Monday, August 13, 2007

Tart Cherry Pie


Baking is something I enjoy doing...not always when it's 90+ degrees out with 90% humidity, but I do enjoy it. Busying myself in the kitchen to make something tasty and satisfying for family and friends. Pies are always enjoyed, and my father-in-law loves the tart cherry pie I always bake him for his birthday. He said it reminds him of the cherry tree that was in the backyard of his childhood home, and the pies Mom Snook made using cherries from that tree. It's one of my favorite pies, too....brings back memories of the spindly tart cherry tree in our front yard, my brothers and I helping pick the cherries, and the shiny aluminum pie pans dad would hang in the tree to (hopefully) scare away the cherry loving birds. Thought I'd share the recipe with you all here...


Tart Cherry Pie



1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1 (20 ounce) can pitted sour cherries
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)
1 egg yolk



Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 C).

Make pastry and refrigerate, or use pre-made refrigerated crust.

Drain cherries, reserving 1 cup liquid. In a saucepan combine sugar, flour and salt.

Stir in cherry liquid and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Mixture will thicken.
When mixture is thickened, add butter, almond extract, food coloring and cherries.

Cover and refrigerate.
On lightly covered surface, roll out half of the pastry into an 11 inch circle.

Put into 9 inch pie dish. Roll other half of pastry into another 11 inch circle.

With a knife or pastry wheel, cut eight 1/2 inch strips.
Pour cooled cherry filling into pie dish. Place pastry strips horizontally, then vertically, across the top of the pie , (I weave mine together like a basket)and lightly brush with egg yolk.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes, and cool before serving.

Enjoy!

Dad B. likes his with vanilla bean ice cream!

Monday, July 9, 2007


My kids are enjoying their summer break....reading, swimming, theater camp, chasing (and sometimes catching) butterflies and lightning bugs...


We just love this photo of Grace with this butterfly...big brother Bay caught it for her, and she let it crawl on her hands till it fluttered away. Since I'm not the best photographer we weren't even sure we had captured the moment of the butterfly still on her fingers until we reviewed the photos I had taken! How exciting to see that we got a picture of the butterfly just before he fluttered away!


I'm calling it a "butterfly", though Bay insists 'it's just a moth,Mama'...Grace and I can believe it's a butterfly, can't we?!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

oh goodie...I've Been TAGGED!

I should have expected it...Em has "tagged" me! This means I need to share 7 items from my To-Do List--then I must "tag" 3 other people, so they can share theirs, too!

My To-Do List is lengthy and boring, but here are 7 items on the current list, in no particular order:

1. Drop off a trunkload of too-soon-outgrown kids' clothes at Goodwill and a friend from church's house.

2. Complete additional paperwork for Bay to participate in the Autistic Spectrum Kids Summer Theater Camp. The production this year will be "Pirates of Lake Erie", a spin-off of the Pirates movies! Bay's hoping to wield a sword! Should be great fun! :-)

3. Place an order with Angel Food Ministries, a non-profit ministry that provides consumers with low-cost groceries monthly. It's not income based, it's for everyone, and can really help in keeping your grocery budget down. http://www.angelfoodministries.com

4. Pick strawberries and rhubarb from Mom & Dad's garden.

5. Finish sorting some things that have been purged from my overflowing studio...and actually organize them into an online garage sale! Lotsa fabric, supplies, patterns unfinished projects and more to do all kinds of different things...quilting, dollmaking, potpourri, punchneedle, rughooking, stitching and more. The studio's about to bust trying to contain ALLLLL the "stuff" i've collected to do so many fun projects--time to offer it all to you in an online sale!

6. Buy food for big Mack, our American Bulldog...it disappears all too quickly, it seems!

7. Get the recipes and ingredients together to make some strawberry rhubarb pie, rhubarb crisp, and who knows what else! It's time to do some baking again, too...

8. Find three "innocent victims" to TAG with this to-do list sharing task!

'Tis the Season...Americana


I just love decorating with Americana things. Our tv room is painted in a deep barn red, and I've gathered lots of great red-white-and-blue things to keep with the Americana theme! This picture is of the things currently on top of our tall distressed white tv cabinet--excuse any visible dust! :) Ohio and "Yankee Homecoming" flags (in crock that was found in a garbage pile! yippee!), a grungy star make-do, a wire cage thingy, and a Longaberger flag basket...not to mention the "necessary" speakers for that noisy surround sound set-up.

taaadaaaah a Banner!...Thanks!

Thanks to my "master manipulator" pal for fixing my banner graphic to work so nicely here...and thanks to my friends at Prim & Rustic for helping me figure out how to add it! Now, to figure out all the other quirky ins and outs of blogging here. I'm looking forward to sharing photos, but am not a veteran photographer like so many of you appear to be!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

First Posting....

ok...here goes...

I've been pondering the pros & cons of entering this wildly popular world of blogging...and I decided to give it a try. Not sure at this point what this blog (I don't even like that word--"blog"! heheee!) will consist of, so bear with me as I learn how all of this works!