How 'Bout Them Pies? (Part II)

Remember how yesterday, I showed you my beef and mushroom pot pies and promised you MORE? Whelpers... Here it is.  Beginning with a pie crust tutorial (and ending with the pie crust tutorial... read until the end, please...):

Yes... I used the food processor (the 2nd time around...). Put your ingredients in the food processor, beginning with the dry. Process the dry ingredients and SAVE YOURSELF the sifting time! (Tip of the day... hey!)

 Add COLD butter (everything tastes better with butter, ya know...) and a tiny bit of margarine (TY, Martha Stewart!) and process until it resembles peas. Not MUSHED peas, but firm looking little peas, popped right out of the pods...

See? I can see the peas in there... just pretend peas are white for minute, would you?

You should be able to press it together (between your fingers) and have it stick fairly well together.

Then... drop by drop, put in the water, processing BRIEFLY. It should roughly form a ball. A ball of dough. (Duh...)

 

[Sorry don't know what happened to the rest of the pictures of the dough-making, but I can't find them anywhere anymore.]

 

Now... take it out and wrap it super duper tight in plastic wrap and refrigerate it. For about an hour. If it's longer, that's fine, too.  As long as it's tightly wrapped, it should be fine.

 

Remove from the fridge and let stand for about 10 minutes or so before rolling. Woohoo! You did it! (I did, too!) Roll out just like I did in the first post about all of this... (CLICK HERE TO SEE!)

I'll give you part 3 tomorrow... with the actual pics of the turkey pot pie. Please be patient. I'm barely making it post today as it is. The losing-the-picture-thingy totally set me off and on a frenzied rampage. I finally had to realize you all weren't gonna die without them...

But here's a couple of notes...

• If at all possible, do it with a food processor. Not a mixer. Not by hand. It makes something extremely temperamental to create so super duper easy, that anyone can do it!
• Take it from the experts. If Martha wrote a great recipe. She's pretty dang sure it'll work, and that goes for Julia, too! (They're my friends... I know them well, or at least the books they've written.)
• Be sure to use ICE COLD WATER. I cannot tell you how important this is. Unless... you like a chewy glue-type crust. And glue is hard to roll.
• and that goes for the butter and margarine, too. COLD, COLD, COLD.
• When it says BRIEFLY. That's exactly what that means. Be brief. (I pulsed it, just so I wouldn't overdo it.
• If you're using purchased dough... that's fine, too. Ease is bliss. However, I just want to alert you... the purchased doughs are usually not vegetarian friendly (and in my case, intestine-friendly). I did not know until AFTER I'd eaten the beef pot pies that the pre-packaged dough contained lard. Don't get me wrong. LOVE the flavor. My body, however, hates it and tells me. Ick. Enough said.
• Either type of dough you use, flour your board fairly well, and keep flouring it. The books that say "lightly" are NOT very expertly. Martha and Julia tell us to turn the pastry continually to prevent sticking. I'm gonna go with that after scraping and wasting pie dough off my board.
• If you have access to a marble board, by all means... USE IT!!! I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't.
• If the box of a pan says "recipes included", don't waste your time looking for a pamphlet of recipes and then calling the company. If it says it's in there it probably is... Tear apart the box to find the recipes written in light gray on the inside of the box. This way, you don't sound silly to the person on the other line.

Crap-ola! Did I forget to give you the actual ingredients? No way...

Alrighty then. Straight from Martha's The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Everyday.

2 cups all-purpose (this is what I used, as Martha told me to...)
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 Tablespoons butter [1 1/2 sticks] (Martha says unsalted, but... uh... I didn't have any and they came out just fine and dandy.)
3 Tablespoons margarine (Martha says "or chilled vegetable shortening". I used Imperial Margarine.)
1/4 cup ice water

Simply follow the directions listed above, including the notes.

And... I'll see you tomorrow! Ready for some turkey...?

How 'Bout Them Pies? (Part I)

A while ago, I wrote about what the past months have been like. I believe I said I was going to attempt some pot pies. Well... I DID!!! The only problem was... it took me a looonnnggg time to download the pics. But I've got it all for you today.  Hooray! So here's the how and why...

