Thursday, November 18, 2010

PURE GOODNESS PART 2!


My daughter had Parents and Pies today at school. I had ingredients for a blueberry pie, but I'd never made one before, so I was nervous to try it. Then I got lazy to go to the store, so try I did, and I'm a bit surprised at the yummy turn out. Although I don't know how wise it is to try a new recipe right before you're about to serve it...hahaha I got this recipe off of pickyourown.org.



How to make the

World's Best Blueberry Pie!

An easy and great blueberry pie recipe!

Step 1 -get the oven preheating to 375 F.

Step 2- Wash the blueberries

Just rinse them in a colander or sieve in cold water, no soap.

Step 3 - Mix the dry filling ingredients.

Combine the 2/3 cup sugar (or sugar/Splenda blend), 7 Tablespoons of corn starch in a bowl and mix well! Some people like 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and/or 1/4 teaspoon of allspice, mixed in, also. That's optional, but it is nice!

Step 4 - Mix in the liquids

Add the 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3 Tablespoons of water (or grape juice) and stir it up. If you use Splenda, it will be pretty gloppy, rather than drier crumbs, but it still works the same!

Step 5 - Add the blueberries to the pie crust

Add the blueberries to the pie crust. Just pour them in! There's lots of air space and it will cook down, so don't worry if they mound up about an inch (2.5 cm) above the edge of the plate.

Step 6 - Pour the liquid mix into the pie

Just pour the mixture of sugar, juice, etc. into the pie all over the blueberries. If it is a gloppy liquid, don’t worry, just pour it somewhat evenly over the top. But it doesn’t take perfection; it will smooth itself out in the oven.

Step 7 - Make and add your topping

mix

- 1/4 cup sugar (OR 1/8 cup sugar and 1/8 cup Splenda)

- 1/2 cup flour

- 1/4 cup butter or margarine

together in a small bowl and sprinkle it over the pie.

Step 8 - Put the pie in the oven!

Cook the pie at 375 F (or 190 Celsius) for 1 hour.

Step 9 - Remove when the pie is golden and pie is bubbling

Check to see if it is bubbling and crust is golden brown. If if not, check every 3 or 4 minutes until it is.

Step 10 - Enjoy!

Set the pie on a rack to cool and enjoy!


Tips

  • If you use frozen berries, it helps to sprinkle 3 tablespoons of corn starch in pie crust/pan just before you add the blueberries! That helps to suck up any additional liquid, so the pie won't be runny.

PURE GOODNESS!

Made this yesterday from Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom. We don't need to be gluten free around here, but it's oftentimes a good source for lactose free which hubby hotness needs. As you can see she adapted it, and I did as well for our needs and what I had around. I only had regular quick oats, so I doubled the amount listed in this recipe, and I added about a 1/4 c. of sugar because we have a sweet tooth around here.

Even my super-picky daughter was liking this.


Slow Cooker Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal (adapted by me to be gluten-free from a recipe I found on LaaLoosh)

15-oz. Pumpkin Puree (I used fresh but canned will work just as well).

5 cups Water

1 1/2 cups Steel-Cut Oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Steel Cut Oats).

1/4 cup Honey

1 Tbs. Pure Maple Syrup

1 tsp. ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Fine Sea Salt

Dried Cranberries and Chopped Walnuts (optional, but yummy!)

  • Add all of the ingredients (except cranberries and walnuts) to a slow cooker, stir to combine, cover and cook on low for about 6 hours. NOTE: Due to the wide range of differences in slow cookers, you might need to make some time adjustments according to how your particular slow cooker operates.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Alright, it seems like I start off every post with "It's been a long time since my last post..." so let's just assume that and get to the good stuff! :)

click for full-size image

HUBBY HOTNESS' BIRTHDAY!

We sure are a lucky family to have him! SO BLESSED! So we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival (one of my FAVORITES!) earlier this month, and there was someone dressed up like the Wild Thing. HH's mother used to call him that growing up, so I had to have a picture.

I used this theme for the invites and cake for his special day.

For dinner I made my empanadas. Not original, but HH LOVES them! Some of you asked for the recipe. Check out the link, and let me know how it goes. (Ellice-no tequila in mine! hahaha)

MAX Cake! :)
For inspiration I used a combination of ideas from
Party Perfect and Armelle. Thank you!

It was a fun evening. Love you HH!



Thursday, July 8, 2010

2010 - The 2nd Quarter??

Sheesh! I really need to get better at posting!


APRIL
, MAY & JUNE

After reading My Life in France for book club, I decided to try ratatouille. This photo doesn't do it justice, but can we say YUMMY?


Growing sunflowers in pots.


April flowers




Fiesta Float parade - the shoebox Star Wars version

Hilariously perfect Mother's Day gift from my sister-in-law - Team Edward!


Teacher Appreciation Week and End of the Year gifts for our wonderful teachers


Aunt Olga's Graduation! I don't like the length of graduations, but I love the tradition of it.

The Star Wars Exhibit at NASA! Whoa! My girls were in heaven!

Father's Day gift from the children - a candy treasure box



A sure sign that summer playgroups have started...

Now there have been a few parties that warrant their own posting, so I'll do those hopefully soon! Ciao!

Monday, July 5, 2010

HAPPY EIGHT YEARS TOGETHER!

Dear Hubby Hotness!

I love you!
Thanks for all you are and do and the way you love.
The last eight years together have been the best party ever!
Here's to eternity!


Thursday, April 8, 2010

2010 - the 1st Quarter (minus the Oscar Gathering)

JANUARY

I was loving this random orange tree our neighbor has back in January. This isn't the best shot because the tree is surrounded by so many other plants but if you look close you can see that the fruit is attached straight to the branches-no greenery. This might be common knowledge on how all things orange tree work, but I'm a newbie and loved the visual.


