Peanut Butter Pie Cravings Fulfilled (times 2)

I went back to Wild Mountain Cafe about a month ago and had the p.b. pie again. Still scrumptious but somehow not as amazing as the first time.

I also made my own at home a couple weeks ago. I signed myself up to bring meals to two families with new babies on the same day. So that seemed a perfect opportunity to try out a p.b. pie recipe my friend passed to me (see below) after I blogged about it. It was scrumptious! But, like all p.b. chocolate pies, was very rich. Only make this if you are having friends over to share it with or have a large family. Even true die-hard chocolate peanut butter fans like Matt would need to limit themselves on this.

Now making your own graham cracker or cookie crust is very simple and does have a more distinct cookie taste, but don't feel bad about buying a store-bought graham crust and going from there. There are some pies, like fruit pies, that always taste better with homemade crust. Never use a pillsbury roll-out refrigerated crust on a fruit pie. But that kind of crust is acceptable for a quiche or savory pie in my opinion. If you really have bad luck with pie crusts or are in a hurry, buy Marie Callendars or similar crust from the freezer section - it is already in a pie pan and is much more buttery & richer. Anyways, crumb crusts are great homemade but I do not have as strong as opinions against store-bought.

This recipe is the same chocolate crust and whipped peanut butter as the Wild Mountain Cafe one. Where they differ is the chocolate top: this recipe has more a ganache, the cafe's was more whipped.

Below that recipe I will also include the faster, simpler recipe that I grew up loving - no chocolate topping but you can always squeeze some Hersheys on! There are tons of variations on this, some using honey. I have tried a couple different ones but some are too heavy - I like it fluffy & whipped.

The recipe is from the Colophon Cafe (in Bellingham) cookbook:

(This recipe makes TWO pies!)

 

 

Mix together in a large bowl and set aside:

18 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 cups crunchy peanut butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

 

Whip 2 cups heavy whipping cream on low speed for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and whip on high speed until peaks form - careful not to overwhip into butter.

Fold the whipped cream mixture into the pb mixture. Spoon mixture into two 8 inch Chocolate Cookie Crusts (recipe below). Spread evenly and freeze pies for 3 hours.

 

Melt 2 cups melting chocolate (or semi-sweet choc chips) with 1/2 cup half and half in the micro for 30-45 seconds. Stir until smooth. Carefully spoon half the chocolate ganache on the top of each frozen pie. Spread evenly and garnish with 1 Tbsp chopped peanuts before the chocolate sets. Chill for 1 hour before cutting. Use a knife dipped in hot water for cutting.

 

Chocolate Cookie Crust:

Combine 4 1/2 cups finely ground chocolate cookie crumbs and 1/2 cup melted butter in a food processor. Divide in half and press into 2 pie tins. Bake 7-10 minutes at 350.

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Basic Peanut Butter Pie - makes 1 pie

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

8oz cool whip (yup! that brings back memories of my childhood!)

3 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

baked pie shell, cooled (we did not always do a graham shell, sometimes we did a traditional pie crust)

Soften cream cheese with beater and mix in peanut butter, cool whip, and sugar. spoon into crust and chill.

Do you shop on Amazon?

With their free 2 day shipping, I purchase from them a lot more than I like to admit. I know there are stores that sell the same items, but Amazons selection is amazing and I don't have to bundle 2 kids into the car to look at a couple stores to find exactly what I like. So whether you shop Amazon a little or a lot, consider this: 1-5% of the purchase price can be donated to participating schools! If you visit our co-ops web page and click on the Amazon link, you could help our school have more money towards things like art supplies. It is a little hard to get into the new habit of always visiting the co-op website first, but that is the only way they will credit us. So give it a try!

http://www.ballardpreschoolcoop.com/

The move

Ok, here are some more details:


I have been saying for a while that there are things about this house I am getting sick of (lack of closet space) and we both agreed that it was not logistically wise to kick renters out and take over the whole downstairs, but we knew we wanted a better layout. Matt started to do some looking at prices & what was available and in the beginning of July Matt contacted our realtor (also our cousin-by-marriage and my ex-boss) saying we were interested in looking at some houses. Things moved really fast from there!


We knew we wanted to stay in the Greenwood neighborhood. We really love how much we can walk to, we like how convenient it is to bus lines, it is simple to get on the freeway, etc. We wanted sidewalks but we did not want to go too far from our current house because it would negatively affect the walk-ability. So we had a fairly narrow quadrant we were looking in. We knew that if a house came up that met our criteria we might need to be ready to act fast, but then again since our location was so specific we knew it could be 6 months or more before anything just right came up. We viewed some houses to get a feel for what we were ready to compromise on. Would we be ok in Ballard  in a cute neighborhood but a house that needs serious updates? Would we be ok North of where we currently are (still no sidewalks)? How important  is it to have all the bedrooms on one level? 


Pretty early in our looking, we found a house that Matt was ready right away to make an offer on, but I needed time to think it over. The bed/bath layout is exactly what we wanted: 3 beds, 2 baths upstairs (one of which is a master bath) plus a half bath on the main (truly rare in Seattle!). We gave it time and I decided I was ok making an offer on it.


The house is not perfect. The kitchen is small with no dishwasher so the plan is to remodel it in a year or two. There is no dining room and there is no great spot for the table. The yard is significantly smaller than our current one and is basically just dirt so will need some serious TLC. The plan is that we will be in this house for 5-7 years. So there are downsides to it, but they are easier to reconcile when I know it will not be our "forever" house.

