Vanilla Crumb Pie

 This is post 2 for today, head back a post for some Egg-citing news!

 

  This pie is really simple, has simple flavors and reminds me of a mix between Custard, Snickerdoodles and sugar cookies.  In other words…..SO SO good!

  First, make Easy Push Crust:

Easy Push Crust

(click title to print)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chilled Crisco (butter flavored is best)

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cold water

1 T. milk for basting (only when fully cooking crust)

Combine flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut shortening into flour. Sprinkle with water. Form into ball, divide in 2. Flatten each to fit your pie pans, all the way to the edges. Crimp with fingertips to make pretty.  Prick with a fork before baking.  Baste with milk if fully baking.  Makes 2 crusts.

  I baked this at 425* for 10 minutes to just firm it up a bit before I put liquidy pie filling in it.  This is called Par-baking and will help the crust from getting soggy.    (Now, if you were using this crust for say Peanut Butter Pie, you’d want to baste it and fully bake it at 425* for 15 minutes, and then cool completely before filling.  Make sense?) 

• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 cups Water
• 2 Tablespoons Flour, Heaping
• 1 cup Corn Syrup
• Pinch Of Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Crumbs For Top:

• 2 cups Flour
• 1 cup room temperature Butter
• ½ cups Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Soda
• 1 teaspoon Cream Of Tartar

First, make Easy Push Crust, listed above.

Mix together and bring to a boil first 6 ingredients.
Remove from heat and cool mixture.
Add 1 T. Vanilla and 2 eggs.

Mix crumb ingredients and divide between the 2 pies evenly. Bake at 350* for 20-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Serve warm.
Makes two pies.

Happy Baking!  This simple push crust and pie recipe will make you feel like Susie Homemaker in NO TIME at all!  It really is simple!

~T

Egg-citing!

    Exciting news!  We were just given some more chickens!  YAY!  We now have 8 Silky Bantams, 5 Austrolorps, 14 Red ones whose name I don’t know.

  The white Chicken House is full, so these new girls reside in the second chicken coop, located in the back of this ugly, I mean spare garage. 

  AGAIN, I say Thank you Lord, that I didn’t continue to push for Dale to bulldoze all those “Untidy” outbuildings.  We have put them to good choose for chicken homes AND photography now!

   Another blessing has been having a few extra dozen eggs to sell! That $10 or so a month goes to the “Fun Money” envelope, and when the kids have earned an ice cream cone reward or momma needs to run errands straight through the noon hour, we use that money for lunch. 

  Not to mention the blessing of Farm fresh eggs to enjoy, they just taste plain AMAZING! I have never seen such golden yellow yolks in my life.  Guess it’s because our girls get to roam around and eat those good bugs all day.

  We are thinking about selling 2 of the male silkies. Any takers? They are so stinkin’ cute!  When we let them out of the coop each morning, they run over until they are standing RIGHT in front of the ladies, feathers all puffed up, and proceed to show off by scratching the dirt right in front of them.

Typical male behavior if I’ve ever seen it!

Dale says he doesn’t know what I am talking about:

“Men don’t puff up for the ladies….”

“Oh, why hello there Tonya.”

“The Chicken Coop is thataway…”

What a Goof ball…… 

 

{But a big goof ball I am totally, madly, head over heels in love with!}   🙂

  So anyhow, we send the kids out after school to go gather eggs, and this is what was brought back up to the house yesterday:

This photo doesn’t do this last egg justice…..

It IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, look at it compared to the quarter!!!!  Or compared to the standard sized egg!
{If I had thought about it, I’d have photographed it in one of the children’s hands so you could really see how big it is.  But alas, it is already in someone’s tummy!}

  We thought our hen, Big Momma, laid some huge eggs, but someone from the new hen-house has her beat, BIG TIME!

Look out Big Momma, there’s a new Hen in town!

  We don’t know which one it is, but I figure if we look real close, she’ll be the one walking with a limp!  🙂

{giggles} 

    These eggs were sitting on this chair in the garage, waiting to be put away and I could NOT resist. It was screaming PHOTOGRAPH ME!!!!! 

Figured that was a great way to end this post full of such Egg-citing Chicken news!

~T

Post 2 for today is Vanilla Crumb Pie.  Too bad I didn’t make an Egg Bake or something to go with the “theme” today, but that w0uld’ve been FAR too convienenent!