Teacups and Toasters

A day past Christmas, but the story doesn’t stop in the manger.

I encourage you and even implore you to read the rest of Luke 2. The first 20 verses are about the Christmas story. Pick up with verse 21 and read to the end of the chapter. It gives a little insight to parts of Jesus childhood. Also pick up in Matthew 2:13 and read to the end of the chapter for other parts of His childhood.  Here’s a link to Luke 2 via BibleGateway.com and a link to Matthew 2 via the same source.

Then if you’re feeling motivated and maybe even curious – read to the end of the book of Matthew, or Luke, or both. Remember that Matthew and Luke though both followers of Jesus during the same time are two seperate people giving accounts of what they were witness to. Pretty awesome.

-my favorite children’s Christmas book that is.

This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten and illustrated by Delana Bettoli is a such a sweet telling of the nativity with beautiful (I mean BEAUTIFUL) pictures. The words are soft and the pictures are a mix of bold and earthen tones presented with a detail that lends itself to a rare hue.

As a child growing up my dad always read ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas poem on Christmas eve and I cherish that memory. I think though, that This is the Stable will be the tradition I begin with my daughter. It’s rhythmic repetition calls to be read over and over.

Check it!

It had been a seriously long amount of time since I’d had a pie of this type. In fact I can’t pinpoint the last time. I’ve been off chocolate pies with meringue because they usually contain milk ingredients and I’d certainly never made one before. However, the recent discovery of the interchangeability of coffee creamer for evaporated and condensed milk has opened up a whole world of desserts. If you don’t have to worry about food allergies and intolerances you don’t need to worry about a pie with substitutes either. I know it’s been a long time, but this pie tastes like the pies  of old memories.  I think I’ve begun a new Christmas time tradition in my home, although I I’d gladly eat this in July as well!

You will need:

An oven preheated to 350 degrees

1 medium sized pot

1 mixer

1 baked pie crust

aluminum foil

2 heaping tablespoons of flour

1/4 cup of cocoa

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs for pie filling

10 ounces of french vanilla flavored coffee creamer (refrigerated kind – I used International Delight)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/4 cup butter (or a butter substitute like Blue Bonnet Light, or Smart Balance Light for a non-dairy pie)

3 egg whites for meringue

salt

1 cup marshmallow cream

Here’s what you do:

Chocolate Pie Filling

1.) Mix flour, cocoa, and sugar into the medium sized pot

2.) Add eggs and mix well

3.) Add coffee creamer slowly until mixed well

4.) Add vanilla and butter

5.) Cook in pot over medium heat until thick – Stir constantly

6.) Pour into baked pie shell (I like to pour mine to the brim!) You’ll have some left over still, but that’s okay. Just hang on to it and makes something else with it.

Marshmallow Meringue Topping

1.) Add three egg whites to mixing bowl

2.) Add a dash of salt

3.) Add 1 cup of marshmallow cream

4.) Whip it up on high until it’s fluffy

5.) Pour over top of  chocolate pie filling once pie filling is in the shell

Now what?

1.) Place in oven until meringue is browned (You might need to cover the crust edge with aluminum foil to keep it from getting burnt)

2.) Let it cool for at least 2 hours

3.) Refrigerate once it’s completely cooled.

Next time I might double the recipe for both the filling and the meringue if I can finder a deeper dish!

I had to watch this video clip SEVERAL times. “Surely, this is a hoax,” I said. I watched it again. This kind of thing makes my skin all crawly and my heart all pumpy and my mind is reeling with pure excitement.

Check it.

The thing that will sit on your head and take over your brain

Squids are terrifyingly beautiful.