My Favorite Pie Posts

How is everyone on this Beautiful Sunday?  I'm so glad, for this is the day that the Lord hath made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.  I have been thinking of a new post all week.  I wanted to post a recipe.  Instead I will share some old ones for I don't have any new pictures to share with you.  Some of you new readers may have not seen these older posts.

My favorite pie posts

General Pie Making Tips, Pie Making with Alice

I miss Alice so much, I cherish our time together now.

Butterscotch Pie

My Favorite Apple Pie

Blueberry Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Mini Pies

It's rhubard season too, I'm getting ready to make some of these real soon.

Mama's Fresh Raspberry Pie

I hope you enjoyed my old posts.  Martha's new Pie book has come out and I hope to pick it up soon.

Happy Pie Making!
Carey

Happy National Pie Day!

Today is a wonderful day!  It's National Pie Day!  Did you know that?  How neat is that!  I thought I'd do a little post to help celebrate.  The American Pie Council created this day to celebrate the pie.  On this day they encourage you to bake a pie (of course), eat a pie, share a pie with friends and try something new.

Here's the pie I decided to tackle, first off I made my crust using my Never Fail Crust recipe.  You can use your favorite crust or shh...a store bought one.  I like Pillsbury the best.

Then I used one of my favorite books to make cookbooks Sweetie Pies to make a Butterscotch Pie.  My husband loves Butterscotch pie.  I've never made this kind of pie before.  I usually make fruit ones.

Gather your ingredients

Miss Odella Goodlow's Butterscotch Pie

Prepare the crust ahead of time by prebaking it.

Make the filling
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cup whole milk
4 large egg yolks, beaten
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

To make the Meringue
4 large egg whites, room temp.
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a double boiler.  Pour in enough milk to make a paste.  Stir in the egg yolks.  Stir in the remainder of the milk.  Cook slowly over boiling water, stirring constantly, until filling is thick.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Pour into pie crust.  Make the meringue, in a medium bowl using a mixer beat egg whites and cream of tartar together until foamy.  Beat in sugar 1 tbsp. at a time beating well.  Add the vanilla and beat until shiny and stiff peaks form.  Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees *Note recipe says 375 but I decided to up the temp. a little bit based on other recipes I read.  Let cool completely. 

Makes one 9 inch pie.


Other notes*  I used 1% milk and I did not have good results.  Our pie regretfully didn't set up, since then I realized a few of my mistakes and am willing to try this again.  Please make sure you follow all the steps and I'm sure you'll have better results than me.   It was still tasty!

Here is my crust dough before adding the liquid, dry crumbs.



Add your liquid, egg mixture and the dough starts to pull away from the sides and look like this



Then flatten and place in refrigerator to rest.  This is so important, don't skip this step.  My wonderful daughter helped me with the pictures and the artwork you see here.  If you aren't planning on making pie just pop this is the freezer!

Making the filling

Filling complete

Make the merigue

Here it is just out of the oven!

Here's some random thoughts about pie. 

Pie is home, no matter where you are.  Men love home. 

When men eat pie, they think somebody is taking care of them.

from The Lost Art of Pie Making by Barbara Swell  I love this little book, it has great tips about pies.

"Now you can win the praise of your family- so easy!" Aunt Jenny

My favorite, Pie fixes everything!

So gals, put on those aprons, get out that rolling pin and make a pie!  I challenge you to do something that is becoming lost in our country.  Don't worry about making it perfect, they will love you for it anyway.  I'd love to hear all about your pies, what's your favorite kind of pie?  I don't think I can pick just one but if I had to it would be the Amish Apple Pie.  A close second Coconut cream, followed by sugar cream.

Happy Pie Day!

Carey

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hey gals, are you ready for the weekend?  I usually bake a treat on Friday afternoon or weekends now and this recipe is perfect.  I just got Southern Plate Cookbook for Christmas.  I've been making my way through the book. I don't know if you follow her blog or not but she is just as sweet as the tea she makes!  I would love to get to know her, very real and down to earth.  I just knew when I saw this recipe my family would love it.  It lived up to my expectations too.