Around the holidays, I found a beautiful white Crate & Barrel box on my front porch. It was addressed to me. My reaction? "Um... I didn't order anything, did I?" "Crap! What have I done?!!!" and so... I brought the box in. I did not open it for a couple of days for fear I would find some horrible mistake I'd made. I couldn't afford to purchase anything for myself during this time of year... what the heck was I thinking? and I'd have to scrounge together money to ship it back, and.. and... and the list went on.

And so... one day, I finally OPENED the box. To find a sweet little note atop a cute gift. A fellow official I'd met in December thought of me when she saw THIS:

and thought I might be able to use it. Wow! I was shocked and flattered and... crying! I blubbered like a baby, I was so overcome with emotion. Needless to say, this was completely unexpected. [We'd been catered-to at a swim meet with some of the best food imaginable on a pool deck, including... (you guessed it!) pot pies. They were chicken at the time, but we talked about recipes, fillings, cheater crusts (puff pastry being one...) and the like. It was fun!]

I just needed a little time to do something with them, and a free sane moment or two.

That came at the beginning of this year, and here we are nearly a month later... with the post that should have been.


So... let's begin. The first set (of pot pies)... I cheated. I admit it. My friend was the Pillsbury Doughboy. That ready-made crust that just needs to sit for a bit and then be cut and filled and popped into the office is just the thing when you need it.

 

I cut out 4 bottoms and 4 tops with the cutter that was provided (see how cute it all is?).

 

Placing the pie cavities with the cut pastry, and pressing them in... *IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU HAVE LONG FINGERNAILS, CUT THEM. Try to use your fingertip pads as much as possible, so as not to puncture the pastry dough. (Prevents filling leakage and the like.) I had nails puncturing, and I had to do some quick finger-pressing surgery to mend the holes and tears. Enough said...

 

 Then... filled 'em up!

 

 Placed the top crust on... and sealed the deal! (use a little water and rub it [with your fingertip] around the perimeter... helps to seal as you press it down onto the bottom crust.)

 

 And BAKE! (okay, so maybe a little less filling next time, but I really like the rustic look of the pies, and fullness, as well...)

 

 Just a little more up close...

 

 Look at those beautiful bottoms! Perfect!

 

 

 



A New Year!!! Welcome 2013

Whew! It's been a crazy fast-paced year, 2012 was... and I let all of that and more overwhelm me.

But let's be honest here. We all make resolutions at some point during the year, whether it's at the fresh start of the New Year, or further on down the line.  So, I'm not making a resolution, so much as promising myself (and you) to get back on track... or at least a little more so.

My last post was in October. Ugh. That was a long time ago.  At least in followering and writing terms. A lot has happened, and a lot more will happen.  Such is life. I may or may not post somethings I worked on or did during that time, but, I was busy, just like all of you.

Right now... I just dropped off the middle child at school (yes, my 19-year-old started the Culinary Academy today!), and am sitting quiety here (at home) typing in this post. I'm waiting for my lazy-purchased pie crust to come to room temperature so I can roll out the dough and make some mini beef and mushroom potpies.  Recipes? you ask... um... let's see how they turn out first.

My goals today are to:

1.  Make tamales (with stuff I've been hoarding).
2.  Complete these potpies. (I've got turkey to do, as well...)
3.  Clean a bit of the craftwomb. (Wholly guacamole! If you could see inside there right now, you'd wonder how I possibly got ANYTHING done during the holiday season. Maybe I'll post before and after pics later.)
4. Walk a little.
5.  Do a weigh-in with My Pink Loser... (we'll see about that one...)
6.  Pick up above-mentioned child.
7.  Keep my mind and sanity intact.

Do we think I can do it? We'll see... while the youngest is still sleeping (she doesn't go back to school/I don't go back to work [if I still have a job...] until January 14th), I'll see how much I can actually get accomplished.

But just know that I'm welcoming 2013 with a fresh breath and fresh mind. I'll be updating more and being a little more open-minded about getting rid of things... You never know what will happen.  Have a wonderful day, and please... let me know what your goals for the day are. And what you actually able to do.

Gotta run... pie crust should be ready... Toodles!

Marissa's School is having a fundraiser... Woohoo!

Marissa's school (Moreno Elementary) is doing their annual fundraiser. If you need some gifts, wrapping, decos for the holidays, something for your pet... or something for yourself, please check this out! Be sure to order from the link, so that she and her school get the credit. Thanks in advance, and as always... no pressure...

