Fall means apples and fairies

A couple weekends ago my husband picked a bunch of apples off the bottom branches of our tree.  I have finally gotten around to making something with them!

Instead of making a regular pie I found a recipe for Deep Dish Apple Pie.  My top crust is definitely better than normal, I only had to fumble about with the edges  We had it as dessert after lunch today and of course my husband gave his standard answers of "The crust is tough" and "Oh it's terrrrrrrible ;) "  Which of course all equate to it's pretty good.  My daughter, bless her sweet heart, very nicely told me "You're pretty and you make pretty pie".  :D

For the past few days I have been crocheting a fairy doll for my daughter.  What made this project take a little longer is all the darn hair.  O.o  I mean really, it wasn't so much a pain in the butt, there was just so much of it to make.  So I cheated a bit and did some of it in the funny swirls and the rest sewn up to make it look like it's in a ponytail.

I used a free pattern from Petite Purls (a wonderful resource for free knitting and crochet patterns!) titled "Margarita". 

The only part of this pattern I had trouble with were the legs.  I'm not really sure why but every time I went to make them, I always ended up with a different looking second one.  After 6 failed attempts I said screw it and improvised some simpler ones :D  This project was fun because I was able to use up lots of leftover scrap yarn from various projects.

This upcoming weekend I am looking forward to picking up more tulle to make a witch tutu skirt for Little Miss' costume, more yarn for various crochet projects (obsession now I tell you) and taking some relaxing time.

Cookies and outfits

One perk of summer is wearing skirts.  I like shorts but I don't so much like them on me.  I have a few pairs but more often than not I'd rather wear a skirt.  Luckily over the weekend while we were Target shopping I picked up two fun new skirts.

I really wish the blue/white one had pockets but the denim one does so it works out.  :D

For the 4th of July we made sugar cookies in shapes of gingerbread men/women, buffaloes and stars.  Then while I taught piano my awesome hubby made frosting and frosted them!  They were waaaaay too tasty.

For the 4th of July we played games in the morning while we waited for the weather to decide what it wanted to do.  By noon it didn't look so dubious and we made plans to meet a couple of friends at the Reservoir for the afternoon.  Little Miss was NOT a fan of being in the lake while Monster Bean swam like a fiend.  The only way Little Miss would hang out in the water was if she was snuggling me on a blow up raft.  But she was content enough to play in the sand while the boys played in the water.  We didn't buy fireworks this year but were able to watch our neighbors shoot theirs off and hopefully on Saturday we will stay up late enough to watch the big show in town.  :)

Pie 2.0

Good news is that my pie crusts are rolling out better and better managed from counter to pie plate.  Bad news is that I'm still not getting enough to cover the lip.  So it's still a little ugly but better looking than my first!

Cherry Pie

Kitchen Goodies

This weekend I spent some quality time with my cookbook trying to find a good rhubarb jam AND rhubarb pie recipe.  I wanted to broaden my horizons, especially because our rhubarb needed a good plucking (again I might add).

I ended up deciding that jam might be too much work (for the time I had) but I would definitely put it on my to-do list for the future.  In the end I found a good recipe from a cookbook my MIL gifted me a few years back.  I have never made a pie.  Let me amend that, I have never made a pie crust.  The last time I tried it was for quiche and it was a disaster. 

Now that it is all said and done, the hubby and I definitely think I could have used more water in the dough (I put in the recommended amount, then a little more, then a little more....).  It was definitely flaky but maybe a bit too much.  It was definitely a test of patience (and throwback to pottery class in high school) getting the bottom crust in and patching up some of the edges.  When it came time for the top crust, I was excited because it looked even better than the bottom and I was feeling all smug and happy...until I went to move it from the counter to on top of my pie and pieces of it started to tear apart from each other.  In the end I had one nice smooth pretty side and one really ugly obviously patched together poorly side.  (I probably should have rerolled the whole thing, but I just wanted to get it in the oven)

I could hardly wait for it to cool down before slicing myself up a piece.  One word: delicious!  The hubby gave his seal of approval and even teased me that the crust was 'tough' (a sweet family joke).

