a wonderful weekend

so this has been a GREAT labor day weekend so far, and i'm so excited to have another day tomorrow! after working super hard all week, hubs has had a bit of time off and we have been able to spend some good time together in between his time editing films.

tonight our dear friend f/m high school came over with his new wife and we had a lovely time visiting with them. i only wish that they lived here!! i went ahead and made the chocolate souffle for TWD this week and served it to them, and they LOVED it. i sent the rest home for his parents. stay tuned for the full post on that dish!

i also made a batch of chocolate no-bake cookies for hubs. i've probably said this before, but he is super picky. with all the yummy treats that i make, he is rarely willing to try them. whenever our friend used to come visit from college i would always make brownies (f/m a mix--i have actually never made a regular batch of brownies f/m scratch!) and the two of them would go crazy for them (my secret was to squirt a bunch of chocolate syrup into the batter before putting it in the oven). hubs loves to eat raw brownie batter, and begs for it all the time, but i rarely keep mixes in the house anymore. so since i didn't have a mix and he was unsure about chocoloate souffle, i decided to make a dessert that i know that he loves--chocolate no-bakes. i always hear not to make them on a humid day or they won't set up, but despite the rainy humid weather these came out great! he said they were possibly my best batch ever!

see butchy sleeping in the background

we also spent the afternoon w/my family to celebrate my wonderful daddy's 50th birthday! for dessert, i made Dorie's lime meringue pie f/m twd a few weeks ago--this time i was able to get a good picture of the pie with unburned meringue!

they loved it! (again) this time i had to leave out the ginger b/c it had dried out, and i actually added a full cup of lime juice instead of 3/4 cup b/c i wanted to use up the rest of my limes. it was SO good!

in addition to the pie, souffle, and cookies, i made a peach cobbler for an order f/m my mil (sorry, no picture, but they said it was great), and i have some sourdough bread rising right now. after a week off, i have been baking like crazy!!!

it's been great though. i've enjoyed this weekend to get some things done around the house, relax, and try new recipes.

i'm also super excited b/c one of my bible study girls is moving back to town!!! yay!!!

here's to a great labor day tomorrow--enjoy it!
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Chocolate No Bake cookies

1 stick butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
2 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick cooking oats

prepare 2 baking sheets w/wax paper.

bring butter, cocoa, milk, sugar, vanilla, & peanut butter to a boil over medium heat. continue to boil for 1 minute. remove from heat, add oats and mix well. spoon onto wax paper and allow to cool.

TWD: creamiest lime cream pie

well, i am sick. and not happy about it. stupid sinus infection. if it were not for the sickness, i would be making another one of these pies tonight b/c it is THAT good.

i made this pie over the weekend on a night when my parents were coming by, so i cheated a bit and did not give it the full time to cool.

lime and ginger ingredients


lime zest rubbed w/sugar

also, along w/many other twd bakers, i had trouble getting my cream to reach 180--it kept climbing over 160 and then going back down again. after well over the 10 minutes dorie says it will require, i gave up and decided that it was thick enough! i went in to taste the cream, and WOW!!! it was so good! i licked every bit of the pan...and spatula...and sieve...and blender, i could have had the cream just by itself! i think that the cream was delicious without the addition of the butter, but that did take it over the top!

when it comes to the twd recipes, i do try to do them as written, so when she said to set the pie under the broiler to toast the meringue, i went ahead and gave it a try...despite my concerns (i think my broiler is especially hot!) well, after less than a minute the meringue was black! i didn't get a picture of it as my mom was over and i desperately wanted to salvage the pie, so i just cut off the blackend parts and it still tasted great--just without the lovely toasted curls :(

i made this pie in a normal crust from the recent issue of Food Network Magazine, and between the pie and dorie's lime cream filling, there were 4 sticks of butter!!! gah! i didn't think it tasted heavy though, and my mom said it was perfectly light and fluffy! the ginger isn't super strong, just a nice bright addition to the pie.

needless to say, i loved this and cannot wait to make it again! i think it's been my favorite dorie recipe so far! thanks so much to Linda from Tender Crumb for choosing this week's recipe (head over to her site for the recipe, or buy the book!) and be sure to check out the TWD blogroll to see how everyone else did!