Homemade Saturday: Strawberry Glacé Pie

I know I haven't done a Homemade Saturday post in a while, but I thought what better time to start up again than in Strawberry season! :)

As I am sure I have mentioned before, one of the awesome things about strawberries is how versatile they are.  You can eat them fresh, (and boy do we do that, I think we are the healthiest this time of the year because of the amount of Vitamin C we ingest through the strawberries) slice them over ice cream, or oatmeal, or any cereal really, make sauce with them to go over waffles, or angel food cake, or shortcakes, mix them with Rhubarb in pies and crisps, blend them into Strawberry Lemonade, or.....  One of our favorite Strawberry desserts...

Strawberry Glacé Pie!!!

I am assuming most people know and make their own, but if you haven't yet discovered this decadent dessert, I would like to share the recipe we use!

Stawberry Glacé Pie

1 pie crust

6-8 Cups of Strawberries rinsed and topped 

(this amount completely depends on how full you want your pie to be)

1/2 cup of sugar

3Tbs Corn Starch

1/2 cup of Water

4oz (give or take and ounce :) ) of cream cheese.  SOFTENED! (most of the time I forget to soften it, solidifying in my brain how much easier it would be if I would have remembered....)

Make a single pie crust with your own tried and true recipe, then roll it out, put it in your favorite pie plate, poke it with a fork, and bake it in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes until lightly brown.

While the crust is baking you can make the sauce. 

Mash enough Strawberries to make a FULL cup of mashed berries. 

In a small saucepan mix:

1/2 cup of sugar

3 Tbs of Corn starch

Gradually stir in:

1/2 cup of water

your "rounded" cup of mashed berries.

Cook on the stove, stirring rather frequently till the mixture boils and thickens. Then remove it from heat, and let it cool.

Meanwhile take your softened cream cheese and plop it on the pie crust.  If your pie crust is warm this will go easier (especially if you forgot to soften your cream cheese).  Spread the cream cheese on the bottom of your crust, careful not to break the crust in the process.

Now, take the remainder of your Strawberries and pile them in the dish.  Pile them as high as you would like!

Pour your sauce over the strawberries, trying to make sure it covers all of them and gets down in the cracks and crevices, then pop the pie in the fridge, for 2 or more hours.

After the required time, pull out your pie, slice, serve and enjoy!!!!

Oh the decadence of fresh ripe strawberries, accented by the cream cheese, and sweetened and held together by the sauce.  Absolutely delicious!!

Does anyone have a family favorite Strawberry recipe?  We would love to hear so we could try it out.  Tis the season! :)

~Chs

While We Were Gone

 Faith and I didn't have all the excitement last week.  When we had time off, we would call home and hear the stories of the day.  From Strawberries, to Snapping Turtles (to be elaborated on later) it was all interesting, and one of the stories had to do with Josiah going out to feed his chickens one morning, and discovering a little creature laying next to one of his extra empty hoop houses.

Can you spot it??

 A brand new, just born, absolutely adorable fawn was curled up in the grass.  Josiah thinks that the Momma gave birth the night before, and left for the day.  It was gone by the next morning, so we are assuming Momma came back and took her baby away.

It is always wonderful being able to get close up looks at God's marvelous creation!

"The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth; and in His temple everyone says 'Glory!"

(Photos by Josiah)

~Chs

Be Still

"Be still and know that I am God."

 "This is my Father's world, He shines in all that's fair."

 "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal Godhead, so that they are without excuse."  

"Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him all the earth."

(Photos by yours truly)

A Week at Camp

For the past 2 years, on the second week of June, Faith has accompanied three of our friends, the Thompsons, to Camp Living Waters in Luther MI, to volunteer for the Special Week that they hold.  This year the Thompsons were, for various reasons, unable to attend, and it worked out that both Faith and I were able to go together!   The week was memorable in so many ways, and we were so blessed to be able to spend it with such precious people, as well as being able to work with horses at the ranch.  I had a hard time selecting "a-few" photos from the week, so this post is picture-full, and long.  I hope you enjoy these "snap-shots" from our week at camp.

{Cabin row, including Aspen, the Cabin where Faith slept for the week}

The camp is set on 100 gorgeous acres including a large lake, and the property is full of beautiful wild life.

Faith gave me a tour on Sunday when I arrived (the campers weren't scheduled to come till Monday), and of course the ranch was one of the places we visited.

{Pretty Chino}

{Apache was so Handsome!}

{Sailor, a new horse}

{Steps down to Lake Stewart}

{Chapel/Worship time in the Lodge}

Originally Faith and I were both supposed to help out in Chickadee, but things changed, and Faith moved over to Aspen.  We both had wonderful Counselors in our cabins who we enjoyed helping.

The theme for camp this year was "Unchained"... and the theme song, "There is Power in the Name of Jesus to Break every Chain".

The campers all arrived Monday afternoon, and the rest of the day was spent in meeting everyone, having hugs all around, getting them all settled, and just hanging out.

{Joanie and I}

That night we had "Carnival", which included bowling, bean bag toss, fishing, and the campers favorite, where if they made a basket they got to dump a cup of cold water on their counselor of choice! :)

Before we went to bed we had a wonderful song time around the camp fire.

{Scout the "ranch dog"}

Tuesday morning found us down at the barn after breakfast getting ready for the rides of the day.

We had 2 groups of campers come down, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and in-between we got to ride to help exercise the horses, as well as allow Judy (who ran the ranch) to teach the "wranglers" for the rest of the summer. Of course, since I was on a horse (or helping out with the campers) I don't have any photos of the actual rides. 

Not all of the campers rode, but they loved to pet the horses, and we also had baby bunnies for them to pet and hold.

{Coloring, one of the favorite activities}

{Another favorite craft, making bracelets}

{Jeff and Judy an amazing Christian couple who put SO much into Camp Living Waters}

Wednesday night was "the Birthday Party," where we celebrated everyone's birthdays in one fell swoop.  There were Pinatas, and face painting, bowling, and cake for snack.  One of my favorite nights. 

{Bambi, one of the horses}

{Faith and a soft squishy bunny!}

Thursday night was the Talent Show.  We had everything from singing, to dancing, speech making, favorite people lists.... the works!

The saddest day of the week had to be Friday, the day everyone went home.  The morning was overflowing with packing, hugs, tears, more hugs, and good byes.

That was Faith and my past week in a nutshell.  It was a truly amazing week and I definitely wouldn't be  adverse to returning next year if God wills it! :)

~Chs

It Has Begun!

It is that time of year!  The time of aching backs, sticky fingers, satisfied bellies, overabundance of Vitamin C's, has arrived, all caused by these delightful little red globes of goodness known as Strawberries! 

So far we have picked 4 times (every other day) 

(Faith found this darling pillow at an estate sale and it was the perfect prop for a Strawberry photo shoot) 

The first day we had a humble amount of 1 quart, and the next two pickings we acquired 3 each time....

But tonight, with 4 people picking and lots of time, we gathered 17 quarts of strawberries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has begun for sure.

~Chs

An Overabundance Of Posting Material

It has happened again.  Logically of course, whenever I have plenty of time, I have nothing to write about, for this poor neglected blog.  But naturally, when interesting, note-worthy events transpire, they just happen to pile up on top of each other, leaving me no time whatsoever to relate the facts to you my readers.

That is exactly what occurred in the past 2 weeks, and I will try my utmost to get everything organized and written about to share with "y'all" as soon as possible. :)

~Chs