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What You Can

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I was inspired by this artwork that I saw online. Sorry that I can’t give the artist credit (no name was shown), but I am thankful for the colorful and powerful sentiment this week.

Do what you can.

In a time where a lot of people feel the power of CAN’T, I think the statement above is a crucial one to live by.

This week, there was sort of a crazy, sudden thunderstorm in our area. It blew through just quickly enough to steal power and knock down a bunch of trees. Luckily, no one was hurt, but it was loud, windy, and some friends of ours got a tree on their truck. No fun.

Now, lemme tell you what I can’t do:

–fix trucks

–operate a chain saw

–lift heavy stuff

They really needed folks to do that stuff, and thankfully, their church and some other friends helped out. They did what they could do and I did what I CAN do. I baked pie. I sent my friend a message letting her know that I was having a free-chocolate-chess-pie-for-anyone-who-had-a-tree-on-their-truck special. Lucky for her it was this week! 🙂

I had to test it out, so I baked one for us, too. Choco-licious. You can see the remains of ours and also a Lemon Cream Pie that another regular pie customer ordered. That Lemon Pie is pretty tasty. I made a test pie of it on the Fourth of July, and it was OK, but I declared then that it needed more lemon flavor. So I squeezed fresh lemons for more juice and I zested for more zest. It worked, I think. And, since life gave me leftover lemons, I did this:

I put them in a pot with a little water and some spices and turned the stove on low. It smelled great in the kitchen. It’s a good thing to do with fruit (especially citrus) that’s on the way out. I love using stuff up. And that’s how the rest of the afternoon was inspired.

My dear husband is so thoughtful. He downloaded a series of stories from NPR’s Pie Week about baking pie and put them on my iPhone. I listened to them intently this afternoon as a baked. All the while,I was thinking about how pies got started. People used what they had and put dough around it.

Sweet or savory,

they did what they could.

So that’s what I did today. I used up some stuff. I had a couple of rough-looking bananas, so I baked Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

I had some marshmallows and a little cereal, so I made Fruit Loop Marshmallow Treats. Yum.

Now, baked goods and leftover ingredients won’t save the world, but I’ll tell you what might.

What if people started to follow this way of living?

Do what you can

with what you have

where you are.

It sure does speak to me. Stop trying to do what you CAN’T and focus gratefully on what you CAN do. Stop striving to get something MORE. Stop planning to be somewhere ELSE.

When life gives you lemons, or bananas, or fruit loops, or trees on your truck, do what you can.

Do what you can.

 

Coconut Delight

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I am practicing the ULTIMATE in restraint right now. I made this gorgeous Coconut Cream Pie that a friend requested. It’s taking all I’ve got not to eat the whole thing while no one’s looking. Shoot, look if you want to. I just wanna eat it.

“Maybe you could just tell her it got messed up…”

was my husbands plea. He really wants to eat it, too. My daughter longingly touched the plastic lid when she saw the pie in the fridge.

Looks like I’m gonna be making another one very soon.

I started on the pie last night, because pretty much all cream pies are better if they sit in the fridge overnight. The recipes always say 3 hours OR overnight, but overnight means that the pie is more solid and the flavorings are usually stronger.

This recipe of coconut cream is made from coconut, coconut extract, vanilla extract, eggs, sugar, corn starch, and salt. You have to stand at the stove and whisk and whisk and whisky-whisk-whisk — for a while so that the custard gets hot enough. You can’t stop whisking, though, because then it will stick to the pot. I was very proud of this effort. In the past, I have either given up before it gets thick enough (for fear of it burning) or left it too long or turned my back on it.

But this time, the whisk and my usually-too-short attention span did their jobs. I learned from a great cook I know that the magic is in the corn starch. If it doesn’t get hot enough, it’s not gonna thicken properly. This time, it worked.

After the stuff gets thick, you remove it from the heat and add butter (because what’s not better with butter?) and stir some more.

I then dumped it into a graham cracker crust. The recipe gave the option of a pastry crust or graham cracker, and I decided on graham cracker because I had one already and I am lazy. Plus, my friend is going to have to travel a bit with the pie in a cooler, and I think the graham cracker will behave better in the long run.

