Jam and Pesto

So my friend, and boss, Julie Engstrom let me pick raspberries at her sprawling country home (she might deny the sprawling part... but she does have gardens and berry bushes galore!). I got about a gallon of berries and decided to make Jam! Just sugar, berries and a little lemon juice and cooked them till they were thick! Then... I canned it! Talk about domestic! But it sure was fun!


I also got a bunch of basil from her home as well! so I made... Pesto. Walnuts, Basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil and a little lemon juice to keep it from oxidizing. Delicious!

Tyler's Chocolate Pie... from "The Help"

So I went and saw the movie "The Help". It was such a great movie! I love it! I was inspired by the chocolate pie that was on there. I had never seen a baked chocolate pie before. I have only seen like pudding pies. Now those of you who have seen it... no, I didn't put the "special ingredient" in it.

I searched a lot for a recipe online. I also read reviews of others and even posted it on my bread forum called The Fresh Loaf that I am a part of. I chose two recipes. They were similar. One with 2 eggs and one with 3 eggs. I chose the 3 egg one and didn't like its texture... too eggy. So I created my own sort of combining the two recipes. I wanted a with to feel like it was inbetween a pudding and a brownie. I got it! Two eggs was the trick! (and I got it on my second attempt!) It was delicious!



The picture I have has it topped with a meringue just because eggs were cheaper than cream. But it is better with whipped cream! Any ways... I broke it down (hopefully I did the math right) but it only cost me $2.50 to make this pie (minus the cream). Cheap and delicious, my two favorite words together!

Told you I would forget!

Its been a month since I have written... and a lot has happened and change!

For starters... my recent creation that I remember was just this week! I made a cake (which is what I love doing), but it was a flavor I had never done before, Cookies and Cream!

The holes in the cake are there because of the candles.

I made a homemade white cake and added broken oreos to it. The filling in the cake was most heavenly! Oreo pudding and whipping cream whipped to create a delicious oreo fluffy mousse! The frosting was white butter cream decorated with Oreos! It was such a hit, and seriously delicious.

I made a half sheet cake, expecting 20 people, we only had about 12, so we had a whole quarter sheet left! Best leftovers ever!

Things have also changed with my student teaching which was going to take place this fall. It is now taking place in the winter on account of the PRAXIS: World Language Spanish test. It is still frustrating trying to figure out what I am going to do with my life at the moment because I can't student teach until I receive passing scores on the exam (which I am so close to passing!).

I have been trying to live by this quote the past little while, "If it isn't working out, it isn't the end yet." Sometimes it is hard to keep that in mind when it seems like the universe is working against you... but there is a reason all of this is happening. I am just wondering when I will get a clue into what that is.

I found a quote today that I thought was good... and funny, but Julia Child:

Always remember: If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who's going to know?

(Secretly that is why I am a clean freak... it makes mistakes like that more "okay").

Well, that's all for now!