Slideshow For Papa

Click here. Hopefully practice makes perfect. : )

By The Way...

They do smile every once in a while too...

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What If No One Were Fat

Here's something to savor after my custard pie post...

If any of us need another reason to keep healthy, HERE is an article I thought was just fascinating to think about… So do a workout for Mother Earth! I'm right behind you, I swear.

Creamy Custard Fruit Pie

I've tried cooking a couple new things recently, and had enough success to recommend the recipes! I've never baked a pie before, so this was an adventure, but very tasty. It's an apple pie, with egg custard built in. Interestingly, I got the recipe from Cooking Light. In this case it might be better named "Cooking Slightly Lighter Than The Cheesecake Factory." But hey, the recipe is good and it makes a serious pie. Enjoy!


Crust:
1/2 of a 15 oz. package refrigerated pie dough
cooking spray

Streusel topping:
1/3 c flour
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:
5 c sliced and peeled granny smith apples (about 2 lb)
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 3/4 c fat free buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325.

To prepare crust, roll dough into a 14 inch circle, fit into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate coated with cooking spray. Fold edges under, flute. Place in fridge.

To prepare streusel, spoon 1/3 c flour into a dry measuring cup, level with knife. Combine flour, brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a medium bowl, cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Place in fridge.

Filling - heat large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add sliced apples, 1/4 c sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, cook 10 minutes or until apple is tender, stirring occasionally. Spoon mixture into prepared crust.

Combine remaining 3/4 c sugar, 2 tbsp flour, salt and eggs, stir with whisk. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Pour over apple mixture. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 300, sprinkle streusel over pie. Bake at 300 for 40 min or until set. Let stand 1 hour before serving.

Yields 10 servings, 317 calories each. So don't eat the whole pie in one sitting!

Strata

Here's another great recipe I've tried recently! It's courtesy of my mother-in-law CJ, and I'm especially thrilled to have a recipe that 1) can be made in advance, and 2) can feed a lot of people. This one has baby shower written all over it.

Breakfast Strata

1 tube bob evans sausage
8 eggs
10 slices bread, cubed
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1-10 oz frozen chopped broccoli
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp basil
1 tsp salt

Brown sausage and drain. Mix together with rest of ingredients. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan, cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake in 350 degree oven for 60-70 min.

Baby Photos

I have never been very good at determining who a baby looks like. Babies look like babies to me, I just don't see resemblance. But the proof seems to be in the baby pictures... These are Dave and me as little tykes, I definitely see the resemblance between Dave and Logan, and Ada and me.

Splish Splash!

End Of An Era

Well, my body is almost completely back to normal, which is to say that the nursing adventure is over. When I was pregnant I decided to nurse because it seemed like the sensible thing to do, but there have been a lot of surprises since then. I miss it, and have been grieving the loss of that special time with Ada and Logan.

There is lots of silver lining of course, and I'm trying to see it, but it really feels like the end of an era.

Best Movies 2008

The movies in 2008 were pretty slim pickings in my opinion, I hardly saw anything the first half of the year. But when it was good, it was very, very good.

• Ironman – What an unexpected treat, I am definitely a fan of Robert Downey Jr. now.


• The Dark Knight – One of the most fun movie openings EVER. I felt like I was at a rock concert. Oh yeah, and the movie actually lived up to the hype.


• Wall-E – I am a sucker for Pixar animated movies, and although this one didn’t live up to the likes of Ratatouille, it’s still more entertaining than most of what’s out there. Definitely worth the buck I spent at the dollar theater.


• Role Models – Possibly my favorite of the year. It’s in the “crude humor” genre, of the same caliber of 40 Year Old Virgin, which I consider a masterpiece.


• Twilight – My expectations were low, and Edward Cullen was sexier than expected, so I’ll give this one a pass too.


• Frost / Nixon – You’d be surprised how much more intense the conversations in this movie are, thanks to the big screen.


• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – I love David Fincher, and Brad Pitt is no slouch either. I thought this was a really interesting movie, not perfect, but definitely worth seeing. I’m frustrated that the credits say it’s based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but last year I read a novel with the same concept and have not heard it mentioned at all!

Now granted, I haven’t seen Quantum of Solace, Doubt, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionare or Milk, but who has time for all these in the same couple weeks? These don’t count. I object to the practice of giving all the Academy Awards to movies released in the last week of the year, do voters have the attention spans of mice?

Do NOT see Tropic Thunder. Really, what were they thinking? Well, ok, rent it for the Tom Cruise dance, but be careful not to peek at the rest. Disaster, truly.

"Solid" Food

For the last few weeks, we've been working on "solid" foods with Logan and Ada. We started with rice cereal, which is like a more boring version of oatmeal. Now we are combining some baby foods, to check for allergies and introduce some actual flavor to our little ones! We started with sweet potato, then squash, carrots, peas, and now we're on green beans. It's been fun to see them learning how to deal with a spoon. Initially it was a game of how to keep foreign objects out of the mouth by pushing with the tongue! But now Logan is a baby bird, and Ada is coming along too. Of course, none of this bland baby food compares to the sample of pumpkin pie that Logan got at Christmas dinner, his eyes were like saucers!

We Got A Bumbo Seat!

Best Books 2008

I did manage to finish 35 books this year, but don't be too impressed, I had a pretty high proportion of re-reads and girlie fluff. I don't really think they even warrant a top 10 list, but here were the highlights:

• Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - You probably already know what a big Bill Bryson fan I am, and this one takes the cake. It's a memoir about growing up in the 50s, and I found it hugely entertaining. As a bonus, Bryson actually grew up in the same neighborhood and years that my mother did, in Des Moines, Iowa, so the landmarks were fun to hear about.
• Helen of Troy - Ok, this is embarrassing. I have a degree in Art History, but I really don't know much mythology. At all. So this was an interesting novel, told from the perspective of Helen of Troy, and her influence on the Trojan War.
• Life of Pi - I've been meaning to read this for years, and despite Dave's lukewarm review, I gave it a shot, and I'm so glad I did! I thought it was absolutely fascinating and original. It's about a boy who is stranded on a life boat with a collection of zoo animals, including a Bengal tiger, and how he manages. The story was approached from such a practical perspective that it seemed like a chapter from Worst Case Scenario.
  
• Undomestic Goddess - Another favorite author, Sophie Kinsella. It's a comedy about a successful attorney that gets fired, and accidentally accepts a job as a housekeeper. A book so nice I read it twice.
• Peace Like A River - Usually a creative writing style puts me off, I am all about the plot, but this book is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. It's a great big gorgeous poem, and the story about a Midwestern family in the sixties is wonderful too.
• Born Standing Up - Memoir by Steve Martin about his roots in stand up comedy. Why anyone would choose this for a career is beyond me, it must be in the genes. And he is another great writer, if you haven't read Shop Girl you're missing out.
• Breaking Dawn - I read the entire Twilight series, and the last book struck me as the most complex, and therefore the most fun. (The first couple are VERY light reading.) It's a teenage vampire theme. Maybe the mythology thing isn't quite as embarrassing after all.