Cream Cheese Pie

I cannot deny that I love a good slice of cheesecake, but when it comes down to it, I actually much prefer this "spin-off" alternative-- the cheesecake's cousin, shall we say? It's called Cream Cheese Pie, and I've been eating this version since I was in diapers. Literally. There's a picture of me SOMEwhere in my half-naked glory, sporting nothing but a diaper, cream cheese pie crumbs, and a giant smile. It's been in my family as long as I can remember (the recipe, not the picture), and although I'm sure we weren't the ones who created the recipe, I've yet to find one person who has tasted it for the first time in my presence and then commented, "Oh yeah. I've totally had that before." I've loved this pie for so long that I can remember requesting it for almost EVERY birthday when I was a young girl. And I think my mom was always secretly thrilled because she may be the only person who loves it even more than I do.

There's so much to love about this pie (though I've been known to lick my plate anytime there's a graham cracker crust involved....) and I think the reason I prefer it over Cousin Cheesecake is that it's a little less dense, and therefore a little less rich. It's creamy and a bit tart (thanks to the sour cream top layer...which reminds me, did I mention the two layers?) and buttery and even better when you throw some berries on it. Also, I don't know of a SIMPLER recipe that produces such an amazing final product. Time to get baking! (Alicia, that means you!)

Cream Cheese Pie
Crust:
16-18 graham crackers
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 stick melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Combine graham crackers & sugar in food processor and mix until crackers are crumbly (or alternatively, you could put them in a large ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush). Then slowly add in melted butter. Crust consistency should be fine, sticky crumbs.  Press crust into bottom & sides of a 9 inch pie dish. Bake at 350 for about 8 min. and allow crust to cool. Turn oven down to 300.

While graham crust is cooling, mix together the ingredients for the bottom layer:
Bottom layer:
8 oz. package of cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
Bake at 300 for about 15 minutes. Cool completely, then place in fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.

Top layer:
8 oz. sour cream
2 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla
Mix together, pour on top of chilled pie and spread evenly. Bake at 350 for about 20 min., or until set. Cool once again, and refrigerate until set (at least a couple hours). ENJOY!

Leading Me On

Image via Wikipedia

Lately we've had a unique little situation unfold outside our house. Sometimes a UPS or Fed Ex truck will pull into our driveway, and without fail I sit there watching and waiting by the window, completely engrossed in finding out what unexpected delivery could possibly be arriving to our home. Because unfortunately, Lord knows it wasn't me that ordered something. And then, after a good 2 minutes of this thrilling little waiting period, they drive away and I am left in an anti-climactic emotional heap. 


Since this has happened more than a handful of times, it can really only mean one thing in my book: there must have been some sort of memo (unbeknown to us) distributed to courier companies near and far, alerting them that our driveway has been nominated for the perfect little pit-stop destination. Come one, come all! The Dewig Driveway is THE PLACE to sit around and twiddle your thumbs, Fellow Couriers! Sure, there's a creepy stay-at-home mom inside who is ALWAYS in her sweats and tries to unsuccessfully spy on us in secret, but it's a small price to pay for an opportunity to sleep/eat/waste time on the job! 



How did I not see this coming? 


So here's what I have to say to my local UPS & Fed Ex Drivers: You are all a big tease. AND, it is my strong opinion that if you are going to have the audacity to use my driveway for pit-stopping or making personal phone calls or just taking a brief nap, then the least you could do is give me some sort of signal indicating there is no intention of bringing a fun surprise to my doorstep. Perhaps you could put on your hazard lights. I'll get the message loud & clear, even yell a "ROGER THAT" out my door if you'd like. Or maybe just make a sign that reads, "Don't Get Your Hopes Up" and mount it to your dashboard. You do whatever way works for you, but please, implement some sort of system ASAP. Otherwise one of these days I'm going to be forced to greet you in my driveway with my overly-hyper dog that you all seem to be SO scared of, and demand that you give me one of your boxes. The prettiest or heaviest one. Don't say you were not warned. Deal?

Ouch.

The other day I got an email notification that I had received a comment on my blog from a name I did not recognize. And I was all, Oh super! I see what's happening here! Obviously strangers are reading my blog and love it so much, they feel compelled to leave me comments! So in the midst of my giddiness, I logged onto my account and realized that the Mystery Fan's comment was in some sort of foreign Chinese-ish language. Maybe it was Japanese? Mandarin? Vietnamese? Forgive me, I really don't know. But it was the sort of language that uses those crazy symbols for letters. At first I was really disappointed, because there was no way of my translating a word here and there (as I could have with Spanish. Or Pig Latin), and NOW how in the world was I supposed to know what my Secret Admirer loved the most about my blog? How can I connect with my sweet little International Reader if I can't understand his/her feedback? This was a quandary.