Check out the recipe here!

Don't forget if you haven't entered my give away for this cute fellow please click here.  The give away is open until Tuesday at midnight.

Have a blessed weekend,
Carey

Cookies...It's Baking Season!

Yesterday was one of those perfect days for baking it snowed all day long. My kids practically begged me to make the gingerbread houses with them. Ok ... not quite. We cheat a little bit, usually a store bought kit. My daughter really gets into the decorating. Ok I admit these are my least favorite things to bake. However, I love the process and spending time with the kids. We baked our own gingerbread men to go in our little village. My son likes the engineering part more than the actual decorating.

It was National Cookie Day yesterday, did you eat one?? I know we did at our house. Here's some yummy ideas that I want to make.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Cooking with Libby

She is having a give away this book too.

Maple Pecan Shortbread from Lick the Bowl Good
Oh how I love shortbread!

Chocolate Toffee from The English Kitchen

I love the combo of toffee and chocolate.

Salted Carmel Thumbprint Cookies from A Cozy Kitchen Yum!

If that's not enough check out Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen for more ideas it was Cookie week this last week.

I like National Cookie Network for tips and tricks about baking cookies, freezing them, cookie exhange party info or if you have any problems while baking.  Is anyone having an exchange this year, I'd love to hear about it.

Here's some links to my favorite cookies and tried and true recipes!

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips, everybody loves these and for the holidays you can do red/green chips~

Double Chocolate Cookies, Martha

 

Merry Baking Season,

Carey

Thankgiving Recipes...and a Sneak Peek of Christmas

Oh Boy, It's almost Turkey day! Are you busy gettin' ready? I know I have a lot on my to-do list today. First thing is making some delicious pie. We'll be having my ole' stand-by the Amish Apple Pie. Then I'm going to try this delicious Turtle Pumpkin Pie from the new Gooseberry Patch Harvest Cookbook.  I'm looking forward to getting in the kitchen to roll out my pie crusts.

Turtle Pumpkin Pie

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. carmel icecream topping divided
9 inch graham cracker crust
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. pecan pieces, divided
1 cup milk
2 (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding pkg.
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
8 oz. container frozen whipped topping, divided

Pour 1/4 cup carmel topping into crust. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup nuts. Beat milk, dry pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices with a whisk until blended. Stir in 1 1/2 cups whipped topping; spread mixture into crust. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Before serving, spread with remaining whipped topping, drizzle with remaining carmel topping and sprinkle with remaining pecans. Serves 10

Speaking of recipes perhaps you are looking for a sweet treat to bake for the game or a snack for this weekend. Check out these Shortbread Candy Corn Kissed Brownies from Picky Palate I took these last night for Christmas play practice and they were a hit. You may see pictures later next month using the cany cane kisses instead of the Fall candy corn kisses she used. The shortbread layer just melts in your mouth. The Mom's and Grandma's were so tempted yesterday they had to have a small sample too. It's just smelled so good while it was in the oven.

 

photo courtesy of Picky Palate

I am reminded of the very first thanksgiving and what that must have been like. I wonder if the pilgrims felt blessed or if they were comforted by God and the promise of a new life here. As I look back over the last year I'm so thankful for the time I've had with my family close by. There's nothing that I don't treasure more than these times.

I'm thankful for...

time with my husband

time with my children

being able to see my mother and father in law and seeing the joy in my children having grandparents close by

having extra help from family (never experienced this before with military life) just a phone call away

my health

precious visits with my sweet Aunt Princess

visits with my sisters

becoming a part of my old church family again and seeing some old faces that I haven't seen for almost 20 years

Here's a sneak peek to what I've been busy with over the last few days...

 

Blessings this Thanksgiving to you and your family, our blessings truly are given by God.

