THE coconut cream pie...4th time's a charm?

As Easter quickly approaches it's that time of year again when I attempt to make Frank's favorite dessert of all time....his mom's coconut cream pie. I heard about this pie for years before I actually got to try it one Christmas. And it was delicious! When I tried it I thought to myself, "I can make this...piece of cake (or pie)!" Frank said that others have tried to make this pie and it's never as good as him mom's. I took that as a challenge! Long story short, I've made this pie 3 times now. Two times we had coconut cream soup and one time, in the middle, I actually made it right! Making a custard pie is a lot harder than it looks. However, now I have an official double boiler, so I'm hoping my new kitchen accessories will help me on this year's challenge.

Here is the recipe exactly as I received it from Frank's mom in an email:

"For the crust: You will need 1 and 3/4 cups of crushed graham crackers. This is 1 package. (a box comes with three packages). I use the bottom of a drinking glass to crush these in a bowl. To this, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 6 tablespoons of melted margarine or butter. Mix and press firmly to sides and bottom of 9 inch pie pan. Chill one hour before filling, or bake at 375 degrees about 7 minutes. (I usually bake.)

For the filling: I will give this to you in the order I do it, since I like to have everything ready to pour into the milk and keep stirring so it doesn't stick. Separate 3 eggs. Beat the yolks just a little. Put the whites in a bowl big enough for mixing, as you will make your meringue out of them. In another bowl, mix 3/4 cup of sugar, and either 1/2 cup of flour or 1/4 cup of cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I use cornstarch if I have it. If not, I use flour - doesn't matter if it is all-purpose or self-rising. Get your coconut out of the can or bag - 3/4 cup of shredded coconut. You will also need 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring. In a double-boiler, put water in the bottom part, probably about an inch - just till it will barely touch the bottom of the top part when you set in in the bottom part. Put 2 and 1/2 cups of whole milk in the top part of the double broiler and turn your eye on medium heat. You want this milk to heat to a scalding point - this will be when a think film forms on top of the milk. At this point you will start stirring and slowly add your sugar/cornstarch mixture. Heat and stir until this starts to thicken, then add your beaten egg yolks. Continue stirring until thick. Remove from heat, stir in coconut and vanilla flavoring. Pour this into your graham cracker shell and allow to cool while you make your meringue.

For meringue: To your three egg whites, add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and about 1/8 teaspoon vanilla flavoring. Beat until it begins to thicken, then add about 6 tablespoons of sugar (one or two tablespoons at a time) and beat until thick enough to stay where you put it. Ha! Bake at 425 degrees just about 4 minutes or until lightly browned. I always watch this part very closely since it can burn pretty quickly.

This sounds more complicated than it is, once you have tried it a few times, and even if it is not perfect the first few times, more than likely it will still be edible. Good luck!!

Hugs,

Vivian"

I will be making this on Saturday and I'll let you know how it turns out!

Happy Baking!

Oops...I just spent $75 at Loops

I've been wanting to learn how to knit for a very long time. I've been talking about it forever. I've just never gotten around to actually doing it....until now. Well, I just invested $75 in this new hobby of mine, so I better actually learn how to do it.

Let me start at the beginning. At my school, there is the nicest mom that loves to knit and she volunteers her time every Thursday to the Knitting Club. Anybody that wants to learn can come AND it's free! We got an email recently from our school secretary asking if anyone would volunteer their classroom for the Knitting Club on Thursdays after school. I quickly replied that they can use my room so that I would be forced to learn by proximity. For the past few weeks a nice little group of little girls come to my classroom for their weekly knitting club. I haven't officially joined the club...I'm usually getting my classroom ready for the next day as they're sitting around the table talking and knitting. Last Thursday, I finally just went straight to the knitting store, Loops, right after school and bought what I needed to start. I did not think this hobby would cost me $75! Yes...what you see in this picture above is what I got for $75. It better be the coziest blanket ever for that price. Well, and it is organic.

I hope this isn't a repeat of the time I wanted to take piano lessons from our school's piano teacher. She was so nice and patient and even gave me a keyboard to take home for practicing. This new hobby of mine didn't last long, one summer to be exact, when I realized that she had given me the same piano books that my third graders use! It is kind of funny and sad at the same time. Hopefully the Knitting Club won't be the same sort of situation....I'll have to keep you posted!

Best Ever Pot Roast

The first day of spring (also my birthday) and it snows....unbelievable! The hubs and I took a road trip to Kansas City for the weekend to visit the my brother's family. Bryan, my brother, told me that he'd make anything I wanted for my birthday dinner. Sounds like a nice brother, doesn't it? Well, only until he taught his two little boys, my adorable nephews, to call me Aunt Bubba - a nickname he made up for me when we moved to Texas as kids. Oh, and by the way, I HATED that nickname and still do. He obviously is still getting the reaction he wants from me. When am I going to learn? Gotta love big brothers!

