The "must-know" pie crust

When I am baking a pie, no matter what the guts consist of, I always use a "Must-know" pie crust recipe. Before beginning with making the dough, I found that there are staple baking tools that need to be used. For pie crusts, it would be a cloth pastry sheet and a rolling pin with a cloth cover. These days, most places only offer the silicone sheets, but I find that they are awful. Hidden in Bed Bath and Beyond, you will find a cloth pastry sheet. I found one, and you will too! From now on, when I refer to "pie crust" in my blog, it will refer to this recipe.

"Must-know" pie crust
2 C flour
1 T sugar
Touch of salt
3/4 C Butter Crisco
1 Egg yolk
1/4 C milk

Directions: Combine ingredients in a mixer using the dough hook until they are well bonded into a dough consistency (you may need to hand-knead a little). Lay down the pastry sheet and flour the sheet to prevent sticking. Take half the dough and place it on the pastry sheet (you can freeze the other half for another pie). Roll into a pie shape with your cloth covered rolling pin. Once the pie crust is thin enough, take a 9" pie pan and place it upside down onto the dough. Flip the pastry cloth with the dough and pie pan over. Roll down the edges of the dough and pinch the sides with your thumb and pointer finger on one side of the dough, and your other pointer finger on the other side, pinching the dough. Poke holes into the dough with a knife before placing filling inside. Depending on the pie, whatever remainder of the dough I have left after making the pie crust, I like to roll it out again and use cookie cutters to create shapes for the top of the pie.

Enjoy! (Note: I will update with pictures the next time I create this dough)

Sweet Baby Boy, we are ready.

As time inches closer to our baby boy's due date, I can't help but make a list in my head of what needs to be done before he arrives. I had a beautiful baby shower in Illinois when I was 21 weeks pregnant, and then I just had another shower down in Florida last weekend. Since that Saturday, I have to say that I have been one busy bee-nesting like no other! I am proud to be able to say that, yes baby, we are ready for you to arrive! My checklist is complete. All of it could not have been done without the love and generosity of all our family members and friends that have already spoiled you!

Our Baby's Nursery

We still do not have a name for our "Baby Fee," which in turn makes my nursery a little bare above the changing table (since his name will be proudly displayed there). I can't help but have some doubts about us "waiting until the last minute" to name our baby. What if we can't agree? Oh boy, this should be interesting! At least they can't let you leave the hospital without a name on the certificate. That will give us motivation!

I think every Mom daydreams about what is in store for their child, and I am no exception. I am already picturing the delivery, seeing our boy for the first time, our family trips we will take together and all his milestones along the way. I also picture him as a teen. Will he be nerdy, the class clown, the jock? Will he be well behaved like Mommy in high school, or a bad boy like Daddy? But most importantly, I can't wait to see Mark's face when he sees our boy for the first time. Carrying a baby inside you makes it more real to the woman before the birth. However, with fathers, they don't feel the connection as strongly until the actual birth. It will be such a beautiful thing to see his priceless face. I will carry that with me the rest of my life!

Rainier cherries

Because of pregnancy, I have an excuse for having cravings. But, I have always been the type to love food, and to get hooked onto one thing for a long time. For example, last year I was obsessed with baked potatoes. I would have one for lunch almost every day. I would even go as far as to microwave them if I didn't have time to prepare them the night before!

But, for the convenience of it, I blame it now on my pregnancy. So, what is my craving these days, you ask? Well, since summer is in full swing, who can blame a girl for loving those Rainier Cherries?! Developed at Washington State University, these sweet, yellow-fleshed, overly expensive cherries are my craving for the month. I can't help but splurge $5/lb for this delicate fleshy fruit. So...have I enticed you to try them out? I had always grown up on your typical red cherry. Don't get me wrong, I love those as well, but there is something about the Rainier. My mind must know it is the premium cherry or something, because after all, I love expensive things!

Lemon 4 Layer Cake

From: Grandma Finch

Cake:
1 package Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake mix
1 3oz package of lemon instant pudding
4 eggs
1 C water
1/3 C oil

Filling:
2 3oz packages of lemon cook and serve pudding

Directions:
Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour two 9" round cake pans. Combine cake ingredients in a bowl and mix for 2 minutes. Pour the batter into the two cake pans evenly. Bake for 50 minutes. Cool. Cut each 9" cake in half to make 4 layers of cake.