 

Carey

Halloween Decor and Yummy Treats!

It's that time of year again.  We've been busy here getting ready for costumes and parties.  I put up a few more decorations for Halloween.  Overall, I've paired down my Halloween decorations in favor of more Fall ones.  I take the Halloween things down the day after.  I find myself thinking ahead to Christmas this year.  I am a little sad the weather has been so strange this Fall.  It's either unusually chilly or really warm.  Tuesday we had some wicked storms that came through all of my leaves are down.  Boo...hoo! 

This little ghost collection I've had for awhile.  My kids love the one that lights up the most.  I made it years ago in ceramic class.   I didn't get a picture of it my camera batteries died.  You can probably see it in my other photo albums.  I have to put that and the bat every year.  They love the stuffed squeaky bat! Gotta love kids!

Someone else is ready for Halloween too. It's BOO our dog!

Here's a link to some yummy treats I baked this week.  Double Kissed Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Picky Palate. I love the little Pumpkin spice kisses.  You can find them at Target.  I picked up a few bags and am planning on trying another treat soon. If you can't find these near you butterscotch chips can be substituted. These were very cakey.  If you like cake you'll like these. One of the things I like about her site is she comes up with great shortcuts.  These could be made just by modifying your basic chocolate chip cookie recipe or a mix.  Happy Baking!

Photo courtesy of Jenny at Picky Palate

What are you plans this year? Do you and your family celebrate Halloween? If you do to what extent do you go all out and have the outside of you house looking spooky? Do you trick or treat, pass out goodies, have a Fall Harvest Party? I'd love to hear all about it.




Happy Halloween, enjoy your family

Carey

Harvest Apple Squares

Yummy Harvest Treats

Harvest Time Apple Squares

2 c flour
1 c brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 c walnuts
8 oz. pkg cream cheese
2 Tbsp. milk
1 egg beaten
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cup granny smith apples, cored, peeled, and chopped

Combine flour, brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; stir in walnuts.  Reserve 2 cups crumb mixture.  Press remaining mixture into greased 13 x 9 baking pan.  Combine cream cheese and milk, mixing until well blended.  Add remaining sugar, egg and vanilla.  Mix well and pour over crust.  Top with apples.  Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Cool before cutting.  Makes one dozen squares. 

This recipe comes from the new Gooseberry Patch cookbook Homemade Harvest. This smells yummy when you're baking and you get that first wiff from the oven, it was delicious too.

Happy Baking!

Carey

Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

Fall baking season is upon us and with a cooler weekend forecast I'm ready to go.  I got up early and fixed these for my kiddos.  Then made up some more after they left for school for those busy mornings when I can pull them out of the freezer.  I was checking out blogs and found a link from Colleens blog And Baby Makes Five menu planning.  I would love to be so organized and do this on my blog but I just haven't been brave enough yet.  I do menu plan and I highly recommend it if you find yourself on a budget or just going out to eat way too much. 

These muffins were delicious and don't worry your kids won't even notice the fact they contain some whole wheat flour!  My son ate three this morning! 

Here's the link and be sure to check out what everyone else is making too!

Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

Hope you have a great holiday weekend, I am going to a craft show and fall festival! 

Carey

Let's Have a Party, Happy 4th of July!

Today we're having a gathering for friends and family to celebrate my husband's retirement and our new home.  Even though we moved in the end of September some of them have not seen our house yet.  His official date was July 1st and it's been a challenge to think of ourselves as retired.  The military has been such a huge part of our lives for the past 22 years.  I've been getting things ready and we have really knocked ourselves out to make everything look nice.  Since we moved into our home we've been trying to figure out where our flag pole would go.  We finally decided a volunteer maple in the landscaping would be the perfect spot.  After my Dh dug it up we had to special order the pole and wouldn't you know it...they couldn't get it until yesterday.  We are anxiously awaiting the curing process so we can put up our flag by party time.  I hope it will be dry, it's been perfect breezy cool weather here.  I've been decorating the house and I will put the tables together today.  I'll share more on that later and pics are coming, I promise. 


