Taking Stock {1}

{My favorite picture lately}

A list of the happenings in this moment.

Making : Plans to get Ashton in Soccer...or something! He has got so much energy, I can't wait to waste it somehow once he's old enough!

Cooking : Coconut Rice Pudding with Mangos. The mangos were just so perfect looking at Sprout Market last week, I couldn't resist buying a few so I've been making coconut rice pudding to go with them all week. I may be obsessed.

Drinking : Coke Zero in one hand, water in the other, and Peppermint Tea in my third hand... I've got myself a little cold, so water and tea have made there way to my cup this week.

Reading: Blogs, blogs, blogs. I'm still not sure where to start my Summer Reading {recommendations welcome!} So lately I've been reading This cute blog which happens to be where I got the idea for a post like this. I'm also loving Gaby at This Little Port and Along Abbey Road  

Wanting : My DoTerra kit to get here faster so I can get over this cold!

Looking : forward to our next family splash pad day! We found the best, huge splash pad close to our house and I have a feeling we will be there a lot this summer!

Playing : Trains and Jenga. Ashton's favorites.

Wasting : Time until I can go home {currently at work}

Sewing : Chair covers for Primary. Intially when we thought up this idea to make cute chair covers, I thought it would be a sinch and take me no time at all! The covers themselves only take a few minutes to sew together but the lettering is another story. So I've been trying to get these done for about a month now.

Wishing : The time would both speed up and slow down simultaneously. Anyone in our walk of life can probably relate. I love this simple life, just our small family making it by day-by-day. Watching my sweet yet defiant toddler learn and grow. And yet wishing for a time when our paychecks don't come in and go out all within hours. We are both ready to not be starving students anymore.

Enjoying : Simple things. Like a full refridgerator. And clean laundry. {al beit unfolded and stroon about the couch}

Waiting : For the next big adventure! {Can Fall come faster?}

Liking : My freshly organized make-up box. It's beautiful thing.

Wondering : When I can see my sister and nieces again. I miss them.

Loving : Finding a team work rhythm of parenting with Kellen. I think we do quite well most of the time.

Hoping : Ashton will either grow out of this removing-his-diaper-every-chance-he-gets phase or potty train soon! Or both would be ideal. Too much to ask???

Marveling : At the will of an almost 3 year old. He often out-wills me. And I've always thought I was pretty strong. I guess he took some of mine with him on the way out!

Needing : More sleep.

Smelling : Nothing. Just sniffeling and running.

Wearing : A sweatshirt. {In the Vegas June} because the AC runs non-stop at work!

Following : I can watch videos at work between calls to pass the time, and lately I've started following some cute "vlogger" girls who do make-up tutorials. Passes the time and we all know I love make-up!

Noticing : How dirty my desk at work is...I need one of those little air blowing bottles or something...

Knowing : Someday, this time in my life will have felt so short. Even though I frequently wish for "better times" I'm trying to get over that state of mind, that the next year will be better than this year. I recently read a quote which paraphrased was: If you're always thinking happiness will be found somewhere else, it will never be where you are. Profound and striking.

Thinking : About lunch time. I'm hungry! And I brought leftover pulled chicken sandwich! Yum!

Feeling : Better than yesterday.

Opening : a new box of DayQuil...please go away cold.

Giggling : About the funny things Ashton says. I should be writing more of this down!

Feeling : Complicated. Tired and stressed yet happy and blessed. I often feel stretched in 20 different directions. Yet, I have so many good things going on and good people in my life, I can't feel ungrateful for that.

Sharing the Esthetician in Me

Most know that I am a cosmetologist. I love beauty everything! Hair, make-up {I have an obscene amount of make-up...boxes and bags and an entire vanity full!} skin care and treatments. I love it all!
Skin care has been one the most frustrating things in my life. I want to share a little bit of what I have learned, from experience, cosmo school and jobs in spas.

I had hormonal acne since I was 12. You know, nothing too scarring or crazy but nothing to sneeze at either. I struggled with wearing make up because I always felt like everythng I tried just made it look worse, you still saw the breakout plus there was a gob of goop on top of it. I never felt like my skin looked nice. The breakouts let up a little as I got into my twenties but I still got pretty hefty zits fairly often. It wasn't until after Ashton was born that I felt like I got the normal, average skin I always dreamed of. I'm a new woman! And for the first time in my life I bought liquid foundation and I am never going back! {I could do a whole separate post about make up alone, the policy on that is not the same as my skincare- less is more. You definitely get what you pay for with make-up!}

Now that I finally don't have to be fighting slick, oily breakout skin I'm stepping into the next phase of skin management, anti-aging. "What? You're 26!" Yeah, just like we work out now so we will still be able to walk later...I anti-age treat now so I can reap the benefits later. Now is when we need to be preserving our collagen and elasticity so the deep wrinkles of our 40's don't set in for good.