And then I made the discovery that their comment was clickable! Hooray! A link that would surely bring me to a whole new world-- theirs! Perhaps it would even lead me to their blog? And I could learn a little bit more about my Secret Admirer? I could see what we have in common, what our common interests were, what led them to my own blog?

Or, Just Kidding.

Turns out it was just spam. The pornographic kind. Good old Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese porno spam.  Getting that smut in English is annoying enough, but in another crazy language? Ten times worse. So thanks for that, International Secret Admirer.

Bottom line: no one from China (or Japan or Vietnam) reads my blog. And for the record, it appears I'll be having a slice of Humble Pie for dinner. Delish.

My Very First W.I.P.

(That's Work In Progress for those of you who aren't familiar with production-type lingo).

Did I mention to y'all that I started making a quilt? Or maybe I'm already getting ahead of myself. Did I mention to y'all that my very loving and generous (and incredibly gifted) mother-in-law gave me a beautiful Bernina sewing machine for my birthday a few years ago? She did. It was probably the most exciting thing I've ever received in the mail. It's beautiful and has been very forgiving and patient with me. I've done lots of little projects over the years, but I've been so busy birthing and nursing babies that I've never really had the time or energy level to do something on a grander scale.

But 2010 is going to be my year, baby! Break out the thread and bobbins!

So, as I was saying, I'm in the process of making a quilt. My very first one, and I'm very emotionally involved and attached to it. It's not going to be the most amazing quilt you've ever seen, but I'm pouring lots of love and honest effort into it. Did you ever see that movie Like Water for Chocolate? It's a pretty weird little movie so I'm not exactly recommending it. But what I remember and loved the most is that the main character does a whole lot of cooking fabulous Mexican food, and all of her desires and wishes are translated into her medium- her cooking. So, when she's sad, her tears inevitably drop into the food she's preparing, leaving those who ingest the food weepy and full of sorrow. When she is feeling full of love and passion, those who ingest her food are hit with an overwhelming desire for love and uncontrollable happiness. I'm kind of hoping for the same thing here- that whoever uses the quilt feels all warm and fuzzy inside because of the love I poured into making it. Either that, or I'm hoping they won't notice what's sure to be dozens of novice-like errors.

If you're wondering if I'm tackling this project with a plan, YOU BET I AM! For the most part, I'm taking an ample amount of naivety and combining it with my very hopeful recipe for success:

Take the support and encouragement I've received from this woman, my mother-in-law (the quilting QUEEN!)

ADD the inspiration from some of her most beautiful pieces of work:

 

Plus my choice of fabrics

 

All sewn into a billion rows

Will hopefully yield SOMETHING like this in the end (thank you, Amy Butler, for making such pretty fabric):

 

Pretty cute, right? I'm staying positive. I'll keep you posted. Unless something goes terribly wrong, then I'll probably deny ever having started this project in the first place....

Strangers

The other day I was unloading my kids in the Trader Joe's parking lot in a hurry, getting ready for a major grocery trip. I was anticipating the chaos that is a grocery store full of busy moms & crying children all trying to squeeze down narrow aisles simultaneously, and already beginning to feel stressed without even stepping a foot in the door. Which reminds me, Attention All Store Managers: Here's a tip.You should probably offer moms a Mimosa when they walk in your door. If you do, I predict these moms will relax, smile more, yell at their kids less, and probably inadvertently buy more stuff. Irish coffee would also do the trick as well. Or sake. Oh, how I love me a glass of hot sake....
But I digress.

So I had just put Ella in the stroller, Ben was beside me, when a cute little old lady who had parked next to us came and approached us. I always make an effort to be extra sweet to little old ladies like this because most of the time they just want to fawn over my children and enjoy the undeniable (what? I'm not biased!) cuteness they posses. Many of these women proudly share with me sweet little anecdotes about their own children/grandchildren, or some just miss their own grandchildren so desperately that they simply can't resist doting on every child in sight. My children are creatures of habit, so when we're approached in this manner, they've learned over time to flash a smile and wave hi or shake these ladies' hands or blow kisses, etc. And this inevitably brightens these ladies' day, so they walk away happy and I walk away happy and proud of my cute kids who smiled at the nice stranger. Everyone wins.

This was not the case with this particular woman.

