In the Interest of Pie, Books and other Important Things

Ruthy here!

First there's THIS:

Hello, baby cicada!!!! Welcome to the planet, dear.... Take a few minutes and stretch those wings!!!!

And not too long after that there was this delightful surprise!!!!

Dave's cousin Karen came to visit and hold a baby! We were happy to oblige her and it was so very good to see her!!!! Thank you for stopping, Karen! Love the baby updates!!!!

So life has been crazy and crazy fun here in upstate New York! We have resurrected our love of veggie growing in one of the wettest summers on record, and our veggies are requesting life jackets. Better we should have BUILT AN ARK!!!!! And we're actually considering that except for God's promise about the whole flood thing. Go you, God!!!!!

We're planning our annual Cousinpalooza, a day-long celebration of grandchildren and birthdays, food, pinata, bounce house, food, games, talk, oh, and did I mention food???? This will be the first time the entire family has been together in five years...

PHOTO OP!!!!!

:)

There's this:

I JUST SIGNED A SIX BOOK CONTRACT WITH LOVE INSPIRED BOOKS!!!!!!! :)

Okay, I had to put that in all-caps because I'm looking forward to working with Melissa and the wonderful crew on Broadway to spark some new series and finish one of my faves: the final Kirkwood Lake story is done! And I loved weaving Julia and Tanner's story, it got this hard-hearted author damp-eyed more than once!

Dave is growling on the couch with cellulitis in his right leg, poor thing, so I'm taking care of him and mocking him slightly. He seems to be immune to my special brand of humor. Imagine that????  :)

GRATUITOUS BOOK PICTURE, IN STORES NOW!!!!

Come on, you knew I'd give you a link, didn't you???? And this book is so stinkin' sweet, and the cowboy on the cover alone is worth the price of the book or download!!!!  :)  CLICK HERE FOR BOOK!!!

And seen on the VERY SAME SHELVES??????

There is this:

And this!!!!!

On the shelves with Jan Drexler and Mia Ross this month, how fun to share shelf space with your friends!!! Oh, happy dancing, big time!!!!

And I had the urge to make pie again last weekend, it just shouted to me from the back room, empty pie pans mocking me.... lamenting their empty state. I had to help them!!!!

Like the amazing triple berry cheesecake a few weeks ago, this is a triple berry pie. It was beyond good, it was wonderful, and everything a pie should be.... Great crust, perfect filling, not too ooozy and loaded with flavor! And: Simple ingredient list!

For the recipe for my FAVORITE PIE CRUST CLICK HERE!!!! (and then come back!)

TRIPLE BERRY PIE

6 cups frozen mixed berries (or berries of your choice)
1 cup water
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Minute tapioca

Put 2 cups of berries in 3 quart saucepan.

Add water, simmer until thawed. Mash the berries because you want this to be the "set" for the other berries. Mix flour and sugar and tapioca together. Add to berry juice in pan and mix together, stirring until mix thickens.

(This won't take long, don't walk away, don't chase a kid, ignore the phone....)  Add butter, mix in. Stir the other 4 cups (or 5, it really doesn't matter! I love berries!) of berries in gently, remove from heat. Those are now your "pie" berries.

Gently spoon into crust-lined pie pan,

add top crust. I like to have a sugared top crust, so I brushed the crust with cream and sprinkled it with colored sugar.... a sugared crust has a great top texture!

Fold foil around crimped edges, bake at 425° for about 20 minutes or so, until crust is just browning lightly, a pretty golden shade. The filling is pre-cooked so this pie doesn't take very long....

Cool and serve warm or cool with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

SO AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!!!!!

And then there was a very special birthday celebration for a lovely 4 year old girl:

Casey and Taylor putting whipped cream swirls on ice cream cupcakes....

Happy birthday, Mary Ruthy!!!!!!  :)

And then there's this: A one year anniversary this month, a time of grave concern in 2013.... Now?  All systems are GO!!!!!

Roman, one year later.... and doing well!

So that's how our week went! Celebrating little joys, some aches, a few pains (mostly Dave's!!!) but all in all, counting our blessings like clover in the grass!