This is how I take care of my skin:

 Washing: I have a few different washing mechanisms. I like using a cleansing cloth to rub away my make up. I use Burt's Bees Sensitive cloths. After I do this I usually feel like I could use a little deeper cleanse so I either, wash again simply with a face wash, exfoliate {I will get into next} or wipe with a cotton pad soaked in Witch Hazel.

Exfoliation: One of the most forgotten yet vital steps of healthy skincare. I have used a wide, and I do mean WIDE variety of exfoliators. From that awful apricot one...you know the one...to super high end, $60/bottle ones. I have settled on Coconut oil mixed with baking soda. Yup. That's it. And it's divine. Since my skin has switched from oily and acne to more mature and dry, I get dry patches that are flakey on my forehead and chin. This exfoliation has by far taken care of it the best, second only to microdermabrasion.This also keeps my clogged pores at bay. Though, I still search high and low for a way to eradicate them completely, when I figure out that secret, I will let you know!

Moisture: a good moisturizer now will be the differnce between fine lines and wrinkles later or "You're how old? You don't look a day over___!" I use Hylunia's Healing and Restoring cream. It's a little on the thicker side but it works for my dry, flakey skin. For oilier skin, I'd recommend simply oil. Coconut, olive, almond, try a few and see what works best for you. I realize this may sound backwards. Oil for oily skin. But you read that right. Do a little googling and you'll see, I'm not off my rocker. Treating overly oily skin with oil will actually calm your overactive sebacious glands down. You may feel like a slip-n-slide at first, but please! Don't give up! You won't regret it.

Special treatments: For masks, my favorite is a honey, oat, and Bentonite clay concoction. Honey is wonderful for oily or dry skin {it even has anti-bacterial properties!}, oatmeal is calming and healing, and Bentonite clay is great for detoxifying.

Mix those things together first, I usually throw in about a teaspoon of coconut oil also, it will be thick and chunky. Add dashes of warm water and mix until it's creamy and emulsified. Leave it on for 15 minutes and you'll feel like a million bucks! For sensitive, irratated or sunburned skin, pure aloe vera. I order mine {actually all the pure things, witch hazel, oils, clay, etc} from Rose Mountain Herbs. They have a great variety of pure ingredients as well as their own line of skincare products.

I hope my experience and these ideas are helpful. The truth is, there is not one right way to care for skin. Every person is different. You need to do some experimenting to find the best regime for your skin needs. But a general philosphy of "less is more" has helped me. No need to spend hundreds of dollars on fancy name brand washes and balms. I've found that pure, natural basics have done much more for my skin than even the $80 creams from a Dermatologist ever did... Just saying.

Summer Dreamin'

We are on the cusp of Summer. I usually really love summer. But...we are currently living in hell...I mean Las Vegas! We moved here last July so we got a pretty good idea of what to expect for the next 3-4 months. Home-bound, air conditioning, pools, indoor play areas...basically booking it between air conditioned houses, cars, stores, etc. And A LOT  of laundry...I found that when it's 115 outside I tend to change all of my clothes everytime I get home from being out and about, which could very well be 2-3 times a day!

I always have high hopes for fun summer times. But the reality is, we are still in a stage of our lives where June, July and August are not different than any other months of the year as far as school and work schedules go. Kellen has already started his summer semester and we will both still be working our part time schedules the same as always.

I hope in spite of this to be able to fit in a few adventures. Everytime summer rolls around I feel a little tug in my heart. The beach calls to me! It's been a long time since I've been back. 3...4 years? And poor Ashton has never seen the ocean. We'll get there buddy! Someday. But for now, here's my feasable list of Summer Dreams.

