Flavor of the Month - Pie.... Blueberry Pie, that is.

This is not the best post I'll ever do for Bake at 350's Flavor of the Month, but it will get the job done this month.

I have been planning to make Simply Recipes' Blueberry Pie for the Flavor of the Month for quite a while because I had never made a blueberry pie before. But, I just hadn't had an occasion to make it.

I even tweeted last week that "I really need a reason to make a blueberry pie. Really."

The responses I got ranged from "Why do you need a reason?" to "Blueberry ends in -y and Thursday ends in -y. Sounds like a good reason to me."

Fair enough.

But I finally found an occasion. My parents will be at my house tomorrow, so we'll have someone to share the pie with. Because what is the use in baking if you have nobody to share with.

So, here I am at 11:45 pm on the last day of the month when Bridget is hosting Flavor of the Month. I've just taken this beautiful pie out of the oven and haven't even tasted it yet.









Again, I used the recipe I found at Simply Recipes except for the crust. I used my favorite pie crust from Cook's Illustrated. I'll have to share that recipe later.

Let's go to the hop...

Intro for my sweet regular readers~

So going on right now in Chicago is this little thing of a conference known as BlogHer. And there are some of us who are not able to go. SO, we're banding together and entertaining ourselves both on our blogs and on Twitter.

My friend Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolates and I are hosting a twitter chat session that we're calling #pityparty09. Our first session was this evening and it was tons of fun. We'll meet again on Saturday at noon (central time).

Also, Robin at Pensieve is hosting a BlogHop and Amanda at Garibay Soup is hosting BlogNerd so that we can all visit one another. I'm all about that.

So, now, I'm supposed to introduce myself~

I'm Donna and this is my blog, Way More Homemade. I started blogging almost 2 years ago under a different title at first just to help my parents who are on a two year mission to South Asia keep up with my family. The whole thing just kind of took on a life of its own from there.

These days, you'll find me talking about my faith, my family, and certainly about food.

My Faith: I am a Bible believing Christian who is striving to trust God. And it's hard for me. I attend Bible Study Fellowship and also enjoy hearing Beth Moore teach. (BTW, I get to see Mrs. Moore at a Wednesdays with Beth on Life Today taping on Friday and Saturday. You can see what happened the last time I went on this post.)

My Family: I am very happily married to my man (Mike) and we have two children: Sarah/the princess (8) and Nathan/little man (4). I have also had two miscarriages and I can't talk about my family without the mention of them. We have two dogs: Miniature Dachshund, Frankie; and Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Gus.

My Food: I love to cook and bake from scratch and I like to write about it as well. I have a Recipe Blog where I share some of my favorite recipes. I am also currently participating in the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge with over 200 other people all over the world. See my BBA posts here.

So, that's me and my blog in a very small nutshell. Feel free to click on my "About" and "Favorites" tabs at the top of the page. Enjoy your blog hopping!!

Lessons Learned

I had a difficult week last week... to say the least. I sliced a bit off my left ring finger last Saturday and then began to get sick with an upper respiratory infection… aka bronchitis. I’m not entirely convinced I didn’t have pneumonia, but that word was never actually used with my doctor, so I will refrain from self-diagnosing. Yeah, right.

So, here’s what I learned.

1. Slicing bits off of your finger is a painful way to get out of cooking for a week.

2. Chocolate Cherry Bread from Central Market while waiting for your Pei Wei order to be ready does a pretty good job of taking your mind off of your sliced off finger woes.

3. It never fails that when you feel your worst and make a doctor appointment with a non-quack-shack doctor for the next day, you immediately start feeling better.

4. Antibiotics really can be quite expensive. Expensive to the tune of $140 for 5 pills. Yes, you read that right. In case you can't fully appreciate this cost, that's like almost $30/pill. And they’re not even diamond encrusted! This is the supposed wonder drug:


And my insurance didn’t cover but like $20 of it. Thankfully my doctor gave me a coupon, saving me a whopping $25, bringing my cost down to a mere $95.

5. Cold air helps to open up your air passages to help you breathe better. Thanks 3girlsmom!

6. The best way to self administer said cold air in the 70 degree Texas weather in February is to lie down on your kitchen floor with your head at the base of your freezer with the freezer door ajar.

7. My kitchen floor is dirty.

8. Frozen Thin Mints may or may not help the opening of said air passages… I tend toward thinking they may not. But it’s an easy way to convince myself it’s okay to eat a few. And, as a bonus, they take your mind off the dirty kitchen floor.

9. There are some interesting things in my freezer that you can only see when lying on the floor with your head at the base of the freezer with the freezer door ajar.

10. If anything serious ever really happens to me, the fast food industry in our area will encounter a boom like it has never known before.


This post is part of the "What I Learned This Week" series at Musings of a Housewife. Go visit Jo-Lynne and read more of what others have learned this week.

