A holiday classic - Mama's pecan pie

Mama, Daddy, and me,
high school graduation

One thing that was a holiday classic for me growing up, was Mama's pecan pies. She always made 2, because one would have never been enough.

You know how a cook will have some signature dishes? Well, my mama had hers, and her pecan pies were one of them.

During this holiday season, here in the blog, I'd like to share some of my holiday favorite recipes with you all; and I thought that there was no better place to start than my mama's pecan pie.

So, without further adieu, on to the recipe:

Freda's Pecan Pie

3 eggs
1/2 c. brown sugar
4 T. melted margarine
1 c. dark corn syrup
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
1 c. pecans, chopped
1 - 9 inch pie shell, unbaked

Beat eggs and add sugar gradually.  Mix in remaining ingredients.  Pour into pie shell and bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Review - Baby Dove Sensitive Moisture Tip to Toe Wash

Today I'm reviewing
Baby Dove Sensitive Moisture Tip to Toe Wash
Website link - https://www.dove.com/us/en/baby/washing-and-bathing/baby-body-wash/sensitive-moisture-tip-to-toe-wash.html

This product gets -
5 big fat glowing stars,
and deserves every one.

Well, if you read my first product review that I did for this blog, under it's new expanded range, you are acquainted with my search for a new liquid hand soap that is fragrance free.

Let me tell you, finding fragrance free products to use isn't always so easy, and sometimes you have to get quite creative. In the hand soap department, my local walmart didn't carry any fragrance free hand soap; and the dial type soaps didn't work for me either, I tried them. So, I got the idea to check in the baby section of the store. Believe me, it was a last ditch desperate idea. But it proved to be my best idea yet!

In the baby section of my store, I found the above product, Dove Baby tip to toe wash, and it was totally FRAGRANCE FREE! Yay! So I got myself a bottle. It costs about $6 something for a bottle at our local walmart, but it is a generous sized bottle. And it works so well too! Lathers up nicely, doesn't dry your hands out, doesn't take a lot; and totally fragrance free too.

Summing it up - I highly recommend this soap product for anyone who has sensitive skin and needs a good fragrance free liquid soap. It could be used in the shower or at the sink as hand soap, and it comes in a nice pump bottle. Plus, it is a good value for the price too.

Review - Clearly Natural Unscented Liquid Hand Soap

NEW!

This is the first of a new addition to this blog.

Product  reviews.

---------------------------------------------

Clearly Natural Unscented Liquid Hand soap
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FU1ZAJK/
$14.99 for a pack of 3, plus s&h

This product gets - 3 stars

I have very sensitive skin, and have been fragrance free for many years now. For a long time, I used the Ivory liquid hand soap; for while it had a fragrance according to the ingredients, it was one I could tolerate. But one day they quit making the Ivory hand soap, so then begin my search for a replacement before I ran out of the other.

This was the first of my attempts to find something. And it is unscented. I ordered it from Amazon, as I couldn't find anything in the stores around where I live that fit my needs. Some reviews had commented about the condition of the product when they received it, but mine were just fine, in excellent condition.

My complaint against this product is that it is glycerine liquid soap, and it doesn't lather worth patootie. I'm still using it up, mixed it with what was left of my Ivory soap.

In conclusion - not a product I would recommend.

Recipe - Granny's butter pie

I was just scrolling through my posts for this blog and realized that I'd never shared with you my Grandmother's recipe for butter pie. We all called her Granny, and here she is:

She was a wonderful woman who I have extremely fond memories of. She knew I loved this pie, and we spent every Sunday evening after church at her house. We'd go to church at New Harmony Baptist Church with my grandmother and a lot of my family. Then we'd go to her house for lunch. We'd take clothes to change into, and spend the afternoon there. Her house was awesome:

It was a wonderful place to spend a Sunday afternoon. And she almost always made a butter pie because she knew I loved them so. 

For a good long while, there wasn't a written recipe for the butter pie; then my aunt's homemaker group put out a cookbook, and wanted her pie recipe in it. So, one of my cousins went down there one day and measured as she made one of her butter pies; and so we had a recipe. Now, I share it with you. Note that if you don't cook the filling part just right, sometimes it won't want to set up. Even my grandmother had that happen to her. But don't let it phase you, it still tastes good. Also, you will need a double boiler for this recipe.

Now, on to the recipe.

Granny's Butter Pie

1 to 1-1/2 cups water

1/2 to 1 stick margarine

1 cup sugar

1 t. vanilla

3 heaping T. flour

1 baked pie shell

In a double boiler, add the water and margarine; and cook, stirring frequently, until margarine is melted. Then add sugar, and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Then add the vanilla, and stir. Next add the flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring well. Continue to cook, while stirring frequently, until mixture is thickened. Pour into baked pie shell and cool.  Serve and enjoy.

Peanut butter, caramel instant oatmeal

In this day and age of the food networks hyping that you need to do fresh this and fresh that, some people have come to put down convenience foods. I am not one of those people. Ordinary people like me depend on convenience foods to put a good meal on the table, and there's nothing wrong with them. Those tv chefs are food snobs on camera, who probably chow down on all this 'bad' stuff they put down, when not on camera.

Having said that, this recipe uses a packet of microwavable oatmeal. I like the maple and brown sugar flavor. You don't have to get a name brand, as the store brand will do quite well. I myself get the Walmart store brand.

Now as to the caramel and peanut butter components of this recipe, I do go for name brands.

Hershey's caramel syrup,
and
Skippy creamy peanut butter.

Those are very important to the flavor of this. Using them, you can transform ordinary microwave oatmeal into something very yummy. So on to the recipe.

Caramel, peanut butter oatmeal

1 package of microwavable oatmeal, maple brown sugar flavor
Hershey's caramel syrup
Skippy creamy peanut butter
water

Take a microwave safe bowl and empty the contents of the oatmeal package in it. Add the water as listed on the packet. The ones I get say 2/3 cup of water. Stir, then put a 2-3 tablespoon size dollop of peanut butter into the middle of the bowl. Microwave as called for on the package; mine calls for 1 minute and 30 seconds. When you take it out of the microwave, give it a good stir, blending the melted peanut butter throughout the oatmeal. Then, drizzle over some of the caramel syrup, however much you like. Eat and enjoy.

If you wanted, you could also use chocolate syrup in this too. I use caramel because I can't have chocolate due to the caffeine in it.

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