Making pie crust makes me happy!

There was a time I would have said the exact opposite. Making pie crust used to make me cuss up a storm, but now that my friend DeLynn has taught me how to make a perfect pie crust, or as I say a “No Cuss Pie Crust”, I’ve changed my tune. I can’t seem to get enough of this whole pie crust making gig….

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If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably witnessed my sheer excitement over my new pie crust recipe and pie making this past week! You see, I have struggled to make a good pie crust for as long as I’ve can remember. Nothing…I mean NOTHING…would get me cursing up a storm like pie crust making. (Ok maybe my supposedly “wireless printer” and the fact that it NEVER works when I need it to gets me cussing more, but pie crust has been a close second!)

That’s why I thought it was rather comical when the folks at Crisco called me to be a part of their Crisco Pie and Baking hotline and blogger team. I literally laughed on the phone and remember saying something like “I can make the insides of pies that are amazing. I can make meringue with perfect peaks. I, for the life of me, cannot make a pie crust!” But then I said… “You know what would be cool? My friend, DeLynn, is a county fair champion pie making expert. She’s been prodding me for years now to let her teach me how to make a great pie! Wouldn’t it be fun to have DeLynn teach us how and then if she’s successful, I could hopefully give hope to the pie crust making hopeless – like me?”

So pie challenged friends, thanks to my friend DeLynn, I am here to give you hope. That pretty pie crust up there? I made it myself. And since learning from DeLynn last week, I’ve made 4 more! I am officially in the it’s “easy as pie” camp, and I think you can be too! …

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My new motto…”If at first you don’t succeed, pie, pie again.”

Happy Friday, friends, and happy Happiness Report! I hope your weekend is off to a great start. This is such a busy time of year for most people…I think it’s so important especially when times get busy to take a few minutes out of the day to reflect on what is making us happy! So here we go!…

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A flaky and tender pie crust recipe that uses both Crisco and Butter from The Pioneer Woman and a signed cookbook giveaway!

I’d like to tell you a little story about two bloggers. Two bloggers who sat down at their respective computers 7 years ago and started their blogs. Two bloggers who love their dogs very much and both happen to have four kids.

One blogger lives in the country. She has a little ranch in the middle of Oklahoma and likes to take pictures of her horses and cows. Over the past 7 years she has worked so hard and has built an entire empire out of her little blog. She has written something like 300 books (ok slight exaggeration), has her own awesome tv show on The Food Network, has an enormous fan base, and pretty much has become the Oprah of the blogging world. She somehow manages to be a great mom to 4 kids, work on the ranch, homeschool her children and keep up with 5 different and very entertaining sections of her blog. Many of you know and love her as The Pioneer Woman.

The other blogger would be me. And, well. Hmmmm. Let’s move on.

…

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ICBINB Farmers Market Event – Food, Friends and Fun from Kristen Doyle on Vimeo.

Please excuse my videography skills, or lack thereof. I have a new found respect for those of you who are masters of the video camera and putting these things together! Still, I hope you’ll take a moment to view the short video of our day at the Overland Park Farmers Market.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to invite a few foodie friends on a shopping trip to the Overland Park Farmers market. The wonderful people at I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter gave us a total of $200, some handy shopping totes, a Flip video camera and some great ICBINB product coupons to get us started on our adventure.

Sandie from A Bloggable Life, Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore from Electrified Cooks and I met bright and early in the morning to check out what the market had to offer. I have to admit, I haven’t made it to the farmers market at all this year. We’ve had Door to Door Organics deliver us farm fresh food every other week. It wasn’t until I got to the farmers market and simply remembered how great it feels just to be there, that I realized having veggies delivered to your home is no substitute for a lovely morning at the market.

Surrounded by the freshest of berries, veggies and hand made goods, it didn’t take us long to pick out our food and head home for a day of cooking. Our challenge was to see how we can use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter paired with our market goods. It turns out, the challenge was not a challenge of all. The three ladies I chose to cook with know their stuff and we created one of the yummiest lunches I’ve had in a very long time. We enjoyed:

Grass Fed Beef Kabobs with Farm Fresh Vegetables

Sliced Grilled Vegetables with Rosemary Sheep’s Milk Cheese from Green Dirt Farm

Grilled Rosemary Potatoes with Long Green Beans

Grass Fed Beef and Fresh Veggie Stuffed Q-Balls

Black and Blueberry Crumble

Homemade Bumbleberry Jam Pop Tarts with ICBINB Crust and amazing jam from Treehouse Berry Farm

We had so much great food, but even better was the fun time the four of us had together. I can’t wait to do it again sometime soon!