I See What You're Saying

As promised, you can find the Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe here.

There were other things I learned... like only add one chipotle pepper at a time to your homemade barbeque sauce to give it the right amount of heat so that your eyes don't pop out of your head when you try it... and it is virtually impossible to have Christmas with a 7 year old girl and a 3 year old boy that does not entirely consist of Barbies and vehicles.

And as an added bonus, I am also providing the video that I promised oh so long ago here.




I am sorry I'm so late with this. I had some very serious and very frustrating and disturbing technical difficulties. I'd really rather not talk about it right now. It's much too painful.

See more "I See What You're Saying" posts at 2nd Cup of Coffee... and heck, join us in the fun.

Book Worm? Me?

When I first saw that I had been tagged with a Bookworm meme, I laughed out loud. Literally.

Me? Surely you jest.

Because you know, I just don't read very much. In fact, the last book I read was such a momentous occasion that it rated its own blog post.

But, alas, no. No jesting here. Sarah at Real Life tagged me with a Bookworm meme.

The directions on this meme are very unique directions: find the book closest to you, turn to page 56, and type in the fifth sentence plus a couple more after that.

Sarah's was The Sacrifice, by Robert Whitlow. When she tagged me, she tried to guess at what kind of book would be closest. She was right. It was a cookbook.

Courses: A Culinary Journey. My parents brought me this cookbook from their Mediterranean cruise a couple of years ago. It is signed by the Executive Chef from the ship. Page 56-57 are a full page color photo. So I had to go on to page 58. Understandably, sentences 5-7 are pretty boring and make no sense when taken out of context.

"Add the onions and saute. Add the garlic and peppers and saute 4 minutes more. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well."

Now, if you'd like to see the entire recipe, go here.

So, now I'm supposed to tag a few people with this. I am not even going to pretend to know what kind of book they'll have handy...

Play along if you'd like.

Cristel

Bethany

Angie

The G's

Gayle

And if you guys have already done this, I'm sorry. THAT's how behind on blog reading I am. :)

Way More Homemade Holidays - It's Finally Here!!

As I thought about this post in between batches of (non homemade) cookies for Nathan’s Thanksgiving feast for his daycare class, I thought a lot about how different things are today than when we first started out. How traditions have changed for us in the last few years.

When we got married we followed the traditions of our families of origin. It wasn’t until a couple of years into marriage that we began establishing our own family traditions. And not until our children were born before they truly began to take hold.

Yes, the landscape of what our holidays look like is very different from the time we were first married. And different from our own childhoods. And yet, very familiar as both Mike and I draw upon our families of origin and weave good things from our own childhoods among those new traditions we have begun.

So, you see, all our holidays are homemade. Whether or not you cook an extravagant meal the holiday itself along with your family’s traditions is homemade. No two families or their experiences are the same.

I can’t tell you how much I look forward to hearing maybe some things from your childhood, or even just a story from last year. I love to hear what other people’s traditions are and I love the food we enjoy this time of year. So, Mr. Linky up, turn on some Christmas music, grab yourself a cup of hot chocolate or apple cider and enjoy this right along with me.

And I’d better see a recipe for that green fluffy stuff that I see periodically at family gatherings. I still have no idea what it is.

**As with most blog carnivals, don’t forget to put the link of your specific post, not just your blog address. You can click on the title of your post and the address line of your browser will show the address of that specific post. Just copy and paste it into the 2nd space of the Mr. Linky below with your name or blog name in the 1st space. **

8:45 am Updated to add: Ok, I know the Mr. Linky is now gone. It was there this morning... and we even had someone playing along... Thanks KIM!! I don't know where it went and can't even get on the Mr. Linky website. So bear with me. Grr... I have enough of a real-life headache to have to deal with a blog one as well.

Introducing: Way More Homemade Holidays

November has begun, people. And do you know what that means? Thanksgiving and Christmas are mere weeks away.

Now this... THIS is MY favorite time of year. It's full of family, friends, and... well, of course FOOD. And as I've said before, nothing makes food better than for it to be paired with great company and fellowship.

It is based upon these thoughts that I decided that I will host my very first blog carnival.

Way More Homemade Holidays
November 21, 2008

I'd like for us to share snapshots of our Christmas or Thanksgiving. Here are some ideas to consider as you think about your post:

* Tell us what it is like around your dinner table during the holidays.

* Do you spend it with family? Friends? All or none of the above?

* If your family is not close by, do you travel to see them or do they come to you?

* Share your favorite Thanksgiving or Christmas memories. Funny or sentimental.

* Show us some pictures of your traditions from holidays past. Do you have hopes for future traditions with your family?