Anywho, for some reason meat and potatoes came to mind. Maybe it was the 8 or so inches of snow out the window? Now, I know this blog is new and a few of you are asking, "What is the point of it anyway?" One aspect of the blog is that I love to try new recipes and share them with the world. I rarely make the recipes up myself, but I do like to give credit where credit is due. In this case, my brother did the cooking (this time) and The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook is where the recipe came from. And boy was it delicious! Here's the recipe if you're interested, and you should be interested because it was the best pot roast ever....and I really mean it this time.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/perfect-pot-roast/

That's all you gotta do!

Happy Cooking!

What the heck is cake flour anyway?

I know it's happened to everyone out there...well, everyone that bakes that is. You're happily following a recipe and you come across the ingredient cake flour. You think to yourself, "What the heck is cake flour anyway?" as you pour in your all-purpose flour. Does it really make a difference? Honestly, I have no idea! Wish I could help you out. Well, I actually can help you out if you're really curious. In this month's Cooks Illustrated magazine it states: "With just 6 to 8 percent protein, cake flour imparts a more tender, delicate texture to baked goods than all-purpose. Here's how to make an approximation.

2 tablespoons cornstarch + 7/8 cup all-purpose flour = 1 cup cake flour

Happy Baking!

Are weddings like babies? Does everyone think their wedding is the cutest?

So I decided to enter my wedding into the Brides of Oklahoma Magazine Four Seasons contest. Frank and I got married November 7th, 2009, so naturally my wedding falls into the autumn category. I spent over an hour yesterday going through my 2,000 wedding photos trying to pick out the photos that showed some of the little details that I loved so much. I loved my wedding and I wouldn't change a thing. However, despite the ridiculous amount of money we spent on our wedding, it was still considered a "budget" wedding in the grand wedding world. I realized this again as I watched Jason and Molly's wedding on The Bachelor: The Wedding last Monday night. Of course anyone can have a beautiful wedding when the budget is unlimited, but can you also have a beautiful wedding when you are on a budget? Of course! I just hope the Brides of Oklahoma Magazine realizes this too....because after I spent all that time picking and choosing my photos to submit I made the mistake of looking at some of the photos on their blog. Yikes! It made my wedding look like the junior varsity team. I'll admit it, I had a moment of doubt...maybe I shouldn't enter this contest? I'm clearly not going to win, so why should I even try?

Then I had a moment of empowerment! Of course I'm still going to enter this contest. I'm fighting for the "normal" people out there...not the "unlimited budget" people. I guarantee you there are more people on a budget than not! I think future brides need to see that you can have a beautiful wedding on a budget. I did.....and I wouldn't change a thing.

That's it? That's really all I had to do?

Well, that was easy. I thought setting up a blog would be hard. That's it? That's all you gotta do?

Maybe I should explain the title of this blog. For years now I have been viciously made fun of by my closest friends. It all began one night at the bowling alley. I hadn't bowled in years and made that clear to everyone involved so as not to embarrass myself. To my surprise I kept getting strike after strike and blew everyone out of the water! Of course this was a complete fluke, however the teasing began....mostly from my good friend Cindy who likes to think she does a great Caryn impression. "That's it? That's all you gotta do? You just have to throw this ball and hit the pins? That's it?"

Next stop, beer pong. Those that know me well know that I'm not a big drinker and I don't partake in drinking games. When Frank and I were dating he had a birthday party at his house with his two roommates. This party is now referred to as "The Fish Bowl", but that's a whole 'nother story for a whole 'nother post. A nice little game of beer pong was going on in the garage. I had never even heard of this game in my life. So, they explained to me that you have to bounce the ping pong ball across the table and land it in a plastic cup. "That's it? That's all you gotta do?," I asked. Lo and behold, I was the beer pong master! Again, it was a complete fluke, but I killed it!

There are a variety of stories that are similar to the bowling and beer pong stories. It's become a big joke among our friends. Call it beginner's luck, who knows?! Who cares?! It's always funny, especially since I'm the least competitive person I know! When trying to come up with a name for my blog that was catchy, it just seemed perfect! I love to cook and try new recipes. I also am always doing some sort of project around the house or yard. Cooking, baking, decorating, refinishing furniture, homemade gift tags, crafty projects, painting...all these things are really not that hard. Anybody can do these things if they tried. That's it! That's all you gotta do!