Pecan Pie

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I hope that you are all enjoying the day, and remembering the true meaning! And just so you know, no, I am not blogging on Christmas. I sneakily scheduled this one to post on it's own so I can spend the day competely and entirely with my family! But I figured I best share a last minute pie recipe with you, just as I did on Thanksgiving with the Pumpkin Pie...because I know that there are a few of you out there hurridly searching for a last minute recipe for...something...to take to that family gathering today...or maybe to put your kids in a sugar induced coma with so you can sneak in a nap (sneaky little you!). So here. Make this. Because you can never eat too much pie at this time of year...and with New Years in a week (and that inevitable resolution to lose weight come the new year) you better get all the pie in while you still can! This is pretty different recipe from your typical pecan pie. It doesn't call for Karo syrup. And it's still delicous. Perhaps even more so. Give it a try. I bet you'll like it!

Ingredients...

...1 unbaked pie crust (9")
...1 cup light brown sugar
...1/4 cup white sugar
...1/2 cup butter
...2 eggs
...1 T. all purpose flour
...1 T. milk
...1 tsp. vanilla extract
...1 cup chopped pecans

Directions...

In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy and then stir in melted butter. Stir in the brown sugar, white sugar and flour until smooth. Add the milk and vanilla and then stir in the nuts. Pour into the unbaked pie shell and bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake an additional 30-40 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I hope that this post finds you all giving thanks and counting your blessings for all the great things in your lives! (and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it!) If you are looking for a last minute recipe to take to your gathering today, or just to make to munch on while you relax at home, then here is my all time favorite Thanksgiving food...The Pumpkin Pie. It just isn't Thanksgiving to me until I've had one piece covered in whipped cream! I've never actually made the pumpkin pie myself, I always left that up to my grandma growing up. After she passed, other family members would rotate bringing it each year, and it was most always a store boughten pie at that. Don't get me wrong, Sara Lee and Mrs. Smith can make one mean pie...but it's just not homemade, ya know? No prepackaged food is ever as good as homemade. So a few years ago, I took it upon myself to learn how to make my favorite Thanksgiving food (ever.) myself. I tried a new recipe this year, and I'm super happy with how it turned out! So the homemade pumpkin pie tradition will carry on!!

Ingredients...

...unbaked pie crust (9")
...3/4 cup white sugar
...1 tsp. cinnamon
...1/2 tsp. salt
...1/2 tsp. ground cloves
...1/4 tsp. ground ginger
...2 eggs
...1 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling. That's what we're homemaking here. Just plain old pumpkin.)
...1 can evaporated milk

Directions...

In a small bowl stir together salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and sugar. In a large bowl, beat togehter eggs and then stir in pumpkin. Add sugar and spice mixture and stir until well combined. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk and stir until smooth. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350 and continue baking pie for an additional 40-50 minutes. To test for done-ness, insert a knife into the center of the pie. If it comes out clean, the pie is done. The filling will be ever so slightly jiggly yet, but will stiffen as it sits. Serve with whipped topping!

To see more last minute Thanksgiving recipes, check out the Ultimate Recipe Swap going on over at Life as Mom!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

We have a lot of rhubarb. A. Lot. Of. Rhubarb. My dad grows it on his farm, and I'm the only one who ever cuts it down and uses it. I just think it's delicious. Especially when combined with strawberries. Oh Yum. I made an amazing batch of strawberry rhubarb jam last week...and you can bet your buttons that I will be repeating that recipe many more times before the rhubarb growing season is over. But yesterday I decided to try my hand at strawberry rhubarb pie. It's my dads favorite. And seeing as we were having a grill out at his place, I thought I would make up a pie just for him (and the rest of us of course!) to enjoy on this patriotic holiday.

The Ingredients...

...1 C. white sugar
...1/2 C. all purpose flour
...1 lb. fresh rhubarb, chopped
...2 pints fresh strawberries, sliced
...2 T. butter
...1 egg yolk

Directions...

Preheat oven to 400*. In a large bowl combine rhubarb, strawberries, flour and sugar. Stir until fruit is coated in sugar and flour. Let sit for 30 minutes.

In the mean time, ignore the pie crust in this picture. I was going to go premade. I then realized somewhere along the line I made a one crusted something which left me with only one crust to make a two crust pie...which is where these ingredients come in...


...3/4 C. oil
...1/4 C. milk
...2 C. all purpose flour

Combine all ingredients and roll out between two peices of waxed paper. Remove one side of waxed paper and flip over into pie plate. Peel off top layer of paper. Be sure to either grab two new pieces of waxed paper for the top crust, or flip the two you've already used and use the clean side for the crust to be rolled between.

Once the filling is ready, pour into bottom crust and then top with a few pats of butter. Place remaining crust on pie and brush with either an egg yolk or some milk and sprinkle with sugar. Be sure to poke openings for the pie to vent while baking. Bake at 400* for 35-40 minutes.

My Thoughts...

This smelled amazing while baking. When I pulled it out of the oven I was so disappointed by how terrible I thought it looked. But it certainly was delicious! I will definetely make this again before rhubarb season is up, and I will even make it in the winter with the rhubarb that I freeze! It was amazing!

To see more tasty treats (and a quite humurous story about grilling!), check out Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam! And for more great rhubarb recipe (I know I'll be trying them ALL!) check out In Season Recipe Swap over at Tammy's Recipes!