Create!

It seems in the moment of creating, whether it be a smile, a good story, or delicious food, we are closest to our creator, and we have the best experiences to share. This pea thinks it's most especially true when making really good food.

So, on a brisk Wednesday afternoon (yes; the weather has cooled down a bit, thank goodness!), these two silly peas decided to make their very first pumpkin pie in honor of the coming season, chocolate pie, and spanakopita. All of which was very yummy and almost entirely homemade.

 

We sauteed one head of garlic, half of an onion, and one can of spinach. When this mix was cool we added mozzarella and parmesan cheese. We cut frozen pastry dough into 36 squares, sealed some of the mix inside, and baked for about 10 minutes.

Best idea ever! We used the pumpkin pie recipe printed on the label of our canned pumpkin. Who knew, right? We used Ina Garten's pie crust recipe at foodnetwork.com. So good!

We mixed 3/4 of an 8 oz. package of cream cheese and one package of instant chocolate pudding mix. We added milk to that until it seemed like the right consistency. And then we put it into the pie crust we made. Oooo! Fast and yummy!

We had a little extra pie crust and pumpkin pie mix left so we made two cute pies for each of us in our muffin pan. Fun and yummy!

Bon Appetit!

Dimanche

Every Sunday the two peas fire up the ol' computer and access Google+. It's been a blessing in disguise. They can connect to all the members of one side of the family at one time. It's like a virtual family reunion!

The wife's favorite moment thus far was when one little nephew tried to talk with grandma. Presently, he's just too short....

Oh the joys of family!

Pizza Party

The two peas made tons of pizza dough and headed over the house of their friends for an awesome family home evening pizza party. They made little pizzas for the kids, one large ham and veggie pizza, and one large, absolutely delicious barbeque chicken pizza.

 

 

Seriously, homemade pizza is the best! 

There's just no place like home.

Long Days and Nights

The two peas have been missing each other terribly since the hubby has been detained for call every third night for three weeks. Not to get too mushy, but it's a bummer, and it's the only news they've got to share. The wife's been sitting around, 'cause she has two weeks of vacation before school. At least there's plenty of projects to try and keep busy and make the time fly.

On a lighter note, both sets of parents to these two peas are celebrating 20+ years of marriage. Congrats to our awesome mothers and fathers!

In thinking about it, the wife couldn't help but reminisce on this lovely (and her favorite) Shakespeare Sonnet:

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, or Bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

(If one reads to the punctuation, rather than the line break, Shakespeare makes more sense.)

Our friends the Tree Roaches

Almost the moment after the two peas moved into their Texas residence, 

they met their most pesky and nosy neighbors - the tree roaches. 

These are big creatures. 

No room to brag versus South American roaches, mind you, 

but they can get very long, say 3-4 inches.

Here's a very fine specimen, about 3-4 inches long, not including the antenna, 

that decided to use our tub one night:

Yep.

How we do Eggrolls

The wife loves egg rolls and now the hubby's hooked too. 

In our house, we love to make vegetable, chicken, and turkey bacon egg rolls. They are so very delicious!

Here's what we use:

One head of chopped celeri, four chopped big carrot sticks, one chopped onion, 4-5 finely chopped cloves of garlic; and one can of chunk chicken, 6-7 strips of turkey bacon, 4-5 cups of finely chopped fresh spinach, and 1-2 packages of egg roll wrappers.

1st. We saute the garlic for 1-2 minutes in 2-3 tablespoons of oil or butter (you pick). Then we add the onion and sweat them (cook them for about 3 minutes).

2nd. We add the Celeri and Carrots, stir all of the ingredients so far together, and simmer on medium heat for about 7 minutes covered. In the mean time, we stick the turkey bacon in the oven to cook at 350 F for 11 minutes.

3rd. We add spices to taste, like a dash of paprika, basil, chives, parsley, and oregano. Yum!

4th. We add the Spinach, stir it in, and allow it to cook for about 3-4 minutes.

5th. We take the turkey bacon out of the oven and chop it. We add the turkey bacon and chicken to the pan and stir everything together. We have the pan on medium to low heat for 1 more minute. 

6th. We have a small bowl of water ready and open our package of egg rolls. We have a wrapper out on the cutting board diamond style. We put a spoonful of the pan ingredients onto the wrapper. 

We fold the top edge and then the sides toward the center, over the food. we place a finger-full of water onto the bottom edge, and then roll the wrapper over onto the wet bottom edge.

7th. We fry the egg rolls in sesame seed or canola oil until they are golden and crunchy. We let them dry out on paper towels (to soak up excess oil). And then we eat them with soy or teriyaki sauce. Yum!

The wife will often add chopped tomato to her egg rolls. 

Just in case you were wondering,

The insides come out to about 30 calories an egg roll. The wrappers are usually 170 calories for 3, depending on the brand you purchase. When all is said and done (they're cooked in the oil) Each egg roll, eaten with sauce, ends up being about 150 calories. And they're very filling.

It's one of our favorite meals!

The Newest Member of Our Family

I have decided buying a new car through a dealer is like having a new child - you work really hard with patience, and then have to work through a few hours of grueling labor. 

(Sorry to those of you who thought this might be filled with more exciting news. No; not yet.)

No, our lovely first car is not damaged, it just so happens that our institutions of learning require us to travel during the wee hours of the morning to two very different locations.

So, after several weeks of hard work, we would like to present our Corrolla:

Our cars never get fancy names...just the ones they came with....

Simply has what we need, and we got to barter in a couple of nice things too.

Fits in our tiny garage next to our first motorized love. That's a plus. They're going to have to share a room for a while, maybe forever.