That's right, a post about Christmas gifts in March. But I'll get to that in a minute. We were supposed to go camping with our friends Keith and Chanda this weekend but the rain and threats of cold weather deterred us. So we ended up with a much needed weekend in, after several out of town trips, in-laws visits and what not. On Saturday, we did chores for several hours, which was great (seriously! we love puttering around our home). Our house is so clean now! And, I did some baking. I LOVE baking. It's creative and relaxing and almost always produces a good end result. Ian has been talking about Key Lime Pie for a while, so I thought I would give it a try. I used a recipe from Fanny Farmer's Cookbook, which my sisters gave me for Christmas a few years ago (funny, I didn't mean to make that second mention of Christmas gifts, but there you go!).
Ian declares it is the best pie he's ever had. I'm sure that
totally unbiased report has you all convinced I should open a bakery. Needless to say, we are thoroughly enjoying it. I also made a "Mac n Cheese for Grown-Ups" from my Cooking Light magazine. Ian LOVES mac n cheese (really, he prefers the fake stuff from Kraft) but I thought I would humor him and make this dish for him, since I never make that fake stuff.
It turned out okay. The Panko on top was delicious, but the spinach was a little strange and the cheese too strong. But that from the girl who doesn't like cheese, so take that with a grain of salt. This is not at all connected to the baking, but I don't think I ever showed on this blog one of the gifts that Ian gave me for Christmas that I love. It's four jars from Crate and Barrel. And being the romantic that he is, he filled one of the jars with jelly beans. (That's one of his nicknames for me - isn't it cute? I love it!). He filled the jars with a box of all their flavors and people have been eating them regularly since coming over to our house, but I'm really only a fan of a few flavors of jelly beans. With some extra time this weekend, we made a visit to a local candy store and I now have a jar of JUST cotton candy and cherry. Ahh, sugary bliss. Aren't the jars so cute!?
Ian declares it is the best pie he's ever had. I'm sure that totally unbiased report has you all convinced I should open a bakery. Needless to say, we are thoroughly enjoying it. I also made a "Mac n Cheese for Grown-Ups" from my Cooking Light magazine. Ian LOVES mac n cheese (really, he prefers the fake stuff from Kraft) but I thought I would humor him and make this dish for him, since I never make that fake stuff. 
It turned out okay. The Panko on top was delicious, but the spinach was a little strange and the cheese too strong. But that from the girl who doesn't like cheese, so take that with a grain of salt. This is not at all connected to the baking, but I don't think I ever showed on this blog one of the gifts that Ian gave me for Christmas that I love. It's four jars from Crate and Barrel. And being the romantic that he is, he filled one of the jars with jelly beans. (That's one of his nicknames for me - isn't it cute? I love it!). He filled the jars with a box of all their flavors and people have been eating them regularly since coming over to our house, but I'm really only a fan of a few flavors of jelly beans. With some extra time this weekend, we made a visit to a local candy store and I now have a jar of JUST cotton candy and cherry. Ahh, sugary bliss. Aren't the jars so cute!? 
Good. Now I won't have to root around for the flavors I like. Next time you refill, please remember that I also like Kiwi and Watermelon. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI actually wanted pina colada, but the candy store said that wasn't a popular seller (how can that be?) so they didn't carry it. But I'll do my best next time to make sure your needs are taken care of. =)
ReplyDeleteI want some of the key lime pie.
ReplyDelete