My First Pie

I found a recipe in my November issue of Better Homes and Gardens for a Caramel-Apple-Cherry-Cranberry Pie, and it sounded too good not to try. I don't normally have a lot of occassions for baking, though. If I just made all the recipes I see that sound good I'd end up eating them all myself and probably weigh about 500 pounds. Luckily, my friend Mindy has an annual Christmas party and I needed to bring either an appetizer or dessert, so it was a perfect chance to try the pie. Usually when I try new recipes I'm making them to take somewhere and/or serve to other people so I'm always nervous that it won't turn out right or taste good. And I do have to admit to two minor mistakes, one with the crust, and one ingredient I forgot to include. But I came up with a solution to the crust issue and I don't think the forgotten ingredient was crucial to the overall taste of the pie. So in spite of those little mess-ups, I'd call my first pie a success! It tastes delicious and I think it looks pretty good too, but you can be the judge of that.

 

Cupcake Surprise

That, my friends, is a chocolate-filled sweet potato cupcake, and it's delicious! I would've never thought to put sweet potato in cupcakes, but it is surprisingly delightful. I got the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, and made a succesful batch this weekend. The chocolate inside is a nice addition, but I think they'd still be good without. And I think they're actually better with vanilla icing instead of chocolate. (As a choc-o-holic I can't believe I just said that, but it's true.) I've been wanting to try these out for a while, but I was laid up with a sinus infection for a while and I also didn't really have an occasion to make them for, until this weekend. My friend Mindy invited me for dinner with her and her family, and it seemed like a good excuse to make some cupcakes. Spending some time with them was a nice addition to a great weekend, when I had time to catch up on errands and things around the house that had piled up while I was sick, and also spend some time relaxing with some movies and a book or two. It was just what I needed after a super busy week last week that I struggled through while I still wasn't feeling 100%. And now I feel ready for this last week before Christmas!

Try, Try Again

Today I tried using my breadmaker for the first time to actually bake a loaf of wheat bread. I've used it before, but just to make dough. Unfortunately, something happened and the machine either burned out or blew a fuse or something (still trying to figure that out) and I couldn't finish the baking cycle. It appeared that it had mixed everything together and the dough had risen, and it just needed to be baked. So I tried taking it out of the machine and putting it in the oven to bake. I'm not sure yet whether it worked, I think I have to wait for it to cool to test it. I also started a new knitting pattern today. I have some friends who I need to make some baby gifts for, and I decided to try some new items/patterns instead of making the same stuff I always do. In the (unlikely) chance that they read this, I'll have to wait until they get the gifts to post about them more specifically. These two things I've tried today are very small in the grand scheme of life, but it got me thinking about willingness to try. I think that maybe a big reason so many people are afraid to change or try new things is because of the possibility of failure. Nobody likes to fail, myself included, but if we live our lives out of fear we miss out on endless potential experiences. I think most of us could probably work more at trying new things, large and small.

Chocolate

Today did not start out as I planned. I had planned to get up early as I've done just about every Saturday for the last few weeks and months and go for my "long" run. But as I was waking up I heard the wind blowing around a lot and decided to wait to go later in the day. So instead I started my day by watching some tv in bed, and then having some coffee and breakfast and doing some reading. Then, as I planned to do after my run, I worked on my sermons for tomorrow (the regular morning worship and a memorial service). I got my run in right before lunch, since I only did 8 miles today (not really very long compared to my other long runs, but I'm tapering back now for the marathon). Finished up my sermons and some stuff around the house in the afternoon, and then ran some errands at Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond (I heart Target!). I was seriously craving chocolate today, so I picked up a brownie mix. After I had dinner, I made the brownies, and then later had one with ice cream for dessert. Along with some wine. :) What a great to unwind at the end of the day.

TGIF?

