Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?

Cherry Pie Filling

Of course you can always "simply" make a Cherry Pie

or

you can go a little further and make simply delicious

Cream Cheese Cherry Pie

•  Cream Cheese Filling
• 3 oz Cream Cheese
• 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar
• 1 c. whipping cream

Step 1. Whip cream until it forms soft peaks
Step 2.  Mix the sugar and cream cheese - a hand mixer works well
Step 3. Fold the sugar/cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream.  If you do not know what fold means, look it up =)
Step 4. Put the final mix into a baked crust and add the Cherry Pie filling on top. 

Side note - Although I like the challenge of making a good pie crust (and have had some embarrassing failures); I use refridgerated boughten pie crust on occasion.  My aunt who is quite the fabulous pie baker reccommended it...and boy howdy is it handy! =) Yes, my favorite recipe is that of my mother's in the Seasoned with Love cookbook.  Makes plenty of crumbs to have around in the freezer for that sudden pie inspiration. I feel like I have sooo much to learn in the area of pie crust finesse. Another great pie baker in our family probably prefers to remain anonymous on this topic, but she keep Krusteaz Pie Dough Mix in her pantry.  She gave me some and it works very well.

But I will give 3 little tips.
1.  Refridgerate your dough slab before rolling it out...20 min or so...but not ad infinitim. 
2. Use Ice cold water when mixing the dough. 
3.  The Baker's Roller from Pampered Chef works very well in repairing edge separations before you put the dough in the pie pan.  You can even use it on the dough once it is inside the pie pan.  Happy Pie Making!

Pie filling in jars ready to be Canned

I used Martha Cover's recipe in the Seasoned with Love Cookbook.

Water bath time

I always find it interesting how the color of the pie filling changes post water bath.  When they first come out, the cherries are brightly colored distinct globes.  The clear jel has not yet taken on the cherry color. 

And now

Last but not least, this is a 32oz jar of pie filling.  The store bought comes in only 20oz.  So a qt. of pie filling will do 1.5 Cream Cheese pies.  Guess good things DO come in threes =)  (yes, you have to do the math on your own!)

P.S. I gave David one of these for Valentine's Day 12 yrs ago.  ;)     (a pie, not a jar of pie filling!)

Thought question - do you think the verse "O taste and see that the Lord is good" refers to food? And on a lighter note, what is your favorite kind of pie?



P.P.S.  I can food faster than I can blog about it!  Cherry syrup...improved my previous recipe.  Boysenberry Jam - All sold!  Carrot/zucchini pickles. Coming up....several more types of jam....like Black and Blue Jam.   The fabulous Berry Cherry.  Maybe even straight cherry.  Adios!

In Honor of John - C.G.B.G.B

The Sunday before Memorial Day Weekend we decided that we weren't going to go camping that weekend. Why?  A variety of reasons made it not the best time.  So to "make up" for it, we planned a fun weekend.

• C - campfire meal
• G - gardening
• B - beach
• G - gardening
• B - baseball

 These almost 2 yr olds are just a week apart in age =)

No comments needed =)

It wouldn't be a campfire without some singing.

Enjoying those smores cones.

 A campfire evening with those we had been planning on camping with suddenly came into question when it started raining Fri. afternoon.  We left the decision until a hour before....and it stopped just in time!  Our meal was simple and "campfirish" - even if we cooked on the propane stove.  I made what I had been going to fix for our group supper.  Zappatos Red Beans and Rice mix with sausage added.  The others brought cornbread (Trader Joe's mix with an added can of corn - so good!); watermelon, and smore cones. "Smore cones" you say? Yes, Sharon discovered them on Pinterest. Due to the chance of rain, David nixed the setting up the tent in the backyard idea, promised the children they could sleep on the trampoline.  But we were having a little cold snap (as in it snowed close to where we wanted to camp) and they soon came in =)

The next day was a garden day.  It needed weeding and watering and attention in lots of different areas.  But we focused on the boysenberries.  David patiently ties up the new growth so that it is much easier for us to pick them. 

 He wears gloves and holds the stems up.  I tie them where needed and he weaves the stems if possible.  Aaron spent quite a while cutting our twine and then weeding the walkway by the berries.  Yeah!  I don't have to wear jeans to pick them now.

 Most Saturdays will find Sarah in denim - we are just outside most of the day. Correction, David and the children are outside most of the day, and I join them whenever possible. 

The ocean was beautiful, but windy.  Sadly, my camera got left at home. We enjoyed supper at Sea Harvest - Thanks A. Margaret.  I get a kick out of watching the sea lions there!

The next day we gardened some more, followed by a baseball game and picnic with friends....we definately have many blessings in life.  So thankful for this country to live in, for godly family and friends. 

Oh, and John is on an acronym kick.  I vividly remember annoying my friends with my named based acronyms....I'm so sorry!  I won't name them here =)  You can do the honors in the comments section if you feel inclined!