Next, I had to put plastic wrap on the top so that there were no air bubbles. This keeps a skin from forming on top of the filling. Now, I ended up putting topping on the pie, but the thought of “skin forming” on anything grosses me out, so I obeyed the plastic wrap warning.

The pie cooled for a bit and sat in the fridge till after lunch today.

I got to do something new while I was preparing to top the pie–toasting coconut. It smells wonderful while it’s in the oven and man, I cannot believe how toasting brings out the flavor. On top of that, it gets this crispy texture that is just divine.

I waited for it to cool and piped whipped topping all over the pie.

I was very happy with how it turned out. After the pie was decorated and back in the fridge. I ate the rest of that toasted coconut. Yum.

I sure hope my friend has a great time on her girls’ trip. She deserves it. And everyone knows…

The only thing better than friends getting together is friends getting together with pie.

A Little Thanks

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Today’s the day I make pie crusts. I’m headed to market again this Saturday, and I’ve got about 28 pies planned for this weekend, so something has to be done ahead of time. Luckily, the pie crust I make will keep nicely in the fridge for a few days. It actually rolls out much better if it’s been chilled for a while.

 
I took a break from crust today to make two special little pies. I’ve named my six-inch pies “Bitty Birds” as a nod to the fortyandtwentyblackbirds name. Last weekend at the market, a friend told me that she loved the Bitty Bird pie, because it was just the right size for two people to eat in one sitting and not have any left on the counter to tempt you. Nice of her to pretend she was planning to share it with her husband :).

Today’s two Bitty Birds were Apple Pies I baked for the two fantastic custodians at our church. They both work incredibly hard. They don’t just clean stuff, they do ANYTHING they’re asked to do without complaining. As a master complainer, I find this to be an amazing feat. A gift, really. They set up tables and chairs, move stuff around, wipe stuff off–you name it. Like most people who really matter in a workplace, they can’t possibly get paid enough. So I baked them each a pie. I was rewarded with a hug, which made it more than worth the work.

Who cleans up after you?

Thank them today. If not with a pie, thank them with a hug, a smile, or a card. A little thanks goes a long way.

On a side note, I learned to use an interesting tool today.

This apple-peeler-corer-slicer was loaned to me by a good friend. Now, you might not be able to tell from the picture, but the first few apples didn’t peel. They only got cored and sliced. It took about four apples (my son was thrilled to eat the rejects, by the way) to figure out that I needed to move the little peeling blade. After that, AMAZING. You get this spiral of peeled apple–one knife cut and it’s ready to go into the pie. Very nice.

I realized last week that my hands are older than the rest of my body. They really hurt after peeling all those apples, so I’m very thankful to use this nifty gadget. Many thanks to Julia for the loan–looks like I need to budget for one of my own.

Gotta go now. Lots of crust to make and a couple of pre-orders to get baking on.

 

To Market, To Market

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Today, my daughter and I were vendors at our county’s local Farmer’s Market. What a great day we had! I thought things went VERY well, especially considering it was our first time AND we had no idea what to expect. Our goals were to see what it was like, have fun, and maybe make a little gas money for our summer vacation to the beach in a few weeks. We accomplished them all! We only came home with two pies, which we plan to take to Memorial Day festivities with friends this weekend.

Most of you know that I’ve been baking pies for about 8 months now. I’ve enjoyed making them and have particularly enjoyed giving them away–which I’ll still do. As I’ve said many times before, sometimes, people just need a pie.

I sort of got involved in the market last-minute–didn’t turn in my application until Wednesday of this week. I was approved on the spot and then the crazy baking began. I was able to make lots of crusts Wednesday evening and refrigerate them, which really cut down on baking time yesterday.

Funny thing was, I put a post on Facebook to let folks know where I’d be on Saturday, and the orders started coming in. I sold five pies on Friday, before I ever got to the market!

There is a HUGE learning curve with this sort of thing. How long will it take? How many pies can you bake at once? How much does it cost to make them? So much to learn. The good news though–after baking 26 pies in two days, I can still say that I really enjoyed it. So satisfying to handle and roll out the dough, to carefully mix fillings, and OH the smell! My house still smells wonderful!

