sucky, but not so hard. Combine the three and you have a recipe from the devil.

3. Menu planning with a picky husband.

I try to cook different stuff. Keep things spicy in the kitchen. But Jake likes his meals in a very simple format: meat, potato, vegetable. Or sometimes meat, vegetable, vegetable. He'll try anything I cook, but it is really easy to tell when he's not a fan. And it isn't that what I cook is bad (seriously, I'm a pretty good cook when I have a recipe to follow), but he just takes issue with meatless dishes and some textures. So our meals end up being the same thing week after week, which suits Mr. Jake just fine.

4. Keeping our "bonus room" clean.

We have this room off the kitchen that was an addition to the original house. It is kind of a multi-purpose room; there is a built in desk and some storage, a closet that Jake uses as the home for his clothing, and the closet where our laundry machines are. Next to the living room, it also has the most open space, which means it houses a lot of kid playthings. We keep the train table there, with all its accessories, and a little picnic table for impromptu snacks and lunches. But because there is so much going on in there, it is also a disaster most of the time. Computer trash, clean and dirty laundry, papers cascading everywhere, toys galore. It drives me crazy, but no matter how often I pick it up and sweep it down, it is a disaster again within 36 hours.

5. Staying stocked with milk

A few months ago, I posted about how insane the amount of milk WIC gives us is. How we could never go through that much and I was throwing gallons and gallons away each month. My, my, my, how the tables do turn. Since Jack weaned, we are going through about a half gallon a day. I went through what WIC gave us in 15 days this month and am now buying gallons two at a time when I go to the store (which is about every 4 days, at this point).

6. House training a puppy

Do I even need to elaborate here? This is part of what is keeping my bonus room so dirty. Cara (our 8 month old puppy) still isn't fully house trained and is peeing on our beds. I'm washing sheets like a crazy lady, but that creates a backlog of laundry. Which then sits around in my bonus room.

7. Figuring out "Lost"

We are late getting on the "Lost" bandwagon. We just started season 1 this year. WTF is going on? We are about 7 episodes in and it just keeps getting weirder. But from what I gather reading around the internet, that doesn't really change. And you don't really get any true answers. Why am I watching this again?

8. Getting a job

Mtn. Home=the land of no jobs. At least not jobs in my field. If I was a LPN, RN, or CNA I'd be set. I'm getting my application together for the last opening in my field within an hour's drive today. Pray I get the job.

9. Making this list an even 10

So I'm going to stop now. :-)

Alone

There is really something to be said for alone time.

After being sat on, rubbed on, clung to, and jumped on for the better portion of each day, sometimes I just want my children to go away. Not for a long time, just long enough to watch a tv show or grab a bite to eat without having to share.

98% of the time, any time I spend without my children is spent with Jake. I am a huge advocate of getting out of the house with the spouse sans kids. Jake and I try to have a date night at least once a month and actually prefer to do so twice a month or more. We don't do anything fancy; if we are in Mtn. Home our dates usually are dinner and a movie. If we are in Little Rock, we usually do dinner, a movie, and a Target trip (b/c, really, when you live in a land of no Target you go as often as you can when you find one). We are dinner and movie people, I suppose.

But every once in a while, I want to be ALONE. I don't want to talk to anyone. I don't want to accommodate anyone else's wants, needs, or desires. I want to do what I want to do.

I feel very lucky that I have a husband who gets that about me. He has no problem telling me to get out of the house. There have been times I've taken a book and parked my car in a parking lot somewhere to read (welcome to Mtn. Home, where the only walk-in coffee shop closes at 6 pm).

Last night, I went to a movie by myself. For those that have never done this, it is amazing and I encourage you to give it a try! I used to be embarrassed by it, but I do it proudly now. I don't have to share my popcorn. Or my candy. Or my coke. I can squeeze into a spot in the theatre that a group couldn't, so I get a better seat. And in the instance of last night's movie, Eclipse, I don't have to listen to snarky comments coming from the seat beside me.

While I was at the movie enjoying myself, Jake and the boys were out having "man time." They ate at Spencer's very most favorite place, Pizza Hut, and went to the park to play since the weather took a mild turn.

And when I got home, I was refreshed and ready for another day.