* And most certainly share about your holiday food. Does your Aunt Fern make fluffy pink stuff? Does your grandma made a pecan pie to die for? Is there something that maybe no other family on earth, it seems, eats at the holidays that your family for some reason loves?

* Or maybe you do the cooking and you'd like to share your menu.


So, be thinking about what you are going to post and be ready on Friday, November 21st. I'll have a Mr. Linky (my FIRST EVER) up that day and all weekend and you can link your post right here.

The button is over on the side bar for you to grab and put on your blog. Pass the word... I think it will be fun to see other people's traditions, stories, and FOOD!

Wordless Wednesday - Begging for a Caption

This picture from our recent trip to Arbuckle Wilderness is just begging for a caption. Leave a comment with your caption and I'll pick one lucky winner to receive a $5 Sonic Card.

Oh yeah, I'm a big spender. Give me a break... economic times and all.

Comments will remain open until Friday at midnight (CDT). I will try to post a winner on Monday.

Visit 5 Minutes for Mom to see other Wordless Wednesday posts or to add one of your own.

Foodie Friday - Tag, you're it

I got tagged by Sallye at thegardenexperience. She is so sweet y'all. And I do believe this is the first time I've actually been tagged for one of these.





Being tagged requires a response on my part. So, I'll play along...

Answer these questions with one word answers:

Where is your cellphone? Desk
Where is your signficant other? Work
Your hair color? Brown
Your Mother? Asia
Your Father? Asia
Your Favorite Thing? Brownies
Your dream/goal? An Inn
The room you're in? Office
Your hobby? Scrapbooking
Your Fear? Losing it
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Hawaii
Where were you last night? Debate
What you're not? Skinny
One of your wish items? Apple Macbook
The last thing you did? Eat
What are you wearing? NEW
Your TV? Off
Your Pet? Dogs
Your Computer? Home
Your Mood? Ecstatic
Missing Someone? Val
Your Car? Volvo
Something you're not wearing but love to wear? Straw hat
Favorite Store? SteinMart
Your Summer? HOT
Love Someone? Lots
Your Favorite Color? Blue
When was the last time you laughed? Earlier
When was the last time you cried? Thursday

Now I believe I'm supposed to tag someone else. In the words of my 3 year old son, "Hmmm. Let's see. How about..." Brittany because she is such a long time internet friend that I've never had the opportunity to meet in real life. I think I'm supposed to tag more than one... but I'm at work and don't have a lot of time.

Question...

Do you ever get tagged in real life? It happened to me last week. Something was said that required a response on my part. A gauntlet was thrown, if you will.

I made a quick spaghetti meal one night. You know, it's after work, I'm exhausted, the kids are hungry, and so I threw some ground beef in a skillet along with a jar of Classico spaghetti sauce (well, I poured the jar out actually... there was no breaking of glass) and boiled some noodles. Quick, easy, no fuss meal, right.

Until.

My man says during dinner, "For all the big deal you make about doing stuff homemade... you never do spaghetti."

Oh, that was a gauntlet if EVER I've heard one.

And it required a response.

So this past Wednesday on my day off of work, I made me some homemade spaghetti sauce.

Here's what I did.

1/2 onion, chopped
1 shallot, minced (not necessary, I just had it lying around)
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed
crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb ground beef (approx)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tamato sauce
1 (small) can tomato paste
1-2 tbsp sugar
1/4-1/2 cup white table wine
a bunch of chopped fresh basil
and oregano
and parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

I always saute my onions first in oil. Then add the shallots (if you've got 'em lying around) and garlic and saute until fragrant. Add ground beef (and any stray sausage you happen to find in your fridge that hasn't gone bad) and cook until brown. (that sounds weird) Then just start adding everything else. Be sure to taste as you go. And don't forget the salt and pepper... very important.


So, that's what I did. My man got home and I had him look around the kitchen and asked him what he noticed. It took a few minutes, but he finally raised his eyebrows, smiled and said, "A-haaah. No jar."

So, now, tag... it's your turn.

Do you make your own spaghetti sauce? I know there have got to be some italians out there who do. Care to share your recipe with us? Either leave it in the comments or post it on your own blog and leave a link in the comments. I'm not prepared to do a Mr. Linky at this point.

I See What You're Saying!

Linda @ 2nd Cup of Coffee is hosting a carnival so that we can all kind of virtually meet each other. Please join in if you have time today. You can click on the icon above to go read all about it.

Personally, I debated back and forth on whether or not to do this. For some crazy reason, I decided to do it. I'm still not quite sure why.

OK... disclaimers:

* It was really late Monday evening when I recorded. So, please for give the hair, no make-up, etc. Just look at it this way, you're getting the "real" me.

* Everything that I said sounded way more interesting in my head. It really did. So I apologize for the content.

So, now, without further ado,

Take 3...

... aaaaannd....

.... ACTION!