My number one challenge was transporting pies. They must be covered, and they can’t be cream pies or anything that would have trouble out of the fridge. They don’t quite fit in the cooler, and it turns out that the apple pies were a bit juicier than I realized. Just ask the floor of my mini-van. It was a little bit of a Three Stooges type scenario getting to the market, but we made it. 🙂

It was fantastic meeting new folks and chatting with them. Some just had questions about the pie, but some really had stories to tell. They told what their favorite pies were. They shared about pies that their grandmothers made. They asked if I knew how to make rhubarb (haven’t been brave enough yet) or cherry or peach pies. One gentleman described coming home after school to pie–fond memories for him. Another told me how to pit tart cherries.

People–young and old–have so much to offer when we listen!

If only we all spent more time listening.

I got a lot of joy out of bringing back good memories for people. I also loved spending the morning with my teenager, who bravely got up at six with me so that we could stake out a shady spot. She was great company and lots of help, and I rewarded her with some cute earrings she liked from a nearby jewelry vendor.

Right now, I’m only committed to the next two Saturdays, but we’ll see how it goes.

I’m thankful for this day. It’s kinda scary to put yourself (and your pies) out there. But it reminds me of the feeling you get after you’ve finally braved the BIG diving board at the pool–you were terrified, but when you came up out of the water and took that first breath, you knew you’d do it again and again!

 

Bruiser Pie

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There’s nothing more beautiful and delicious than perfectly ripe fruit. You know your favorite kind–maybe blueberries that are just sweet enough or a peach so juicy it runs down your chin. You can tell when it’s ready.

This evening, I baked an Apple Pear Pie. The fruit was definitely ready. Although, it’s a matter of opinion in my household whether a pear should be squishy or crunchy. My husband says you should be able to shave off the peel and flesh with your teeth. Me–I like ’em a little crunchy. It’s a texture thing, I guess.

Funny thing about pies, though. For years, people have baked pies by “using up” fruit that was bruised–perhaps a little past ripe. Think of banana bread–everyone knows it’s the dark brown bananas that make it sweetest–not the perfectly ripened ones. Tonight, I was using up some fruit to make a pie for my daughter’s class tomorrow. They’re having a writer’s showcase and, like most events, the whole thing will be better with food, so she requested pie.

As I was peeling this really ugly fruit, I thought about peeling ripe fruit. You have to remove what seems like the prettiest part to get to what’s useful.It can be tedious, slippery, and a little dangerous with a sharp paring knife. And sometimes, even with the prettiest fruit, you get to peeling and then–a hidden bruise.

No doubt we’ve all been bruised at one time or another. Some have bruises that are deeper and darker than others.

When I was little, I never wanted to eat the bruised part of a banana. I felt kinda cheated by the deceiving yellow peel. Where did that bruise come from, anyway? My mom always said, “Gimme that bite. The bruises are the sweetest.” I thought she was nuts, and I was glad for her to get rid of the part I didn’t want. But as usual, I realized later that she was right.

I can’t count the number of delicious pies I’ve baked from bruised fruit. Fruit with no more brightly colored peel. Fruit painstakingly pared down to the most useful parts. Full of sweet bruises.

Thank goodness we are still useful when we’re bruised. The painful circumstances we go through often do end up yielding the sweetest results. It’s just that sometimes the painful peeling, the preparation, the waiting–it can deaden our taste buds for a while.

I’m telling you the truth–some of the people who have impacted my life in the sweetest ways were really bruised up. They have suffered loss, abuse, loneliness, shame, bankruptcy, death, fear, abandonment, hunger, and the list goes on. But these “bruisers” have been the ones to offer me encouragement, friendship, compassion, caring, healing, and love. Though they didn’t plan it and maybe never knew what they’d done, they helped heal my bruises.

Throughout history, folks have overcome their bruises to accomplish great things. In the Bible, God was always using bruised up loser-types to do His work. It’s still true today.

If you’re feeling bruised, wait for healing and the sweetness that will one day come.

If you know someone who’s bruised, be the healing that makes life sweet.

In closing, this Bible verse comes to mind:

“He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through His bruises we get healed.”

Isaiah 53:5–The Message

Thank goodness for those sweet bruises.