This was one of those Fridays (my regular "day off") that I spent mostly doing pretty boring stuff around the house like cleaning, because it was one of those crazy weeks where I let all of that stuff go until today. I interspersed some fun things into my day to help me get through my to-do list: I watched a few episodes of Gilmore Girls (from seasons 3 and 4), read a little, spent about an hour and a half on the beach, and baked some cranberry-orange bread and (homemade) granola.
I finished my latest book before going to bed last night: "Does the Noise in my Head Bother You?"- Steven Tyler's memoir. It was... interesting. Aerosmith is one of my all-time favorite bands, in the top 3. I learned a lot about the band and it's members, and learned that Steven Tyler is probably a musical genius. I also learned that's he's probably more than a little crazy, and learned way more about the drugs they did than I ever needed to know. If you like biographies and/or rock bands you would probably like this book, but be warned that it would probably have the equivalent of an "R" rating for a movie: there's a lot of harsh language and I found some of his comments offensive.
Now I'm close to finishing another book (fiction) that I had actually started before, but had to put aside when I got Steven Tyler's book from the library. I plan to read a bit more tonight and go to bed early, so I can get up early for a long run in the morning.

Domestic Diva

This is totally who I've been lately. I've recently baked a banana bread and brownies, and also made a veggie lasagna when I had friends over for dinner the other day. It was my first lasagna, and turned out well. I'm proud of myself. :) My knitting has been going well too, I've made two more hats for little ones and my first set of mittens. I've also made some more dishcloths, including a round one, which I think looks pretty cool (thanks Katy)! I finally made something for myself too. I crocheted a hat from a video I found online, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

From snow to sun, and back again!

Following the cold, gray days of last week, we finally had some great weather on Sunday and Monday. Here at the shore it was sunny and in the 50's! I took advantage of the unusual warmth and spent some time outside taking Sadie for a walk and playing catch with her, and breaking out my shorts to go for a run. I think the weather had both of us a little amped up. I'm looking forward to consistently warmer days so I can get back to a regular running schedule (I don't typically run when its in the 30's or less... not a fan of the cold). In the meantime, I've been doing a workout video three days a week. Its by the trainer Jillian from the tv show The Biggest Loser. She's scary on that show and I figured it would motivate me to have her yelling at me. It's going ok so far. I lost a few pounds pretty quickly at the beginning but haven't lost any more since then (I've been using it for about a month now), but I'm hoping that's at least partly because it doesn't just do cardio but also strength training so I'm building muscle. It has three levels of workouts and I'm on level 2. It's hard enough that I'm afraid to see what level 3 will be like, but curiosity may get the better of me one of these days soon.
I knew that warm weather wouldn't last, and today I woke up to snow flurries. There's just a light dusting on the ground right now, but its supposed to snow most of the day so they're predicting up to 4 inches. We'll see what happens. Luckily, I don't have anything scheduled that requires me to drive anywhere today (living next to the church is convenient at times like this). Now those in ministry will know that doesn't meant something can't come up, but at this point I should be able to spend most of the day planning, etc. and working on my mid-year evaluation. We're also doing a baptism today (yay!) for an adult who works on weekends and therefore can't attend Sunday worship.
Other than work today, I'll probably continue working on my two current knitting projects. I'm almost done with a dishcloth, and I'm also working on a scarf for my little cousin. I recently finished the scarf for my mom, so I plan to send that to her this week. (Do you notice a pattern here? At this point in my knitting, I only know how to make scarves and dishcloths!) I also did end up making those cookies last week. It was a mix that came with everything layered in one jar and all I had to add was butter and an egg. They're pretty crazy cookies, cause they have just about everything in them (mini M&Ms, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and chopped walnuts), but they're delicious! I also did some scrapbooking with my outside-of-the-church group last night. I'm working on some Christmas layouts, I'll post pictures of them when I've done more later.
Here are pictures of the scarf for my mom, and the crazy cookies!


And oh yeah...

GO STEELERS!!!
Six-time Super Bowl Champs! :)

Prepare to be shocked...

I baked an apple crisp from scratch!
Those of you who know me well know that I do not cook or bake often. However, last Saturday I engaged in a wonderful fall activity and went apple-picking with some friends and came home with a bag full of yummy Braeburn, Empire, and Golden Delicious apples (I like the sweet ones). Since I am just one person and would likely not be able to eat all the apples I brought home before they went bad, I decided to get domestic for a change and bake something. An apple crisp seemed to be the easiest to attempt. I used the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Maybe not perfect, as I think the butter could have been blended better among the other topping ingredients, but I was satisfied.
See for yourself!