Author: Jo

Pumpkin Cream Pie

Holy Cow!  It’s been over a month since my last post!  I have no excuse except for the fact that I haven’t really been feeling that well due to this baby growing inside my tummy.  I’ve had these pictures ready to share with you since a week before Thanksgiving, but as usual, I have been procrastinating.  That, and my darling husband does not like it when I upload pictures while he is playing his precious Call of Duty.  He plays with his friends online, and when I upload pictures onto my blog it makes his game lag.  Heaven forbid!

Well luckily, he’s watching football right now with his parents (they’re here visiting for Thanksgiving), so I have some time to write a blog post without Steve complaining about how slow his game is moving.

I made this twist on a traditional pumpkin pie a week before Thanksgiving for our Bible Study’s Thanksgiving Dinner.  It was the first time I made it, and it turned out great, and it got several thumbs up at the dinner.  So if you don’t really like traditional pumpkin pie, maybe you’ll like this version a little better.

Here’s what you’ll need:

FOR THE CRUST:

  • 1-1/2 package Graham Crackers (about 15 Cookie Sheets)
  • 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1 stick Butter, Melted

FOR THE FILLING:

  • 1 box (3 Oz. Box) Vanilla Pudding (Cook And Serve Variety)
  • 1 cup Half-and-half
  • 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
  • Pinch Of Cinnamon
  • Pinch Of Nutmeg
  • Pinch Of Ground Cloves
  • 1/2 cup (plus 3 Tablespoons) Pumpkin Puree
  • 1/2 cup (additional) Heavy Cream
  • 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Preheat oven to 300°.

Start by adding graham crackers to a food processor and pulse until finely crumbled.  If you don’t have a food processor, you can put graham crackers in a Ziplock bag and pound them with a meat mallet or something else that’s good at pounding things into little bits.

 

When graham crackers are crumbled into tiny bits, add powdered sugar and mix until completely combined.

 

Add crumb mixture to a bowl and pour in melted butter.

 

Mix butter in with a fork until all the crumbs are coated.  Then pour into a pie pan.

 

Press crust down either with your fingers or with the bottom of a cup (I find using the bottom of a cup to be the easiest method) so that it is tight against the side and bottom of the pie pan.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until pie crust is golden and set.  Set aside and cool completely.

 

Next take your vanilla pudding…..and chipping nail polish….

 

And pour into a sauce pan.  Doesn’t it look pretty?  Almost like sparkly snow.

 

Add half and half and cream to the pudding powder and stir until combined.

 

Add spices and continuously stir until the mixture comes to a bubble.  Once you have it bubbling, turn off the heat…..but keep stirring.

 

Next comes the main ingredient.  Pumpkin puree!!!

 

Stir in the pumpkin until thoroughly combined.  This may take a lot of stirring because the pumpkin can make the pudding a little lumpy, and you don’t want any lumps.

Once pumpkin pudding mixture is cool enough, cover and place in the fridge to cool completely.

 

Add heavy cream to a medium sized bowl.

 

Add some brown sugar to the cream.

 

Then whisk together until stiff peaks form……be sure to stop when it looks like this.  Otherwise, you can whisk it too much to where it will curdle, and then you’re halfway to butter.  Learned that one the hard way!

 

Add chilled pumpkin pudding mixture to the whipped cream.

 

Gently fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin pudding.  Be sure not to stir too progressively.  You want to fold in gently to keep the fluffy airy quality of the whipped cream.

 

Pour filling into cooled pie crust.

 

Smooth filling so that it’s nice and even.  Then cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.  If you have the time, it would be best to chill overnight.

Then slice up and enjoy!  You could add a little more crunch by adding some crushed graham crackers to the top of the pie once sliced.

The Pregnancy Chronicles: 10 Weeks

Well, I’ve made it to 10 weeks!

My morning sickness is pretty much gone, for the most part, thank goodness, but I’m still having lots of food aversions. My main staple lately is pizza.  I can’t get enough!  And it’s the only thing I can eat and feel completely fine afterwards.  All other food gives me kind of a gross feeling in my throat and stomach,  but not pizza!!!  Papa Johns has gotten a lot of our money in the past couple months.  My favorite is pepperoni and pineapple.  Yum!  Just thinking about it makes me want to order some right now. 