1. Swim Lessons! Ashton has only had one official swim lesson ever and I'm so excited to do that with him this summer. Whether it's me teaching him, or if I can find a resonably priced mommy and me class...either way I'm excited!
2. Books. I'm thinking up a summer reading list for myself. I have never been a big reader. I'm slow at it and usually I have 18 unfinished projects on my to-do list and curling up with a book isn't on there. But it's thereaputic. And I'm making an effort.
3. Family Trip. This is a big wish. I don't know when or how we would make this work but getting it on the list is step 1! The past....5 trips anywhere taken by our family have not actually included the whole family. Ashton and I went to Fresno, while Kellen was in Pheonix. Then Ashton and I went to Utah, and then to Fresno again. And Kellen went to St.George. So I have a goal to go somewhere (anywhere!) together.

Another thing I'll be looking forward to all summer is Ashton's 3rd birthday! I'll be thinking up ideas! I'm so excited, this will be the first time we have friends of his to invite! He will be so thrilled! He loves the idea of birthdays and occationally we have to sing him happy birthday just for kicks.
And with that I feel a memoir of birthday's past coming on...

 First Birthday: Splash table and smash cake memories! I slllaaaved trying to make this party super cute and fun, lets face it, the first birthday is about mom showing off more than the kid who doesn't know what's going on. Ha! It turned out super cute and I was so glad a lot of our family was able to make it. But I was disappointed, more so than I thought I would be, that not one of my mom-friends from our community came with their kids. We had an awesome time anyway!...but it stung a little. 

Ashton's second birthday was a month after we moved to Nevada. We hadn't really made friends yet so we had a fun, small pizza party at his Papa and Avó's house.

I can't wait to start cooking up some juicy-fun ideas for birthday number 3!

California

A couple weeks back Ashton and I were able to take a quick trip to my home, Fresno. We were getting the heck out of dodge while Kellen had his finals! It paid off, he got all A's! So proud.

While we were in Fresno, I really wanted to be able to take Ashton up to the mountains. That was one of my favorite things about where I grew up, being so close to beautiful places. So we took a little day trip up to Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake. It was so fun and nostalgic for me! My dad is a mountain, hiking man so I have literally been up there hundreds of times in my life. I'm so glad I got to show Ashton this beautiful piece of my childhood.

And of course our traditional frozen yogurt picture. Couldn't miss that.

Cat-like Reflexes!

So... Skweemish beware....
Last night, well I should say, this morning around 4:30 I had to sit awake for 30 minutes negoticating myself back into bed. Why? Oh you know...roaches. Yeah I said ROACHES. I woke up in a panic becaue I felt something crawl down my arm and half-awake, I grabbed and squished it in my hand, realized what just happened and jumped out of bed! I apparently have insane reflexes in my sleep, who just grabs a scittering bug?! This is the second time in my life that I have done this...ironically the first time was at a cabin at Huntington Lake, which I was just talking about all last night because I'm headed there next week. Anyway!I whipped on the light, Kellen disposed of the intruder and then I had to stand there shuddering about it for 30 minutes! Literally a nightmare come true.
I feel the same way I did after I saw the horror movie, The Grudge. In that movie the creepy thing gets you even when you climb in bed with the covers pulled up! That's supposed to be the safe zone! Bugs, critters, and creepy spirits with grudges are not supposed to be able to get you in your bed! Safe zone!

On a less creepy crawly note. Ashton and I are Fresno bound this afternoon when I get off work! Yay! Kellen has finals next week so we are getting out of his hair for that. I am a genious and of course forgot to get the baggage out of Ashton's room before he went to bed last night, so I'm going to have to hustle to get everything packed in time to leave! I'm thinking the timing could not have been more perfect, since I would probably have had roach nightmares sleeping in my own bed...I get to sleep somewhere else for a few nights and hopefully forget! (yeah, right.) I will leave Kellen with a big bottle of bug spray. *disgusted, shivery creepy-crawly dance*

Energy Type 1

My weeks are backwards these days. I work Friday, Saturday and Monday. And...although it is certainly not work, getting up at 7 for Sunday church and running around for my calling in Primary for two hours takes it out of me that morning as well.

So Mondays are my Fridays! I get up and work until 1:00 and then I'm FREE for three and a half days!

*Insert theme music i.e. Born Free*

I've been meaning all week, since my last post to get some greek yogurt so Ashton and I can do some fun eatable finger painting! Today I may actually get around to it! Woo!

