Everyday is a pie day!

I LOVE PIE!!!  I could eat pie everyday! So many different kinds! Fruit, meat, vegetable, meat and veg, custard, nut..

It's my babysitter's and MIL fault! Mary and her daughter Kendra took me to a carnival at Kendra's school. There was a pie room. I tried the peach pie. I tried another slice, and another... I ate the ENTIRE pie!! OH it was soo good. the crust was light and flaky on top and the bottom crust was light, cooked through but had amazing flavor. The peaches.. not sure if they were canned or fresh.. Who cares, I dream about that pie to this day!! 
I love Thanksgiving because there is GRAVY and then there is PIE! And not just one kind!! Almost always apple pie and pumpkin, then my SIL made chocolate cream pie. YUMMY

So one day I was next door visiting my MIL. She told me to try a tart. It was basically mini pecan pies. She only gave me half of one, because she said they were rich... OM Heck!! YUMMY!!  My first time I had ever had pecan pie and I loved it!!  Of course I had to come home and make some. Unfortunately I discovered that all pecan pie recipes use, yup you guessed it, CORN SYRUP. Why would anyone make such a wonderful thing using corn syrup??  Well, I had to find a way to fix this. I did. TWO ways in fact. The recipe is below:

PECAN PIE MUFFINS

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour (AP or GF !!!!)
1 cup pecans, chopped
2 eggs
2/3 cup butter, melted

Oven 350 degrees.
Mix all together.
Muffin tin, either lined or sprayed with oil. Fill atleast 9 of the spots.
Bake for 20 minutes

These are wonderful!!  If you make them GF, they are a little gooey (perfect). I made these for a dessert and sent some home with my mom.. She had no idea what the dessert was I sent her home with.. She texted me later and said I was evil. She loved them and had to have the recipe immediately because she ate the 3 I had sent her home with and she wanted more.

I surprised my daughter with these in her lunch. She and I are GF. She came home and gave me a huge hug. She LOVES these!! For the GF ones, I have even used less butter, more like 6 TBS and they still worked. Sorry no pictures, they get eaten too fast.

Cheap Heat

The following message from my friend Susan. I thought it might be good info for when the power goes out.

 Cheap Heat

"When Lark set me this simple demonstration of how to heat  a small room for about 15 cents per day, I was hooked. My engineer husband, Fred, was able to explain the rationale to me and we know that the Brits used a similar technique in their homes and apartments during WWII, but they did not have access to tea light candles, all of the same size. I realize that many tea lights are full of lead but in a desperate situation, thy could be used to my benefit. The British government told citizens to never leave their candles unattended.  Years ago the size of the candles were uneven in both height and width and were extremely precious commodities during the war. Enjoy this 3 minute demonstration of how to heat a small room for 15 cents a day:"

http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/11/16/how-to-heat-your-room-for-15-cents-a-day/

 

I am going to try it. this might take the edge off when the power is out. Any tea light will work, but you can get them in bulk at Ikea. Please remember to put it on a non heat sensitive or flammable surface,

Last year and the year before, the kids had big stones the put by the fireplace to heat up before going to bed. Those stones stayed warm until morning.. totally worth it.