What's cooking? Wednesday - Pies!

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I like to make food that is quick, easy, and inexpensive.  The exception to this is Thanksgiving.  It's one of the few times of the year that I make things from scratch...cranberry sauce, rolls, stuffing, pies, yams...prepackaged or precooked just won't do.  So, today I've been making pies.

My well-used ancient cookbook

It's been a while since I've made pie crust so I got out my ancient Better Homes and Gardens "New" Cook Book.  I was planning on making two pumpkin pies, two banana cream pies, one "better than pumpkin pie" pumpkin dessert, and one pumpkin custard.  That meant two pie crusts needed to be made and cooked without filling.

Oops!  Forgot to prick the dough!

I followed the recipe and popped the crusts in the oven.  About ten minutes into the cooking, I realized I forgot to prick the crust with a fork to prevent the crust from puffing up.  Oops!  I peeked in the oven and yes, the crust had large bubbles.  Darn!  I thought about using them anyway but no, I'm going to do it right.  So, I let them finish cooking and started over again.  This time I got it right.  I'll break up the puffy crusts, freeze them and use them for pie shakes later. 

I'll save the oopsies for later  :)

Second time - no mistakes!

The rest of the pies and desserts turned out fine...no surprises.

Better Homes and Gardens Plain Pastry  (for 2 single-crust pies)
2 c. flour
1 t. salt
2/3 c. shortening
5-7 T. cold water.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put flour and salt into bowl.  Cut in shortening with forks until pieces are the size of small peas.  (If forks are hard to use, use your clean hands to gently incorporate the shortening into the flour.)  Sprinkle cold water over the mixture, tossing with fork until all the mixture is moistened.  Form into a ball.  Flatten on lightly floured surface with your hand.  Use rolling pin to flatten dough until about 1/8 inch thick.

Fit pastry into pie pan.  Trim to fit.  Tuck under edge and flute edge (that's the zig zag pattern you see on crusts).   To bake the crust without filling, prick all over the bottom and sides with a fork (I forgot to do this the first time).  If you are baking the crust and filling together, do not prick the pastry.



Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Life is precious

Today is my fifth child's birthday.  When you have gone through pregnancy and childbirth four times already, you're familiar with what's going on and don't expect any surprises.  This particular birth seemed especially easy...only four hours of labor, a healthy baby boy and I felt great.  We went home the same day and settled in to life with five kids under the age of eight. Thanksgiving was two days later and my husband made the entire Thanksgiving dinner (except the pies - I made those).  Everything was going smoothly.  The next few days were spent preparing talks for church on Sunday for my three oldest children and myself.  Why I didn't decline the opportunity to speak that Sunday I'll never know.  I had a five day old baby!  Anyway, the talks went fine and everything was going smoothly.

Then came Monday.  We had to take our baby into the city (about 40 miles away) to get him circumcised.  An odd thing happened while I was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital.  I got a splitting headache and started getting chills and a feverish feeling.  It came on suddenly.  Fine one minute and horrible headache the next.  Odd.  After leaving the hospital, we drove to my husband's work, where I dropped him off and went on home.  I still felt sick.  I took some Tylenol but that didn't seem to help so I gave my midwife a call.  She heard my symptoms and told me to get my husband home immediately and get to the emergency room at the hospital.  If he wasn't home in 30 minutes, I was to call an ambulance to take me.   That got my attention!  Hey, it was just a fever and headache.  However, I did what she told me and we went to the hospital.  I figured the doctor would look at me, maybe give me some antibiotics and send me home.  Wrong.  Somehow, I had developed septic shock from childbirth and my organs were in danger of shutting down.  I was seriously sick.  I had never been sick before!  My husband took our new son home with him and I was stuck in the hospital, hooked up to tubes and crying miserably.  I spent nearly a week in the hospital, alternating between feeling sorry for myself and feeling totally grateful to be alive.   I missed my kids.  I was supposed to be bonding with my new baby and I couldn't even see him.  One of the highlights of that stay though was a card my six year old son made for me.  It said, "Violets are blue.  Roses are red.  How's your head?  We're glad you're not dead."  :)   Oh, how I love that boy!

Well, the story ended well.  I came home.  Everyone survived.  I developed a new appreciation for life and a new respect for healthcare providers.

Key learning - If something seems out of the ordinary concerning your health, check with your doctor, especially concerning pregnancy and childbirth.  Don't delay.  If I had waited, the consequences might have ended differently.  Life is precious.

Emergency Entertainment

The pic is blurry because of the rain on the camera.  It's a blustery day!

Today I'm sitting in the living room listening to pounding rain and heavy wind.  We've had a couple of power outages already and the internet is periodically going out.  All this makes me think about emergency preparedness.

I've already written a basic blog post on the subject but today I think it's important to remember that if the power goes out, most of our usual entertainment goes out too.  No TV, internet, video games, music, anything that requires electricity (unless you're lucky enough to have a generator!).

How are you going to keep your children happy and content in the event of a power outage?  In your emergency preparedness supplies did you remember to include activities, games and books to entertain the restless masses?  How about for you and your spouse?  What are you going to do if you're stuck in the house with no power and maybe even snowed in?