Warning, this is probably going to end up being a little long-winded. This has just been on my mind and I like to share things that have helped me! About a year ago when my Grandma was in town for Kellen's graduation, she gave me a book called "The Child Whisperer." I had heard of it before but never got around to looking into it myself. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down! I read it cover to cover in one day! That's a personal record, I am not a very fast or deticated reader. But I couldn't stop! It's about different energy types within personalities, particularly in relation to parenting the different energy types. Ashton was just approaching "terrible twos" at the time and I was so glad to find something to give me a little encouragement and insite into being a better mother to him, even on the difficult days.

 I love figuring people out. Personalities and inner motivations are things that really interest me. I've done other tests like the Color Code and felt like that was spot on with my personality.

I really like this Energy Profiling, because it's even more basic than personality. Personalities can be changed and shaped by the people we are around or the envirment we are in, energies however, remain constant even if you express it differently at certain times.

While I was reading Child Whisperer, of course I mostly had Ashton in mind but I also tried to figure out my own type. She encourages you to ask your parents what they think your type would be since our natures are the most true to ourselves as children, before the world has had a chance to taint us. I intially thought I was Type 3, "The Determined Child." This is the kind of go-getter personallity who gets things done and has slightly higher engery. But when I asked my mom and dad (separately, mind you) they both whole-heartedly disagreed and said that I was definitely a Type 1 which is the highest energy, bright, bubbley and animated; "The Dreamer." I would never have thought! I went back and read through that section again, thinking about how it would apply to myself. One thing in particular jumped out at me as to why I might not have recognized this energy type in myself. Type 1's are people pleasers. We try to be whatever we think the people around us need us to be. We try to keep the peace and just go with the flow so that everyone can be happy.

As I sat there and thought about this, I was like yeah! I've done this since I was a little girl. With my mom, my dad, my brothers and especially my sister. She's a soft, emotional Type 2 energy and I have always tried to be whatever I thought she would need from me, which, when I was a teenager was a boss! I was so bossy with her. Part of the reason I was drawn to Type 3, because they are often mislabled as bossy. I was only that way because I thought I was helping her by telling her how to deal with life and problems or whatever! {Drove her nuts} In addition, I remember purposfully "toning down" my spontaneous, adventuresome engery when I was around her so that I didn't over power or over shadow her slower, relaxed energy. This was such an interesting realization for me.

After reading about all the different Types, I quickly set to work trying to figure out what type my close family members are. And I think I've got them mostly pinned! I have a brother, Mikhail, who is also a bright, cheerful Type 1. After discovering all of this one of the first things I did was call him. He's still only 13 and I wanted to tell him not to do what I had done to myself. I told him, "Don't be afraid to be your bubbly, animated, happy self, even if people act annoyed or you think they won't like you. It doesn't matter! Don't change who you are for anyone!"

Knowing Kellen's energy type has also helped me tremendously with understanding him! Tremendously! Because we are complete opposites on the scale. He is the most still energy, Type 4. He is inquisitive, serious and hard working, and likes to be alone sometimes. And that is all completely ok! But it was sooo hard for me to understand sometimes because I am the exact opposite, I want to be with people, doing something fun, thinking of something adventurous to do and I have a hard time sitting still. Understanding that his wanting to sit quietly and do something alone had nothing to do with pushing me away, was pivotal to our relationship. I have learned not to take that personally. And after discovering all of this, I really have to give him props for how patient he has been with me overall! It could not have been easy all of the time; me bouncing off the walls with new ideas that I will probably never follow through on, while he tries to keep himself grounded.... He's my hero.

My Grandma McCook had talked to me before about these different energy profiles pertaining to how you dress and I didn't realize until later that this was the same author and same energy profiling system. For women, the author developed Dressing Your Truth. I love it because it has helped me realize why I come to life in bright, neon, flowy, floral outfits! It reflects my inner bubbly-ness! If you go to her website that I've linked, you can sign up for free informational e-mails to find out more about it and you can even figure out your own Type of Energy and your Beauty Profile. I find it all very interesting and knowing this not only helps me in my relations with other people, understanding and being true to myself but also to dress in a way that reflects the fun, animated person that I am! I really feel better about myself when I do! It's a funny thing. :)

Nap Time

Just me....this beauty...an ice cold Coke Zero...and The Mindy Project. My latest show obsession. So funny.

I found some awesome, cute ideas for Pre-K last week while I was blog-hopping. I found this super cute blog: Along Abbey Road. 

She has a really great section about different toddler friendly activities she has done! I'm excited to try out the eatable finger painting! 

We'll be trying that out and I'll post how it goes!