At first, everything started as per usual. She made comments about my "fancy" stroller and how she never had anything like it when she was a young mom herself. She touched a couple of my things as she was admiring my stroller but it didn't really bother me because after all, she was just a sweet old woman. She began talking to my kids and commented how cute they were when suddenly she had to ruin everything and ask what was on Ella's face. Is it some sort of rash, she wanted to know, looking at us as if she'd just been exposed to a leper. Then I had to delve into my rehearsed monologue about how Ella simply has a bad case of eczema which is nothing more than severely dry skin, and how she gets flare-ups on her chubby little cheeks depending on the season, what she eats, etc.

In hindsight, sharing this innocent tidbit of information was a mistake of giant proportions.

Suddenly, this woman- let's call her "Sue", shall we?-- begins sharing with me her own skin ailments. And by sharing, I mean slowly (EVER SO PAINFULLY SLOOOOOOWLY) bending over to show me her swollen ankles that have suffered from various rashes for years and oh my heavens she must have a strong case of eczema as well. Then there was the large part of her mid-brow that is constantly dry and itchy. And flaking. Look?! Do I see the flakes? I might need to get closer so I can REALLY see her dry flakes. Such a shame to have such flake-prone skin, Sue claimed. And this is when I realized two things: 1) I've never heard anyone use variations of the word "flake" so many time in one sentence, and 2) Maybe Sue isn't totally....."with it", shall we say? I'm smiling on the outside, but internally I just want to get inside that store and get this stressful shopping trip overwith already. This is when she hits me with: (brace yourself because apparantly not all 72 year old women speak as tactfully as I had always assumed)

"You know, skin issues are just a BITCH! [Cue Ben's wide-eyed curious wonderment] I mean, I can handle my body getting older because if something hurts, if I get a headache, I just pop a pill and BOOM! All better! But these skin problems!? A BITCH! Oh, and don't even get me started on the yeast infections underneath my breasts that I used to constantly have. [OH.MY.GOSH. Is this some sort of sick prank???? Am I being punked?] Those breast yeast infections are the worst! I mean, can you imagine how miserable a perpetual yeast infection underneath your breasts would be? You know, all you hear about in today's culture is how great it is to have large breasts* [*this is not the actual word she used, but sometimes family reads this blog of mine, and I'm so embarrassed and disappointed by "Sue's" potty mouth that I felt it necessary to censor her. But call me anytime and I'll tell you what she really said....] but I say, who needs those big breasts? They're nothing but trouble! If I had much smaller breasts, I probably never would have suffered from such terrible yeast infections. My daughter, she has small breasts, and I used to tell her all the time how very lucky she was for being blessed with such small little breasts....."

For those of you who may have forgotten, keep in mind that I AM STILL IN THE PARKING LOT, for heaven's sakes! Trying to get inside the store! With my two very patient and innocent children! And somehow we fell target to this woman's unfortunate skin & breast complications. And the entire time, all I'm really thinking is....WOW. Nothing motivates me to grocery shop for food more than stories of skin flakes and yeast problems.

Eventually, I simply had to walk away from "Sue" but not before she delved into a very juicy Chapter 2 of her ailing woes, entitled "Having My Tubes Tied 34 Years Ago". I did a lot of smiling and nodding at her, grabbed Ben's hand and started walking as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Needless to say, the whole experience was downright awful. I've never had a stranger over-share such an abundance of repelling personal information in a 5 minute time span.

Once inside the store, an understandably confused Ben turned to me and asked, "Mommy who was that lady?" And I said, "Buddy, that was a crazy woman who spoke too much about herself and didn't know how to keep things private. And so when we get home, I want to talk to you about something called 'strangers', and why it's not okay to talk to them."

From now on, if I get approached by an older person, I'm going to pretend to be mute. Tough stuff, lesson learned.

Ode To The Pork

Oh, my people. HAVE I GOT A DINNER FOR YOU!

Those of you who know me are probably aware of my deep seeded passion for pork tenderloin.  In fact, in our household, 2009 was really the Year of the Tenderloin. Not even an entire country contaminated with swine flu can keep me away from my swine loin (and yes, I know, before I start getting comments about that statement, I'm aware that the two are actually unrelated). I'm slightly embarrassed by my strong feelings for it, because I realize after all, it's just pork. But if I'm going to be honest with you, then you should know that just writing this blog posting on this subject matter, I'm finding myself literally salivating and experiencing intense stomach hunger pangs. And I'm racking my brain, trying to manipulate a plan to have Dan swing by the grocery store on his way home and pick me up a nice juicy tenderloin and throw all current dinner plans out the window. Fortunately for me and my swine addiction, over the course of this year I've found many, many fantastic ways to sneak yet another pork tenderloin onto the dinner table. My family has graciously humored me and chowed it down each and every time. But because of this, I was nervous whether or not my family would once again embrace this new little recipe I found. And then I realized, HECK!- who can resist a slice of juicy tenderloin that's been cooked in BUTTER AND HONEY? The answer is either "no one" or "a crazy person", that's who.

