Best Pecan Pie Ever

I've gotten a bit behind in this blog.  It's been that crazy combination of super busy leading to total sluggishness in the evening.  You know, where all you want to do is watch reruns of How I Met Your Mother and drink tea under a blanket.  I just finished up a busy season at work, paired with some organizational changes that felt like speedbumps.  Plus we've had family stuff on our minds.  We are redoing the kids' playroom from "Toddler" to "Little Kid".  Forget Swim Bike Run - yesterday was Paint Build Sew.  More of that today.  But with their toys and art supplies accessible, a great big new craft table, and reading tent I think it's a win.

Anyhoo, as penance I offer up this recipe - the best pie I have ever, EVER had.  We are practicing for Thanksgiving you see, so after my son made us pumpkin pie, my daughter stepped up to the plate for pecan.  Yes, I did mention it in my last blog post, but man that pie was so good and I've been thinking about it ever since, so it should be shared.

 Chocolate Caramel Pecan Pie

Start with a pie crust - you can make your own or use commercial.  Then follow the directions on the Karo syrup bottle:

• 1 cup Karo® Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon Spice Islands® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) pecans
• 1 cup mini-chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla using a spoon. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips (if using). Pour filling into pie crust.
3. Bake on center rack of oven for 60 to 70 minutes. Cool for 2 hours on wire rack before serving.

I love chocolate, so the addition of the chocolate chips was my idea.  It's important to use the mini chips as opposed to regular sized - I have used those before and they don't melt into the rest of the filling - the chocolate sinks and becomes a hard lumpy layer right on top of the crust.

While the pie is cooling, make the caramel sauce.  Caramel is easy - trust me.  We make it all the time for our cupcake business.  All you need is sugar, butter, cream, and a block of uninterrupted time (I know - the last one is the hardest.  But I urge you to pop in a cartoon for this, because I speak from experience that caramel will turn from clear to black in the time it takes to run downstairs to help someone with the bathroom).  We use the caramel recipe from TheKitchn (would recommend halving this recipe for the pie, unless you like extras:

Caramel Sauce

makes approximately 3 cups
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups cream

Warm the cream in a small saucepan over low to medium heat. Don't let it boil; just keep it warm.

Stir the sugar and water together in a large, heavy, high-sided pan over high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then stop stirring and allow it to boil until it reaches a deep amber color. This will take anywhere from 8 to 15 minutes, depending on your pan and your stove. You will see pale yellow streaks, then darker ones appear in the center of the bubbling sugar. When you see these, swirl the pan carefully by the handles and be attentive. At the very first sign of smoke from your caramel, turn off the heat. By now it should be very dark amber. (You are looking for a dark caramel here, because you will be adding cream, so don't flinch and take it off the heat when it's still just pale gold!)

Immediately pour in the cream. Use a long-handled whisk to whisk it vigorously. Be very careful — the caramel is going to steam and bubble up violently! Add the butter and salt and whisk smooth. Return to medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly reduced.

Let cool then pour into a jar and refrigerate. This will keep in the fridge for at least two weeks.

Pour the finished sauce over the cooled pie and let cool as well.  Heaven.....

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When not wolfing down 500 calorie slices of pie, I have been picking away at getting back to my triathlon training.  My podiatrist made me some nifty orthotics out of PowerStep insoles to wear with my running shoes, and they seem to help.  I took a few days in between Days 3 and 4 of Cast25K due to some impressive soreness, but I did squeeze in a quick run after work on Friday.

Llamas on the run.....

I'm up to the point in the program where you have to run intervals for a minute.  A minute seems to have become really long to run!  I feel like it's actually harder, because every runner I know, even die-hard marathoners, admit that the first few minutes of every run are the worst.  You never get to get over "the hump" and into "the zone".  Or I'm just a wuss.  Either way....

We've also had our first snow here, which is discouraging for outdoor activities.  But true to New England form, a few days after this picture was taken we had temps in the 60s.  Go figure.  The dark mornings and chill in the air definitely make it harder to get up and out the door to the gym at dark o'clock.  In fact, that has happened only once.  But again, I'm working on it.....

Brrrrr.... no way I'd getting out of bed

This morning Gypsy came and got me for my first bike ride since The Injury.  It's a cold, wet morning, and I was irrationally nervous to get back out on my wheels.  Much better to go with my tri bestie than solo.  Bless her for dragging my sorry balking blerching butt out of the house.  We did a slow (very slow - sucking wind on the hills!) ten miles just in time for the skies to open up and the rain to start.  Chilly, bone-soaking cold rain.  I'm still cold.  Whine.  BUT my foot held up ok, and we're going to try again next weekend.  

