Yummy Lemon Meringue Pie

Cooking and Baking is something I have loved to do since I was a child, I have my mother to thank for this, she started me in the kitchen at a very young age. So I like to say I learned from the best because really whats better then moms cooking :) Now I like to get my own daughter in the kitchen as much as I can, to pass on our families recipes, and to try some new fun stuff that I know my family will love. I think of all my hobbies this is my husbands favorite! So when I decided to make my mother- in- laws favorite Lemon Meringue pie for her birthday, of course I had to make two. Now I have heard this is not an easy pie to make but trust me it's not as bad as it seams and is pretty fast to make.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups of Water

1 Cup Sugar

3 1/2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 Lemon's Zested

1/3 Teaspoon Juice from Lemon

1/4 Teaspoon Lemon Extract

3 Egg Yolks

2 Tablespoons Butter

Pre made roll out pie shell ( bake this in oven till it is almost golden brown, set a side) 

Directions

First separate your egg yolks & whites. Put aside the egg whites so they can come up to room temperature for the meringue in a little bit. Next In a bowl combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract & egg yolks then put aside. Now In a sauce pot on high heat, Combine sugar, corn starch, flour, salt & water. you will need to stay by the stove for this, Continue to stir until the sugar mixture comes to a full boil. It will become thick, and form into a gel. 

Take the hot sugar mix off the hot burner.  Now you are ready to temper your egg yolks.
Add a small amount of the hot sugar mixture to the egg yolks, a little at a time to slowly bring the eggs up to the same temperature of the hot sugar mix. Doing this to fast will scramble your eggs. Once you have added a few hot spoonfuls the yolks will now be up to temperature. Add all of  yolk mixture back in the pot stirring the whole time. Put the mixture back on the stove, add butter and continue to cook for another 3 minutes. At this point your mixture should have a nice yellow color to it.

Pour in to pre baked pie shell. Now it's time to make your Meringue topping.

 Meringue

3 Egg Whites

1/4 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

1/4 Cup Sugar

Directions

Your egg whites should to be at room temperature by now. Using a glass bowl add cream of tartar to the egg whites, Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until eggs whites form peaks with tips that curl over when beaters are lifted. Now you can slowly start to add your sugar. beating the whole time add a little bit of sugar at a time making sure all sugar is  dissolved. Now pour your topping over pie, making sure to seal all the way around pie shell so that you can not see the fulling at all. With a spoon just touch the top of meringue and pull up fast this will make your peaks. Bake at 350 for about 10 mins or until peaks are golden brown.

No-Sew Fleece Blanket

This is one of my favorite crafts that I enjoy making! It's easy, fast, super warm and it makes a wonderful gift, especially for a baby shower. What I really like the most about this is that there is such a large variety of  the types you can make.  I have made some as large as 3 yards, and as small as 1/2 yard for a doll blanket. As my girls would say, "our babies get cold too".  My girls and I love cuddling up with them on the couch on a cold winters day to watch a movie.

Doll Blanket- Half a yard

Baby Blanket- 1 yard

Toddler/Child Blanket- 1 1/2 yards

Adult Throw Blanket- 2 yards

Over sized- 3 yards 

Once you have decided on what size you would like to make it's time to head to the store to pick out some fabrics. The first thing I do is pick out  my print, and then I select a solid that will bring out the colors in the print.  Most of the time at either Walmart or Joann's Fabrics you can get some really great prices. The last one I made was a baby blanket for a baby shower gift. The print was $4.23 a yard and the solid was $2.23 a yard, totaling only $6.46 for a beautiful handmade gift!! Woohoo!!! I loved this because it left me room in my budget to pick up some other cute baby items for her.  Now on to the supplies you will need.

A Ruler & A Fabric Scissors...That's it :)

1. Lay solid fabric out ( on floor or bed)

2. Lay print right on top of your solid fabric

3. Cut and trim both layers all the way around so that they are even with each other. 4. Cut a 4x4 square corner, cutting through both layers. Then proceed to do this on all four corners.

5. Now your ready to cut your tie strips, starting from one corner, I like to use my thumb as a guide I hold both layers and measure from the top of my thumb to my knuckle for the width of the cut, the length will be the same as your corner 4", make this cut over and over until all sides are cut.

6. Yay!! Your almost done. To start tieing start on the 3rd strip from the corner ( you will go back to tie them at the end).When you get to one end of a side also stop on the 3rd strip before the end.  Do this all the way around. A dubble knot is fine, you can tie so all the print shows on the solid side or tie any way you like. I fine it looks good either way.

7. Just tie all corners..

Crochet my 1st hat!!!!

Crocheting has always been one of the hobbies I wanted to get more into, but with only knowing how to do one single chain lets just say making a baby blanket could take forever!!! So with basic skills I stared asking around, watched some youtube videos and puff I made a hat!!! lol I have done 2 so far, my first came out a little small but fit my 2 year old great the next I was more careful with, fit's my 7 year old awesome!! now starting my 3rd. heres some photos of how they came out.

                                                             WooHoo my 1st hat!!!

The 2nd!!

I feel great that I was able to make something for my girls in my down time. My 7 year old is a total Diva who would love nothing more then to be able to match everything she wears! I love knowing that now when we see that hat in the store that she must have lol I can say "Mommy can just make you one" This site helped a lot in learning how to do this.http://crochet-mania.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-make-darling-crochet-shell-cap.html Because trust me if I can do this anyone can :)