My Gardner Guy's Cherry Cheese Pie......

This has been a family favorite for years...and years...

In the past and still at times I have use store bought cherry pie filling. Now that I have a cherry tree I use our cherries!!!

Ingredients

• 8 ounce pkg cream cheese, softened
• 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 8 0z tub of cool whip or other whipped topping
• 1 store bought graham cracker crust, or make your own... 
• 1 Can of pie filling of your choice or if you have other pie filling use it.

Instructions

Place your softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl and add your sweetened condensed milk.

Add in your lemon juice

Mix well and allow to sit for around ten minutes before folding in cool whip

After folding in cool whip put into pie crust

Looking good!!!

Cover and chill a few hours then add you favorite topping and serve...

Taste as good as it looks!!!

TOPPING VARIATIONS

BLUEBERRY: Omit cherry pie filling. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cornstarch in medium bowl; mix well. Add 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons lemon juice then 2 cup fresh or dry-pack frozen blueberries, thawed; mix well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes or until thick and clear. Cool 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool 15 minutes. Spread over pie. Chill thoroughly.

CRANBERRY: Omit cherry pie filling. Combine 1/3 cups sugar and 1 tablespoon cornstarch in medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water and 2 cups fresh or dry-pack frozen cranberries; mix well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Spread over pie. Chill thoroughly.

FRESH FRUIT: Omit cherry pie filling. Just before serving, arrange well-drained fresh strawberries, banana slices (dipped in lemon juice and well drained) and blueberries on top of chilled pie. Brush fruit with light corn syrup if desired.

AMBROSIA: Omit cherry pie filling. Combine 1/2 cup Smucker's® Peach or Apricot Preserves, 1/4 cup flaked coconut, 2 tablespoons orange juice and 2 teaspoons cornstarch in small saucepan; cook and stir until thickened. Remove from heat. Arrange fresh orange sections over top of pie; top with coconut mixture. Chill thoroughly.

It's getting close to Pie Time....

The many Pies I am making....

This Guy is getting cooked today....

 If they only knew they are on the list for getting cooked......would they Run?

This week I am preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner. That Apple Pie Filling I canned makes for a great Apple Pie. The rhubarb and strawberries I pick this summer are waiting in the freezer to be added to My Gardner Guy's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!!! Those  Halloween Pumpkins....well they are going in the oven to roast...Like I said it's Pie Time.......Oh and Pumpkin Pie from our Pumpkins!!!

When I was a teenager I loved Baking. My Father use to say when you learn to make a apple pie as good as your Aunt Luella then you will have become a great cook. I so wanted to please him, so year after year I would bake him a pie. I tried many different crust recipes....then I found the one I loved, I have been using it for the past 15 years. Year after year I would wait to hear if I had become that great cook, baker or something from my Father. Finally, I asked him...."Hey Daddy is my Apple Pie better than Aunt Luella's...or as good...he smiled  and said I surpassed her along time ago!!! Funny what kind of things make us smile. I want to thank my sweet Aunt for teaching me how to make pies!!!

Pie Crust

2 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup of water

Measure 1 2/3 cups of flour and put into a mixing bowl. Add 1 tsp of salt. Cut in 1 cup of shortening. In another small bowl mix 1/3  cup of flour with 1/4 cup of water making a paste. Then add this to the shortening/flour mixture until it forms a ball...Makes a two layer pie, fill your pie with the desired filling of your choice and bake at 400 degrees.

July 4th Hamburgers for My Gardner Guy....

Strawberry Rhubarb pie makes a great July 4th treat, especially with vanilla ice cream!!! This is a picture from Family Fun....I thought it would be a perfect way to make my Rhubarb pie this year....sorry my camera is broke...but you get the idea right!!! I made three of these two for us and one for Aunt Trudy...They were beautiful and patriotic.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Link
My Gardner Guy...Grow, Create, Cook and Eat...: Rhubarb (the Pie Plant): "My Gardner Guy has left Rhubarb on my kitchen table...