I'm getting back to the playroom triathlon for the rest of the day, working on crocheting the kiddo's leg warmers for dance, and generally trying to stay dry and warm.  I think I'll spark up the fireplace.  Yes.  Good idea.

Life at My Daughter's Speed

It's been a quiet weekend.  I don't think I've had a quiet weekend.... possibly ever in recent memory.  And I LIKE IT.  I thought about entitling this post "Rocking It" or something similar, in homage to this weekend's cake, but the reality is that once I got past the crazy ups and down and business of work, doctor's visits, and other stuff, the weekend has been slow.  Much more classical music in your pjs than rock 'n' roll.

Guitar cake - this weekend's project

Today the little guy was sick (actually, we are all sick, but he was really sick), so my Sunday morning swim with the kids turned into a solo outing with my little girl.  I should spend more time with this kid - because of all of her amazing, stubborn, lovable, and infuriating characteristics, one of her biggest is that she cannot be rushed.  She will spend a full hour in the morning to eat a bowl of cereal.  Putting on her shoes takes a good three minutes (even with Velcro - OMG).  While this drives me and Jedi to pull our hair out and bite the back of our fists on a regular basis during busy school mornings, it is actually a perfect weekend training pace.

Buddy's hat

Did I say training?  Yes, I am in training to relax more.  Cool, huh?  I have taken up crocheting - a skill that my grandmother and mother taught me when I was young, and that I've totally neglected since because it involves sitting still for so long.  Another skill I let lapse around age ten.  But after five weeks of enforced sitting, it turns out that I like just chilling out with a cat in my lap.  If they wouldn't try to bat the yarn so much that would help, but life's not perfect.  I've logged some serious hours playing video games with the kids and reading this weekend.  It is great.  Now that we've cleared our baking schedule for the rest of the year, I fully intend to spend as much time as possible mimicking my daughter's pace - taking my time.

So anyway, today for our impromptu girls date we first headed to the gym for a swim workout for me and kid gym for her.  We got out of the car and she asked "Mommy, can you run with me?"  So we ran giggling all the way up the parking lot and into the gym.  She said, "Wow Mommy you're a good runner!!!"  After my time off (really, any time) hearing my best little running buddy say that was worth more than any sub-3:00 marathon ever.  (Which is good, because let's just be realistic....)

I stashed her in kid watch, and headed to the pool, where I knocked off 1350 meters in just under an hour.  I have a new toy - a waterproof case for my IPod Shuffle that clips to the back of my goggles.  I had a Best Buy gift card lying around from about 2011 and used it to grab this baby while I was laid up, in preparation for a lot more swimming.  Let me tell you - swimming with my tunes is a revolutionary experience.  Love love love.  Just don't try to sing underwater...

For those interested, that swim set reads:

Warm-up:  1x100 swim, 1x100 pull.  Annnd reading this I just realized I did this twice.  Make that a 1550 workout.  Score!

Drills: 8x50 single arm free, alternating right and left every 25.  30 second rest.

Main Set: 400 m.  I timed it and did it in just over 10 minutes.  Considering this is faster than both of my sprint times for the same distance, I am calling myself happy.

Cool down: 1x50 swim, 1x50 pull, 1x50 swim.

I spent some time in the sauna, which I had never used before and now wondered why the heck ever not? Oh right.  I never felt like I had time to. Grabbed the girl, and we headed off for some early Christmas craft shopping and lunch at her favorite burrito joint. She was ridiculously happy to have the entire side of the booth to herself, and spread her lunch over her whole side of the table.  A lesson in spreading yourself out and making yourself comfy.  When I finished my lunch before her (of course), she convinced me to go back and buy myself some ice cream.  Who am I to argue with my teacher for the day?

Ice cream, soda, chips - oh yeah!

She takes her time...

We did eventually come home to check on poor sick little dude, to relax on the couch (she took a nap), and to finish her hat. Can't be all work!  She and Daddy took a break to make us a chocolate pecan pie, which I'm hoping is the sole element of our dinner.

Still wearing her pumpkin hat from her Halloween costume.
Five year olds rock. A friend suggested I do more of these and make a book
"Baking and Tri-ing with Your Kids" - what do you think?

I'm still chugging away at Cast25K.  I chose swimming today over running because after my last "run" on Friday my foot was super sore.  Ditto after swimming, so I think I'm making the right choice.  Will lace up again tomorrow.  Or not.  I'll see how I feel.  

I've got time.....

I Want S'More!!!

