I just added this sign over my calendar. It's kinda big, but so appropriate for my hectic world.

Pie Crazy!

Here's a picture of the pies I made for Thanksgiving. I thought I would pass along a recipe that I thought was a winner -

Sour Cream Peach Pie (it's the one in the front).

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 TB flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups sliced peaches
• 1 pie shell, 9 inch, unbaked

Butter Crumb Topping

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400*. Prepare pie pastry shell and set aside. Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 2 TB flour, and salt; beat in sour cream, the beaten egg, and vanilla. Add sliced peaches. (I also added some SureGel to make sure it wasn't soupy. You could also add some cornstarch or double the flour.) Pour into unbaked pie pastry.

Bake at 400* for 12 minutes. Reduce heat to 350* and bake 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven then increase heat to 400*.

Combine topping ingredients until crumbly; sprinkle over pie. Continue to bake pie at 400* for 10 minutes longer. (I doubled the crumb topping - I just like it that way.)

This pie was definately one of my favorites. For another recipe that's a winner, click here.

It's Good To Be Back

I am so excited to relax a little this week.

After 20+ years, my parents have moved from the blue Victorian house I grew up in. This last week was busy packing and unpacking and saying goodbye to the old house.

What really killed me this week were the 37 gingerbread houses I made for our ward party Saturday night. Yes, I volunteered for it, but it took me a lot longer than I had calculated. It was a success and I had so much fun watching each table decorate their house.

This morning, Jeff leaves town for the week, and I think I might kick back and watch some Pride and Prejudice - who knows!

Blog Pause

This is a picture of where I wish I could be right now.

This is an incredibly busy week for me so I won't be able to blog until Monday. I try to faithfully blog everyday, but I am afraid it's impossible this week.

Don't give up on me - I will see you back on Monday!

Busy Day

I am baking pies like crazy today. I will be back blogging on Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crunching the Caterpillars

The broccoli in my garden is growing beautifully. So beautifully in fact, that a family of caterpillars decided to make their home there. Just look at what they did!

I go and hunt for the nasty little boogers every morning.

And this is what I do to them!

Here's my gingerbread house completed.

I used Golden Grahams for the shingles.

I made the cat out of gum paste and painted him with food coloring.


The shovels are made out of pretzels and licorice. The cobblestone is Necco wafers. The grass is coconut with green food coloring.
The storekeeper is outlined in chocolate and I used the flood technique to color him in. The bean and egg sign on the windows I made out of royal icing and let it dry, then stuck them up. The veggies were the most fun. I used colored fondant and for the stems, I used cilantro from my garden. The potatoes are gum paste rolled in cocoa powder.

The billboard on the side I used the flood technique again and piped the Lee sign in chocolate. I had a really hard time trying to pipe the rest of the words so I gave up and wrote it with an edible marker.

Now you all know, I have a problem.