A Return Home

I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you a book that a good friend of mine has just published.  I am honored to have the opportunity to review her work.  Hope Wilbanks is a talented lady who has created an inspirational book that is so needed in today’s world.

A Cup of Hope is an endearing collection of daily devotionals that well, fill you with hope.  I found this book to be a bright point to my day and I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every devotion within its pages.  The inspiration that the reader receives is priceless.  The pages are filled with spiritual and personal insights and reflections that are masterfully weaved together.

If you are looking for just that perfect gift for someone who needs encouragement or would just appreciate receiving some inspiration and hope, then this is a book you will want to give this Christmas and anytime.  You can purchase A Cup of Hope at Hope’s website, www.hopewilbanks.com .

In the meantime, here is the video, A Cup of Hope to inspire you!  Enjoy!

Today is the day that I make my pies for Thanksgiving.  Over the past few days I have shared a few of our favorite pies.  Rest assured that I am making several other kinds that I have not shared the recipes with you as of yet.  Perhaps another time.  However, in my haste to post my cherry pie recipe, I need to make some corrections to the recipe.  Seems my fingers typed a little more quickly than they should have. I really, really hate when that happens!

I thought I should post the corrected version, so here is the corrected recipe for my Cherry Pie.

Brenda’s Cherry Pie (Corrected Version)

2 Cans Sour Cherries (Drain it to make ¾ Cup liquid.)

¾ Cup Sugar

3 TB Butter

Dash of Salt

6 TB Flour

½ tsp. Almond Extract

½ tsp. Cherry Extract (optional)

Red Food Coloring

Place cherries in an unbaked pie shell.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Add liquid.  Boil on stove until thickened over medium heat. Add butter, extracts and food coloring and mix well.  Pour over the cherries in the unbaked pie shell.  Top with crust of your choice and bake at 350˚F until done, usually around 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Every Thanksgiving, I make my husband’s very favorite pie, which is Lemon Meringue.  He loves the tart-tang and so do I.  This pie delivers just the right amount of tart and tang, without providing too much of a mouth pucker or being too sweet.  It is a perfect blend of sweet and sour.

Luscious Lemon Meringue Pie

7 TB Cornstarch

1 ½ Cups Sugar

¼ tsp. Salt

1 ½ Cups Hot Water

3 Egg Yolks, Beaten

½ Cup Fresh Lemon Juice

Grated Lemon Rind of 2 Lemons

2 TB Butter

Mix cornstarch, sugar, and salt thoroughly in saucepan.  Add hot water and cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until thick and clear.  Remove from stove and add beaten egg yolks. Return to stove and cook at low heat, stirring constantly for 6 minutes.  Take off stove and add lemon juice, lemon rind, and butter.  Cool.  Pour into cooled baked pie shell.  Top with meringue.

Meringue

3 Egg Whites

¼ tsp. Cream of Tartar

6 TB Sugar

1 TB Fresh Lemon Juice

1 tsp. Grated Lemon Rind

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff, gradually adding sugar, lemon juice and lemon rind.  Spread on pie.  Bake at 400˚F until golden brown.

Photo by (c) jennyvier, www.flickr.com/photos/jennyvier/

One of my very favorite pies growing up was my mom’s Banana Cream Pie.  It wasn’t that I loved the banana part so much—it was the custard.  I used to get in trouble for sneaking tastes from the pan as it was cooling.  My mom would sometimes place it in the freezer to help it cool down quicker and I would open the freezer to just have a little taste.  I couldn’t help it!

I absolutely adore the custard that is used in this pie.  I love it warm or cold.  I just love it.  But now that I am older and making it on my own, what I really love is the versatility of this custard.  It can easily be made into a Scrumptious Banana Cream Pie, a Delicious Coconut Cream Pie, or just leave it plain for a Yummy Vanilla Cream Pie.  I will give you the basic directions, and then how to make the two variations.

Scrumptious Cream Pie

1/3 Cup Flour

2/3 Cup Sugar

¼ tsp. Salt

2 Cups Scalded Milk

3 Slightly Beaten Egg Yolks

2 TB Butter

½ tsp. Vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, salt and milk and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils.  Cook 2 minutes longer.  Add a small amout of the hot mixture to the egg yolks and mix well.  Add egg mixture to pan.  Cook 1 minute.  Add butter and vanilla.  Cool. Pour into baked pie shell.  Top with whipped cream.

Variations

Banana Cream Pie—Add 3 sliced bananas to cream mixture when adding butter and vanilla.

Coconut Cream Pie—You will need 1 Cup of Coconut, Toasted. Add ¾ Cup of the Toasted Coconut to the cream mixture when adding butter and vanilla.  Sprinkle remaining ¼ Cup Toasted Coconut on the top of the pie before serving.

Photo by (c) Anna Ginsberg, www.cookiemadness.net

“Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make a cherry pie, Charming Billy?”

I always think of this little nursery rhyme song whenever I make this favorite pie for my family.  I think that cherry pie is probably one of my very favorite pies. It really isn’t too difficult to make, and we enjoy it each and every Thanksgiving in our home.  I usually top this pie with a lattice crust as it makes it look so pretty. (I really enjoy this one when it is cold.)