January also brought my Dad's 60th Birthday. It was a nice surprise birthday party held at the India Palace - YUM - with lots of family & friends. Love you Dad!


Dad's name is Bruce; his favorite color is blue, and his favorite candy is Hershey's with almonds, so favors for his party were easy but festive.


FEBRUARY

I made these fun magnets for my children's teachers.


And these were treats for friends, neighbors & Church peeps. I just made a bunch of different goodies and cut them out into heart shapes.




Check out these YUMMMMY Lemon Blueberry Muffins I made! My awesome friend Kerstin introduced them to me. I ate way too many!

Grandma's Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Kerstin's Kitchen

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest of one lemon
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening (or butter*)
1 cup frozen blueberries

Topping (this makes extra - you can try cutting it down if you want):
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tb lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs, milk and shortening. Stir in blueberries. Add dry ingredients and stir gently to combine. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Combine butter and lemon juice. While the muffins are still warm, dip the tops in the butter and lemon juice, then dip in sugar. Makes 12 muffins. *I substitute butter because I love the taste! It works great either way.


MARCH

The 1st two dinners al fresco of the season! First we had shishkabobs. I made beef & veggies ones for the grown-ups and hot dog & chicken nuggets kabobs for the little ones. :) For dessert: pear kabobs. That was my 1st time grilling fruit besides pineapple, and it didn't turn out bad.


The next time we made tin foil dinners. I LOVE TIN FOIL DINNERS!


For Easter we had a potluck, and I decided to try these little ditties. I know there are a ton of ways to make these, but I wanted lactose Hubby Hotness to partake, so I started with dairy free white cupcakes.


Took out the centers.


Frosted them with dairy-free frosting.


Mixed up my nest stuffing using soy milk, coconut and different dye colors.


Before the eggs were laid:


And after. :)


Then HH prepped for the Easter bunny.


Must see the tracks!






Mama couldn't wait to find some eggs! hahaha


Monday, March 1, 2010

OSCARS!

So one of my ALL TIME favorite parties to throw is my annual Oscar Gathering. I did this for a few years in a row before I had children and took a bit of a sabbatical- a SIX year sabbatical to be exact. I was going to start again this year and even had most of my invites out, but life throws you some curve balls and it was not meant to be. Here is what I had planned for Sunday:

Invitations: I used Avatar as my inspiration this year. It was nominated for:

Best Art Direction -- Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg and Kim Sinclair
Best Cinematography --Mauro Fiore
Best Director -- James Cameron
Best Film Editing -- Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
Best Original Score -- James Horner
Best Picture
Best Sound Editing -- Christopher Boyle and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
Best Sound Mixing -- Christopher Boyles, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
Best Visual Effects -- Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones

I found some cute little plants that were kind of willowy looking like the Tree of Souls in the movie and spray painted them with white marking spray (the kind used for football fields.)

Then I wrapped the pots in a yarn I found at Wal-mart that was fuzzy and has those hyper colors of purple, fuchsia, blues & greens.

Then I created this cover on card stock, sprayed it with glitter body paint, and attached the actual invite behind it.


Red Carpet Entrance:


I've actually never done this before, so I was excited to do it-albeit on a much smaller scale. Next year! Here's the tutorial I was using at Celebrations.com.

Paparazzi Booth:

So CUTE! Found on 2000dollarwedding.com.

Games: Everyone has to pick a celebrity and write that celebrity's initials on a gold star they receive. They also get 5 safety pins. Then you go around and ask people questions to try and guess who their celebrity is. If you get it right, the celebrity owner gives you a safety pin. Whoever has the most pins at the end wins a prize. I was going to be:

Sigourney Weaver.
I LOVE the Aliens movies, and she was fun in Avatar.

We also were going to have "poison-dipped" arrows (paintballs) for a bit of an Avatar show.


Children's Games/Crafts/Decor: Princess & the Frog - Hide & Go Frog Seek - Hide a bunch of frogs & let the kids go for it.

Princess & the Frog is nominated for:

Best Animated Feature Ron Clements and John Musker
Best Original Song Randy Newman ("Almost There")
Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans")


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - decorate pretzel wands. Harry's nominated for Best Cinematography.



Up - Have helium balloons tied to small doll houses (that the my girls have in their toy collection).
Up is nominated for: Best Picture (Awesome!) & Best Animated Feature.


Ballots & prizes: I was in the process of creating a nominees video that we would loop through during the pre-awards show. Here's The Young Victoria. I really enjoyed this film! It's nominated for:
  • Best Art Direction
  • Best Costume Design
  • Best Makeup





Here's the link to the official ballot page: http://oscar.go.com/media/2010/pdf/OSCAR_BALLOT.pdf

For prizes I've always had the same thing, and I think people like it. Gift cards to the movies, gift cards to Blockbuster & gift cards to Barnes & Nobles. (All movies start with a story.)

Food: We always do a potluck. I give everyone a fun theme when I create the invites, and this year it was "What Wolfgang would create for the Governor's Ball." YUMMY! But as you can see the main course is deceivingly simple, so I was going to do a crock pot version. (Which is nice for me when I'm the hostess and don't want to worry about food during the actual party.) I was also going to buy some chocolate truffles.

Last but not least: FAVORS! I found these on Bakerella.com. She is incredible!


I was so excited about these that I think I'm still going to make them and give them out to those invited.

Well, that's it! Fun to plan. Will be fun to execute next year. Feel free to use any of these ideas for yourselves!

Hollywood HoustonW