Cinderella Pie

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For weeks, now, my daughter has been practicing for her school play, Cinderella.I’ve already seen the show twice, my husband and in-laws are there tonight, and I’ll get to see it again tomorrow–Mother’s Day–with some more friends and family. The picture doesn’t do justice to the pretty villager our kid played–best one in the whole show, in my only-slightly-biased opinion. So graceful and happy on the stage. We get so much joy from watching her do something she loves and seeing all her hard work pay off. I was just breathless watching her in the ballroom scene–couldn’t believe how grown up she looked. Sigh. I’m so proud of her!

So tomorrow, they’re having set strike after the final show, and then a pot luck supper for all the families. If you’ve ever been part of a production like this, you know that set strike is not fun, and it’s also not optional.Therefore, we’ll all be there with bells on…or at least with pies.

I baked two pies for the occasion. The first is Cheery Berry Pie. It includes a mixture of cherry pie filling, blueberries, and raspberries. The top crust displays a pumpkin, just waiting for a Fairy Godmother’s magic.

The second pie is Just Plain Cherry Pie. Its top crust has hearts–love going out to all the kids in the show  AND to the hard-working staff and parents who made it happen.One thing I loved watching during each performance–the parents. Sure, the kids were fantastic, but I wish I had video and still shots of those parents. Proud, beaming faces. Glassy eyes and cheeks shiny with tears. Clutching cameras and video recorders. Hands giddily clapping–maybe a little too loud sometimes–for their princess, or prince, or horse, or villager, or cheese merchant. Didn’t matter what part the child played. You could just hear their proud hearts shouting, “That is MY mouse.” “Look at MY kid–she is the best dancer!” “Wow! MY son is the best singer of all!”

I know there’s some criticism going around these days about kids.

They’re so entitled.

They don’t ALL need trophies.

They’re so LAZY.

Maybe. But you couldn’t have convinced me of any of that today. Not when those kids took their bows. Not when the audience stood up and clapped loudly and cheered. Not when moms high-fived their sons and dads hugged their daughters. Those kids worked hard. Those kids were awesome. They deserved every whoop, holler, and grocery store bouquet that was thrown their way.

I certainly believe kids need to work hard, buck up, tough it out, let someone else win, shake hands when they lose, face disappointment, and all that responsible stuff. I hope my kids will do all of it.

Sometimes, though, a kid just needs to feel like a star.

Do your part to help a kid grow up right. But, if you can, do your part to make a kid feel awesome.

I love my kids–they’ll always be our shining stars!

For Dad

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Today would have been my Dad’s 73rd birthday. He did not ever get to taste one of my pies, although I’m sure the desserts are much sweeter where he is today. He always said that I should write a book, and I’ve got a couple in the works, but for today, I hope this blog counts.

In his honor, I ate an ample slice of this Apple Pear Crumb Pie for breakfast today. Not really on my diet plan, but birthdays are for celebrating, right?

 

Today, I’m remembering my Dad with lots of gratitude.

Thanks, Dad, for working hard as a “telephone man” to provide for our family.

For reading to me from your old green Bible about Jesus healing lepers–that time when I watched a Bible movie on TV and thought I would get leprosy.

For eating “pogey bait” with me and growing my sweet tooth.

For teaching me how to plant tomato seeds in a styrofoam cup.

For growing the vegetables that filled our table for years. I have a jar of the last beans that you grew in my pantry that I just can’t open yet.

For being an artist and a writer, even if you never believed you were.

For taking us to church.

For being faithful to mom.

For making me a giant clock to go with my White Rabbit costume in 5th grade. Thanks for not saying I looked more like a snowman or a marshmallow than a rabbit.

For building me a doll house with tiny windows made of match sticks.

For knowing how to tie knots and name trees by the shape of their leaves.

For showing us that serving and giving should be part of life.

For bringing me little frog figurines from your work trips. And bells for Stacey. And cats for Kim. I still have those frogs.

For putting the Christmas tree lights on every year (never mind the language involved :))

For showing us that you can, if you need to, learn to fix a toilet, repair a roof, change your oil, or pretty much anything.

For the smile you gave me on my wedding day when, after saying “Her mother and I” for the last time, you let out an audible (but just to me) “Whew” noise.