I think one of the reasons I love pork tenderloin so much is that it's such a quick-cooking cut of pork, not to mention lean. So I'm able to prepare a deliciously healthy meal in a very short amount of time. Browning the meat in butter and honey before roasting is the key here...and with only a few ingredients required, it's a recipe from heaven. Ladies & Gentlemen, it is my great honor and pleasure to introduce you to:
 
Pork Tenderloin With Honey Butter
 
Ingredients:

Serves 4

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin
  
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a Dutch oven or ovenproof skillet, heat butter and honey over medium heat, stirring to melt butter. Season pork with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and place in pan. Cook until underside is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Turn pork, and cook until other side is browned, about 5 minutes more. Lower the heat if the honey begins to burn.
2. Put pan in the oven, and roast until pork is just cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer pork to a plate.
3. Add water to the pan, and stir over medium heat to scrape up all the browned bits. Add any accumulated pork juices from the plate, and simmer until sauce is reduced to about 1/2 cup. Slice pork on the diagonal, and serve drizzled with butter sauce.

On Why Curious George is Now Banned From This House

Welcome, Tuesday morning. Here's what just unfolded 10 minutes ago:

Me: "Ben, I was just in your closet putting things away and I noticed the carpet in your closet is all damp. Do you know why?"
Ben: "Because I peed in there."
Me: "WHAT?????!!!!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU PEED IN THERE?"
Ben: "Moooom, it's okay! I was just really curious about that."
Me: "First of all, it's NOT OKAY. It's DISGUSTING. We are not animals. Secondly, the next time you get curious about something, you come talk to Mama first. Thirdly, we never EVER EVER EVER pee in our closet. I can't believe you did that, Ben."
Ben: "Okay, Mama. But I didn't pee once. I did it two times."
Me: "Super. Thanks for the full disclosure."

For the record, it's situations like these that dominate my daytime and prohibit me from doing things like, say, putting on makeup. Blow drying my hair. Responding to emails. Cleaning my bathroom. Thank you, God, for the institutional sized bottle of carpet cleaner waiting for me in the cupboard. I wonder how many calories one burns while cleaning pee-saturated carpet?

A Bull in a China Shop

I've decided to begin keeping a running tally record of every item Ben breaks in this house. And then, on that wonderfully momentous day when he starts his first job and brings home his first paycheck, shortly after congratulating him and taking his picture, I'm going to hold out my hand and collect what he owes us in damaged goods and replacement costs.

And then we'll most likely be able to retire.

Trade Off

My children are both incredibly sleep sensitive. Which means that if they miss their naps or if they don't sleep as long as their overly-delicate bodies require, they turn into little children monsters. Ben becomes incredibly crazy, sometimes literally banging his head into a corner wall or experimenting with climbing up the wall. Ella becomes fussy and only comforted if I sit in a specific chair, hold her a specific way, don't move a muscle and declare from the rooftops that my whole world NOW REVOLVES AROUND HER. Also, I know for a fact they conspire ways to team up and torment their mother (because I've totally seen them "huddled up" and I'm sure Ben has some sort of power-point presentation up his sleeve that maps out the whole darn strategy. Ben is the brains behind the operation, and sweet Ella just wants to please her big brother. How did I become chopped liver in this equation? Must I remind them the number of hours I was in labor with them? Or the PAIN I endured to bring them in this world? MUST I? Because we have DVD footage of both deliveries, children. And I am NOT AFRAID to unveil them.)

***WINE BREAK***

And, exhale.

On these particular days, I can become flustered to the point of literally pulling my hair out when Dan walks through the door. Today was one of those days. If I had to grade my kids on their napping performance today, both children would score a "D+". And it's only in the generous D range because I'm writing this post-wine break. So instead of greeting Dan with a sweet hello darling this afternoon, it was something more along the lines of, "YOU MUST DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR CHILDREN."

Which I think I scared him because off the three of them went into Ben's room for a very, very long time.

But here's the thing. The bad news is that on days such as these I don't get much "down time" during the day, I don't get to enjoy a peaceful uninterrupted lunch or quiet respite before the afternoon/dinner madhouse rush. And usually on these days I choke down my dinner, battling indigestion with every bite I take as the children-monsters cry and complain and practically BEG for bedtime. Dan & I are lucky if we get one sentence in at the dinner table. Sometimes Ben is so wired-tired that he'll just fall out of his chair for no reason. You get the idea...a real Norman Rockwell kind of scenario.

