Mom-in-Law-Pleasin' Apple Pie

Hey kids! I've missed you. For real. It's been too long.  Life does that; keeps us apart and then we come back together over big slice of Apple Pie. Sit down for a while, i'll show you how I made it :)

You'll be surprised to hear that this is basically the first pie I've ever made.  Pies intimidate me, as a baker.. So i totally used a store-bought pie crust to ease the transition into Pie making town... Whew, what a load off.

My dear friend/basically a sister, Chelsea Lou suggested that we do our own Thanksgiving since Ben and Myself would be staying in StarkVegas for the holiday.  What a fantastic idea since I've always said that I'd let my sister Dee do all the holiday cookin' since I prefer baking to actual cooking any day of the week...  Might as well buck up and try it for myself. It was ok, I had Chels and she's ridiculous in a kitchen... no kidding.

So here's what I did. I took care of the dessert. And a couple other supporting roles in the meal. It was an overall success.

Let's have pie!

Here's what you'll need.

5 apples, butter, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, pie crusts (3)

*You'll also need a large iron skillet for this recipe*

**Be awesome and whip up your own whipping cream, it's exponentially better than cool whip**

Let's do this the old fashioned way. It's totally more fun.  Get your knife out and peel those apples. Do it.

Then slice em' up real thin and toss the creepy core parts..

I put the slices in some water to keep them from turning brown.

 

Now get your skillet out and put it on medium heat. Melt that whole stick of butter. Yes.

Put 1 cup of brown sugar straight into the melted butter.

It will look like this. Double yes.  Spread it out evenly to cover the bottom of the skillet.

Remove it from the heat and put your first pie crust directly on top of this mixture.

It's ok to get in there to keep it pretty.. you know.. just wash your manos first... no biggie.

 

Take half of your apple slices out of the water and shake them like a polaroid picture.. Or something like that. Just get most of the water off.

 

Mix together 1/3 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon together.

 

Then sprinkle all of it over the apples you've just so neatly spread out in the skillet.

It looks so yummy. Let's just eat it now?  No? You'd rather finish it and bake it??

Fine.

To resist temptation, put your second pie crust over your mixture.

 

You know what's next. Repeat.  Get the rest of the apples out and spread them just like before.

Make it pretty. No one like ugly pie... Wait.

Do the same sugar/cinnamon mix and sprinkle again. Cover with final pie crust.

I added this step in so it's totally optional. If you're not into egg washing your pies, I say, "that's cool." We can still be friends. But if you are... scramble the heck outta the egg and lotion up the pie. It just helps to brown the pie and make it shiny... I also sprinkled some sugar crystals on top for dramatic effect.

Then cut some holes in the top for air.

Bake your friend, Mr. Pie, at 350 for 30ish minutes. You'll smell it and know you're that much closer to heaven.

here he comes right out of the oven looking like Frodo and Sam's landscape outside Mordor... It's ok.

 

Let it set so the juices will creep to the top making little rivers of delicious.

That's it!! Pie making done easy! I named this one Mom-in-Law pleasin' since I got this recipe from mine :)

I promise it's good. If you don't believe me, I documented our friend enjoying a slice.

Happiness.

Now, go make a pie. It WILL make your day better.

Until next time, I love you.

xoxo Sierra

A new little baby-sized life

As usual, I'm about one week behind what I'm here to talk to you about.  it's how I roll.  In my last post, I was just gushing with excitement over my newest niece to make her way into the world.  I was on my way down to Laurel to welcome her myself.  I promised you an account of the events so I'm here to fulfill that promise!

First, my sister met her,now, husband. Then, they fell in love. Then they got married.  Skipping forward, we are about to get a baby. 
I arrived at the hospital a hasty 12 hours before the baby decided to come. Fail.  I was all in a hurry, even though people kept telling me that it would take a long time and I shouldn't rush.  Well, if you know me, you know being late for something stresses me out 100% so I rushed.  Then waited for 12 hours.

here we are waiting.

This continued for a Loooooong time. I'm sure it felt longer for DeeAnn.

Around 8:15 the doctor finally decided that it was time for a C Section lest we risk pushing and endangering the baby and mama.

Drew was pumped and ready to go into the OR.

Unfortunatley, my sister is basically immuned to any type of pain meds so they had to put her  completely under to perform the section, so Drew had to wait in the hospital room.