S'more cupcakes at our Farmer's Market

It is definitely fall in New England.  Chilly damp mornings give way to warmer days, and then the air is crisp again in the evening.  While many think of s'more as a summertime treat, to me this time of year is the best for campfires.  The hordes of mosquitoes that descend on us in our backyard have died down, it's just cool enough for the fire to warm you, and it gets dark early enough that you don't have to keep the kids up past their bedtime to enjoy a fire.

Which is exactly what we did the other night - two nights before the big race.  I'm going to tell you now one of the most important secrets you will ever learn in your life.  How to make a perfect s'more.

The ingredients

It all starts with the basics - marshmallows, graham crackers, and Nutella.  Wait, Nutella you say?  What about the Hersey bar??  YES.  If anyone has not yet tried this chocolate hazelnut spread (nut allergies beware), you must go directly to the grocery store and buy as much as you possibly can.  It is great on waffles, bread, fruit, and probably even on bugs, snails, iron filings, and all sort of other things as well.  It is also a great cupcake filling and the star ingredient in our Vanilla Nutella cupcakes.  Using Nutella instead of a Hershey Bar means that you get immediate and even distribution of the chocolate throughout your s'more, and you don't have the cracking problem that comes when you try to bite into what is essentially a graham cracker with gooey marshmallow and a still-rock-hard piece of chocolate.  It is genius.  My husband is the original architect of this masterpiece, and I think it's one of the best things I've gained from our marriage.  That and our marshmallow roasters:

Always keep an eye on your child labor when fire is involved

So stab those marshmallows and roast 'em, torch 'em - however you like them.  (I've learned that how one prefers their marshmallow is a very personal and often passionate subject, so I will not presume to dictate the best method.)  Then take your roasted marshmallow, sandwich between graham crackers smeared with Nutella and go for it!

Marshmallow cheeked within 5 seconds.  Amazing, this girl.

Translating this favorite treat into cupcake form is easy.  Bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes, and fill with marshmallow fluff.  I like to use an apple corer to pop out a little hole in each cupcake, then squirt in the very-sticky fluff from a ziplock baggie with the corner cut off.  Replace the cake "plug", and top with vanilla buttercream.  You can mix vanilla buttercream and more fluff together to make a more marshmallow-y frosting, if you like.  Then roll in crush graham crackers.  For our customers, we top our cupcakes with a large marshmallow cut in half with scissors that's been dipped halfway in dark chocolate.  Yum.

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So now it is two days after my big race.  Many people have been asking me how I'm feeling.  There's a lot of ways to answer that.  A little tired.  Not at all sore.  But mostly, I feel like I want S'MORE.  As I was turning out the light the night after the race, I told my husband "I feel like Christmas is over".  Except that, instead of just one month of commercialized, anxiety-ridden, joy filled insanity between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there were six months of it building up to my last race in the triathlon season.  I've poured my body, soul, marriage, and social life into training.  I've made new friends.  I've lost some friends.  I've been injured (many times).  In the end, the race went so well I couldn't have asked for anything better, and yet I'm left with the very strong feeling that a) I should have raced an Olympic distance instead of a sprint, and b) I'm not ready for it to end.

I spent most of yesterday in the grips of some serious depression, as well as Race Registration Compulsion Disorder.  It goes something like this: "I can find an Oly this year.  Sure all my weekends are booked for the next two months, so maybe October.  The air temp will be in the 40s, but maybe the water will still be in the 60s, and I have a wetsuit, so that's not that bad....  but wait I have a Sunday two weeks from now!  It's in New Hampshire.  That's a 3 hour drive.  But ok, I can take a hotel if I just do soccer practice with the kids, then deliver that cake, then drive until midnight.  The registration is $150, plus the hotel would be another $200.... so I'll need to book at least one more wedding cake in the next two months.  But all my weekends are booked.  Ok, so I'll just take some more vacation time......"  and so on.

After texting my very understanding sister-in-law who is also a triathlete and personal trainer, my coach, and various other people, I finally wrote to my Tribuddy with the problem.  She is a wonderful friend because she gives great, practical advice.  Like "sign up for a 70.3 even though you've never done an Oly".  Oh no wait - just kidding.  But she is very practical and frugal, and quickly convinced me that my crazy plan was not, in fact, in the same universe as a good idea.  Instead she suggested I focus on my running, which could use a lot of work, and would I like to do a 10K race with her that same Sunday I was targeting instead?  Much better.

Chilling in the grass

So now I'm working on a 10K training plan this fall.  Yes, I've already raced that distance, but I think actually following a training plan might help me build my endurance and speed without having to stop for injury every two weeks.  And it gives me some structure.  And hopefully, fingers crossed, lets me relax a bit and enjoy the fall and the "down time" from all-out triathlon training.