Family Today!

We had a great time! Friday afternoon Isabel arrived with her chauffeur. Grandpa on a walk with Brook and Isabel...Isabel fell asleep about 2 seconds later.

For supper we had shrimp pasta salad and Irish soda Bread.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Traditional%20Irish%20Soda%20Bread

Before...


...after...

After Isabel's night bedtime Friday, Colt showed up with his entourage. After some visiting, Colt got fussy. Granny (that would be ME) took him out to the screen porch and we sat in one of the rocking patio chairs. He fell asleep in about 2 seconds.

Saturday morning...HELLO COUSIN. Unfortunately, Colt had a bit of a stuffy nose and they weren't permitted to get too close to each other.

We visited and played and I held babies ...although from the photos you would never guess it!

I baked a ham and cooked pinto beans, roasted sweet potatoes drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of grated nutmeg and a very light sprinkle of cayenne pepper, roasted asparagus drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt, mixed green salad with homemade honey mustard salad dressing... http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/honey%20mustard%20salad%20dressing ..., homemade peppercorn salad dressing, and a bottled jar of raspberry vinaigrette. And a loaf of bread machine white bread...with butter!

For dessert...a strawberry pie. http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Strawberry%20Pie

Before... ...after.

I'm going to have to do something different with the strawberry pie. The juice is too juicy. I don't want it set up like pudding...but I don't want it like water. I've always used flour for thickening in my fruit pies. Next time I bake a strawberry pie I am going to use cornstarch. If that doesn't work, I'll try tapioca.

We also had a chocolate pudding cake.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Chocolate%20Pudding%20Cake

I did not get a photo of it. And now...there's only one slice left. Hmmm...See you later!

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you had a great day. I definitely did!


Sam and I went to Carol and Elton's. (CAROL GOT ROSES!!) (I'll buy my chocolate tomorrow.) Sam and Elton went to the gun and knife show at Maude Cobb Center in Longview while Carol and I went to the trade day at the fair grounds in Longview. Four people. Two cars. Same town. Just a couple of blocks apart. LOL But that way they didn't have to wait on us, and we could sneak in a teeny tiny bit of shopping. I also got to see some friends of mine. They don't live far from us. Charles mentioned that and we never see each other. But, if any of us need help, we know who to call. His youngest grandson is 22 now and an LVN. I counted the years and probably haven't seen Justin since he was 9 years old. shaking head

The four of us met up at Olive Garden for lunch. I ordered the Spinach and Artichoke dip to share. Oh my! I've heard it was good, but it was ridiculously good! I know that there are some recipes trying to copy this on the internet. I will be searching for it!

We saved room for dessert, but not at Olive Garden. Last night I baked a strawberry pie. I've never had one before. Sam has mentioned (several times) that his mother made strawberry pie. I did a bit of searching on the internet but didn't really come up with anything that sounded like he described. It was either fresh strawberries in a baked pie shell covered with thickened strawberry syrup or cooked strawberries poured into a baking dish on top of a batter...when baked, the batter rose to the top covering the strawberries. Not what I had pictured in my mind.

So, I grabbed my personal cookbook (a binder full of my very own favorite tried and true recipes) and turned to Apple Pie and Cherry Pie recipes. This is what's left. We ate some. I cut a large slice for Carol and Elton to enjoy later. Yep, folks. This is what was left after four people who could all stand to lose a pound or two got into it. ;o) Did I mention that it was good?


The recipe? Weeelllllll.... I guess this is an original for me. I took a bag of strawberries I froze last season from the freezer. A quart of halved strawberries with 1 cup of sugar. So...if I were to start from the beginning:

Sassy Sherry's Simply Sweet Strawberry Pie ;o)


Or...to shorten it...


Strawberry Pie


1 quart of fresh beautiful sweet strawberries
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
butter (I do not use margarine!)


Wash, cap and halve your strawberries. Mix flour into sugar; pour over strawberries. Stir in water and let sit for a while to make more juice. If you don't think it's juicy enough, add a little more water. (My frozen strawberries were juicy enough with just a minimum amount of added water.)


Make your very own pie crust. It's worth it! Here's the link to my recipe: http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-baked-pie.html
To quote Emeril Lagasse, "Pork fat rules!" (You can halve the recipe.)


Take out enough dough for 1 crust. Roll it out, place in pan. Let all the extra dough flow out over the rim. Fill with strawberries. Dot with butter. Pull the excess dough up over the strawberries. (This is easier that making a two crust, crimped or lattice top fancy pie.)


Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
Lower heat to 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crust is brown...I always have to bake longer for not only browner crust, but also to make certain the bottom crust bakes and is not gooey.


And to finish today...Friday night's sunset.