Traditional Pumpkin Pie

All of the last minute holiday preparations are coming together! Here is a recipe that my family uses for Pumpkin Pie. Don't forget the whipped cream, it is the best part! For a delicious pie crust recipe click here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1, 29 oz can solid pack pumpkin

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp cloves

2, 12 oz cans evaporated milk

2, 9-inch unbaked pie shells

Preheat oven to 425°. Combine filling ingredients in the order given: pour into pie shells. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°. Bake an additional 45 minutes or until knife inserted near center come out clean. Cool; garnish with whipped cream if desired. Makes 2 9 inch pies. 

K, making leaf angels

Delicious Apple Pie Recipe for Thanksgiving

Grandmas’ Apple Pie

 
5 to 7 tart apples (4 cups)
¾ to 1-cup sugar (add less for sweet apples)
1 Tab lemon juice (if apples are not tart)
2 Tab flour
Dash salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 Tab butter or margarine

Pare apples and slice thin. Add sugar, flour, salt and spices to apples. Let sit while you prepare pastry. Spread butter on bottom crust. Put apples in. Adjust top crust. Bake at 400° for 50 minutes, until the pie breathes. ENJOY

For the perfect flaky crust click here for Elaine's recipe.

Summertime Fun

Well, the weather is definitely changing here in Utah. A few days ago while gathering pictures for new blog posts; I stumbled on these pictures from this summer. The pictures made me realize once again how fast time is passing.

 This thought leaves me feeling reflective and I realize once again how important it is to regularly make time to enjoy the people God has given us to love. H will be four and K will be two, and things will be so different!  I am so glad to have made these memories with them. And, even more grateful that we can and do take time to have fun together. I hope you are so blessed. 

There are so many people I wish I could spend more time with! To all of you I send my love!

Fall is in the air, It is Pie Season!

Our family has a strong pie making tradition, I thought I would share a few of our favorite recipes this month as we get closer to Thanksgiving. We like to use the flaky and delicious Pie Crust Recipe that my Mom, Elaine is famous for. Click here to see it.

Lemon Pie

1 ½ cups sugar
7 Tab. Cornstarch
Dash salt
1 ½ cups hot water
2 beaten eggs
2 Tab. butter
½ cup lemon juice


In a saucepan combine dry ingredients. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, set aside. Measure butter and lemon juice, set aside.  Slowly stir in water to avoid lumps. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Stir small amount of hot mixture into beaten egg yolks. Return to the rest of mixture in the pan. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add butter and slowly stir in lemon juice. Pour into cooled, baked crust. Refrigerate.

Lisa's Orphan Block Bag

I had a wonderful day quilting with my sister Lisa, she made this adorable cosmetics bag using the technique from my post: Orphan Block Bag.

The lovely Lisa

What a fun project, I just love how it turned out!

A Wedding Quilt for my Daughter

I made this quilt for my daughter Jen and her husband Matt for their wedding.

I quilted leaves and vines on the border with their names and the wedding date across the bottom.

I love how it turned out! Congratulations to the Weston's!

Amanda's baby quilt

Our extended family has been so blessed with babies this year!

This darling quilt is for my niece, Amanda's new little boy!

These fun fabrics came from Riley Blake.

Cindy and I used strip piecing to make this quickly and accurately!

A closeup of the backing fabric--it is flannel. So cozy!

I used an all over swirl design when I quilted it. I love the motion it creates. Then great-grandma hand bound this lovely quilt. Congratulations Amanda!

Mini Stuffed Peppers

Jen made these delicious stuffed peppers for Ari's baby shower. They are a crowd pleaser and so nutritious!

Mini Stuffed Peppers 

This recipe will feed a crowd!

To make the Shredded Chicken

Cover with water in a stock pot and bring to a boil, then simmer for one hour:

 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts

 1 tsp Garlic powder

 2 tsp Salt

 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper

Take the chicken out to cool chicken while you chop and saute these vegetables over medium heat in a large skillet or wok:

 2 tsp oil

 1 sweet yellow onion diced 

Saute onion until just browned, and cook the rest of the veggies just long enough, so they are still crisp.

 2 cloves garlic minced

 1 Cup shredded carrots

 1 Cup corn kernels (frozen works fine)

 2 Cups broccoli florets

 1 Cup chopped zucchini

 1 Cup chopped yellow squash

 Salt and pepper to taste

Turn off heat and stir in

 1 Cup panko, bread crumbs or rice to thicken mixture

 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Shred the chicken with a fork and stir into the vegetable mixture. Allow mixture to cool while you prepare

 3 bags of sweet mini peppers (we got ours from Costco)

Wash and cut in half lengthwise, I left the stems on - they made little handles and looked colorful.

Place the halves on a cookie tray cut side up and fill with the filling like so:

Sprinkle the whole thing with grated cheese: 

(this is the Mexican three cheese blend found at Costco)

Pop it in the oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and Serve!

You will have people, like baby K, asking for "more please!"

Making time to quilt!

Here is another great way to "Save Time and Money so You Can Have More Time and Money to Quilt!"

So while you are in the kitchen, cutting out fabric for your next quilt, he is at the table painting with shaving cream for soo long! Everyone is safe and happy!

Just get a cookie sheet a little damp, put a squirt of inexpensive shaving cream on it and let your little one go to town.

Clean up is easy, it is just soap! So rinse well and put on dry clothes.

So much fun!

Mae and Mommy

I just had to share another picture of our little granddaughter and her mommie.

She looks so cute in this peachy pink! 

We are so grateful for her safe arrival and how well she is doing!

 She has such loving parents!

Introducing my brand new Granddaughter

Baby M is here! She is early, but she is perfect! Mama and baby are recovering quickly.

