14valentines Day One: Body Image
Hello, internet, and welcome to 14valentines 2009, as interpreted by pocky_slash. For those of you new to the internet, 14valentines is two weeks of posts celebrating women and how far we've come and reminding us how far we have left to go. It's fun! And, you know, masochistic. Over the next 14 days I will (hopefully) be posting ten stories and four posts about other stuff, much like the one I am making right now!
The theme of Day One is Body Image. There's a lovely essay on the topic over here, as well as links to everyone else's contributions.
Body Image is a weird thing for me, to be honest. I'm one of those people who is dissatisfied with how they look because I feel like I should be, not because I actually am. I like my body. My boobs get on my nerves, what with being big and in my way, and I wish I didn't have to wax so much, but those are petty inconveniences when compared with girls who starve themselves and can't stand to look in the mirror.
I am a chubby girl. Ruben-esque, actually, my mother would probably say, because I'm more curvy than anything else. I have the aforementioned boobs as well as hips and a definite waist. It's not exactly the body type that's being promoted on magazine covers and teevee ads these days, so it took me awhile to come to terms with the fact that I am pretty good looking when I put a little effort into it. It's a little harder to find clothes that fit my hips and my boobs and my waist at the same time, but when I do, they look good.
These are recent revelations. It's only been since college that I've started to realize the fact that I can, in fact, be happy and not be a size 6. That I can have friends and be successful and not hate my life even though I'm not as skinny as a rail.
Part of it, I think, is my relationship with food. I really, really like food, guys. In the past, I've used food as a crutch. Maybe I still do it sometimes. I can't be sure, but I do respect food and I'm relatively healthy. I could probably stand to lose a few pounds, but I'm in a place where I'm mostly okay with that and I don't let it bother me or get in the way of my enjoyment of my favorite things.
One of those things is pie.
So, here for you, internet, are two pie recipes that are close to my heart. I hope that you get as much enjoyment out of them as I do.
Peanut Butter Cream Pie
This is a chilled pie that requires no baking! Fancy that! The recipe first came to my attention at Peanut Butter & Co.
Crust:
1 pre-made 8 or 9 inch graham crack crust
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
Filling:
1c heavy cream
1/2 c cream cheese
3/4 c peanut butter
1/2 c powdered sugar
2T whole milk
2T vanilla extract
Crust:
1. Melt the chocolate chips and butter in the microwave. Heat it at 1/2 power for 45 seconds at a time and try to make sure it doesn't boil.
2. When melted smooth, pour into the graham cracker crust.
3. Put the crust in the freezer for one hour to harden.
Filling:
1. Whip the heavy cream until firm, and set it aside in the fridge.
2. Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk.
3. Beat until well combined.
4. Retrieve the cream. Fold the cream carefully into the other mixture.
5. Scoop into shell and chill for one hour.
You can garnish it with peanuts or peanut butter chips or chocolate chips. I find that it gets too rich if you add all that other stuff, since it's pretty rich to begin with. Also, if you prefer hazelnut, you can substitute Nutella for peanut butter (same measurement) for a Nutella Cream Pie that quatredeathlady can't get enough of.
***
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
This is an old Nestle recipe that I stole and repurposed when looking for a slightly different recipe. It has become a favorite of, um, basically everyone I know.
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell*
2 large eggs
1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened but not melted
1 c semi-sweet chocolate morsels
I'm going to level with you guys--I've gotten pretty lazy. When I make this pie, I don't bother to make pie crust from scratch anymore, I just buy the frozen kind. But make sure that it's a deep dish crust if you do! They usually come in packs of two of three, so you will tragically be forced to make it more than once.
If you are less lazy than I am, you can use a homemade pie crust but again, make sure you have a deep dish to make it in, because other wise it will bake over. It's not pretty XD
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until they are combined and foamy.
3. Slowly beat in the flour, sugar, and brown sugar.
4. Once those are combined, add the butter.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and then pour the batter into the pie shell.
6. Bake for ~45 minutes, or until the top starts to look light brown and crispy.
You can garnish it with additional chocolate chips or nuts. You can also mix nuts in, but I don't like nuts in my cookies, so I generally skip that part.
