I have the house to myself this evening and I am choosing to tell you guys about my slice of pie heaven. My husband LOVES pie. I love sugar and the idea of pie but have never made one before. Today that changed. I made pie for my beloved and it went over amazingly. I was really pleased.
My life is usually a bunch of anxiety and self deprication that is mangled even more by meltdowns and sneeky hate spirals. I have great ambitions and huge plans to make beautiful culinary/crafty experiments. And usually those ambitions are only half realized because the entire time I'm endevoring to get these things done, I hear the whispers of doubt in my ear saying "rush, rush, hurry, hury." And it's not just with food. It's with crafts and skills and reading books and gardeing. Actually it's not really so much with gardening. That is something that I just seem to have engrained in my dna to be good at. But as for food, yikes. MOST of the time it turns out decent. The food is usually tasty and at the very least presentable but when I put the fork to my mouth and masticate my creation, I always wonder, "What else could I have done to make this better?"
Today was not like that. (Now this may seem like a bunch of rambling leading to maybe nothing, but bear with me. I have a conclusion, somewhere.) Last night we watched "Julie and Julia." OH MY GOODNESS!! Julia Child. Sweet french cooking, tall, pearl wearing muse to many. Add another follower to your list. Honestly. I've watched Julia Child cook all of maybe two times while I've been sitting in my underware eating cereal because It was something on television. I didn't know Julia. I had no idea that this person, with a boisterous soul and infectious laughter was such a complete master at food. And not just at food, but at the human condition. Julia was a chef, an authour, a tv personality and my favorite thing of all. Julia was a wife. My favorite side of Julia was her relationship with her husband. She met Paul Child at the age of 34 and was married to him within a year. The two were the absolute perfect picture of an amazing marrige. Paul drove Julia and supported her enough to find the person she wanted to be. He fufilled her life by allowing her to be EXACTLY who she was. Loving, loud, clad in pearls and charming the pants off of everyone in her path. And then there was the FOOD.
My husband is much the same way. On some days he wakes up to a wife that is sweet and lovey dovey. But on other days, my husband wakes up to this monster who can't be loved enough or tamed in anyway. Stephen has the most amazing amounts of tolerance and patience of any person that I have ever met. When he comes to the kitchen and finds me caked in failed Swedish cinnamon rolls, crying on the floor in my underwear again, does he freak out? Does he yell at me for making a mess? Does
he chide me for taking this situation far to serious? NO?! Stephen takes my tear streaked face in his hands, kisses my forehead and proceeds to eat my sad, sad cinnamon cookie screw up. Stephen gladly eats every experiment that I place in front of him and he tells me how delicious it is and smiles. Every time. Every time.
he chide me for taking this situation far to serious? NO?! Stephen takes my tear streaked face in his hands, kisses my forehead and proceeds to eat my sad, sad cinnamon cookie screw up. Stephen gladly eats every experiment that I place in front of him and he tells me how delicious it is and smiles. Every time. Every time. When I told Stephen that I wanted to go to culinary school, he encouraged me. And then he took me to Barns and Noble so I could get my own copy of Mastering The Art of French Cooking. I KNOW RIGHT!! Who has a bad ASS husband? ME!!
So with this vote of confidence from my husband, today I baked. And I baked. And I baked. I made my first pie, A Rum, Chocolate and Pecan pie of absolute lovely proportions and I also made a batch of vegan blueberry muffins. Both of which turned out picture perfect. The experience was calm and calming, and I was actually relaxed. I enjoyed baking again and I thank you, Julia Child. The Pie recipe was borrowed from Mrs. Paula Deen and honestly, y'all. You can't go wrong with Paula Deen. I'm just saying, butter makes it better. The muffin recipe, however was MINE!! It was a basic recipe that was altered to what I had in the pantry. And "Why Vegan?" you ask? Yea, I'm not a vegan, nor do I care to be vegan, but I've done a few vegan recipes now and honestly, I find it exciting. How is it possible to make something yummy without using any animal products? That is the whole draw to the recipe! NO butter, NO EGG, NO MILK!! She's gone MAD!!
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Wheat Germ (which kicks sooo much ruuuumppp!!)
1/2 Cup Sugar
4 tsp of baking powder (cause I likes um fluffy!!)
A couple of dashes of cinnamon
1 Cup frozen/thawed blueberries
3/4 cup rice milk
1/2 cup of apple sauce
2 Tablespoons of your choice of jam (I used sand plum)
1 tsp of vanilla
1 Mushed ripe nanna
1/3 cup peanut oil
Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a second bowl combine all wet ingredients (not the berry's) and whisk till everything is Incorporated. The banana will still be sort of solid. Add the Berry's to the dry ingredients. They will mush up a little and cause the batter to turn a fun purple color. Gingerly add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir till well Incorporated. Spoon the batter into a greased (and I added cupcake liners as well) muffin tin and fill about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 20-30 minutes in a 400 degree oven or until the muffins are firm to touch.
Julia, I salute you. I can't wait to get elbow deep in your cookbook. Thanks for the food. Thanks for the guidance and thanks for the laughter. Much love to you Julia.