Big brother, H, is so sweet to her! She is my first Granddaughter and I couldn't be happier! It has been a whirlwind of activity this week with family and friends traveling from far to meet her. 

Thank You Eva!

I received an e-mail from Eva in the Czech Republic, what a treat! We have many things in common like Grandchildren and a love of sewing. She sent me some booties she knitted for my upcoming Granddaughter! They are so CUTE! I can not wait to put them on the little one. 

How nice of her!! 

She also sent me this beautiful handkerchief that she embroidered.

I feel so grateful to have Eva as my friend.  How fun is this blogging opportunity!?!

Beautiful Strip Rose Quilt for Baby Mae

This charming quilt was pieced by Sara Drussel. That is K in the background.

She pieced it for my daughter, Ari's upcoming baby girl. How blessed is that little one?!

Here is the back. Love the Minky! The quilting compliments the texture in the fabric.

K is here to help me! Little ones can not resist Minky.

Here is a closeup. The quilt has cute ruffles, which I applied after I quilted an area. I sewed them on with the long arm machine. Slick! Your quilter appreciates when the embellishments go on after the quilting. 

Close up of the back---love it! This is a new meander I've started doing. It combines multiple elements which makes it sooooo interesting!

The lace on the quilt is vintage from Sara's grandmother's stash. How kind of her to share the lace with Ari. Thank you Sara for letting me be a part of this special project!

Strawberry Cheesecake

I tried this Classic Cheesecake recipe, from Real Simple Magazine, on Father's Day.

It turned out perfectly! I was so happy!  Real Simple recommends bringing all  the ingredients to room temperature so everything mixes thoroughly. This prevents the cheesecake from cracking. It works! Only one tiny tiny crack and the sour cream topping covered that up.

I did not try Real Simple's cherry sauce because I had fresh strawberries from my garden! The strawberry cheesecake was Heavenly. Steven thinks he will keep me around for another year. 

Here is the recipe I used for the Strawberry Topping:

Smash 2 cups berries. Put them in a saucepan with  1 1/2 cups water and bring it all to a boil. Then simmer for four minutes. While the strawberries are simmering place 2 cups sugar and 1/3 cup cornstarch in a separate bowl and mix together. Add the sugar mixture to the berry mixture and stir and then add 3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice to the pan. Cook everything  until transparent (the cloudy cornstarch turns clear, it takes just a few minutes.) Add 2 Tablespoons butter. Stir until the butter melts. Arrange Strawberries on the cheese cake and drizzle the Strawberry filling over it all. Chill and serve. 

TIP: If you are not going to serve the whole cake on the same day, I recommend storing the cheesecake, the filling, and the strawberries separately and combining them on the plate when you serve it. It can still look artistic and it keeps much better. Strawberries keep better dry with their tops on in a Tupperware-like container. 

Here is a picture of H. 

He is feeling like a superhero and so did I when I made this cheesecake: I hope you do too!

Zoo

 I went to the Zoo last week with quite a few of my family members. It was great to be together and OH SO HOT! We have been experiencing triple digit days for almost a week now. PHEW!

 We saw a most interesting thing early in the morning. This monkey is drinking out of the pond. But, look at how he is using his tail like a hand to hold on to that branch and leveraging himself out there staying dry.

They had a lot of beautiful lego creations at the Zoo and this is my great nephew C looking out of an orangutan creation. What a cute face!

This is my great niece M pointing at the elephants. Is she not just so cute!

How big are we compared to the Orangutans?

Giraffe Spots are so cool ! I took this close up so I could use it in a quilt?! 

The bird show at the Hogle Zoo is amazingly well done. They informed us that Bald Eagles are no longer threatened! That made me feel happy. I love my country.

I forget what these critters are called but H liked being close and watching them eat "Fox Food" because the pellets looked like what the fox was eating. Don't you love the way he is standing on one leg?! The sign says these are closely related to elephants because of their teeth and feet. Amazing!!

Thanks for letting me share my wonderful Zoo day with you!

Backpacking Parunuweap

Wiley the dog found a good place to rest while we ate lunch

You can't tell how tall this waterfall is but it's about 10 feet tall. We climbed up and down it, and coaxed the dog to do it too. No small feat :)

A Pair of Blue Quilts for a Pair of Nephews!

I made this quilt for my niece's new baby. It was fun to play with some value and color morphing. One of my favorite things to do...

Here is the back and you can see the peacock meander and loopy border.

This view shows the quilting a little better than the first one.

I hope my cute nephew enjoys snuggling in this quilt!

Here is another quilt made with the same fabrics.  I did this as a trip around the world and did some simple diagonal lines for the quilting. I like this classic quilt and my classy nephew.

Pagosa Springs and Durango, Colorado

Steven and I had the opportunity last week to visit Pagosa Springs and Durango, Colorado. We really enjoyed a ride on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

We took the Narrated Coach (worth the price in my opinion) and really enjoyed listening to an actor tell us about the railroad as if he were Robert Palmer, the builder of the rail line in the 1870's.

On the way back we listened to an actress tell us about the native people as if she were Chipita a Southern Ute Indian princess. It was beautiful, fascinating and informative!

Check out that track--Edgy!

In Silverton, Colorado. 

 Silverton has an amazing museum. The San Juan County Historical Society Museum has a great display that includes a high tech jail from the late 1800's. This is something which you really ought to see some time.  Here are a few pictures of the jail. It is basically a jail building inside of a regular building. 

Me inside the jail building. The box on the wall on the right is full of levers that opened the doors to the four cells from outside the jail building.

 The beds were these hammocks that hook onto the loops in the wall. This place even had indoor plumbing!

Steven and I are travel geeks. By this I mean when we go somewhere we like to learn a little bit about the history by visiting museums and a little bit about the natural history of the place by going hiking. We had a great time doing just that!