Pie!

I do not recall ever making a true* pie before. You know - cutting cold butter into flour, making pretty edges on the crust, prepping the filling, etc.
I love a good piece of homemade apple pie, but I would never attempt to make it myself. No culinary desire to do so. Until this past weekend...

I asked ShankRabbit what kind of dessert he would like for his birthday.

"Pecan pie. Man, I LOVE pecan pie," he said, practically drooling.
My look of confusion must have signaled further explanation.
"It's my dad's fault - it's his favorite as well. Wait...you didn't know my favorite pie is pecan?"

I've known this man for 9 years, been married to him for almost 3, and I would have never guessed pecan pie as his favorite. The only pie I've ever seen him consume was pumpkin (this man makes a kick-butt pumpkin pie, I must say).

My first thought was "maybe I could find a pre-made GF pecan pie?" Before you laugh at me, there is a place in Pewaukee known as Molly's Gluten-Free Bakery. They make excellent GF bakery items (I have a great story about this place, but I'll save it for a later post). Unfortunately, I was not within in their 2 day notice time frame and didn't see "pecan pie" on their list...so I was definitely stuck making my own.

If you have never attempted baking something gluten free, try it sometime. It will humble you. Bland and brittle are just two words that describe the majority of my GF baking attempts.

After a lengthy online search, I settled on combining this GF basic pie crust recipe (from Glutenfreeda.com) with this pecan filling recipe (from Pillsbury.com)

So, I was set to make the pie...except there was a catch. We were having dinner with friends (and their parents) that night, so I had to finish baking it there.

...

Did you catch that? Not only was I bringing them a GF pecan pie that I had never tried before, but I had to finish baking it in someone else's kitchen (a.k.a. an oven I was not familiar with).

[Cue minor freak out]

After I calmed down a bit, I figured, "hey, if this pie sucks, at least we'll have a funny story to tell" and I would have a great blog post.

Pie was eventually baked and consumed...with delight. I've never had pecan pie before so I can't give a true comparison, but I can tell you that it did not taste GF at all. It was darn tasty.

There were quite a few people at dinner that night, so the pie servings were pretty small. I decided to make another pecan pie a few days later...you know, to see if I could make it just as good.

My stomach says yes.

____________________
* Our Thanksgiving Pumpkin pies don't count because we use a simple cereal pie crust. Very easy, very yummy.

Random #21

I need to lighten the mood around here, people. It is time to bring out the big guns - Random Thursday!
--
I was in the bathroom washing my hands when I heard a "clip clop" noise entering Peanut's bedroom from the kitchen (her bedroom is right off the bathroom). When I saw what she was doing I burst into laughter...and let her continue what she was doing so I could get the camera ready:



What are those, you ask? The caps to her bottles. She pulled everything off the shelf got a couple from the bottle shelf and was using them to crawl. I was amused and impressed at the same time. I mean, this could be her future:



I drew an arrow indicating what I was talking about...in case you thought I was referring to the uber-creepy cheetah (while a very talented performer, that animal in the Broadway version of "The Lion King" gave me the bejeebees. I think it was the way he moved).

* * * * *

I could do a whole post of pictures from Peanut's birthday, but I'm sure you wouldn't be all that interested in them (since I'd probably blur out the faces of anyone that was not ShankRabbit, Peanut or myself). I do want to take a moment to talk about the AWESOMENESS of our friend who did the cake and cupcakes for the party. She went over and above expectations - both in taste (I shed a tear when I ate the last cupcake) and presentation. All we asked for were cupcakes and a small cake with a "spring" theme. Here's the magic she created:




Those big cupcakes are flower-shaped! With white chocolate butterflies (and the letter "A" - Peanut's real first initial)!


I spent a long time staring at this cake - before, during and after the party. The details are insane! The first (and only) thing Peanut was interested in eating off this cake were the tomatoes. Funny. It was almost as if she knew it was too pretty to eat...though being sick could have had something to do with it.

So, if the cake decorator superwoman is reading this right now - thank you thank you thank you!

* * * * *

When was the last time you smiled this big?



Swings = huge hit.

Weekend review

We are back and made it through Saturday. Fortunately, Mother Nature was smiling on us and we got a 70+ degree day with lots of sunshine. For a Midwest April, this is amazing (Sunday was 45 and rainy, if that says anything)!

For my reference, a few important notes for next year:

1. Don't do favors
2. If your child touches your face with cake hands, make sure husband checks your face before pictures are taken (after reviewing our photos, it looks like I have chocolate snot. Greeeeat...I'm sure several other people got the same shot).
3. Make sure the time of the party doesn't interfere with nap time...especially with a sick child. She wasn't miserable - but not her usual smiling self.



I am not amused.

This little bundle of teething sickness decided that the day of her first birthday (Sunday) was the perfect time to start walking and feeding herself with a spoon. However, the continuation of doing either of these is on her OWN time...no amount of coaxing can get her to do it when you want her to (good thing we got the first steps on video).

* * * * *

Dance Party Time!
(Have no idea what I'm referring to?...read the bottom of this post)

Artist/Band: The Pointer Sisters
Song Title: Jump
Kid-friendly?: Yes

And here is a great scene of Hugh Grant dancing to this song (as the Prime Minister in the movie "Love Actually." If you haven't seen this movie. Go watch it right now. Seriously)