Lunch & Love

This morning we had Ashton's MyGym class at in The District. After class we had some fun walking around the grassy area and over to Whole Foods so mommy could get lunch and buy some fish to make for dinner! Yum! 

They are doing some construction across the street too so naturally we had to watch the bulldozers for 10 straight minutes.

I have a weakness for weird, fancy beverages.... It's a problem. This rose lemonade was divine and went well with my smoked mozzarella pasta salad.

Ashton wasn't interested in my fancy food. {so weird} But he did really enjoy his water! haha. Replenish your fluids little one.

Some Favorites + An Egg Hunt

It's Thursday. And these are a few of my favorites:

*Coke Zero and Chocolate Cereal with Coconut Milk*

And then there's taking care of Ashton's breakfast needs. Easier said than done.

I know, I know. I'm mother of the year....My kid only eats snack foods. But I do feel like I deserve at least a little credit that the snacks are semi-nutritious...right? Really though, the closest thing to a meal I get him to choke down is a PB&J or Grilled Cheese. Oh well...

Yesterday we went to the Playgroup Easter Egg Hunt! Pretty fun watching the kiddos run a muck trying to secure as many eggs as they could. Luckily there was a 12-egg limit haha.

Nature {Ride} Walk

Lately, I've been helping Ashton get geared up for bedtime by telling him all the fun things we get to do the next day when he wakes up. Last night I told him all about how we could go to the park and find all kinds of treasures to put in his backpack and bring home! He was pretty excited!

This morning he was up and ready to get going on his adventure! He had the great idea to bring his "motor-cle" {motorcycle} Lol so he could ride it around the park. Clever boy.

We had a marvelous time. :) Collecting flowers, rocks, sticks and leaves. He even found a "big daddy pine corn" {large pinecone} and a "little baby pine corn" {small pinecone}

 Just a boy and his pine corn :)

Treasure Inspection

Pre-K at Home

I've been looking into ideas for how to help Ashton academically (as academic as a 2 year old can be...) There are quite a few cute ideas to be found, but to be honest, and this may sound bad, I really don't mean to be judgmental, but the uber-gung-ho christian force behind a lot of homeschooling blogs and resources kind of turns me off. I'm as religious as the next person and appreciate parents choosing to integrate that into their homeschool experience, but I'm not into that.

For instance, through my search I was brought to a page where it seemed like the mom was transforming her family to follow all of the same values and principles as the Duggar Family from TLC's 19 Kids and Counting. Actually it didn't even seem that way, she plainly stated, that's what she was doing. Using their book as reference.

That's great for them, if that is where their beliefs lie. That's really not what I'm interested in. Haha.

Many of the other resources I've found from other sights are just, how do I put this delicately... Not very cute. In essence, I guess, I've just had a hard time finding a completely secular cirriculum with all the fun and cuteness of some of the more religious based programs. Where's my happy medium?!

Luckily, I'm a DIY addict. I'm always looking at cute ideas and thinking of how I can recreate or do something similar to cater to my family. And since all I'm really wanting to do is a little preschool/kindergarden prep with my 2 1/2 year old, it really should not be that complicated.

Here are a few ideas I wanted to start out with:

ABC cards- For these, I have decided to do upper case on one side and lower case on the other. I know that Ashton can already identify all the upper case letters, so I know that I specifically want to focus on pairing the lower case with the upper case and the sounds of each letter.

Number Cards- Ashton is not really familiar with numbers yet, he can count to 3 but recognition and counting are still things that we need to start at the beginning. To have a little fun with counting, I thought we could use some of his small toys, trains or cars and work up to counting 10 of them. I've seen some people recommend to have one bucket full of the toys to be counted and an empty bucket to place the ones that have been counted. Not only to help keep count, but to help them recognize amounts.

Science- I wanted to make sure to do something outdoors. Ashton loves to be outside and explore, really, what toddler doesn't? So I came up with a few ideas of things we could do: a nature walk, collecting small, interesting things like leaves, sticks, pine cones, rocks. Then bring our spoils home and inspect them! It would be fun to have a small magnifying glass and talk about the properties of each item.

Chicken Pot Pie: An Evolution

My cooking skills have evolved considerably in the 6 years that I've been cooking for Kellen and I. I've always enjoyed it and I was lucky to have two parents with above average cooking skills. So my foundation was strong, but since I got married at the ripe old age of (barely) 20, I hadn't really refined my skills! Kellen has kindly eaten many a crisply burned, over salted, or slightly soggy meal. He's a champ. But I think his kindness has paid off! 