Please help our school's fundraiser: MORENO PTA is having a fundraiser. You can shop online at Students First! website...
Thank you for your support.

If the link above does not work, please use the following link and enter the student ID: mre2476 at: http://www.westcoastfundraising.com/store/index.phpbr

Marissa and her fellow students and school thank you from the bottom of their heart!

Another Lapse in Time... A Brief Re-cap of a Little Bit of September (and August, too!)

Whenever there aren't challenges on a DT, I usually lapse... totally. And I know it. I need a challenge. I need motivation. I need to "have to" do something. Yeah, sure... there are tons of challenges out there that I "can" do... but none that I "have to". And so... I tell myself, "Self... you are going to do some challenges and post them. Or post something you've been doing already." And I promise My Self, and My Self gets disappointed  AGAIN...

So, this morning, instead of playing games on my phone (oh... Songpop, how I adore thee... and WWF and WordFeud, and Scrabble, and...), I'll take a couple of minutes to quickly blurb about projects I've been working on since August, and even some during the month of August (besides the last post... lol!). I have been quite busy and quite lazy, all at the same time... as you'll see...

First up... I WON A SILHOUETTE CAMEO!!!! (I want to thank Kim Dennon at Today's Creative Blog and Silhouette America. You guys rock!) I won this back in August, but... haven't put it to use yet. Don't get your panties in a bunch... Yes, you heard that right. I was SOOOO excited, I didn't read anything and popped the program cd into my laptop (acause that was what I was going to hook it up to, right?) and it didn't work (the program). So... I read the instructions/requirements, and yeah. My laptop is a dinosaur. It is NOT compatible with the software (runs Windows Me, not XP or higher...), and my pc is WAY too far from the craftroom, and I cannot put a cutting machine (even for one use... because we all "know" it would stay there... I mean... who are we kidding here...) out in the family room where the pc is. And so... I'm now saving up for a newer laptop. I could've gotten it on credit... but... I'm still subbing (READ: not stable) and I just got laid off my regular house-cleaning job (READ: hardly any income), so, I'm SOOO glad I didn't do that. In time, people... and I will be sure to post what I create and make when I do. In the meantime, it sits prettily in its box, in the craftroom, and I drool over all those blogs that use true fonts and svgs...

Onward and upward. ****Oh! Hold that thought... I'm just going to post a little bit of September (because it's a whole lotta something) and then peel my way away from here.

September. First off, since we got Sea World San Diego passes, we've been there every weekend that I didn't have a meet or something else. Marissa LOVES it, and so do I... (Juan... not so sure. He doesn't get enthusiastic about much... he's getting o.l.d.!)

Then... we went to a wedding. Anyone who knows me (do you?) knows that I rarely give "just" a gift. I usually make some portion of it, and ALWAYS the card... Here's what I did... (please note that I didn't rotate the pics... blogger stuff was acting stupid, and I lost my patience and didn't want to take the time... ugh!)

Get it? Good. I left the wrapping on the frame and just did temporary adhesive (in case they wanted to return it...). But... each frame set is good for the frame, and they could replace them as they wanted to with pics of their own.

I'd give more details but... the pics I took on the phone apparently aren't compatible now that iPhone did the upgrade thingy... pics that loaded before will not load now. Go figure. Anything to make our lives more difficult instead of easier... ugh.

And here's the pics of the card:

And the inside (I just L-O-V-E all vellum, especially the pretty printed stuff!):

*if you can't read it... it says:

On this special day,

You walked down the aisle;

You did it with grace;

You did it with style.

You shared your love

With everyone;

You bound your souls

In front of the Son.

You did it together

For all to see;

To share and enjoy

An event so happy.

Congratulations!!!!

We love you!

Awww... isn't that special? Lol! (btw... that sentiment/poem/whatever you want to call it IS copyrighted. Please do not use it. It was custom-made for Efren and Diana Ramirez by ME!

And moving on to the packaging, because I just love pretty wrappings (and wired ribbon!!!):

What? You want pics of the WEDDING, too? See? I can read minds... Here ya go!

and Marissa was a flower girl... her first ever. She was so excited (and nervous, too!)