For the cool centerpiece you could make with pineapple chunks and cherries.

For the conversation we had in the front yard of 1818 Leslie Lane, when I told you I thought Joseph would propose to me soon. You were waxing the car under the maple tree.

For planting a tree in our yard on our daughter’s first birthday.

For giving our son his first bike.

For giving our artist her first “real” easel. You would be so proud of her artwork now.

For being Papa.

For taking care of things so that Mom does not have to worry now.

For loving Mom.

For loving us.

For loving me.

Happy Birthday.

 

 

Measuring Up

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For the last couple of weeks, my husband and I have been on a nutrition kick. He started meeting with a trainer, and we’re both keeping track of everything we eat. We’ve researched apps for our various devices, counted calories, read labels, measured stuff…LOTS of measuring. Here’s the drawer where we keep some of our measuring stuff:

On a side note–why isn’t there a good way to organize all this stuff? All those neat freaks on Pinterest and on all those organization blogs must not have the same type and volume of plastic crap that we do. Sigh.OCD hell is full of mismatched Tupperware. ANYWAY….

All that measuring is precisely why I will NOT be eating any of this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread that I baked this morning. It smells delicious. I know it’s good, because I’ve baked it a billion times. But the thought of all that math just makes me lose my appetite. So I’m gonna take it to work for those folks to eat. I’ve used the same recipe for years. It’s not from a cookbook. It’s from my Mom the BFA (Bringer of Food Awesomeness). One day, early in my married years, I called her for a banana bread recipe. I didn’t want to forget it, so I grabbed this cookbook and wrote it down in the front. Funny thing is, that’s really the only reason we keep the cookbook now. I think we got it as a wedding gift.

If you gave it to us, it’s our favorite cookbook ever! Thank you so much!

Truth be told, we’ve only tried one recipe from it. See those pretty green circle cookies on the front cover? My husband and I tried to make those during the first year we were married. I remember our efforts in the tiny kitchen of our one-bedroom basement apartment. Not a success, really. He seems to remember the cookies tasting pretty good, but they looked like they’d been run over. Oh well, it was fun trying. 🙂

So the bread recipe lives in this cookbook. It’s funny that I even use it. Ask my husband about me and recipes. I usually just improvise. This has always driven him nutso. In the past, when baking or cooking, I’d just “guesstimate” amounts. I used uncertain measurements such as a glug, a dollop, a little bit, two shakes, or “until it looks right.” It wasn’t until my 40th birthday pie adventure that I really embraced measuring.

In an uncertain time in my life, I think all that measuring provided some certainty–some order in things. It was one small way of controlling something. It’s funny though, that all that measuring did NOT provide guarantees or predictability, two things we all want deep down. Sure, we want to say we’re daredevils, or spontaneous, or whatever.

I just wanna know what’s gonna happen.

Too bad. Gotta wait. None of your business. Need to know basis. Just chill.

NO! I don’t like waiting and not knowing. Does anyone relate? Anyone?

Meanwhile, though, I’ll just have to wait and pray and know that things will be all right. And bake pies. You may be wondering where the pie is today in this pie blog. It’s for lunch.

My husband and I will be sharing a Feta Veggie Freeform Tart. It’s got a homemade crust, red and yellow peppers, onions, feta cheese, and basil. And YES, I’ve measured EVERYTHING that’s going into that thing. After doing the math involved with homemade pie crust, I have this advice:

Don’t look, just eat it!

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

No punishment here!

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This week, I’ve been thinking about something my Dad would say when he was frustrated–“No good deed goes unpunished!”

I can’t blame him. I’ve felt this exact sentiment many times. This week in particular, I was involved in a situation where some people just DIDN’T ACT RIGHT.

“GET SOME HOME TRAININ’!”

That’s what I wanted to yell. I complained about the situation too much. I let my heartbeat race. I furrowed my brow (which is really bad, because suddenly, my 40-year-old face tells on me from all that furrowing of days gone by). I got mad.

I flung all kinds of useless judgement around:

They should KNOW better.

I can’t believe how UNGRATEFUL!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

Can’t they see that they’re just WRONG?!

