Mulberry Pie....(acting like i didn't just take 4 months off from blogging)

So, A LOT has happened since my last post, which is why that was my last post.  I started a new job, my new job moved to a new location, I sold my old house and bought a new one, then moved, and somewhere in there we found out we are having another baby.....

Wow, what a busy 3-4 months huh?  So, please forgive the long gap between blog entries, hopefully now that I have a new kitchen I'll have some time to break it in properly and hopefully be able to share my experiences with you.

First off, let me tell you I LOVE my new house, except for the poison ivy in the back yard.  That kinda sucked!  I tried to be all clever and wear rubber gloves and go and pull all of it, then ran upstairs and showered with Dawn dish soap to try and keep from breaking out, but it didn't work...well it mostly worked but I got a nasty spot on the back of my forearm.


The only other thing I hate about my new house is the electric stove!  (oh yeah and the wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom) After being raised on electric, I fell in love with gas at my old house, and now I'm back to electric because they don't even have gas run to the neighborhood.  Ughhhh.  But It's a great location and we love everything about it so it will just have to do!

Yeah that's right I said we found out we're having a baby.  I call it Dos.  My wife is 10 weeks along and seems to be doing alright except lots of smells make her nauseous. Seafood being one of them, but we're going to a crawfish boil tonight with some friends so cross your fingers that the smell doesn't empty her stomach before I can fill mine.

And now for the Mulberry Pie:  So why Mulberry?  You might ask.... the new job I mentioned earlier is I mow grass part time at my church, which has 110 acres, with over half of that being grass-ish (so not real sure how its part time, but that's for another day).  One day while mowing I noticed a mulberry bush growing right out in plain sight but nobody had ever seen it yet, so I picked a lot and ate them right there on the spot, then I went over to the office and started bugging one of the women that works there to bake me a mulberry pie....but she didn't.  So I called home and told the wife to thaw a crust I have in the freezer and I'd do it myself....and so I did.

But I didn't get around to taking pictures or writing about it, and like I said I'm going to the crawfish boil tonight and have to bring a dessert so I decided to throw one together.

It's simple...

*Pick enough berries to fill your pie pan.
*Whip up a crust real quick.
Now for the ingredients part....

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
the zest and juice from one lemon
1 tsp vanilla

I rinsed the berries and drained,

then squeezed the juice from 1 lemon over the top of the berries, then zested it into the mix as well and dumped in the vanilla...Mix that all up real well.

I know that looks like whiskey but it's my homemade vanilla, granted it did have to get that bottle empty somehow before filling with homemade vanilla extract.

Then in a separate bowl combine all the dry stuff, mix well and combine into the berry bowl.

I mixed with my hands but you can use whatever method you like.

Put into pie crust, top with second crust, sprinkle with giant sugar crystals (sugar in the raw) and Baked it at 425 for fifteen minutes then reduced to 350 for 45 mins.

Cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Nothing Like a Little Nose Job to add some Excitement

So yesterday I got to have my nose worked on.  I had a deviated septum so they decided to fix it.  See I've had wicked bad headaches ever since I got whacked in the back of the head by a helicopter blade that was turning at low speeds.  The Dr. up at the VA has been working with me for a while ( couple years) trying to figure out a way to help, but we're getting nowhere.  One day he asked if I snore so I tell him yes and he sends me to the ENT.  The fun thing is nobody else in the whole VA healthcare system believes in what this guy is doing so they are all a bunch of jerks when I go to see them, the eye doctor especially.  But the ENT was pretty cool, and looked in my nose then scheduled me for surgery.

If you approach it from a logical standpoint I think there's some good reasoning behind it all.  When your brain doesn't get enough oxygen the vessels swell to allow more blood to flow, and the swelling puts pressure on your brain and causes a headache.  Not all headaches are caused by this but some are.  So it makes sense that if my nose is blocked and I'm not getting enough oxygen into my body, then opening it up to allow more air flow could possibly help with headaches.  The other benefits could be that I sleep better and snore less (so brittney sleeps better).  And if I get more rest in the night then maybe I will have more energy and be able to better focus and not forget everything all the time like I do.    Your logic is sound!

Still no cooking, but keep an open eye.  I'm not allowed to work or lift heavy things so I'm bound to get bored and that usually means cooking.