The rest of the family waited (im)patiently at the nursery to see our baby Alice Kathering for the first time.

Oh my, she was huge.

10 lbs 2 oz & 22 1/2 in long!

Of course everyone wanted to cuddle and snuggle her to pieces... We're hoping she wasn't instantly spoiled to all that cuddling.  (I secretly don't care) ;)

This is my dad (AKA: Grand-Dad) holding his first grandbaby for the first time.  He was over the moon.

 

Drew's sister getting a snuggle :)

People keep saying I look like a natural... = When are you going to have a baby????

I say, being an aunt rocks.  I'll stick to that for a while!

Alice's sweet little angry sleep face. This photo also features her too-small mittens.  She's starting life out in a 3 month onesie.  word.

 Such a precious girl!



Welcome to the world, Alice Katherine! We're so glad you're here!  Now, I've got to figure out the schedule thing... a 185 mile drive stinks when that's what it takes to hold this little girl.

"AK, Aunt SieSie loves you" :)

It's almost time!

So the big arrival day is tomorrow. My sister will be going to the hospital early in the morning to start urging Alice Katherine to come into the world!  My sister has asked me to join her and my brother-in-law in the delivery room.  I'm still preparing mentally for this.  I just wanted to give my blog friends the heads up so you'll know to be watching for the cover story of this momentous of events!

Sometimes it's so hard to believe how fast life goes by.  And... the fact that it will never be the same after tomorrow.  But, in a good way!  Stay tuned!

Me and the Colts.. we go way back.

If you are my amigo(a) on Facebook, you may or may not have seen a few days back where I posted that I do, in fact, Have The best. Friends. Ever.  Well let me explain why.  My friends know me and they know what I love. When it comes to football, I love the Colts. Not because I'm from Indiana (which I'm not) or because I'm distantly related to the Mannings (which I'm not)... I just love them because I chose them as my team way back in middle school or something. AND I am no fair weather fan! (0-6 season...)   Yeah, we've been a really solid team for years now and this is a really really bad year. Doesn't matter: they are my team. I love them still. (Maybe with the exception of Curtis Painter, he just makes me angry).  Now, I knew before this season ever started that the Colts would be playing just 4 hours from me in New Orleans in October. But, there was no way I was going to be able to buy tickets... The "cheaper" tickets online still cost over $200 each. It just wasn't happening.  My sister told me about a pair she could get me back a couple months ago, but that set was $500.  Again, not happening.  So, I resigned myself to the notion of ever getting to go to this game..

That was until the week of the game, my dear friend Chelsea asked me if I could come down to New Orleans the weekend of the game.  (Chelsea lives in Slidell now, just about 20 minutes outside the city.)  She told me she knew a season ticket holder with 2 extra tickets for this game.  I quickly asked, "how much??" to which she responded, "Doesn't matter.. can you come?"  :)    Yes!   She said "Happy Birthday!"   

Best. Friends. Ever.

The Following pictures are a record of our experience at the game. 

Getting ready to hit the road!

 Almost to the city

See there it is.

 I stuck out in the crowd pretty good...

 Best seat in the house!  ;)

 Curtis Painter running back into the locker room.. Why do you ahve to be so terrible, Paiter?? WHY!?

 At least the hotdogs had the right idea!!!

 Ben would not wear his nice Cobalt Blue polo... Sell out...

 Peyton is in this one.  45 Yd Line. Jeans. Blue Hat. I was so star struck. For real.

 The Saints' grand entrance.  They put on a pretty good show.

 Coin Toss.

 Southern Univ. Band being Patriotic before gametime

 Saints Backwards.

 We... excuse me... I was totally outnumbered of course, but I still had a great time.  Well, except for the whole record-setting loss thing... I still got to see some of my favorite guys play in real life.  It will be better next year.

Can I also just say that those Saints fans have just completely lost their minds! They are so much fun at a game.  And not one of them threw jumbalaya at my face :)

 Superdome lit up at night.

Ok, so that was such a fun night that I got to spend with my husband in New Orleans. All because of a great friend who is completely selfless and loves to bring joy to her friends and those around her. If only the rest of the world were as thoughtful!  Love you Chels!!!

Stay tuned as I bring you the rest of our weekend in blog form!