Firstly, sorry for the terrible photo.
Secondly, sorry for the year long dead air – but it has been an eventful year! Baby number two arrived 3 weeks ago. He is awesome. Having two is difficult but not as arduous as I expected… so far.
Now, on to Pie!!! Just to start off, this is not turning into a backing/cooking blog, but there is goig to be some pie in the future. I don’t even really like pie, to be honest, but I noticed I had a hand made Menonite pie crust frozen in my freezer that I’d purchased over 6 months ago and felt it would be a waste if I didn’t use it. Add in the fact that with a newborn you feel like you never accomplish anything other than keeping them alive. So basically, I felt like if I could make a pie I’d done “something.”
A fresh crust also seemed to becon for me to make a traditional American apple pie. Or, as I’m Canadian a “North” American apple pie 😉 My daughter helped me make the animal cut outs for the top- a sheep, a butterfly, a duck, and a fish.
Here’s the recipe I used: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-pie-by-grandma-ople/
I find a lot of food blog posts have an overly long arduous pre-lude that gushes about the food but that is not me. It is also not what this post is about really. Baking this was about feeling “normal” again after having another baby. It was also about trying to do something special with my first child after a few weeks of feeling like the baby had stolen all my time with her. That was the biggest surprise having a second- you miss your first kid even though you see them daily. I don’t get to put her to bed any more. I often can’t play with her in the evening. I have to miss some outings with her. I am tired and lose patience with her sooner than I should. But I made this activity happen. The baby was given to daddy so WE could do this together.
Here’s the deal, this pie was good and SIMPLE. I couldn’t have handled a complex recipe with a 3 week old baby. The cons to this recipe is that its simplicity means there is a lack of depth to the flavour. It is basic apple pic, but not amazing blue ribbon pie. It tastes like apples and sugar and crust; and I can’t even take any credit for the crust.
Baking this made me feel so successful. I MADE SOMETHING today. I finished a moderately complex activity. And, most importantly, I spent time with my girl. I didn’t just nurse a baby, carry a baby, rock a baby, pray a baby would sleep, and repeat. There’s a second crust in my freezer, so expect a new pie next week!
Oh, and after all that, my daughter hated the pie 😉
Conflicting Messages 