Brenda’s Cherry Pie

1 Can Sour Cherries (Drain it to make ¾ Cup liquid.)

¾ Cup Sugar

3 TB Butter

Dash of Salt

6 TB Flour

Place cherries in an unbaked pie shell.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Add liquid.  Boil on stove until thickened over medium heat. Add butter and mix well.  Pour over the cherries in the unbaked pie shell.  Top with crust of your choice and bake at 350˚F until done, usually around 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Photo by (c) aga, www. sxc.hu

Yesterday I shared our Thanksgiving tradition and how we all get our favorite pie for dessert each year.  I shared my Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe and my recipe for pie crust.  Today I am going to share my recipe for Apple pie.  This is truly a fabulous recipe and I always receive rave reviews when I serve it.  I like that it is a relatively simple recipe to make.

Brenda’s Fabulous Apple Pie

5-7 Tart Apples (I like to use Granny Smith)

¾ - 1 Cup Sugar

2 TB Flour

Dash of Salt

1 tsp. Cinnamon

¼ tsp. Nutmeg

2 TB Butter to dot on top

Peel and slice apples thin into a large mixing bowl.  Add sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix well.  Pour into a prepared pie shell.  Dot with butter on top.  Cover with pie crust.  Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle with a cinnamon/ sugar mixture.  Bake at 350˚ F until done, around 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Photo by (c) lindajd,www.sxc.hu

Every family seems to have their own traditions for Thanksgiving.  In our family, it is pie.  Each and every person at our Thanksgiving dinner table is treated to their favorite kind of pie.  One year I remember actually making around 13 different pies.  No joke.

So the one thing that I am famous for in my family, among other things, is for making great pies at Thanksgiving.  I thought that over the next few days that I would share some of our very favorite pies that I make each year.  Of course, we will start with my very famous pumpkin pie.  I have served this not only to family and friends, but in community functions and it always receives rave reviews.

Brenda’s Famous Pumpkin Pie

1 16 oz can pumpkin

¾ Cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ginger

½ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

3 eggs

2/3 Cup evaporated milk

½ Cup milk or half and half

Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Mix together ingredients.  Pour into prepared pie shell.  Cook until set, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Brenda’s Famous Pie Crust

2 Cups flour (reserve 1/3 Cup)

1 Cup shortening

1 tsp. salt

1 egg yolk

1/3 Cup milk (up to ½ Cup)

In large bowl, cut flour, shortening and salt with a pastry blender.  In separate bowl, beat egg yolk and 1/3 cup milk together.  Add reserved 1/3 cup flour to the egg/milk mixture.  Beat smooth.  Add egg mixture to the flour and shortening mixture and mix well.  If crust is too dry, add in the rest of the milk, a little at a time as needed.  Divide dough into two balls.  Flour countertop or board and roll out each crust as desired.

Makes 2 crusts.

Photo by mikecco, www.sxc.hu

I wanted to do a short update on my home.  As many of you know, I moved to Wyoming this past summer and began remodeling my grandmother’s home.  We decided to restore it and live here in order to keep an eye on our parental units.  Both sets of parents are getting older and we all feel better that someone is now close by to keep an eye on things.

We have been living in my parent’s basement for the past 4 ½ months while we did the remodeling.  Well, I am happy to say that we are now living in our home!  Things are still in disarray, but we have been sleeping here for an entire week!  Today, the inspector came by and we were able to remove out work permit from out front window.  Progress indeed!

We will hosting Thanksgiving here next week.  I have a lot to do to get ready.  But it is so nice to actually be living in our own home.  I just thought you would like to know.

As a professional writer, one of my favorite jobs to do is to write reviews on different products.  I enjoy using the product or reading the materials and then giving my honest opinion about them to share with my readers.  But few of these products have ever touched my heart the way that the e-book, Saving Christmas , did.  I am so glad I was given this opportunity to review it!

Saving Christmas: Magical Tips for Creating Lasting Christmas Memories is a collection of heartwarming stories, tips and practical advice to help you make the most of your Christmas season.  I appreciated the tips for reducing costs during this Christmas season due to the effects of the economy crisis.  I teared up at some of the stories that were shared.  I finished the e-book with a calm that wasn’t there before and several ideas running through my head of how to make this Christmas special in our home.

Thanks to Saving Christmas , our Christmas has just been saved.  I now know just what to do to make it special for my family despite our current tight finances.  This will take a little tweaking to some of our favorite traditions and the implementation of what I hope become new traditions in our family. I feel renewed and invigorated as I have been reminded what is really important during this season.  Check this e-book out, you won’t be sorry.  And you just may find yourself creating new Christmas memories and traditions.

I just had to take this opportunity to tell you all about a great contest that I discovered this morning.  When you enter, you have a chance to win your choice of some fabulous prizes for your kitchen.  What kind of prizes?  Well, let me tell you!

You will have your choice of either a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, a Cuisinart Food Processor, or a Kitchenaid Immersion Blender.  No, I am not kidding!  I currently have the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer and it is one of my most favorite tools in my kitchen. I also have a Kitchenaid Food Processor that I love, so I am interested in obtaining an immersion blender for my own kitchen.  These are great tools to have!

So here is what you need to do to enter to win one of these great prizes:

Simply click on the link below and follow the directions.  That is it!  Entries are fairly simple too.  Contest ends November 23, 2008.  Good Luck!!

Stand Mixer, Immersion Blender, Food Processor OH MY! (giveaway)