One of the biggest surprises of the day, for me, was how much I ended up loving the ICBINB pie crust we used for the Homemade Bumbleberry Jam Pop Tarts. I was skeptical, I’ll be honest with you, but this pie crust was seriously one of the tastiest, flakiest, delicious pie crusts I  have ever had. I know you don’t believe me, so you’ll just have to give it a try for yourself!

Thanks for sharing in our ICBINB Farmers Market event. Remember to get out there and support your local farmers and to get some friends together and cook up something delicious. There is nothing like friends, family and good food coming together.

Combine flour, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Cut in I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® Spread with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is size of fine crumbs. Stir in water until dough forms with wooden spoon. Knead dough just until it forms a ball with floured hands. Shape into flat 6-inch circle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Roll dough from center to edges, forming a 12-inch circle on lightly floured surface with floured rolling pin. Press into 8- or 9-inch pie plate or tart pan and crimp edges. Bake as directed in recipes.

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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I guess I would say I parent mostly based on my instincts. I rely a lot on advice from other moms, blogs and my own family. I know a lot of people who do read the parenting books and they waste no time at all in passing on the information to me 🙂 One of the biggest reasons I have avoided parenting books is because I always had the feeling that I would question my own parenting instincts after reading one. I did not want to feel extra guilty about the job I was doing as a parent simply because someone else did not agree with how I did something.

Recently, Naomi of Rock-n-Tot, Tracing Handprints and Being Savvy Cleveland stopped by my blog and commented on my post about Jacob, Parenting With a Heavy Heart. That day, I took a look at her blog and was intrigued by a parenting book she had reviewed on her site titled “Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box.”  You may remember back to the beginning of the school year when I realized the day of that I forgot my daughters 1st day of preschool. How about when we had the lovely situation where Kelly completely undid her car seat while driving down the interstate and my day ended in being puked on. Another gem.. the day I locked both girls in the car at the grocery store parking lot? Those were all days where I lost the Mother of the Year award (and the reason I started investing in a therapy fund for them for their adult years). Those parenting moments where you feel so guilty and so inept to be a parent and just know in your heart of hearts that you are the only mom in the world who would have this experience with their kids.

Parenting these days seems to be done in extreme measures. If your child hasn’t already had 3 years of soccer under their belt by the time they are 7, good luck finding a team that will take them. Mom’s are shuttling kids each and every day after school to this extra curricular activity or that. Birthday parties… oh don’t get me started on the birthday parties. Gone are the days of a simple cake and ice cream party, here are the days of traveling petting zoos, tot makeovers and live bands. It has all gotten to be a bit rediculous to see the pressure moms have on them to keep up with each other and to be “perfect”.

Enter Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box by Ann Dunnewold, Ph.D. This book needs to be in the hands of every mother on planet earth. Give it away at baby showers. Have a neighborhood book club featuring this book. Do something, please, so that mom’s all over the world can realize that there is no need to be a perfect parent. From the back cover, “Follow your gut, not your guilt. Connect with instead of compete with other mothers. Curb your need to overprotect, overperfect, or overproduce.”

Parenting books aren’t my thing, but if they were all as real as this one, I think I’d be singing a different tune. Namoi graciously sent me an extra copy to give to one of my readers. If you don’t win a copy, be certain to pick up a copy at your local library or head to your neighborhood bookstore and pick one up. It is an attitude shifting book that every mom needs to read! To win, please leave a comment on this post telling me what the best piece of parenting/marriage/life advice was you have ever received. All comments must have a valid email address. Deadline to enter is Tuesday, December 9th midnight CST.

And, since this is a cooking blog, I am adding a “recipe” if you can call it that for one of my kids favorite and simple treats. If I don’t have enough left over pie crust when making a pie to make them these cookies, I’m in big trouble with them!

Pie Crust Cookies

Use this pie crust recipe or your favorite pie crust recipe… it works either way!

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 teaspoon lemon juice or cider vinegar

5 to 6 tablespoons ice water

3 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Place flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl or a food processor bowl. Mix thoroughly. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add lemon juice or vinegar and enough ice water to make a dough that just clings together. Cover dough with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll dough our on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth to 1/8-inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake in the center of the oven for 9-11 minutes, until golden. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Updated 12/10/2008 – And the winner is…. Stephanie from Fun Foods on a Budget. Congratulations, Stephanie!

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Written for Just Baking on the Well Fed Network

One of my favorite amateur food photographers and Recipezaar Chefs, Marg, turned me on to the most wonderful little “gadget” the other day. Marg is always posting photos on Recipezaar of gorgeous pies that she has made. The crusts always look flaky, delicious and professional.

I finally sent her an e-mail to see if she would share her secret. Much to my thankfulness, she did. So…what was Marg’s secret to making delicious looking pie crusts? She always uses a product called a Pie Crust Bag to roll out her pie crust dough in….

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