Carmel Apple Pudding Pie!

Okay, so I was in the mood to bake...and Phil was in the mood for some Apple Pie. Not exactly what I had in mind to bake. (The last time I baked a pie...I won the Irvington ward's "Pie Baking Contest" like 7 years ago and thought I better go out undefeated!) Ha Ha! I'm just not a huge "pie" fan...I guess I just prefer more sweet than fruit? Anyway, I figured if I was going to try out this apple pie thing...I was going to create AN AWESOME apple pie! I looked at a few different recipes to get an idea of the basic ingredients that were supposed to go into the "average" apple pie...and then changed it up, so it could have a shot being AMAZING!

Warning...if you weren't in the mood for dessert...you might be, after reading this!

First I made the pie dough, so it could "chill"...literally while I finished the "filling"!

Pie Crust

1 1/4 C Flour
1/3 C Butter
1/4 Tsp Salt
4-6 TBS Cold Water
Dough should be moist...but not wet!
Place this in a Ziploc bag and put it into the fridge.

Now for the yummy stuff...

Carmel Apple Pudding Pie

8 Apples (different varieties. I used Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gala, and Red Delicious)
1/2 C White Sugar
1/2 C Brown Sugar
2Tbs Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Almond Extract
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 C Flour
1/4 C Pecans (chopped)
1/2 Pkg of Vanilla Pudding mix. (the small box)
1 Jar Carmel Ice Cream Topping (maybe about 1/8-1/4 of the jar?)

First I peeled, cored, and diced the apples, then I tossed in the lemon juice. Next, I poured in the sugars (1 at a time) and cinnamon. After all the apples were coated with cinnamon and sugar, I added the Almond Extract, Vanilla, Pudding, Pecans, and Flour.

Then I took out the dough that's been chilling in the fridge and rolled it out to be a little bigger than my pie dish.
A sweet little trick I learned!

You roll the dough back on to the rolling pin, so you can...

Do this!! Okay, maybe I'm the ONLY one who didn't know about this little technique! I used to move it by hand! HA HA!!

Anyway, then I put the yummy apple mixture onto the pie shell.The BEST part about this pie is the Carmel Topping! I drizzled it on until it coated all the apples...

Like THIS!!!

I'm not a huge fan of the regular crust...so I concocted a crumb crust that basically consisted of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, flour, and oats. Sprinkled it on...then baked it at 350 for about an hour...

It may not be very pretty to look at...

But when you pair it with ice cream...You have a dessert you can't pass up! I know... me and all the pictures...but I wanted to give a visual of my little concoction...and there's nothing to get you in the mood for dessert more than a "play by play" recipe! Yeah...You're Welcome!)

Berlin's Blessing

She's such a sweetie! She was blessed today in our ward, with so many of our family and friends there to watch and participate, which was so special because she's our absolute last! I'm so happy and excited to start the next chapter in our lives! She really is a happy baby, especially when she is being held...so luckily this weekend she had LOTS of "holders"!
She still spits up a ton! So that's the cute little yellow stain you see on her BEAUTIFUL dress! My mom actually bought this dress for Brooklyn's blessing in February of 2000! Every single one of my girls has worn it for their blessings since! That's actually pretty amazing...
I'm not really sure what was going on here...but since I have the picture and none of us look necessarily gross, I'm including it. You can tell it had all the intentions of being sweet...but instead it made us all look a little "challenged"! Oh well...maybe we are!
This one is a little better...but you can tell it's been a long weekend/day! I was so ready to kick the dress to the closet! These two are always off somewhere getting into some sort of trouble! Today we found them hand cuffed together...with a pair of Boston's hand cuffs...that I know for a fact have been thrown away at least 10 times!!!! Luckily their hands are so small...they're more like bracelets that can be removed at will! These two are hilarious together!

My dad is always a great place to store kids when you're too busy! He's patient and doesn't seem to mind if they're happy or upset! In this case I think Drake was a little fussy...but as you can see...Berlin's used to it! I'm always on the go with her!

Boston's Baptism!

Can you believe that it was actually raining on his birthday? I know, it almost never rains here...and today it decides to rain! Not just rain...POUR is more like it! My parents stayed at Shavonne's house last night in Buckeye and luck would have it...Buckeye got some serious rain!

