DESSERT DAY!!

I actually started the day as a sewing day.  But boy, things chance quickly around here.  My husband thawed several cups of sour cherries yesterday, hoping for a cherry crisp.  Then, he decided he just wanted the cherries in a sauce and he would go out and buy an angel food cake.  Okay, that is a doable thing.

Then, my son-in-law and grandchildren are coming over for dinner.  Daughter will join us after she gets off work, or maybe not because we are having meatloaf..........everyone really likes it except her!  It's my husbands, remember, he is the cook around here.  I am the clean-up person:-)

Okay, back to the dinner:  so he's going to the store to get angel food cake, he decides to pick up some canned pumpkin and evaporated milk and I will make 2 pie shells and have pumpkin pie.  Okay, another doable thing.  What he bought was a new pumpkin pie mix that I have never seen before.  I know there is already a pumpkin pie mix that calls for sweetened condensed milk.  So not really paying attention to the directions....cause I am use to doing regular pumpkin pie, I opened both of the evaporated cans of milk.  DUH.... cause this mix calls for 2 eggs and 2/3 cup evaporated milk!!!!  What the heck am I going to do with the rest of the opened milk?  Yup, here is where I get creative.

I already had 2 pie shells made while he was shopping, so I had an x-tra shell and I didn't want to end up making a cherry pie cause we now have angel food cake.  So, I found this chocolate pie recipe on the internet from allrecipes.com.  It has been many years since I have really made any cream pie from scratch.  But, I had a can and a half of evaporated milk left.  Let me tell you, this is a great pie recipe......very chocolaty and smooth.

                              3 egg yolks, beaten
                              1 1/2 cups white sugar
                              3 TBL. cornstarch
                              1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
                              1/2 tsp salt
                              3 cups milk (here is where I used the can and a half of evaporated milk, plus
                                        2% milk to make the 3 cups
                              1 TBL butter
                              1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

  Cream egg yolks and sugar.  Mix in cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt.  Add milk and stir gently.

Pour mixture into a large saucepan and cook over med. heat, stirring constantly, until boiling.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract.  Cool slightly, stirring every once in a while  ..........pour mixture into a cooled baked pie shell.

Really very, very good.

This is all that is left.........lots of compliments on this one!!

Now the cherry sauce.  I always pre-heat my frozen cherries and the juice, and cook a few minutes.  I separate the cherries, add the required sugar and almond extract.   I bring the juice back to a boil.  I then thicken it with some corn starch and add a couple TBLS of butter.    After I get it to the thickness I like, I start adding some of the thickened sauce back into the cherries a little at a time until I have enough for a pie or whatever.   This way I don't end up wasting sugar and extract if I have too much juice in the beginning.

Nice and juicy, but I am not a great fan of sour cherries! 

My husband and middle daughter like them!

So, desserts were a success.  Funny thing is, my husband and I proclaimed that tomorrow we were starting our diets, again.  He doesn't really need to "loose" anything..........but me, I lost like 40 lbs. in the last year, but this cold, depressing winter has me seeing some pounds creep back on.  I even went thru last year's holidays without any weight gain.  I guess I need more time at the sewing machine, or make sure I have something in my hands besides food!!!  LOL

Thanks gain for stopping by......... if you are the owner of a blog.... leave a comment and your blog address, I would love to check out your blogs, and I am sure other people popping in here would like to also.  I am seeing like 500 plus views a month, so someone is out there and they could be visiting you too.

Spring is around the corner........... I know it is.  LOL

Sharon