On my menu today:  We're doing a potluck, so I'm doing desserts (my fav), drinks and meat

Grilled Chicken

Hamburgers

Berries N Stars

Chocolate Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Frosting

Amish Apple Pie 2 of them!

Cherry Pie

Lemonade

Sweet Tea

Old fashioned soda pop

Here's another great pie recipe and perfect for the 4th of July!

Blueberry Pie with Crumb Topping

Crumb topping

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling

1/2 cup granualted sugar

1/4 cup flour

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 tsp. fresh finely grated lemon rind

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. butter, unsalted cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare the pie, 9 inch pie crust. Mix crumb topping ingredients together until mixture resembles crumbs about pea size.  Don't overprocess.  If you are using a food processor use the pulse button.  Set aside.

Make the filling.  In a large bowl stir together the sugar, flour, until well mixed.   Gently stir in the blueberries and lemon rind, juice.  Pour the mixture into the pie crust, dot with butter.  Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the pie. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.  Place the pie in the oven and bake until the topping is golden brown 40 to 45 minutes.  Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.  This is great will a dollop of vanilla icecream!

recipe from Sweetie Pies

Have a Happy 4th of July, don't forget to thank a veteran and remember our forefathers.

Wishing you a happy, safe holiday with your families!

Carey

Blueberry Bread

Good morning! Whew...it's been a busy week for us.  We have set up our guest room.  I taught my first class.  We've had many days of errands and being really busy.  I got my hair done yesterday.  I'm so excited about it, I can't wait to try different things with it.   I'll tell you more about that later and maybe some pictures.  We bought some new bikes for our kids and have taken some family bike rides.  It was an adventure to say the least.  We made a summer list of things to do as a family (I read about this on another blog) and we're super excited to get to it!

Here's some random things we came up with!

camping, smores, caving, climbing/rappelling, biking on some trails (we bought the kids mountain bikes), King's Island (amusement park), go somewhere we've never been before (staying not too far from home), pool party, explore our hometown, Visit the children's museum in Indy, rent a boat, go fishing, Attend a baseball game and many more.

Anyway, onto the recipes...this is from a book I won a while ago called Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms  by Jane Doiron I've been cooking and baking my way through it.  Jane has some great tips for busy cooks and people in general.  I love all the tips and preps to make things ahead.  I haven't been using them for some of the recipes I've tried but I do think it's great for someone who is working and needs that extra step done ahead of time.  I also like the fact that she is also a teacher too.  I thought I would share this recipe for Blueberry Bread.  It's super easy, I made it in about 10 minutes.  My kids have been enjoying it for breakfast.

Blueberry Bread

1/3 cup canola oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup walnuts optional

1 1/4 cups blueberries (mix with 1 tsp. flour)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan with nonstick spray.  In a small bowl, blend the oil, egg, vanilla, and milk.  In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.  Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.  Add the walnuts and carefully fold in the blueberries and walnuts.  Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan.  Bake for 65 minutes.  It will be done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  *Please note*Mine was done at around 50 minutes or so.  Cool on a wire rack.

Freezing Directions:  When the bread is completely cooled, wrap bread in plastic wrap and place in labeled freezer bag.  Freeze up to 2 months.

You can see Jane's link on my sidebar to go to her blog and you can purchase her book too. 

Happy Baking!

Carey

Strawberries Galore!

My little strawberry patch is just flourishing.  I can't believe how much we're getting out of it.  Here's the first few that we got about a week ago.  Two days ago my daughter picked a bucket full, enough to make a pie!  I didn't get a great picture of it but it was yummy.  That's what we ate for dinner last night.  I found a similiar recipe for the pie I made here.    I didn't use any gelatin in mine.  Speaking of recipes a friend of my Aunt's game me some Cook's Country magazine and I was impressed.  They contain zero adds.  It's all about testing recipes and the science of baking and cooking things. Check it out. I think I'm going to try the Diner Style Pie for this weekend. 

