Monday, February 13, 2012

A birthday pie

A love a good pie.  And when you don't feel like a birthday cake, a pie is a great replacement desert.  I had been wanting to try this new recipe for pecan pie anyway, so I gave it a go and my is it delicious.  My only complaint is that I should have covered it with foil mid-baking time as it got a little too brown around the edges for my liking.



Pecan Pie

4 cups pecan halves
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pie crust (I used a store-bought dough since I was on a time crunch...)

Fit your pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate. Flute edge and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Set aside 1 1/4 cups of the pecan halves; coarsely chop remaining 2 3/4 cups pecans.  Stir together eggs, sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt until well combined.  Add chopped pecans.  Pour into prepared pie shell and arrange the reserved pecans halves on top in concentric circles until completely covered.

Bake until filling is just set and crust is golden brown, about 70 minutes (recipe says 90 but mine was definitely done by 70). Let cool completely before serving.



And in addition to the birthday pie, I made some birthday creme brule tartlettes!  I got mini-tartlette rings for Christmas and needed to try them out. They work wonderfully and look adorable.  Mini things are just so cute.


 Happy Monday!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

A little stitchery

I recently picked up a cross stitch project from my mom's old stash.  It's yet another "Valkommen" ("welcome" in Swedish) bell pull hanging.  I really like the colors in this one: rust, greens, and blues.  


I've been having an unintentional crafting break these past few weeks.  It just sort of happened, or rather, didn't happen.  So I've decided that I need to be a little more intentional about getting my craft on.  Starting....now.


In other news, I just hopped on the Pinterest bandwagon.  Quite inspirational stuff on there, hopefully it will inspire some projects!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Quick wedding recap

Ryan and I have been married for [almost] 8 months! Woo!  I never got around to posting any of our pics so here is a quick recap of the day.

All of our ceremony pictures were done by the wonderful John of J. Stuart Photography. 


Ceremony 


Unity candle lighting


First kiss as husband and wife!

Hitched!


Cutest flower girl ever


A few outdoor pics







The bridal party


Love Ryan's face


Getting on our getaway "car"


And we're off


Success.



Our reception photos were taken by Ryan's groomsman and good friend, Roger Metcalf.

Cake time!


Dancing with the cutest niece ever.


And the cutest nephew ever, in the cutest little suit ever.


Dancing with the hubs, the dancing machine.


Love.




We had a wonderful day celebrating with all of our friends and family.  We are so thankful to everyone who participated, helped, and traveled to celebrate with us on our special day.