As I stated in my last post I have been wrapped up in plans to remodel my kitchen. I also have been enjoying the company of my daughters and grand critters. Though it has been hectic with all that is going on we took the time to enjoy our July 4th with family and some tasty hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, strawberry rhubarb pie, root beer floats.....parades, fireworks and water fun!!!

I finally got a chance to test out the rhubarb barbecue sauce in My Gardner Guys hamburgers. Forgive me for not posting pictures of our great food...a week of fun, and oops... my camera is not working after a water mishap. But this is what I did.... I added about a cup of my rhubarb sauce, 1/8 cup of Worcestershire sauce, one medium/large onion, salt and pepper to 3- 4 lbs of meat. He likes it....I like it when he likes it...

Tip: Instead of Mayonnaise and Mustard as a garnish or spread try using cream cheese and mix in some sliced jalapeno peppers...

Barbecue Sauce Link
My Gardner Guy...Grow, Create, Cook and Eat...: A treat for My Gardener Guy!!! Sweet Marmalade and Barbecue Sauce ...:

Rhubard (the Pie Plant)

My Gardner Guy has left Rhubarb on my kitchen table...



This is what the stalks look like before cutting off the leaves...

See how big the rhubarb plant is this year!!!



For year's my husbands parents gardened; as they got older failing health took Margaret my Gardner Guy's mother; then the lot was turned over to us. Both of us came from families that had gardens so it's not a surprise that we have developed a huge interest as well as an inquisitive curiosity for all the things we can grow. Before us Margaret grew rhubarb. I am not sure how old this plant is but it blooms back every year, it gets bigger every year. I stock my freezer with strawberry rhubarb pies; enough to last through the Holidays. I believe we went through 12 pies last year. Margaret may not be with us, but each time we partake of this vegetable that is more used like a fruit I think of her. Thank you Margaret!!!

Did You Know?
Rhubarb, a relative of buckwheat, grows wild in China and Tibet, where it's been used to make medicines for centuries. It first appeared in North America in the late 1700s, introduced by a Maine gardener who obtained seed or rootstock from Europe. Within a mere 25 years, it was so popular with customers that it had become a regular offering at produce markets. Supermarkets generally sell only the deep-red stems, but gardeners grow hybrids with green or pink stalks as well. Although it's botanically a vegetable, rhubarb is used in recipes the way you would a fruit. In fact, its nickname is "pie plant."

I will make pies again this year, this week in fact, as well a my rhubarb sauce. This sauce is so delicious warmed up and served as a topping over vanilla ice cream. I also use it in my canned applesauce. I do not add any additional sugar to my applesauce as it usually does not need it. We have a winesap apple tree and they themselves are pretty sweet. When you pair the two, a little rhubarb sauce with my applesauce I call it My Gardner Guys gourmet apple delite. It is as good as apple pie and I make a super apple pie.
Georgie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
1 1/3 cup of sugar
2 TBS butter
2 cups of strawberries
2 1/2 cups of rhubarb
1/3 cup of flour

Heat oven 425
Mix sugar and flour, stir in rhubarb and strawberries. Stir until the sugars become slightly wet and clings to the fruit. Turn into a pastry lined pie plate, dot wit butter, apply top crust, flute or seal the edges... Cover the top of the pie with a sheet of foil, this protects the edges from becoming to brown while baking. Bake for 30 minutes, un-cover and bake for 10 more minutes.

Pie Crust
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 cup of shortening
1/4 cup of water

Important to follow these steps...
Measure 1 2/3 cups of flour, add 1 tsp of salt. Mix flour and salt and then cut in using pastry cutter 1 cup of shortening until the mixture is in small crumbs. In a small bowl mix the other 1/3 cup of flour with 1/4 cup of water until well blended and is paste like. Mix the paste into the shortening/flour mixture until it forms into a loose ball. Divide in half and roll out. This recipe is perfect for a 9 inch pie.

This pie freezes well (do not thaw before baking)...when you want to bake it add 30 minutes to the original baking time. If you are using glass pie pans put pie in oven while the oven preheats and add 35 minutes to the original baking time. Never put a cold frozen pie dish in a hot oven!!!