We had made plans for the weekend and they have changed to a more laid back weekend.  First thing is my boys game, then a cookout with my inlaws, a movie, a trip to the cemetary to put out flags.  What's your plans for the weekend, do you have any traditions?  Don't forget to honor our present and past veterans who have given up their life so we could have our freedoms.  I think it's so important. 

This picture was taken last year and I'm so grateful I'll be spending time with them this weekend.

Here's some more links to some recipes for strawberries that caught my eye:

Mommy's Kitchen

Southern Plate

Peanut Butter and Julie

Sophisticate Mom

Pioneer Woman

Smitten Kitchen

Lick the Bowl Good

Picky Palate

Real Mom's Kitchen

These are some of the food blogs I visit on a regular basis and I hope you enjoy them too.  I love making things from their blogs. 

Have a great weekend!

Carey

Apple Dumplins'

Good morning friends!  It's been awhile since I shared a new recipe with ya so here it goes!  I got the new Trisha Yearwood Cookbook a few weeks ago and I've been working my way through it.  I like the simplicity of her recipes.  This one was pretty good.    Check out more yummy things with Colleen!

Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples
1 cup water
1 cup sugar *divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
8 canned biscuits (buttermilk)
4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Peel, core and slice apples vertically into 8 slices each.  Cover with water to keep them from getting brown.  * I had to chop mine a little more than this.

In a medium saucepan, mix the water, 3/4 cup sugar, butter and vanilla over heat and bring mixture to a boil.  *I added vanilla after the boil.

Separate each biscuit into 2 layer.  Wrap a biscuit layer around a slice of apple, stretching it to slightly overlap and seal the bottom.  *mine weren't perfect and it turned out ok.  Place the wrapped slices sealed side down in a 9 X 12 X 2 inch casserole dish.  Pour the hot sugar mixture over the apple slices.  Mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over the tops of the wrapped apples.  Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.   Serves 8

It was delicious and my family ate it right up!

Have a great weekend, I'll be back with some sneak peeks of my new craft room.

Carey

Strawberry Rhubarb Mini Pies

Good evening, I hope you're enjoying the wonderful weather, sorry to all my northern friends though!  I hear it's snowing up there.  I've had a busy, busy week full of 2 spring concerts, ball games, shopping, more ball games and I'm glad it's over.  Here's a link to more recipes.

Here's a sweet treat if you're a rhubarb fan!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberries - 3 cups hulled, washed and sliced
Rhubarb - 3 cups, washed and cut into 1 inch chunks
3/4- 1 Cup sugar depending on sweetness of fruit
1/4 cup flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves *I omitted this ingredient
store bought or favorite pie crust for a 2 crust pie
minute tapioca

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly until well combined.  Toss into cut fruit and gently stir mixture. Let stand for about 15 minutes.  Prepare pie crust or use store bought one.  I used the Never Fail Crust recipe similiar to this one. You need a deep dish 9 inch pan or if you have the little ones it makes about 4, 1 not quite so full.  Fill fruit mixture and roll out top crust and cut into 3/4 or 1 inch strips to make lattice if desired.  I like to use cookie cutters or criss cross the top.  I'm not fussy with the dough.  I sprinkled a little minute tapioca to the bottom of the crust too.  Brush with cream or egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. 

Bake for 30 - 45 minutes or until rhubarb is done.  Allow to cool on rack for several hours. Serve with a dollop of vanilla icecream or cream.  Recipe adapted from Sweety Pies

My son ate a piece and wanted more.  My aunt, the pie baker also said it was very good. Yeah!!!! These are just the perfect size for an individual pie or 2 servings.  I just love these new pie plates, I got them at Warm Glow on sale.  They cleaned very nice too.  The bottom says American Pottery. 

Have a super weekend!

Carey