This pie is 10000% better when served hot and with vanilla ice cream. It might even be 20000% better hot and with ice cream. IT IS SO GOOD.
***
So, there are some pies you should make. I hope you enjoy them!
The theme of Day One is Body Image. There's a lovely essay on the topic over here, as well as links to everyone else's contributions.
Body Image is a weird thing for me, to be honest. I'm one of those people who is dissatisfied with how they look because I feel like I should be, not because I actually am. I like my body. My boobs get on my nerves, what with being big and in my way, and I wish I didn't have to wax so much, but those are petty inconveniences when compared with girls who starve themselves and can't stand to look in the mirror.
I am a chubby girl. Ruben-esque, actually, my mother would probably say, because I'm more curvy than anything else. I have the aforementioned boobs as well as hips and a definite waist. It's not exactly the body type that's being promoted on magazine covers and teevee ads these days, so it took me awhile to come to terms with the fact that I am pretty good looking when I put a little effort into it. It's a little harder to find clothes that fit my hips and my boobs and my waist at the same time, but when I do, they look good.
These are recent revelations. It's only been since college that I've started to realize the fact that I can, in fact, be happy and not be a size 6. That I can have friends and be successful and not hate my life even though I'm not as skinny as a rail.
Part of it, I think, is my relationship with food. I really, really like food, guys. In the past, I've used food as a crutch. Maybe I still do it sometimes. I can't be sure, but I do respect food and I'm relatively healthy. I could probably stand to lose a few pounds, but I'm in a place where I'm mostly okay with that and I don't let it bother me or get in the way of my enjoyment of my favorite things.
One of those things is pie.
So, here for you, internet, are two pie recipes that are close to my heart. I hope that you get as much enjoyment out of them as I do.
Peanut Butter Cream Pie
This is a chilled pie that requires no baking! Fancy that! The recipe first came to my attention at Peanut Butter & Co.
Crust:
1 pre-made 8 or 9 inch graham crack crust
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
Filling:
1c heavy cream
1/2 c cream cheese
3/4 c peanut butter
1/2 c powdered sugar
2T whole milk
2T vanilla extract
Crust:
1. Melt the chocolate chips and butter in the microwave. Heat it at 1/2 power for 45 seconds at a time and try to make sure it doesn't boil.
2. When melted smooth, pour into the graham cracker crust.
3. Put the crust in the freezer for one hour to harden.
Filling:
1. Whip the heavy cream until firm, and set it aside in the fridge.
2. Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk.
3. Beat until well combined.
4. Retrieve the cream. Fold the cream carefully into the other mixture.
5. Scoop into shell and chill for one hour.
You can garnish it with peanuts or peanut butter chips or chocolate chips. I find that it gets too rich if you add all that other stuff, since it's pretty rich to begin with. Also, if you prefer hazelnut, you can substitute Nutella for peanut butter (same measurement) for a Nutella Cream Pie that quatredeathlady can't get enough of.
***
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
This is an old Nestle recipe that I stole and repurposed when looking for a slightly different recipe. It has become a favorite of, um, basically everyone I know.
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell*
2 large eggs
1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened but not melted
1 c semi-sweet chocolate morsels
I'm going to level with you guys--I've gotten pretty lazy. When I make this pie, I don't bother to make pie crust from scratch anymore, I just buy the frozen kind. But make sure that it's a deep dish crust if you do! They usually come in packs of two of three, so you will tragically be forced to make it more than once.
If you are less lazy than I am, you can use a homemade pie crust but again, make sure you have a deep dish to make it in, because other wise it will bake over. It's not pretty XD
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until they are combined and foamy.
3. Slowly beat in the flour, sugar, and brown sugar.
4. Once those are combined, add the butter.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and then pour the batter into the pie shell.
6. Bake for ~45 minutes, or until the top starts to look light brown and crispy.
You can garnish it with additional chocolate chips or nuts. You can also mix nuts in, but I don't like nuts in my cookies, so I generally skip that part.
This pie is 10000% better when served hot and with vanilla ice cream. It might even be 20000% better hot and with ice cream. IT IS SO GOOD.
***
So, there are some pies you should make. I hope you enjoy them!