Desserts · Holiday Fare

Pie From Paula… Salted Caramel Pecan Pie

Is it any wonder why one item on my bucket lists is to meet Paula Deen? She continues to give out these great recipes that just make you drool when you read the ingredients. I don’t know if I will ever get to meet her, but will continue to make her recipes, just in case I do, I want to be able to tell her how many of her recipes became some of my favorites. This one is at the top of the list. Taken from my new Cooking with Paula magazine*

*2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup butter

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teas sea salt

1 pie crust (I have to deviate just a bit on this item) She calls for refrigerated pie crusts. If you don’t make your own, buy the box of Betty Crocker pie crust mix. It is $2.09 and makes two crusts. All you do is add water to the mix and roll out. It is really so simple and they are so much better than refrigerated. Trust me on this!

3 large eggs

2 cups pecan halves

In a large skillet, stir together sugar, 1/2 cup water and corn syrup. Cook, without stirring, over medium-high heat for 8 minutes.or until mixture turns a deep honey color. Immediately remove from heat, and stir in butter until melted. Gradually stir in cream and salt until mixture is smooth. Pour mixture into a medium bowl and let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

On a lightly floured surface, roll crust to a 14: circle. Transfer crust to a 9″ pie place, pressing into bottom and up sides. Fold edges under and crimp as desired. Whisk eggs into cooled sugar mixture until well combined and stir in pecans. Pour pecan mixture into crust.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until center is set. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Daily Thoughts

A Southern Sunday Afternoon in Wylie, TX

This morning after church we decided to go on an adventure. A friend of ours has just bought a house in Wylie and had told us that we needed to go explore the historic downtown area and eat at one of their restaurants. So that is exactly what we did. We came home, changed clothes, put on flip flops and headed to Wylie, Texas. What a charming little town it is. We decided to stop in at the Ballard Street Café. Oh my goodness, what a place.  I have to tell you that, the chicken fried gravy with mashed potatoes, green beans, vegetable beef soup was well, hum…how do I say this, “it put Babe’s Restaurant to shame.” Seriously, it was just awesome. Their biscuits are Angel biscuits, made with yeast and as light as a biscuit could be. They even had peach jam and sweet tea to die for.

The minute we walked in the door, everyone began to stare at us, as we were about the only ones in there that didn’t know everyone, but the waitress called us honey and we immediately felt at home. She brought us sweet tea and checked on us as if we had been at a 5 star restaurant. Peter Pumpkin ordered eggs, gravy and chicken fried steak with biscuits. He was in heaven. We have found out place. As we sat outside on the bench waiting to hear our name called to be seated, the wind was gently blowing and the shade made us feel that we were in Mayberry! There are two other restaurants there that we are now excited about going back and trying, an Italian one and one with a huge porch with a swing to wait until you can get a table. That one is called, A Taste of Home! What a great little community. It was so great to see people sitting around tables, just coming in from church. We could tell, because they had their ironed blue jeans and fancy boots on. No one was texting or on their phones. Since I wanted to fit in, I only pulled my phone out once to check us in on Facebook! Didn’t have the nerve to take a picture of my chicken fried steak, would have made me look like an outsider. So we decided to just take the memory with us and plan on our next visit out when we won’t eat so much that we can’t order a piece of their homemade (made fresh daily) pies! Was a lovely afternoon and have a great new place to take friends or family coming in for a Texas visit. We have both decided that when we go back, we will go in boots, not flip flops, allowing us to look a little more like “town folk”!

A great little Sunday afternoon adventure!

appetizers

Stuffed Artichoke Bites

If you are already on the lookout for great little appetizers for the holidays, you will want to add this one to your list. Simple and quick, you will fall in love with them.

2 cans quartered artichoke hearts, drained

2/3 cup Progresso Italian Seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 cup olive oil, divided use

1 clove fresh garlic, finely chopped

1 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 eggs, well beaten

In a skillet, heat about 2 tables of the olive oil and saute the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes. Then add the cheese, bread crumbs and rest of oil. Stir until well combined. Stir in the eggs. Shape around the artichoke hearts and placed on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated 350 oven for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Uncategorized

S’More Cookies*

Chocolate Castles's avatarChocolate Castles

2014-09-08 15.43.20

Mr. Smarty Pants made his point that he was tired of running back and forth to get baking items for me when he brought this home this weekend. I put it beside the 25 lb sack of sugar that he made me buy and told him that I had had enough of his smart alec suggestions, that unless I got the desire to make 100 dz hot tamales, he can just march right back to the store and buy my butter flavored Crisco, which I’m sure is much more healthy than the bucket of lard.  So while I wait for him to get back with my Crisco to make these cookies, I don’t want him to know that I am actually using the lard to make pie crusts. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.  It truly makes great pie crusts but when people comment and tell you that that…

View original post 256 more words

Cakes · Chocolate · Desserts

German Chocolate Cheesecake

This is a one-pan dessert that takes one of the best known desserts…cheesecakes, and makes in a simple, quick & great tasting dessert that you can add to any dessert table for the holidays!

Great made the night before for best flavor!

1 box (18 1/2 oz) Duncan Hines German Chocolate cake mix

2/3 cup shredded coconut

2/3 cup butter, softened

3 eggs, divided use

2 packages ( 8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

2 teas vanilla

3/4 cup sugar

Sour Cream Frosting

2 cups sour cream

1 tables vanilla

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Mix all 3 ingredients together before spreading over the cheesecake

Cheesecake:

Blend the cake mix, coconut, butter and 1 egg. Spread into bottom of an ungreased 9×13 baking pan. (I did lightly spray mine with Pam, just in case).

Beat softened cream cheese with remaining 2 eggs, vanilla and sugar until creamy and smooth. Spread over the cake mixture in pan and bake at 350 for about 30-35 min, or until middle is almost done, with a slight jiggle. Let cool for about 30 minutes and spread Sour Cream frosting over top of cake. Allow cake to cool further and place in refrigerator at least 8 hours before serving.

Daily Thoughts

Redwoods & Community

October 1st…such a glorious morning. What a perfect day to go out and walk, with the temperature at 65, there was truly no reason that I should not be out walking and enjoying this beautiful Fall morning. The tennis shoes were laced and the earphones were plugged in and out I went.  Having downloaded some sermons, I began to listen to Rick Warren. He was talking about how our life can be more meaningful if we live with a sense of serving where God has placed us. He told about the giant redwood trees in Northern California. They are truly a sight to behold, as they stretch into the heavens, sometimes 400 to 500 feet tall.  He explained that they have hardly any root system and to survive they are always grown in clusters, so their roots intertwine, thus giving each support from the others. They could never survive alone, because of their root system, but together, they grow strong and can stand the storms and wind that would otherwise break them.

Just like in our lives, we are not meant to live alone or feel that we don’t need anyone. We are made to be a part of others,  to look out for each other, “thinking as other’s more important than ourselves.”

He explained that his church had just finished 40 days of challenge of reaching out and serving the community. It convicted my heart that just because we have more time on our hands than ever before, we didn’t just need to be living for ourselves. Our kids are grown, I’m retired and we have no excuse for not seeking out ways to share the gifts and abilities that God has blessed us. So I feel convicted to challenge myself for the next 40 days to truly ask the Lord each morning, “please put someone in my path today that needs either a meal, a phone call, maybe a handwritten note, a visit to a sick friend.”

October 1st…such a glorious morning. A day to begin to reach out to others!

P.S. Before I finished this posting, my phone beeped with a text from a friend who is needing meals brought to their home, due to an accident. Day 1 Challenge…taking a meal!

Anyone care to accept this 40 day challenge to see how the Lord might be wanting to use you?