According to my baby books and the internet, Baby McVey is about the size of a prune this week, and next week will graduate to a lime!  I can’t believe she/he is that big already!  She/he is starting to form hair follicles and fingernails.  And although we won’t be able to tell for sure what the gender is for another 5 weeks or so (maybe longer), reproductive organs are already forming!

My belly is starting to stick out and I can’t really hold it in anymore, so I pretty much just look fat since I don’t look obviously pregnant yet.  But luckily I still fit into all my normal clothes, even jeans.  My amazing friend, Renee, gave me all her maternity clothes, which is going to be such a big help!  I’ll barely have to buy anything!  Just sweaters and maybe some long sleeved shirts.  She was mainly pregnant in the summer, and I’m going to go through most of my pregnancy in the winter, but I’ll make do, and the stuff she sent is so cute!  I’m excited for the day when I can start wearing them!

See, just looking like I have a poochy belly.  Not looking pregnant yet, but I’m sure the day will come soon where I wake up and I’m like, “Holy crap!  Where did that belly come from!?”  But for now, I’m just trying to enjoy every moment of my pregnancy, because I know it’s just going to fly by.  I can’t believe it’s already been a month and a half since we found out about our little peanut!  We have less than 7 months until our little one is here!  Which means I better get started making some baby stuff!  Lord knows this child is going to be overwhelmed with blankets, booties, and hats.

And Baby Makes Three

It’s true!  I’m pregnant with our first child!  Steve and I will be welcoming a new bundle of joy to our family on (or around) May 26, 2012.  We couldn’t be more excited!

When we bought the tests Steve insisted on reading the results before I did, so with much impatience I waited while he tried to decipher the results.  When he looked at the test he got this little smirk on his face, and he was like, “Hold on.” and picked up the instruction manual.  I was like, “Seriously?  Just tell me if there is one line or two!”  He said, “There’s definitely two!”  I literally screamed and jumped up and down in our bathroom.  I asked him why he had to look at the instructions if there were two lines and he said since one of the lines was kind of faint, he didn’t know if that was a positive or not.  Of course I then informed him that 2 lines is 2 lines, no matter if one is faint or not.

 

I took two pregnancy tests just to be sure.  The top test I took 5 days before my missed period (the day Steve and I found out together), and the bottom test I took about 3 days later.  As you can see, the bottom test is CLEARLY a positive pregnancy test.  There’s no mistake about it.  There are TWO pink lines on that test!

 

Then Steve realized that our whole world is going to be turned upside down in just 8 short months and he bolted for the door.

 

Just kidding.  He was excited and happy too.  I took the First Response test because it gives you the earliest results…6 days before a missed period!  That’s pretty amazing!

We were 30 minutes late to our Couple’s Bible Study that night, but I think it was worth it.

 

Here is my 4 week pregnant belly.  This photo was taken two days after we found out about our little bun in my oven.  No bump yet….just annoying bloating that comes along with most pregnancies.  If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know what I’m talking about.

I’m almost 10 weeks along now, and I feel like my belly has gotten a little bit bigger.  Who knows if it’s still from bloat or if it’s actually my uterus growing.

We had our first prenatal doctor’s appointment on Monday and got to see our little peanut for the first time.  It was amazing!  So with out further ado…

 

I present to you Baby McVey!!!  You can already see it’s cute arms and legs!  I have a feeling it’s a girl, but I guess we’ll find out in about 5 weeks or so.  We’re going to try to get an early 3D ultrasound to determine the gender early so we don’t have to wait until our 20 week appointment.  I’m ready to start making some non-gender neutral items!!!  You can only make so much yellow, green, and white things before you want to throw some pink or blue in there!

We did take one of those Gendermaker tests that is supposed to be able to tell by your urine what the sex of the baby is as early as about 8 weeks, and it said we were having a girl!  So I guess we’ll just have to see if it’s accurate.

We’re so excited for this new adventure!  I can’t believe it’s only 7 months away!  I have a feeling the time is going to go by really fast, so I’m going to try to enjoy every moment of this pregnancy.  Even the moments that I spend over the toilet.  Ok, I guess that was a little bit too much information, but man oh man!  This baby has had me sick in bed (or in the bathroom) from weeks 6 through 8, and I’m just now starting to feel better.  Hopefully that means we have a very healthy baby on our hands, and if that’s the case then I will gladly deal with the morning all day sickness.