Filling: Cook pudding to package directions.

Once the cake and filling are both cool, you will be ready to layer the cake. Place 1 layer as a base, then 1/3 of the filling, then another layer, then another 1/3 of the filling and so on. Sprinkle with powdered sugar on the top layer.

Enjoy!

The Stash

I thought I would put up some info about my cloth diaper stash.

3 Newborn Bummi Whisper Wrap shells
12 Newborn unbleached pre-folds
8 OS GroBaby Shells
2 OS GroVia Shells (Replaced the old GroBaby)
16 GroBaby Soakers
4 GroVia Soakers
14 GroVia Cotton Boosters
1 pack GroVia BioSoakers
6 Small gDiapers
12 Small gDiaper cloth inserts
2 packages Small gDiapers biodegradable refills
2 OS Happy Heinys with inserts (Free from Kellys Closet)
1 OS Tweedlebug with insert (Free from Kellys Closet)
6 Large Fuzzibunz with inserts
2 BumGenius Flip covers with 6 organic cloth inserts

For diaper cleaning and such:
ROCKin Green Smashing Watermelons Classic Rock Soap
Charlie's Soap laundry powder
Fuzzibunz hanging diaper pail

So there you have it. This is what my stash consists of for now!  I think we are prepared for our little boy to arrive.

Cloth Diapers

I never thought I would say this. Honestly. But here it goes...
I am planning on using cloth diapers for my child.
And no, you aren't reading that wrong.

Call me crazy or call me the "Poopy Queen" but I have officially become obsessed with the "Fluffy" movement. However, besides being an over-the-top recycler, I really haven't done my fare share of being "green." I drive an SUV, use paper products, and additives are loaded into my shampoos, and food for that matter!

Gro-Via AI2: the first addition to my stash.

So my reasoning for cloth diapers, you ask? 

1. The money. You can't go wrong here. The price of disposable diapers these days are ridiculous. We are going to be saving so much more in the long run. So far I have spent about $400 on cloth diapers, and that will most likely last my child throughout his entire diapering stage. Considering 100 disposables run you at around $40.00, the choice is obvious!
2. The cute factor. How can you resist a colored/printed pattern? Cloth diapers are no longer your pre-folds with a white plastic bag shell around your baby. There are many options available from pre-folds with cute color and printed shells to a one size shell with a snap in soaker.  Also, now-a-days they have biodegradable soakers that are disposable that go into the one size shells! This makes cloth diapering on the go so convenient!
3. I know, I said I wasn't a "green" person, but I never said I didn't like to help my environment along the way! Cloth diapers are better for our environment. The energy it costs to make disposables plus the time it takes for a disposable to "dispose" (around 200 years) is astonishing. Cloth diapers imprint on our planet is WAY less!

So I say to all of you, CHECK IT OUT!
My favorite websites for various cloth diapes are these:
www.greenmountaindiapers.com
www.kellyscloset.com

And for cloth resources I love the BabyCenter board!
http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a16235/cloth_diapering

I will be posting in a few days about my stash and it's contents - including the laundry detergent. For now, I hope I at least got you thinking.

Talk to you soon!

Welcome to Baking Mommy

Here begins my journey as a first time mom. I am due August 30th with a little boy that we currently call "Baby Fee". Daddy and I cannot agree on a name. We plan to take our list to the hospital and decide once he is born. It is better to wait to see him anyways, right?

Some of you may wonder why I consider myself a Mom now. Even though he has not arrived yet, I still have this bond and connection with the little boy that lives in me. It is such a beautiful thing to carry your child for nine months, even with all the aches and pains involved!

Carrying Baby: 31 Weeks

I love to bake. It is one of my favorite past times as a child, and I can't wait to pass the tradition onto my kids. Every time I bake, I will post the recipe along with a photo in my blog.

So, what will you see here? Everything from baking, to cloth diapering experiences, to Baby Fee's milestones and all the other life experiences we have on the way.

Alas, I leave you with this quote:
"Making the decision to have a child-it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body"

Welcome to....