Vanilla

Looks like a lot of alcohol, doesn't it?  well, don't worry, I can explain.

Do you do much baking and have your priced vanilla lately?  Then you know how expensive it is. 

I knew Nina had made some vanilla a while back and wondered if she had any to spare.  She did not have a whole lot of vanilla made up, but she did have 1/4 pound of whole vanilla beans.
 And she gave them to me!  of course she knows there will plenty of vanilla that I will share when I get this batch made. 



 So,  Jeff helped me pick out some vodka and rum at the liquor store.  He even split all the vanilla beans and bottled them all up. 
In 6 months,  we will have lots of vanilla! 

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas here

Fresh green wreath made by my brother,  I think this is the 4th year he has made a Christmas one for me.  He has also made Thanksgiving and Easter wreaths.   

close up of a little bird on the wreath

green tree with lots of birds and mostly red ornaments

and a white tree - it looks better in person

Nativity set

the butler gets a Santa hat this time of year.
Theo is usually a good sport but he draws the line at wearing hats or sweaters for that matter

the cutest Christmas decoration at our house is Gavin, he is holding a Santa doll my mom made about 50 years ago. 

Save your fork, there's pie

We do like pie at this house. but even we did not eat both of these pies on the same day.  I made a cherry pie for Thanksgiving and the Pilgrim Pie the next week.    Both of these pies are so good  so I want to share them with you all. 

To make a cherry pie in the fall in Oklahoma, you need a frozen bag of tart cherries.  They sell sweet cherries too but they won't give your pie that tangy sweet and sour taste.   I found mine at IGA for $3.65 for a 20 ounce bag.

Aren't the frozen cherries pretty?  So nice and red!

In a saucepan, combine a bag of  cherries, 1 cup sugar and 3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring almost constantly.

Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the juices thicken and become translucent.

 Remove from heat and stir in the 1 tablespoon butter and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.

Mix thoroughly and let cool.   Then pour into unbaked pie shell.  Top with a top crust. 

Bake in the preheated 375 oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.  It will bubble alot so you might want to put something under the pie to catch any drips.

This  is Pilgrim Pie. I first made this easy and low-cost pie when we had 4 hungry children to feed.  It is kind of like pecan pie but with coconut and oatmeal instead of the nuts. 

If you click on the recipe, it will enlarge it.  You can see where I penciled in the increased amounts needed to make 3 and 4 pies from this recipe - I don't remember why I made so many but back then,  I seemed to always be cooking for a group at church or teenagers. 

It really is a good pie  and very easy.  I prefer to eat whole oats and you can use them in this recipe, but I think quick oats are the best to use for this recipe.