My dentist appointment went great and my pearly whites are in tip-top shape!

However, my pre-appointment anxiety was enough that even with a clean bill of health already I plan on stepping up my flossing routine to more than a couple times a week!  I’m no Jessica Simpson, but sometimes I definitely phone in the effort.

I stopped on the way home and grabbed an insanely huge Big Gulp of Diet Coke (swoon) and it’s been work, work, work ever since.  Some of my accomplishments include –

• purchasing a ‘welcome to the world’ gift for my newest niece
• organizing my e-mail inboxes
• submitting my health insurance waiver and other soon-to-be-a-freshman-again business
• sending some blog e-mails
• putting away 2 loads of laundry and unpacking from last weekend
• making a pie, with a homemade crust
• going to the grocery store to rebuy half the ingredients for the above pie
• cooking a winner of a dinner
• precooking most of tomorrow’s dinner

Whew!  Done, done, and done; don’t even tell me diet coke isn’t superwoman fuel 😀

“Lunch” never really happened (probably something to do with the Big Gulp caffeine buzz) but I did get a few snacks in there.  I was feeling particularly hungry when the husband came home this afternoon with leftover chips from a meeting but I stopped myself before I went big gulp on the chips by portioning some out onto a plate.

I also had an Amazing Grass packet, shaken together with 8oz of calcium + d oj and 5oz of H2O.

The packet was part of my secret valentine bloggie gift.  I wouldn’t say I liked the taste, but I didn’t mind it either, and the nutritional stats were amazing, tee hee.

Dinner was a last minute idea that ended up being an absolute winner.

Roasted asparagus [spritzed with evoo and salt, 25minutes @ 425*] as a side,

with Pizza Eggs!!!

I came up with the recipe on a whim because I had leftover egg whites to use up from the pie and I ended up telling Adam that this is my favorite thing I’ve ever made!

1. I combined 1egg and 5whites with salt, pepper, and dried oregano and whisked everything together.
2. Then I melted 1T of butter in a pan over medium-high heat.
3. I poured the egg mixture into the pan and scrambled with a spatula until they were mostly set, 1minute.
4. Finally I added 1/2 cup marinara sauce; 20pieces of turkey pepperoni, halved; and 2oz of extra sharp cheddar, chopped to the pan.  I stirred everything together for 1minute before removing from the heat and plating.

I took a break after dinner to start working on tomorrow’s dinner, and then it was time for dessert.

The pie is “Fresh Lime Pie” from the book pie pie pie; easy homemade favorites by John Phillip Carroll.  I can’t post the recipe for the filling here, but that is my very favorite baking book and I highly recommend that you purchase it.  I can, however, give you the recipe for the crust, because I subbed out the book’s recommendation for my own creation: Biscoff crust (recipe posted below)!

The ginger and lime flavor went together like pb&j or bread and butter!  I’ve been dreaming of this combination ever since I dipped Biscoff cookies into homemade lemon curd a month or so ago.  Be warned though, it was super sour.

Biscoff Crust, or Sweet Ginger Pie Crust

1. Preheat the oven to 350*.  Place 3/4 of a stick of butter into a pie pan and put the pan into the oven while it heats.
2. Meanwhile, crush a package of 30Biscoff cookies into fine crumbs.  A food processor would be the easy choice here, but dumping the cookies into a large heavy-duty baggie and crunching with a rolling pin works just as well.  Or if you’re really ghetto like me, you could use a plastic cup for your rolling pin.
3. When the butter is melted dump the cookie crumbs into the pie pan.
4. Use your fingers (don’t be a wimp!) to incorporate the melted butter into the crumbs, and then press the mixture so it spreads evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.
5. Bake for 11minutes.
6. Let cool before adding filling to the crust.

• the crust needs no further baking, but can withstand another 20minutes or so if the filling requires it
• if you are using a flimsy single use pie pan it can be helpful to put it in and out of the oven on a baking sheet

I had a couple good, if not obvious, ideas whilst baking that I’d like to share.  1. Lay all of your ingredients out ahead of time so you’re sure you have what you need and everything runs smoothly.

2. Save the “shells” of juiced citrus to add some zing to glasses of water.

Do you have any baking tips to share?