We are past inspection. We are set to close on the 15th, but will do our big move on the 24th. 

A big part of the reason we were willing to be picky on a lot of things when looking for a new house, even if it took a while, is that we will not be selling our current house. The market is not great for selling and our renters were willing to sign a new 1 year lease even knowing that we will not be upstairs. So we have started advertising for renting the upstairs and already have two groups who have filled out applications and look like good options. 

Things are moving faster than I expected. I am collecting boxes and getting a gentle start on packing. I am also, of course, starting to get sentimental about this house. The yard was always so much work with the huge lawn that is truly up-and-down bumpy. But the weather is nice and the girls are loving running and chasing each other in the yard, and they will not be able to do that nearly so freely at the new house. Ironically Matt never wanted to hire someone to help with the yard so it always consumed his summer weekends But now we have decided it makes the most sense to hire someone to maintain the yard after we move out and I think "why couldn't we have done that years ago?"

boo-boo

Addie has tiny little bumps and bruises all the time, but it is rare that bandaids are needed and there is a truly big lump or scrape. So I had to take pictures when she scraped her cheek the other week. This is the night it happened right after I had slimed triple-antibiotic on it (thus the lovely glow).

Hike to Twin Falls

On Saturday we were blessed with amazingly sunny, warm weather. Which was really nice because we had a hike planned! We met up with Matt's cousin Susy, her husband Steve & their girls TJ and Sammy to hike Twin Falls. It was the perfect length of hike, Addie walked it all by herself and really did not complain (except for she really was not all that interested in the falls, she just said she wanted to play in the water. But once we hiked back down and let her play in the water she just dipped her feet in some then decided to eat and watch TJ & Sammy in the water). Anyways, having friends her age along was a great way to motivate her to keep moving and to have fun while doing it. Etta was in the backpack some, walked some, and "flew" some. She, as always, wanted to do what the big girls did.

 TJ is not, in fact, this much taller than the others - she is standing on a rock

 Addie's colorful cheek is not due to the scrape, bruise I previously mentioned. 

It is a berry she got face-painted on at the Farmers Market the day before.

Day Camp

Addie went to summer camp this week. It was only for 2 hours each morning. There were a lot more day camp opportunities but I chose to sign her up only for this one week. Each day had its own theme:

Medieval Monday:
-color a picture: use Addie's favorite color since purple is a roayl color
-make a shiny vest/piece of armor from a brown bag and aluminum foil
-wrap a pea start in wet paper towel (there were no grocery stores back then, they had to grow their own food)

Transportation Tuesday:
-make homemade bar soap with a truck in the middle
-coloring picture

Wild & Wacky Wednesday
-flubber
-oobleck

Thrilling Thursday (sports theme)
-"egg" hunt (eggs are color & shape of sports balls)
-coloring picture

Fearless Friday (superhero)
-wear a costume if you like
-make homemade soap again with random toy in the middle (Addie's is a little rubber ducky)
-superhero stickers
-decorate an eye mask so you can go incognito (holy cow, I spelled that correct on the first try!)

I was not sure how Addie would do, if she would cling to me or what. She was a little shy at first but at the end of the week she knew some of the kids names and was much more interactive with them. On more than one day the teacher commented on how she was such a pleasure to have in class and how sweet of a girl she is. Music to a mothers ears of course! After class today Addie told me that she had lots of fun and that she wanted to do it again next summer. (and Etta said "me too?!)

Each time I dropped off and picked up Addie, Etta went through predictable phases. She would want to be carried out of the car and down the stairs into the building. She would cry and fuss if I did not carry her. Once inside the room she would say "me, Etta?" and would try to blend in with the big kids in hopes that she could stay. This often resulted in the teacher saying how cute she was and giving her a sticker of some sort. Again she would want to be carried to the car. When we returned 2 hours later she would want to be carried inside. She would wander the room a bit, checking things out to see what fun she missed out on and mingling with the big kids. Again she might get a coloring page or eye mask. Then she would have no problem going up all the stairs on her own because all the big kids were doing it.

Having Addie in day camp did make me think of all the little and big ways she will be apart from me as she grows older: kindergarten, sleepovers, summer camp (week long!), etc. But thankfully she still likes to say that she wants to live with us all her life even when she is a grown-up. So clearly she is not in a big hurry to distance herself from me. And although it was nice to have 2 hours where I did not have to worry about the girls bickering with each other, it was also very clear that Etta missed Addie. For example, we were lucky enough to score a big car-shaped shopping card at the grocery store and Etta would point to the other seat in it and say "Addie".

Addie's overnight hike

Last year Addie went on an overnight hike with Matt, Matt's dad Loren and Matt's sister May. It was promptly decided that it would be a yearly event. This year Myron, Lori, Coen and Maya doggy decided at the last minute to come along too. Etta was very sad when all those fun people left our house and she was stuck at home with mom. She was trying to climb into the car and confused as to where her car seat was. It was very weird for her to have both Matt & Addie gone. She is getting extra doses of mommy-only time this weekend too since Addie has a day-camp each morning.

Anyways, the hike was a success and they even had great weather!

 Addie is eating chocolate. But it is not chocolate on her face. It is a big huge scrape that was pretty swollen at first. And the ironic thing is she did not even get it on the hike, she got it the day before in our back yard (she tripped while walking basically).

(I stole these next 6 pictures from May's online album.. thanks May!)

 Addie practiced her hand at taking pictures, and some of them turned out pretty good! I chose not to attach the ones where it only shows a body but no head :)