And now, for the good news. It's 6:30, the children monsters have left and sleeping angels have taken their places. I'm now on my second glass of wine, the house is quiet, and Dan and I are in alone-time heaven. We're preparing to decorate the tree and have entire conversations where we will have the opportunity to complete our sentences and/or have entire thought processes. Who knows, maybe we'll even get crazy and stay up past 10.  People, stop the press because this is what we call a Christmas Miracle.

So everyone, please raise your glasses. Oh. Just me? Okay, my glass has been raised. Cheers! Here's to a new day tomorrow, where I will have the opportunity to do it all over again! I'm off to give Dan a well-deserved high five.

Nighty-night my sleeping angels. Sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep.

The New Coiffure

The other day Dan offhandedly mentioned that Ella's hair is resembling a MULLET more & more these days. First, I was offended- because even if it's slightly true, it's not something you are allowed to actually say out loud. You can't blame the poor one year-old baby who's hair is challenged in the whole growing-on-top-of-the-head department (and um, no offense my darling Dan, but maybe that is something she inherited from....you). And, please! With eyes as big and brown as hers, who has time to even notice her hair? Then my crazy Mom Panic kicked in so I began introducing her to new and exciting ways to style her little locks of baby hair. She had no idea there was a whole world of hair bands and bows just waiting to be discovered. This was my second attempt at pig-tails, and although I realize I'm slightly biased, have you ever seen anything cuter in your life? And the two of them together? Playing "Mommy & Daddy"? I'm downright smitten with the whole darn thing. Mullet no more!

A Perfectly Logical Explaination

Ben has been uncharacteristically mellow this morning. He's done a couple of unsual things, including sleeping in and requesting me to "cuddle up" with him (as opposed to the reverse). Of course, with it being a chilly morning at the height of flu season, this had me a little worried and suspicious. Here's what just happened:

Me: Buddy, are you feeling okay? Is everything alright?
Ben: (in a very unconvincing tone) Yes.....
Me: Are you sure?
Ben: Well, it's just that I'm having a hard time.
Me: (my panic increasing) Why? Does your tummy hurt? Do you have a sore throat? Is your body achey?
Ben: No....it's just that.....
Me: Sweetie, what is it?
Ben: I'm just so, so, so tired.
Me: Okay, well why do you think it is, buddy? Do you feel sick?
Ben: No. It's just that I feel like I'm going to have a baby really soon.
Me: Oh! Well....that really explains...everything. (Breathe sigh of relief)

Tis The Season (For Soup)

It's borderline FREEZING around here (my toes are on the verge of hypothermia, I'm just sure of it...), and of course we're on the "economically-friendly" heating plan in this house. Which means we walk around bundled in multiple layers, sporting big bulky socks and sweaters, and practically watch our breath puff out with every word we utter. Then we wait for the house to drop to 60 degrees, at which point the heater kicks in and begins defrosting little fingers and toes. So, it's not surprising that lately all I can think about is soup. And if my family would let me, I'd make a wide variety of soups all week long. But they keep insisting I focus on other foods, like breakfast and lunch, too. Luckily for me, we've got some big rain storms approaching in our forecast, so it seems appropriate to be in this soup phase. And I feel like I'm doing my family a huge favor by serving them up big steaming bowls of soup.

I thought I'd share one of my favorite and easiest go-to soup recipes-- it's incredibly delicious and easy on the pocket book, too (which is why I named it what I did)! Usually I'm not a huge fan of using canned foods because I love, prefer & encourage using fresh ingredients, but this soup is perfect for a long busy day because it can be ready as quickly as 10 minutes. And since it's paired with fresh garlic and fresh basil, you would never guess it wasn't all prepared from scratch. (Wow, that sounded dangerously close to something that goon from the Food Network, Sandra Lee, would say....)

*Fun variations: try throwing in some Italian sausage in there, or mini raviolis or tortellini. Or some sort of whole grain, such as barley. I also like to add sliced zucchini or green beans. Bottom line: use this recipe as your base, and then throw in whatever the heck sounds good to you. 

"Poor Woman Soup"

Ingredients:
1 can whole plum tomatoes (with basil, if possible- T.J.'s sells it)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans Cannellini beans (white Italian kidney beans)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 cup parmesan
3 T. olive oil
1 carton low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock (about 4 cups)
1 loaf stale bread, cubed
Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a large pot, add olive oil and saute garlic and onions. Add both cans of tomatoes and stir to combine. Add chicken (or vegetable) stock. When soup comes to a slow simmer, add cubed bread and cannellini beans and half of the chopped basil. Season to taste with salt & pepper. When serving soup, top with other half of the chopped basil, parmesan cheese and shot of olive oil on top.

Happy Soup!