Little boys and cookies

Brycen, the neighbor boy, came over yesterday and wanted to make cookies. So he and I spent the next hour cutting out Christmas cookies and having some interesting conversation. (But that is another blog entry entirely.) He really is a cutie pie. So of course I stayed up late and had to decorate them.

I am most proud of this tree cookie, because I made the cookie cutter for it.

I think I will give them away in these cute cookie jars.

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!