A favorite of ours in our newly wedded years was Chicken and Dumplings. It was a recipe I found, I don't even remember where. It was just chopped up chicken, frozen mixed veggies all mixed in cream of chicken soup, baked with Bisquik biscuits on top. It was super good and easy to make! 

Since those days, I've taken more of an interest in from-scratch cooking. A lot of times it ends up saving money, and lets be honest, it just tastes way better! If you're not someone who loves standing over a hot stove cooking for hours (like I do haha), this is still a good scratch recipe to start out with. It's not terribly time consuming but it has all of the yummy-tummy goodness of the rich comfort food that it is! 

So here's my evolved chicken pot pie recipe. Since I'm only cooking for Kellen and I,  I've learned to cater my recipes to only yielding 2 1/2 to 3 servings. This recipe can be easily changed to feed more people. Or doubled to make two pies.

Rustic Chicken Pot Pie

For the filling:

1 chicken breast

1/4 yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 carrots, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

3-4 baby bella mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup milk (any % you prefer)

Heat up a large pan with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Salt and pepper the chicken breast to taste. Cook the chicken breast over medium heat for about five minutes while you chop and prepare the other ingredients. Add the onion, carrots and celery with just a pinch more salt. Flip the chicken breast and allow the veggies to sauté for a few minutes until they start looking softened. Add the minced garlic and mushrooms. At this point assess the amount of oil in the pan, if the veggies look dry, add another tablespoon or so. 

The chicken breast should be almost cooked through by now, although you can continue even if it's not, it will continue cooking in the pan and then later in the oven so don't sweat it. I just use my wooden spoon to chop and shred the breast so that the chicken is well distributed in the filling. If you prefer to remove it and chop it properly, by all means, do so. I'm just lazy. :) And prefer keeping my uncooked chicken away from other surfaces. 

Next add the remaining veggies (peas and corn) and any seasoning you would like to add. Feel free to experiment here and find out what spices and herbs your family loves! Here's how I season mine:

1 tsp ground sage

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp paprika

Once you've given those a toss, add the butter and flour, mixing until incorporated. Raise the heat a bit. Then add the chicken broth. Bring to a simmer. Add the milk. Bring back to a simmer and turn down the heat to low. Let it simmer uncovered until the sauce has thickened, should only take a few minutes. 

For the Crust:

I usually make the crust in advance so that I can have it chilling in the refrigerator before I need to roll it out. 

Pie crust can be intimidating. It took me years to get it right, and it's been only recently that I've felt good about it. Honestly, having tools, like my Kitchen Aid mixer, has helped. It's harder to mess things up when all you have to do is toss everything in and mix until it's done! 

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1 cup shortening

2 Tbs butter

2 tsp salt

Cold water

Add the flours, salt, shortening and butter to the bowl of your mixer. Mix with the paddle attachment until the shortening and butter are well incorporated and it looks kind of crumbly. Pour the cold water in slowly while the mixer is on, add just a tablespoon at a time and stop as soon as the dough comes together. Careful not to over mix or over moisten. (those are the trickiest parts)

Wrap in plastic wrap and toss in the fridge until you're ready to build your pie!

This recipe makes a little more than I need for my medium sized, oval shaped dish that I prefer using. I cut the dough in half and roll out one half to use for the bottom of the pan. Make sure you use some Pam or butter first so it's easier to serve. Then just transfer your rolled out dough and press it into place. It will likely lay over the edges, and I don't mind that, in fact we prefer it! We like the crust to filling ratio to be high! 

Once you have the bottom layer in place, pour the filling in. Next roll out the other half of the dough. Like I said, there's usually a little more dough than you need so use however much you prefer. Just lay the top over and gently press around the edges. Be sure to make some cuts in the top of the crust so your filling doesn't go spilling out the sides.

Next for a little added luxury! I like to brush it with egg wash (an egg with a little water, beaten) and sprinkle it with some Fleur de Sel. Just be careful not to over do it with the salt sprinkling or you'll be sorry. (I speak from sad experience...)

Bake for 30-45 minutes at 375 degrees. Just until golden and crisp.  Make sure to place it on a baking sheet, just in case you have a little filling spillage-- it won't go making a mess in your oven. 

 Check out that gorgeous specimen! That shiny, golden crust makes my mouth water!