His baptism began at 10:00am and I think my parents and Shavonne and Greg showed up literally right as he stepped into the water, it was such a close call! I'm glad that everyone could make it down...being a long weekend and all! We've been having so much fun and are glad that we get to continue the party tomorrow for Berlin's Blessing!

We actually had to take this picture the next day (Sunday) at Berlin's Blessing...because it was raining on Saturday:( Which is a good thing too because Boston forgot his tie yesterday!!!

After the baptism...we came home to eat and hang out! (Something I really love to do best!)

Luke, Jake, and Boston...Jake, Brooklyn, and Nash...all enjoying some pulled pork sandwiches!

The highlight of Boston's day...opening gifts! He got some pretty sweet things! Thanks again to all the family and friends that could come and to the family and friends out of state who called and made his day:)

Junk Food at it's Best!

I saw these on Bakerella's blog a while back and have been looking for a good reason to make these! Of course mine don't look quite as professional as hers, but they did turn out pretty darn cute!

First I made 24 cupcakes with yellow cake mix. After they were finished and cooled, I cut them in half.

Then I baked a thin layer of triple chunk brownies in a 13X9 pan. After they were finished and cooled, I used a circle cookie cutter, (about 2" in diameter that I found at Hobby Lobby) to cut the "patties"! Once they were cut I removed them with a spatula and placed them onto the bottom part of the cupcake or "bun".

Next I made frosting and then divided it into three seperate baggies and colored them each a different color. Red (ketchup), Yellow (mustard), and Green (lettuce). Then I layered the different "condiments" on the brownie and placed the top of the cupcake or "bun" on top! On Bakerellas blog she has sesame seeds on top that look so cute! I forgot that little detail, but I still think they turned out okay!

For the french fries, I just used the Sugar Cookie Recipe from Picky Palate(below) , rolled it out between two sheets of parchment paper and cut the cookie dough into thin strips and placed them on a cookie sheet. If they puffed up too much, I cut them again with a pizza cutter while they were still hot! I then saved some of the extra "ketchup", so you could dip the fries into it! It was so much fun to make these little beauties!



Sugar Cookie Recipe

2 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Butter (softened)

3 eggs

1tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

6 cups flour

2tsp baking soda

2tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar together. Then add eggs, vanilla, and sour cream until combined. Slowly add in dry ingredients. Place dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours for best results.

Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes.

Fun with Family!

We always have some fun when family comes to visit! We decided that we would have Berlin's blessing and Boston's Baptism during the same weekend so family from out of town could make it to both events. The weekend started early, when Phil's parents (Bryon and Debra), grandma (Gae), and sister (Sara), arrived via car on Thursday evening. We were hungry so we decided to grab some grub at Islands! We met Shavonne and Greg there too and got to enjoy some great food and conversation! After dinner, Phil went with his parents to pick up his Aunt Pattie and Uncle Tom early from the airport, (or so he thought) when he arrived he saw someone who looked "exactly" like Tony chillen out at the curb. (He had ABSOLUTELY NO clue that his brother Tony was coming!) He was telling his mom to take a picture and send it to Tony because it was his EXACT twin! His mom said it was too funny! Phil hasn't gotten to hang out with Tony for a few years now, so it was A SUPER surprise! As soon as they got home they were up on the Wii playing baseball! Classic!

The kids didn't really remember Tony, so it was fun to see all their reactions to him! Paris noticed that he was quite a bit taller than Phil...so of course she had to mention that! Ha Ha! Seattle was obsessed with feeding him for some reason! She usually is pretty stingy...but when it came to him she was more than willing to share! He was a good sport, taking small chews out of some pretty soggy fries! Sorry Tone!

After Aunt Pattie and Uncle Tom flew in for real, we went to Pinnacle Peaks steak house in Scottsdale, where we met up with Uncle John and Aunt Becky too! The place is pretty old school...so I took some sweet pictures! The kids LOVED it!

A sweet warning sign that luckily none of us needed!

This place has a way of collecting business cards, so Phil, his dad, and his uncle John all placed their cards up on the wall! Notice Bryon has 2! Ha ha! Cards have a way of disappearing, or getting covered up...so we took a picture to remember where they were this time!

On the way out, the girls HAD to take a ride on the horse...so Grandma Debbie kicked down with the .50! SO worth the money!D

It's a TON of fun hanging out with everyone!!

(This sign just looks so "hard"...so I included it!)