Rhubarb Custard Pie

Prepping for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I just pulled my pie out of the oven.  Kids are loving the smell of the house.  A while back, I said I'd have to share my recipe for Rhubarb Custard Pie (here's my recipe for Rhubarb Cake).  It's a favorite in this family.  We have abundant rhubarb that grows in the garden every summer.  So abundant that I'll happily give it away to those that ask.  Or don't ask, I'll push it on people.  I'm a rhubarb pusher.  Or something.

Anyway...

The sugar in the custard filling cuts the bitterness of the rhubarb.  I am not a fan of straight rhubarb, but love this pie.  I freeze rhubarb in the warmer months in quantities for making pies.  I have definitely taken pie on camping trips, too.  My MIL gave me her recipe and now I share it with you.

What you need:

Pie Filling:

• 4 cups chopped rhubarb
• 3 eggs
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp nutmeg

Pie Crust:

• Haha!!  I just use the refrigerated Pillsbury crust!  I used to make my own with Crisco, but I'm good with the stuff from the store.

What to do:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, sugar, flour, and nutmeg.  Add the rhubarb and mix together.  Take a refrigerated pie crust and line your pie pan.  Pour rhubarb filling into the lined pie pan.  Take 2nd pie crust and cut into 3/4" strips.  Lay strips similarly spaced on your filled pie crust in one direction, then lay the remaining strips in a perpendicular direction.  Fold lower crust over the pastry strips and press firmly to seal.  You will want to put some foil over the edge of your crust to prevent burning.  Bake pie at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then lower the oven temp to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 40 minutes.

Time to think about Memorial weekend!

The brown November that I wrote about turned into a white November.  It's been cold and snowy here in Michigan.  Winter came early.  Oldest kid has suggested that we get the Christmas decorations out and put away the Thanksgiving and fall decor.  I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel yet. I'll wait a few more days, until after we eat our turkey and mashed potatoes.

What better way is there to spend a snowy Saturday morning than by planning a camping trip?

This year, I promised myself to remember to book Memorial weekend 6 months out.  Usually, I don't think about it until sometime in January and I'm left searching for the best of the left over sites across multiple campgrounds.  I smartened up this year, I put a reminder on my calendar on the date 6 months before Memorial weekend starts, which is today!  Husband and I discussed where we wanted to go beforehand and we had 98% of the campground to choose from when I booked at 7 am this morning (my kids' early-bird tendencies do have some benefits).

So, be a cool camper like me, and book your Memorial trip.

Is it camping season yet?

Day trip to Bronners

Only 49 days until Christmas!! (Ok, I only know because of that sign in Bronners, I don't actually keep count)

Considering my love of lists, surely you know I'm already preparing for Christmas right?  Yes, it's November 6.  I know that.

My kids had school off today for Parent Teacher Conferences.  I work as a substitute teacher at their school, which means we had a free day today.  It occurred to me that we hadn't been to Bronners Christmas Wonderland in a couple years.  I suggested it to the kids this morning and off we went.

Bronners is located in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  It takes a bit over an hour to get there from our house.  A nice day trip ensuring we could get back in time for dinner and Oldest Kid's gymnastics class.  Frankenmuth is a fun town, well known for it's chicken dinners, shopping, and Bronners.  Today, we just stuck to Bronners for time consideration.

You're wondering where the connection to camping is.  I get it.  It's coming.

The world's largest Christmas store is, well, enormous.  According to the trivia card in the Season's Eatings snack shop, the store area for customers is 1.7 acres (7 acres total).  Ornaments are grouped by color, type of food, activity, occupation, animal type, character type, vacation location, life stage, hobby, sport, religion.  You name it, they've got it.  Then there's the area dedicated to trees, nativities, candy, lights, outdoor displays, kids, breakables (well, more breakable than normal ornaments).

They even have a section for camping!  (See, I told you it was coming!).  Santa in a camper.  A 5th wheel, a travel trailer, a pop-up, a tent.  S'mores.  S'mores doing things.  Actually, there were lots of s'mores ornaments all over the store to coincide with the theme of the display was.  I quite liked the marshmallow guy fishing in a graham cracker boat, sitting on chocolate.  Anyway, camping.  We already have several camping ornaments.  We found a marshmallow on a stick early in our shopping excursion, so we picked that up.

More info for camping, there is a private campground only a couple of miles from Bronners.  My parents have stayed there, but I don't know enough information to speak about it.

Depending on your proximity, Bronners and Frankenmuth is a good day trip or weekend trip any time of the year.  And you'll see a McDonalds made to look like an old German building.

Some of the ornaments we came home with

It's November

It's November.  I've been pretty quiet on the blog lately.  This thing called work kept me pretty busy.  Funny how that is.

The camping season is done.  Halloween has passed.  We're hitting the dreary days of brown November.  The colorful leaves are past their peak, what is on the ground are brown leaves.  What are in the trees are brown leaves.  Brown.

Halloween in our area brought snow.  Too early in my opinion.  Of course, I don't get a say.  My kids had winter coats on over their costumes.  I had my winter coat, gloves and my hood on.  I was thankful that my church had an indoor Trunk-or-Treat for the latter part of our evening.  And judging from the record breaking attendance, so were others.

I enjoy fall, I love the colorful leaves.  Halloween is fun for me, even as an adult.  I love apple cider and carving pumpkins.  I don't enjoy the dreaded winter to come, and fall means that to me.

The camper is winterized.  A depressing day, to say the least.  My lists are made for the day I get back into the camper in the spring to restock for Camping Season 2015.  They are sitting on the counter in the camper, waiting for their shining moment, unable to be lost in the months before then (let's face it, they'd get lost in the house).

While the weather is still mostly ok, I've been trying to get my running groove back, extending my distance back to where it was.  At least on my days off.  And maybe clean my house.  Maybe.

I'll share a picture a took from the park down the street that I took last week.  The brilliant yellow of the leaves on the trail made the forest look as if it was glowing.  Running in the glow, how can you not feel rejuvenated in life?