Monday, December 30, 2013

Movie Pies

Karly found this fan of the week pie as a tribute to the Hunger Games series. I read the books but I don't think I am interested enough to make a pie about it. But maybe a pie in honor of John Wayne?










Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas



Cherry Pie with Crumble Top

Jil brought pies to Grandpa Murray's on Christmas evening. They were very good pies: Chocolate Moose; Pecan; Apple with a crumble top; and my favorite Cherry with a crumble top. Jil and my other sisters are great pie makers.

My feelings at Christmas season has changed.Our children are grown and Nathan and Nicole and our two grandchildren were in Chicago this year. So Christmas morning wasn't as exciting as it used to be watching little children open their presents. My highlight is now Christmas eve - having as many of our family with us as possible. We had a wonderful dinner and afterwards played Sleigh Ride (Kerry and Natalie on the piano and the rest of us with bells, clapper, wooden block, and the triangle). We sang Christmas carols, read stories, danced the Merry Christmas Polka, told about Christmas' from the past, and finally read the Christmas story from the Book of Luke. For me Christmas is being with family and remembering Jesus Christ.

God lives and He loves each of us. God so loved the world, that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish; but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). The gifts spoken of in the gospel are not material gifts but the gift given to us by Jesus Christ. We celebrate the Savior’s birth and remember that he was born to save. He gave us the greatest gift – he gave his life that we might have eternal life. May you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving Pies

Raspberry Key Lime

We took a well deserved break from pie making and posting. With the holidays, however, we made a few pies for parties. My office employees association has an annual Thanksgiving lunch and I made two pies, both variations on Key Lime. I repeated pie No, 43 Black-bottomed Key Lime (see post on 4/17/12). I also made a Raspberry Key Lime as a variation from the American Pie Council's book "America's Best Pies."

Crust: Store-bought Graham Cracker Crust

Filling:
One 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks (whites not used)
1/2 cup (and a little more) Key Lime Juice

Topping:
6 oz. seedless raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine condensed milk, egg yolks, key lime juice and blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell and bake in pre-heated oven at 350 F for 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Heat raspberry preserves in a pan, add butter and lemon juice and vanilla. Spread over pie then refrigerate. Before serving, top with whipped cream and lime slices.

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner and thought we would have a lot of people so we reserved our church. As it turned out we only had 17 (we were thinking of 50). We made Sour Cream Lemon (see post on 11/23/11)  and Coconut Cream pies (see post on 6/4/12). We forgot that the Coconut Cream recipe is for two pies so Kerry posted on facebook that we had some extra filling. We immediately had Savannah and Sage at our door who took the filling of our hands. We also tried Apple Pie Cookies which tasted okay but were a disaster to make - not recommended.