(ah... the Mass was in Spanish, so she was also a little confused... hee, hee...)

and here we all are... (I was SOOO not ready for photo opps... oh well...) and dang! look at that bubble butt! gotta get working out again... ack!

I will be back on sometime this week to play a little more catchup. (no... not the red stuff made from tomatoes, sugar and vinegar...). But, leave me a little little love and tell me what you think! Thanks for stopping by...

ACTION!: Paper Hoarders DT Challenge

This week's Design Team Challenge over at the Paper Hoarders is ACTION! Meaning... it's gotta move. And I "do" move. So, I'll catch briefly catch you up to see what I've been working on...

Whew! It's been busy. School started here a couple of weeks ago (as seen in a previous post...), and I've been workin' it. Besides my normal everyday volunteer work (in the Kinder classes, 1st and now 2nd grades), I've been working-working as an assistant in the RSP program at another school.

And I'm having a blast!

On the first day of school, I walked into a fairly large classroom, with {gasp!!!} blank bulletin boards. My new teacher let me know that I could give her my ideas, and she'd let me know. [oh yeah!!! crafter's dream!!!!] She told me what type of boards we would need (1st, 2nd and 3rd grade ELA themes [for their current stories], Comprehension, Reading, Fluency Goals, and Math). So I set to work researching on the internet. (I'd never done those type of things before, but you know me... a challenge is a challenge, and I kinda L-O-V-E those!

eHow was a great tool... there I found a couple of ideas incorporating comprehension and some with vocabulary goals. So... I thought of combining it all, and making more up as I went, and instead of individual boards... um... making an OCEAN! Here's my crediting linkage. (Much thanks to Erin Schreiner, the author! I took her "Swimming through Comprehension" board and RAN with it!)

 I love interactivity. I arouses the mind and makes kids have fun learning. So... on eHow, I saw vocab words written down and each student as a fish swimming past these [goals]. OK. Only... we'd have each student as a fish and swim UP towards their goals in percentages (I still have to write the percentages... oopsie!)

And here's a little closer up... the percentage (of their goals) will be written on the seaweed to to the left of the chart. The different colored fishies here represent the different grades (so the students can find themselves easier). Please note... no one has moved up yet, because we're just starting the program and no one has been tested towards their goals this year.

Then we'll move onto the comprehension/theme side of things, entitled: What Does it all Mean? (how appropriate, right?)

And here, I separated the themes into the various grades...

With the titles of each of their themes... then I created a tissue paper "bubble", stapled laminated paper to it, so I could attach a current passage/story summary on each.

Then I added a passage/story summary...

The surrounding fish are laminated (so the Expo marker can be changed...) and written with either a vocabulary word or question related to the passage/story.

If you notice, they are stapled at the top and creased, so they fold up...

To reveal the definition (if a vocab word) or the answer!

As the stories change, so can our bulletin boards, without having to completely re-do them!

The same concept is done with the Math board... only these guys have googly-eyes, as their questions didn't take up so much room!

I'll incorporate more fish with questions and answers as we get beyond the previous year's review...

And then my favorite... the Island of Reading...

The cuts say "Journey", "Escape", "Dream", and "READ".

It's a work in progress, and I hope to get more fish shapes in there, but I'm on a time crunch and do have to work with the kids still, so there's really not much time for me to play with the boards, but... it's enough for Back-to-School night next week, so there we are.

I was trying to make a card earlier today, but it didn't turn out and still isn't turning out at this late hour (it's after midnight), so... this is action for today! Hopefully after hubby's vacation next week, I'll have time to figure out the dang moving card (the dimensions JUST were NOT working for me! and not letting it do what I thought it would do... ugh!).

But, in the meantime, please check out Ms. Tanya's blog, where all the other Design Team members have their work and links posted. Please be sure to give them some love, as you know... we all need it. And don't forget... you can join in the challenge, too! If you do, please be sure to leave me a link, so I can stop by and share some love, too!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my simple pleasures with me. I appreciate it. and YOU have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

First Day Back

I can't believe our summer is over! Here's the first day of school, which was yesterday... Doesn't she look bored already?

After school, we went and cooled of fat the movie theater to see STEP UP REVOLUTION. Fantastic dancing and awesome artistry! Then off to get a new outfit!

The day was over quickly, and thank goodness she loves her new teacher. She's our little Diva... well... the youngest Diva in the family...