I Did It!!

I found the recipe Mom might have used. I knew she'd been making the chocolate meringue pies for a long long time, so I figured it was in an old cookbook. I looked in the three main ones and found one with some very detailed instructions.




Mom must not have used it very much since there weren't many notes and corrections. Though maybe it didn't need correcting? Who knows.

Ok, so on with the pie!

I made the chocolate pudding according to the recipe on the box. That was the easy part. I also, thawed the pie crust and poked lots of holes in it with the fork and baked it for 10 minutes. I thought I took pics of those parts of this, but I guess not.

So, with the baked crust ready and cooling, and the pudding done and still hot on the stove, I start the meringue. Here's how it looked at first when it was still a soft meringue before I put the sugar in, a tsp at a time.


Here's the pie with the filling in it and the meringue on top. I made sure to have it come up on the crust all the way around. I was careful to make it higher in the middle and did the little soft peaks all over it.


Here it is right out of the oven. I had gotten distracted by the kids and hadn't been watching it right along, but did have the timer on. When the timer went off, I took it out. I was worried it had gotten too dark, but as it cooled, it actually looked just right.


I let it cool on the counter for a while, then I put it in the fridge with a plate cover over it to make sure the kids' fingers didn't get stuck in it. And nothing could spill onto it. Of course condensation happened in the plate cover and there were water droplets on the meringue, but that's OK.

This evening, before my Sweetheart and I went to watch a DVD for our date night and the kids went off to play computer games and watch TV, we all got a piece of the pie. I sliced it carefully, wiping the knife each time. I gave Christopher the first piece and watched. I was so thrilled. He kept saying "Oh! Oh!" and then.... "This is better than your Mom's!"

YES!!!!



Well, I don't think it was better than Mom's, but I sure think it was close. While I'm sad she's not here to share this with, I do feel a little closer to her for having made this. I think she was there in that kitchen with me, encouraging me in a way she never did... or never let herself when she was alive.

Thanks Mom, for being an incredible inspiration and encouragement even now.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, and I hope you get time to sit and relax and look through old cookbooks, and reconnect with the memory of someone. As for me, well tomorrow is church and then dinner in the crockpot... and then I need to make ANOTHER pie. My dear sweetheart wants me to make one so he can take it to work with him... the WHOLE PIE! Hahaha! What have I gotten myself into?


OH BUT WAIT! There's more!

Last night after watching movies, Christopher was going to bed and I asked if he wanted anything particular in his lunch. he said no, but that he really would love something for breakfast, and to have it sitting out where he'd see it since he never remembers to check the "breakfast bowl".

So you know what I did? No, I didn't bake a quick box of muffins... I made HOMEMADE BISCUITS. I am 39 flippin' years old and I've never made a batch of biscuits from scratch before. So, I got out the self rising flour, the lard (I had bought it to re-season my irons skillets), and the milk. I had found an old fashioned southern biscuit recipe and painstakingly followed it, right down to "do not twist the cutter as you cut the dough as it seals the sides" I didn't want sealed sides afterall! Then I put the little disks of dough onto that baking sheet with sides touching as it recommended and set the timer. Then I went off to watch HGTV. I didn't even think of them, didn't worry, didn't check them, nothing. That just added to the shock when I opened the oven door. I MADE BISCUITS! And they *looked* like biscuits!


See?! They look so light and flaky and yummy! I just knew they'd be hard as a rock and burnt on the bottom, but they weren't! They were completely done in the middle and they were very light, with even layers of flakiness. How did this happen?!!? I tell y'all first time baking them!


Aren't they gorgeous? Haha! Well, I fried up six sausage patties and made sausage biscuits for the girls and two for my Sweetheart to eat on his way to work. Then I poured myself a glass of sweet tea, got a plate with two piping hot biscuits and some butter and molasses and watched more HGTV. I was in Heaven!

Now as I type this, it's Saturday night and I should be getting to bed soon since I have to get up early for church, but I hear the leftover biscuits calling to me... and more HGTV.

Have an awesome Sunday and Labor Day holiday y'all. I hope you get to spend it with loved ones and enjoy the last fleeting days of Summer.

'Til next time!