Tonight for Father's Day we bought steaks and potatoes and I found an easy recipe for breaded vegetables.  My son isn't a big fruit/vegetable eater.  Occasionally you can get him to eat a few cooked carrots and he'll eagerly eat spinach lasagna, but anything else and it's a total no-go.  I have always wondered if he'd be more open to the thought of vegetables if they were breaded and he could dip them in ketchup/ranch/etc.  Tonight I chopped up our carrots into baby size and washed up some mushrooms.  The recipe calls for bread crumbs but I used Shore Line (I think that's the brand) breading; you mix it with Parmesan cheese and basically shake and bake it.

They turned out tasty, especially the mushrooms!  My son enjoyed them so much he had 5 of the carrots.  Which is a huge win in my eyes :)  Next time we do this I want to use green beans or asparagus.  Yum.

That's the work out my oven got this weekend, what about yours?

Paella

We were running low on cheese and bread for lunch so I looked up something easy to make with the odds and ends in our fridge.  I came across a recipe for paella and gave it a try.  Instead of all the ingredients they listed I used asparagus, carrots, black beans, tomatoes, garlic powder, paprika, thyme, and rice cooked in chicken broth.  After all was said and done I think it could have done with some salsa (which sadly we were out of) but it was really tasty!

Homemade Food Weekend

On Sunday I tried my hand at making cinnamon rolls from scratch.  I was a little wary with the rising times and if it had risen enough, but they turned out pretty good for my first time!

This is a tiny sampling of my batch of 24!

For a friend's BBQ on Monday I volunteered us for treats of some sort and made Dirt Dessert and Strawberry Meringue Pie.  The kids were super excited to 'help' with the dessert and I even had the hubby working in the kitchen :D

I love fresh strawberries!

 

Hubby squeezing the strawberries

 

I was going to make this my outfit post but I think my hubby selectively didn't hear me when I mentioned this.

Stirring marshmallows with strawberry juice

The meringue crust.

 

Finished product!

Looks delicious!

Mmmm it kinda makes me want to drool just looking at it :)  This was dinner tonight and it looked so pic worthy when it was on the table I couldn't resist :D

Broiled chicken with taters and carrots!  I used an olive oil and summer savory mix to pour over everything and stuck it in the oven for 45 minutes at 350.  Voila!

Speaking of cooking....tonight I actually remembered to get the pasta salad ready for tomorrow (it wouldn't be so bad except it has to chill....and I usually don't get around to making lunch until 11:30....cuts it a bit short :D ) and since there was nothing on TV and I've been meaning to, I made more oatmeal raisin cookies!  (When did I become such a homemaker?  ;) )

In the random I snuck in a half hour nap while Monster Bean was watching cartoons.  He asked if he could watch his new one from the library while I sat and knit in the living room.  I said yes since he hadn't watched any today.  After one episode I decided to read a bit.  Not too many pages into reading my eyes began to droop and I decided to curl up on the couch and promptly zonked out.  Not good for my contacts, but great for me!  I felt way better when I popped up :)

Also random.  My hair is long enough that I can use my triple barrel curling iron without risk of burning the back of my neck because my hair is too short to really fit (apparently it is too bulky for me because I kept almost whacking myself in the face or snipping my fingers in it).  It's a good length and I'm thinking about keeping it this length....but I also still really miss my long hair.  Food for thought but at least I'm not thinking of cutting it again!  :D

My sweater is coming along.  The back is finished and I'm almost done with the decreases on the left front.  I still have to pause and think "Hey wait, am I doing that right?" but otherwise it's been steadily moving along!

P.S.  I hate that my camera is no longer working.  I feel like my cell pics are pure crap.