Honey Pecan Pie

I can't help it. If it is front of me, I will take a bite...slice...half...okay maybe eat the whole thing.

Honey Pecan Pie!!!!

Is that bad??

I have a lot of things in the works for "Queen Bee in the Kitchen" coming soon to your computer.

Stay in touch with my blog, or if you are on twitter, follow me :)

You'll be happy you did...promise.


I'll be posting recipes with honey this week to make your holiday meal sweeter!



Happy Thanksgiving and love,

Queen Bee in the Kitchen

Honey Pecan Pie

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)
• TOPPING:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1-1/2 cups pecan halves

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the eggs, pecans, corn syrup, sugars, butter, vanilla and salt. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
• In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and honey until combined. Stir in pecan halves until coated. Spoon over pie.
• Bake 15-20 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate leftovers.

Vanilla Extract

I know this isn't a recipe for something with Honey...

But...

I use Vanilla Extract so much that my friend Diane, who has a wheat business shared her recipe with me to make my own! It is WONDERFUL and if you can find some really cool vintage bottles you can give them away as Christmas gifts! :)

Here is what you do...

1.75 Liters of Vodka (any Brand, I used the cheapest I could find)

20 Vanilla beans ( I bought them on Ebay fresh and sealed for about $10)

put all the vanilla beans into the vodka bottle ( you have to pour out some of the vodka...or drink it :)

Put cap back on let it sit for 30 days, shaking it once in a while then when ready, strain vodka in a big bowl taking out vanilla beans.

slice vanilla beans open and scrap all seeds out and put back into vodka extract and stir in bowl.

Either funnel back into vodka bottle or pour into individual bottles!!!

WHALLA!!! Your own Vanilla Extract!!

To everything there is a season...

I went to take the trash out this morning and noticed "our Charlotte" was not gracefully hanging in the center of her web. This has become a normal site for us for the past two months. I noticed yesterday something wasn't right with her. She was kind of "coiled" up. Her legs are usually spread wide and she looked enormous!

But today was a different day....

I looked on the ground around her web and there she was.

Barely alive.

My heart hurt.

This pretty, creepy, thing had kind of become an attraction for our family, friends, and those of you who check in on my blog. My girls and I are so sad. We had a little goodbye for her and put her on a leaf under my tea rose bushes that are about to bloom again. This is what came to mind...

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

My five year old asked me if she was going to the "Spider God". (I love my girl!) "No, I said." Perfect chance to tell her how OUR great God made that great big spider for us to look at and enjoy for the past few months. But, how we are only here for a precious time and then we go back to Jesus...where we will live forever and there will be no more death. She liked that. She asked if we would see "our Charlotte" in heaven. "Yes" I replied. The way I figure it is, even if that may or may not be true...I have a feeling when we get to heaven and are standing with our savior, we may not remember the "death of our Charlotte", but I am certain will remember the promises of our Great God, and rejoice in the eternal life with Him.

A Wednesday afternoon...

I have been very productive today...

I have been trying to get my house together for the past few days. Its not working but I am still pretending that I am doing a good job. The dang "stealing sock fairy" continues to run my laundry room so I am just going to let my kids wear two different socks everyday. At least they will have them on right?? :)

Squash is really in right now so I found a recipe for a soup (we are really into warm soup right now...b/c I am so enjoying the southern fall weather of Oct/Nov) So here is a recipe for some Butternut Squash soup. I am suggesting that you use an early local honey in this one. I am thinking a darker honey might be a little strong ...but I could be wrong. Did I just say I could be wrong???? NAAAAAA!

Butternut Squash Soup with Honey

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 potato, peeled and diced
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
• 3 cans (14.5 oz. each) chicken broth
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
• Salt and pepper, to taste

In large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in onions and garlic. Cook and stir until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in carrots, celery, potatoes, squash, chicken broth, honey and thyme. Bring mixture to boil; reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Transfer mixture to blender or food processor; process until smooth. Return pureed soup to pot.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat until hot and serve.

These are the days...

Trick or Treat...

We had so much fun last night...my little Mayberry of a town celebrates trick or treating during the week if Halloween falls on a weekend night. The reason for this is football season. Nothing can get in the way of attending a Friday night high school game or College game day on Saturday!

First Sophia wanted to be "tigress" from Kung Fu Panda....but by trick or treat time she was a Jaguar. (I don't know where the heck a jaguar came from, but she looked really cool)

Then Stella was set on being a snake....but I couldn't find a snake costume. ANYWHERE! So she settled for a dragon...that kid is hysterical. You know when there is going to be "that one" in your family that is just a natural at being funny...That is Stella. I live to see what she is going to do or say next.

I love seeing my kids excited about something! Christmas Morning, Easter Morning, Fireworks on the 4th and HALLOWEEN!...these are the days.

Thank you Lord, for another day with my family.

Do you like Almonds....

I watched "The Last Beekeeper" on Planet Earth this morning while my kids were still asleep. I have been walking around with such a heavy heart all day. Does anyone really see what is happening....

This annual bee migration isn't just a curiosity; it's the glue that holds much of modern agriculture together. Without the bees' pollination services, California's almond trees — the state's top export crop — would produce 40 pounds of almonds per acre; with the bees, they can generate 2,400 pounds. Honeybees provide the same service for more than 100 other crops, from lettuce to cranberries to oranges to canola, up and down the West Coast.

This was just a paragraph of the thousands that are being written about the honeybee and the Colony Collapse Disorder. Our Life as we know it would drastically change for the worse. Bees pollinate so much of what we eat in this country and around the world.

In the next few weeks...I will be gathering up information and hopefully have a new website up for my life with bees and what we can all do to partipate in helping this creature that has brought so much fun and joy in my life.

and remember...

“The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others” Saint John Chrysostom

Got em'

The thing that is really disturbing about this picture is that my 3 and 5 year old girly girls were so excited to see that "our Charlotte" got some breakfast this morning.

MMMM....Grasshopper!

We were getting a little concerned that we were going to have to throw her a couple of moths here soon. We hadn't seen anything in her monstrous web lately. She has been hanging out side our house for close to 7 weeks now. She moves around a little. First it was in front of our bay window, then the side of the house, now she is near our bedroom window....yes, it kinda worries me that she may somehow sneak in and this Golden Orb Weaver will crawl up my leg at night!!!!! I think she is pretty outside but the truth is, if she enters inside my house....well, you know what will happen to her!

Sugar cookies

they actually remind me more of Christmas...you know with the color sprinkles on top...but today I made some! I found them on another blog:

http://bakingblonde.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/honey-sugar-cookies/


Put something Octoberish on them instead of Christmasee...are those even words??? Anyway...enjoy!

Honey Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar (for rolling)

Preheat oven to 300. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl combine flour, soda, and salt.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the honey and cream well.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just encorporated. Finish by hand if needed. Do not over mix the dough.

Chill dough for 10 minutes.

Drop dough by rounded spoonfulls into bowl of sugar and roll to coat. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes until edged are golden and set.
Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transfering to rack to cool completely.

*I chilled the dough a bit before baking so the cookies did not spread too much. If you chill too long though the honey will harden and make the dough hard to scoop out.