Merry Christmas (& Happy New Year) from the Paulsens

Shelby & Tim with Kensi & Cole

Merry Christmas from the Paulsens!!!

Christmas with all the Paulsens

On Christmas Day, we woke up and had peppermint hot chocolate...a la Christmas Day in New Zealand a few years ago when I was with my family.  

After we opened our presents to each other, we headed up to Los Osos to be with all of the Paulsen's together!  When Andrew and Charlotte and the kids got there, we all opened presents before all the Whitakers got there.

Jones Family Christmas '12

Because it was the weekend before Christmas, and a Saturday, it was time for the 

Jones Family Christmas!

Meaning, all the family comes together at my parents house and we eat steak and open presents.  

Making Pie Crust is Easy!

Apparently, it is very old fashioned if you make pie crust from scratch anymore.  I grew up with it being normal.  Grandma Alice makes pie crust.  Mom makes pie crust.  (Ok, maybe it isn't normal on the Jones side of the family, but since Mom married in, it has been her job).  Something we did the week of Thanksgiving was make pie crust.  And maybe near Dad's birthday, and Valentine's Day too.  Oh, and any time you have lots of apples.  I think apple pie with a lattice crust on top was the first kind of pie Bippy and I made by ourselves (our parents had left already and Grandma Deane and Pa Ray were coming to stay with us for the weekend, and we wanted to surprise them...we never thought maybe we were too young to be "allowed" to turn the oven on when parents were gone)! 

All this to say, I think making homemade pie crust is easy.  And I just wrote the recipe down from memory.  Pwned.  

Pie Crust

2 1/4 c. flour

1 c. crisco

1t salt

1/4 c. cold water

In a large mixing bowl (preferably not metal, plastic doesn't make a terrible scraping noise as you use a pastry blender or 2 knives to blend in the crisco), mix the flour and salt together.

Take 1/3 c. of the flour-salt mixture out and reserve.

Cut the crisco into slices so it can be spread out on top of the flour.  Use a pastry blender or two criss-crossing knives to blend in and chop up the crisco.

Your dough should now look like this!  Now add the 1/3 c. of reserved flour-salt mixture to the 1/4 c. cold water to make a paste.

Pour the paste on top of the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.

Stir flour paste into the chopped up crisco flour.  And now the part I was unable to get pictures of because I was home alone.  

WASH YOUR HANDS.  TAKE OFF YOUR RINGS.  And use your hands to mix the dough together!  It doesn't need to be kneaded, just mixed together and formed into two equal-size balls.  

Now that you have the dough divided up for your two crusts (either two bottoms, or a bottom and a top), prep your rolling out surface.  This is extremely important!!!  

You need to get enough flour under the dough so that it doesn't stick to the counter (ok, some people have big cutting boards or something to roll dough out on, like you would have to use if you have tile, but Bippy and I got lazy because we had to either stand on a chair or climb on the counter to get the big, heavy pie roll out cutting board, so we started just flouring up the counter).  

Use your hands to squish the dough into a flatish circle.  Put some flour on top to help the rolling pin not to stick.  You probably will need to keep adding flour to the rolling pin to prevent sticking.  

Tips on rolling out pie dough:  

-Don't just roll in 2 directions.  Roll in ALL directions, to keep it in a circle shape. 

-If areas start cracking and splitting, roll around the outer edges of the pie crust and roll those areas in together to "heal" the cracks (they will only get bigger as you roll outwards).  

-Only roll in one direction at a time.  I know that sounds contradictory to what I said before, but that I mean is, if you are pushing the top of the dough away from you, do so in continuous strokes away from you, and pick up the rolling pin and place it back in the middle.  Pulling back toward you will allow the crust to stick to the rolling pin if it is getting sticky.  

-Roll the crust so it's really thin.  At least until it seems really thin.  Maybe 3mm?  On Pinterest I saw somewhere it said to use the thick end of a chopstick to show when to stop rolling pie crust.  That is SO THICK!!! No wonder I don't like store-bought pie crust! 

To make sure your crust is big enough, you can set the pie pan on top of it, and see if it look like the crust will come up and over the pie pan sides.  

So once you have your beautifully rolled out perfect to size pie crust, now you have to get it off the counter and into your pie pan!  Use a spatula-scraper thing, the thinner the better.  I use a stainless steel one.  You want to loosen the pie crust from the counter and fold it over (folding is going to make it easier to move and not break).  

Pick up your quartered crust and place in pie pan.  Unfold to fit in pan.  Support the outer edges of the crust as you press the crust lightly into the bottom of the pan and in the fold of the pan (otherwise it will pop up as it cooks-if you are making a pie that calls for a precooked crust, making the volume for pie filling smaller).  

Trim the excess edges off the crust.  You want to leave enough just to fold over onto the lip of the pie pan (to crimp).  

To crimp the edge of your pie crust, start with the edge opposite from you.  Position your thumbs parallel to the edge of the pie pan on the inside edge of the crust and your pointer fingers parallel to the edge of the pie pan on the outside edge of the crust so they are in "pinching" position.  You are going to make little pinching motions, both lightly squeezing your thumb and pointer together, as well as pushing the two pair of fingers toward each other (so the off-the-finger edges of the thumb nails come together).  

Your pie crust is now ready to go in the oven (if you have a recipe like meringue pies that call for a cooked pie crust).  

If your recipe calls for a cooked pie crust:  

-Use a fork to poke holes in the sides and bottom of the crust.  This is to prevent bubbles, but still check as you are baking so you can pop them if they do occur.  

-Bake at 400℉ for 12-15 minutes or until light brown and flaky looking.  

-Fill with pie filling!  

If your recipe calls for uncooked pie crust:

-Fill the pie crust.  

-Bake according to recipe directions for the inside of the pie.  

