I made blueberry pies today.  I love baking.  It is my happy place.  These pies are my favorite.  The good thing is you can make them with almost any fruit.  Blueberries, strawberries, peaches, raspberries, etc.  You can adjust the spices as well.  Use more cinnamon in the topping or filling.  Or use nutmeg and cloves.  Use apples and cinnamon with a top crust instead of crumb topping.  The possibilities are endless!

Blueberry Crumble Pie

Crust:

1 ¼ C flour

¼ tsp salt

1/3 C shortening (Crisco)

4-5 T water

Filling:

½ C flour

½ C sugar

1 T cornstarch

4-6 C berries (6 C for deep dish)

Topping:

¾ C flour

¾ C sugar

6 T butter

Dash of nutmeg (or cinnamon or whatever you want-optional)

For the filling, toss together the flour, sugar, cornstarch and berries (you can adapt this to strawberries, peaches, etc).  Set aside.

For the topping combine flour, sugar (you can also use brown sugar), and nutmeg and cut in butter until pea size crumbs form.  Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 400.  For the crust combine flour and salt.  Cut in shortening until pea sized crumbs form.  Add 4 T water and stir to combine.  The dough should not be wet or sticky, but should hold together.  Add more water if needed.  Roll out on a floured surface to fit your pie dish.  Roll it up on the rolling pin to transfer to the pie dish.  Lightly press in to make sure it is flat in the corner and up the sides.

Pour your fruit filling into the unbaked crust.  Sprinkle topping over fruit.  Make sure all the fruit is covered with the topping.  Use all of it.  Put it on a cookie sheet to catch drippings and put it in the oven at 400 for 20 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 375 and bake for 40 minutes more.  If the topping isn’t browned after that you can broil it on high for just a few minutes (watch it so it doesn’t burn).  Enjoy with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

AMBROSIA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
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1 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. (12 oz.) Ambrosia semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, stir
together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing
bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and
fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat well. Add dry ingredients
to creamed mixture and blend. Stir Ambrosia chips into
mixture. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball. Place
each ball 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake
for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove sheet from the oven and place
cookies on a cooling rack. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Carol's Cornbread

This is my mother-in-law's cornbread recipe.  I only had it written down so I decided to blog it so I could pin it.  It comes out perfectly every time!

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 9X13 Pan and coat with sugar. Add 1/2 Cup Canola Oil, 1 Cup Sugar, 2 Eggs, 1 & 1/2 Cups Milk, 1 & 1/2 Cups of Flour, 1 Cup Cornmeal, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt. Mix it all together and pour in prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes. Enjoy!

Pecan Crumb Crust

I tried to make a pecan shortbread crust for my pumpkin pie this year and failed miserably.  So I called my mom to get her recipe (which I should have done in the first place).  Here's what she gave me and it was so delicious I had to share. (also so I could pin it to Pinterest which is where all my recipes are now!)

1/2 C butter, softened
1/3 C brown sugar

1 1/4 C flour
1/2 C pecans, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.  Press into a 8 or 9 inch pie plate.  Pour in filling of your choice (pumpkin is delicious!).  Cover crust with foil around the edges and bake according to your filling recipe.

Enjoy!

Meagan's Poem

After a particularly hard day, Dan sat down with Meagan on the computer because Meagan wanted to write a poem.  This is what she wrote/sang:

Mom, I love you and you love me too.
Whenever I have any trouble I always call you and then you will help me.
Mom you help me cause you sleep every night,
You let me sleep in your bed and you sleep in mine,
So I won’t be scared in the dark in the night.
She loves me and I love her.
We will always go on a flower hunt each day and play in the park together,
She is mom and we will always go on any bug hunt finding insects everywhere,
We will go everywhere and we’ll be so happy.
And you’re my mooooom!
We will always make chocolate chip cookies together each day.
She is my love mom. 

It was exactly what I needed.  Being a mom is the best thing in the world.  Having Teague home and the whole family together is wonderful.  Yes, there are hard days but it is all worth it!  I'm realizing that our little ones won't be little for long!

If you want to see pictures of Teague and family, go here to Dan's blog.  http://according2dan.blogspot.com/

He's almost here!!

I'm not sure anyone even reads this blog since I am SOOOOO bad at posting.  But if you are interested, tomorrow we will be going to the hospital to have our baby!  I had an appointment today and my doctor said I am far enough along he wants to go ahead and deliver tomorrow.  He will be out of town and wants to be here for the delivery.  So, hopefully I will get to post pictures soon of our new little boy!  I can't wait to meet him and see what he looks like!  

Call Me Crazy

Although being from Arizona, I LOVE the snow.  When I lived there, I cursed every day I had to turn on the air conditioning in my car over Christmas break.  So when we moved here, I loved to see the trees change color and the peaks of the mountains accumulate snow.  Then it snowed at our own house and it was so beautiful.  The girls loved it.  I appreciated the cold weather, even if I had to shovel two feet of snow on our extra long driveway.  I watched the snow glitter as I threw it in the grass.  The whole winter Dan complained mostly because of his commute to work.  I hated to hear him complain.  Then I listened to others who were from here that hated it too.  It seemed like everyone wished it would stop snowing.  Then fast forward to today.  Today we had another snowfall.  We had to walk to church in near blizzard conditions, all 100 feet or so.  Granted it was tough for the kids but they had fun using their princess umbrellas and seeing the snow collect on their coats.  It only took us a minute or two to get to the church but I found myself asking if we should have taken the car.  Even then, I found myself reveling in the falling snow and smiling to myself.  Maybe my opinion will change in a few years, but it makes me sad to hear so many people complain of the wonderful phenomenon of snow and cold and cloudy skies.  I guess growing up in Arizona I had too many days of searing hot sun and soon the cloudy skies will get to me too.  But right now, I am thoroughly enjoying another blast of winter.