Dollar stores are wonderful sources of cheap entertainment for kids and adults.  You can get a supply of coloring books, crayons, paint sets, marker sets, play dough (although I prefer real Playdoh), little plastic army men and animals, craft sets, crossword puzzle books and other books, playing cards and games, and lots of other things.  For less than $20.00, you can get enough stuff to keep most kids busy, hopefully for the duration of the emergency.  Store your goodies in a plastic container and hide it from the kids.  You want them to be surprised with fun things to do that are unfamiliar to them.

Most emergencies are stressful but there are things you can do to make the time pass more pleasantly.  The time to gather things for an eventual emergency is not when the storm hits.  It's now.

Moving outside your comfort zone

Remember when you were in elementary school and you only associated with kids who were in your grade?  You didn't interact with those who were even one grade lower or higher.  Then as you progressed into junior high and high school you started branching out a little to include kids of different grades.   You'd think that as adults it would be easier to have friends of different ages but there is still that tendency to stick with people of your own age.  That's really too bad.  Some of your closest friends might be women who are old enough to be your mother or young enough to be your daughter.

When I was a young mother, I lived far away from my mother and sisters but found friendship in several women who shared their wisdom and talents with me.  Let's see...Mary Ellen taught me how to can fruit.  Marge (who was raising five children) gave me child rearing advice.  Ruth, who was severely disabled with rheumatoid arthritis, taught me how to quilt by hand.  Ila taught me how to grow a garden.  I loved those women.  Much of what I learned about being a mother, I learned from them.  How I would have missed out if I had only interacted with other young mothers who were as clueless as I.

Several years later, I am still learning a great deal from dear friends of all ages.  I am thankful for those friends, not just because I learn from them but I enjoy their company.  My life is richer because of that bond of friendship.

After you get married and start having children, age means very little.  A woman having her first child at age 40 is experiencing many of the same struggles as a 20 year old having her first baby.  All of a sudden, there is much in common.  You might make a new friend if you step out of your (age) comfort zone and get to know women who have either gone through or are going through the same challenges that you are experiencing.

Bathroom conversations :)

Lilly is a 2 1/2 year old little girl with an extensive vocabulary.   We had this conversation while she was using the bathroom the other day.  I was sitting on the edge of the tub keeping an eye on her and she was taking her time.   Oh, and the family bathroom shares a common wall with the master bathroom.

Lilly, not in the bathroom  ;)

Lilly (after listening intently for a few seconds) - "What's that noise?"
Me - "That's the water from the shower.  I think Grumpy taking a shower in his bathroom."  (the grandkids call their grandpa "Grumpy")
Lilly - "That's the shower?  And Grumpy is taking a shower?"
Me - "Yes, Grumpy is taking a shower."
Lilly - "Is he naked?"
Me - "What!?"
Lilly - "Is Grumpy naked in the shower?"
Me - "Uhhhhh, I guess so."
Lilly - "So, is Grumpy naked?"
Me - "Aren't you finished going bathroom yet?"

Talk about being taken by surprise  :)  I related the story to Lilly's mom later and she laughed and explained.  Lilly had walked into their bathroom while her daddy was taking a shower and he told her to go out because he was naked.  Kids remember more than we think.  :)

Thrifty Thursday - Over budget and over time

I still need to add a mantel but that can wait a little while.

Two weeks ago, I posted about a project my husband and I were working on...building a new hearth for our pellet stove.  (post dated 11/1/12)  Well, I am happy to report that the hearth is completed.  It passed inspection and all clearances are up to code.  As usual, it cost twice as much as we anticipated and took waaaaay longer than planned.  But it's finished and it works beautifully.

Most do-it-yourself projects DO take longer and cost more than planned.  To cut down on too many nasty surprises, plan on twice the amount of time you think a project will take and double the estimated cost.  You still might go over but at least it won't be as much of a shock.

What's cooking? Wednesday - Meatball Sandwiches

Whenever I make something new for my husband, I ask him to rate it on a scale of 1-10.  This sandwich rated a 9.5 on the husband approval rating scale.  (I gave it a 10)

Meatball Sandwiches - YUM!

You can use any kind of bread for the sandwich, although a baguette-style loaf  works particularly well because it isn't too much bread in proportion to the meatballs.  I admit to loving Panera Bread's Asiago Cheese Demi Loaf when making this sandwich.  It's a little more expensive than what you'd buy at Safeway or Albertson's ($2.99 a loaf vs $1.99 a loaf) but I think it's worth the difference in cost.  Whatever you decide, it's sure to be a hit!

Meatball Sandwiches

For the meatballs -
1 lb ground beef
2 slices day-old bread
1 egg (or 1/4 c. egg replacer)
1/4 c. finely chopped onion or 2 T. dried onion
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper (or to taste)

Mix everything together in a bowl.  Form into one inch balls.  Cook in large frying pan over medium heat, until the meatballs are brown all the way through.

For the Sandwiches -
Cooked meatballs
1/2 c. to 1 c spaghetti sauce (canned or homemade)
2-3 oz. cheese (mozzarella, provolone or gouda work well), shredded
Parmesan cheese (to sprinkle on top)
Sandwich rolls, french bread, baguettes...some type of sturdy loaf-type bread

Turn oven to broil.  Mix the cooked meatballs with the spaghetti sauce.  I don't like mine really drippy so I don't use a lot of sauce but that's a personal preference.  Slice bread lengthwise.  Lightly toast bread under broiler.  Take out of broiler and put meatballs (and sauce) on one side of the loaf.   Sprinkle with shredded cheese and top with parmesan cheese.  Put under broiler again and broil until the cheese is melty and bubbly.  Yum!