All that angry energy…

Didn’t. Change. One. Thing.

At least not about the situation. It just changed me. In a bad way. This got me to thinking. Why am I punishing myself for someone else’s bad choices? Silly, really. So I decided to do something else.

Just in time, a sweet friend of mine hinted (and by hinted, I mean asked outright in writing and by voicemail :)) for a pie for her birthday. I was very excited to get the request. This person is the kind of gal you just wanna do nice things for, so I did. I made her a Coffee Chocolate Pie with Orange Meringue.

Now, I know I just made that pie the other day AND I seem hooked on that orange meringue. I can’t help it. Besides, the last time that pie was available, my friend got there too late for her slice–it was all gone! Plus, the pie is so dang good.

So this good deed–baking a sweet birthday pie for my sweet friend–definitely goes unpunished. On the contrary, it’s a reward! When someone asks me to bake them a pie, they think it’s a present for them, but really, it’s a gift for me. Gives me time to think and reminds me of this:

Even when lots of things seem to be going wrong, you can always, always, always, find something going right.

Never thought I’d get so much joy and peace from stirring stuff up, making a mess, and sticking a pie plate in the oven.

So thanks, my friend, for having a birthday. Thanks for being you, and thanks for the gift of your friendship!

Coffee Pie…maybe?

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I decided to make a pie for a sweet friend who’s having a tough week. Not sure what all’s going on, but sometimes you can just tell when a person needs pie.  My husband–smart guy–remembered that our friend loves coffee, and he suggested a pie with coffee and chocolate. Great idea. Two of my favorite things in the world.

Which just goes to show you–

Never say never.

I used to hate coffee. Didn’t even like the smell of it. Then one Lenten season, I gave up soft drinks, and the Devil made me a better offer… Anyway, I drink the stuff every day. Aren’t there some health studies somewhere that say it helps your brain? Or something? Keep researching for me, ’cause I’m not ready to quit yet.

So I started looking for recipes with coffee and chocolate. I’ve watched my favorite TV chef, the Barefoot Contessa, pour brewed coffee into dozens of recipes, so I know it must be good. I love that lady. She’s messy, and she looks like she’s actually eaten a bit of the food, so I have respect.

I found lots of recipes, but none of them seemed just right, or I’d find that I was missing an ingredient, or there would be some crazy step that required tools I don’t know how to use.

So I made it up. *cue foreboding music*

I’ve made quite a few cream pies, and melting chocolate seems like a great place to start, so that’s what I did. This photo shows the point where I decided that one and THREE QUARTERS large Hershey bars would be just the right amount to melt. I had to eat some. Had to. Then I started making up excuses about balanced flavor or some other cheffy reason not to use too much chocolate.

Here’s the rest of the recipe. Don’t start baking yet–I haven’t tasted it. At least not in its final format–I always taste a bit of the filling before it goes into the shell.

On the stovetop, combine the following over low heat:

1 and 3/4 large Hershey bars (4.4 oz each)

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

6 large marshmallows (I don’t know why, but they just make it richer and creamier)

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee (I used what was left in the pot from this morning)

4 TBSP unsalted butter

1 cup half and half

2 1/2 TBSP corn starch

I stirred and stirred and stirred over low heat for FOREVER. It was at least 15 minutes. Those marshmallows are worth it, but they are always the last to melt. My hubby even stirred a while so I could work on the meringue topping.

OK, here’s what’s in the meringue:

2 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

6 TBSP sugar

1 tsp vanilla

zest of one orange

You beat the heck out of it for a few minutes until it has stiff peaks and kinda stands up by itself.

Then I poured that hot filling into a graham cracker crust. Now, here’s the thing–it didn’t seem that thick. I mean it got thicker, but I don’t know if it got thick enough. I just poured it in there.

Next, I spread the meringue topping to the edges of the pie top. I baked the whole thing for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. The meringue behaved and got toasty.

I let it cool for about 30 minutes before putting it in the fridge to chill overnight. I sure hope the chilling helps. Otherwise–

My friend may be drinking his Coffee Pie from a coffee mug.

Oh well, I hope he feels the love anyway.

Pie can’t make everything all right, but it definitely makes everything tastier. 🙂