If you ended up with a little bit of extra dough after making both pie crusts, you can make a sweet little treat that happens to be Daddy's favorite!  

Take out a cookie tray (we use Airbake, they're the best).  Roll out the leftover dough onto the cookie tray.  

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Cut into squares with a knife.  

Bake at 400℉ (or whatever your pie is baking at) for a few minutes until it looks crispy and done.  Honestly, I don't know how long we cook it.  The timers are always busy timing other things (like the pie!), so we just keep checking on it!  Maybe 8-15 minutes?  

22 weeks and counting!

I got a voicemail today from French Hospital Women's Imaging Center today saying they are getting the film in for their photo machine on Friday and will send me pictures from my ultrasound on Dec. 6th after that.

Wait.  WHAT?!?!

Film?  Huh? 

One confused pregnant girl here.  

So I figured that  since its not looking like we'll get photos of our little baby until after the holidays, I figured I would go ahead and post an update sans-pictures :(

We're more than halfway done!!! Now the bigger numbers on my little app are the ones on the top, and the smaller numbers are the ones that are, well, getting smaller!!! Like a countdown.  I know, I know, those of you that have gone through labor are probably like WHY is she excited and counting down to THAT?!?

Because I'm the type of person who eats the food I don't like first.  I save Grandma's Potatoes and french fries for last.  I do the chores I don't like first.  That means vacuuming and dusting definitely come before fold clothes.  So I'm looking forward like its time to get the "bad part" out of the way!

But April 25 still looks a long way away.

• Week:  22w1d
• ETA:  April 25th...the US read April 29 based on size, but I'm fine with a smaller baby, and maybe that doesn't include the head measurement, because Tim has a big head!
• Size:  Papaya (8in, 1.2lbs)
• Best part so far:  Tim felt the baby moving! 
• Hardest part so far:  Um...not having the pictures from the ultrasound that was over a week ago?
• Weirdest part so far:  We had our Turkey Party yesterday, so I was on my feet from 11am-7pm, and my ankles actually got swollen and the jeans marks from being stuffed into my Ugg boots stayed for a long time! (Ok, and they did look "black & blue", but then I realized that because I have black Uggs, when I don't wear socks in them and have them on for a long time, it rubs off onto my ankles.  LOL.)

I'm still having vivid dreams, which is weird for me.  I can't remember any of them right now.  

I'm still running (but I pulled a bunch of weeds last week in the yard and my hamstrings go SO SORE I've been having to stretch more).  My running is starting to go backwards I feel like.  I always feel like, when I don't run for a while, and then start again, the breathing starts out hard and gets easier as I get in better shape.  I feel like I'm going to opposite as the baby grows.  It's invading my abdominal space (my uterus is like a good 2 inches above my belly button now), making my abdominal stuff squish up into my lung area.  I'm such a Kines nerd that I'm going, "My VO2max is decreasing!  My VO2max is decreasing!...I wonder how it changes over time during the pregnancy?"  The doggies are definitely in better shape than me now and make our runs look easy (by coming home and promptly starting to chase each other around and wrestle, demonstrating that they are not tired in the least)! 

I finally found a kind of chocolate that tastes good.  Grandma Tregea's chocolate fudge recipe!!!  On Sunday after we had made the fudge, out of curiosity, I liked the spoon.  And it was good.  So surprised.  Good thing fudge is only around during Christmas season! 

Oh, and a proud moment for me.  We went to see The Hobbit with Cousins last Friday, and I sat through the whole 3 hour movie with no pee breaks.  Oh, the big accomplishments of pregnancy!  Hopefully this trend will continue as we leave this Friday to travel for the holidays and Tim HATES stopping for bathroom breaks! 

Red Solo Cup, I Lift You Up!

Last year, Tim and I searched for the perfect topper for our Christmas tree.  We debated through angel, star, upside down stocking, ice cream cone (with the ice cream eaten out of it), penguin, anything.  Nothing fit, and we found nothing inspiring in the post-Christmas sales.
This year, we set up our Christmas tree and still had no topper.  Somehow Tim started singing, "Red Solo Cup, I lift you up!  Let's have a party, let's have a party....Red Solo Cup, I fill you up!  Proceed to party, proceed to party" from the Red Solo Cup song by Toby Keith.  He then asked if we had any red solo cups, and I pulled one out of the pantry (confession:  its not solo cup brand).
And Tim put it on top of the tree.

And now we have:

The Party Tree

A couple days later, Tim cut out angel wings and a little angel head to make our red solo cup a little more Christmas-y.  But this will probably be our tradition.  Tim wants to make it a competition when we have kids and they are older...like an ice cream eating contest in their red solo cups.  Then the one who won would get to sign their cup and get it put on top of the Christmas tree for the year.
Now Sunday (hopefully, depending on Tim's work schedule), we will proceed to party for our 2nd Annual ChrisTurMas!!!

The FCC Pie Party

This year was the second Pie Party we attended with our Bible Study.  I made pie crusts, and Tim filled his pie crust with Pulled Pork Pie.
He made pulled pork in the crock pot, put it in the pan with layers of McClintock's BBQ sauce, topped that with french fries, and melted cheese.  It won the Most Creative award, but people either voted to have more BBQ sauce and/or more french fries.

I made a Chocolate Pie (Aunt Lela's recipe!), which was actually the same thing I made last year, but it was still all eaten up.
Oh, and check out that Pie Pip.  Awesome.  (I took this picture pre-meringue-cooking, sorry).

Oh and here is me, before the pie party, at almost 21 weeks!!! Definitely no room for pie in these jeans:(

PS.  Yes, we did have our 20 week ultrasound, however, I am waiting to post about it until we get our pictures!!!  The photo printer was broken, so they are mailing them to us.  :(