My brother's visit & pecan pie

My youngest brother is starting law school! He was moving cross country and stopped by here to stay for a night and have some dinner. He had a stressul trip with car problems but he's almost to his destination...then he can relax, knowing me made it. But school will keep him plenty buyy so not too much relaxing...not thaat he's done that much lately since he's been taking crazy amounts of credit hours at school and working full time. We visited, ate dinner, played a board game, ate dessert and visited some more until too late. We were both exhausted...both that night and in the morning. It was a good visit...pretty short though.


Chocolate chip pecan pie is his favorite so I made sure to make one for his visit.

He brought a box of goodies from my mom. It had my grandma's dishes in it. I've always loved these metal, enamel coated plates and bowls.


This is an afghan my other grandma crocheted for me as a baby and a dress I wore as a baby...it's hard to believe I was ever that small!


These granny squares are from my aunt. She gave them to my mom in the 80's and she never did anything with them so she passed them on to me.


And I didn't actually ask about this dish rag but I am assuming that the same grandma that made the afghan also made this. I love it!


Back to the pecan pie, The only items I had to buy was the eggs...and I always buy eggs anyway. I used some of the pecans I foraged in October. I really do need to use them up...some still taste fresh but others, not so much.

I streamlined my cracking process of cracking by sorting by size. That way, I only had to do a minimal amount of adjusting the nut cracker. It took a lot less time to crack them that way...but picking the meat out of the shells is always time consuming. (I got this really great nut cracker at a thrift store for $2 just a day after I learned what one looked like. I wouldn't have realized what it was and passed it up just a day before.)

This pie is a family favorite. Every Thanksgiving, we used to each get our own pie...that meant my mom baked at least 8 pies...but there were usually a couple other pies as well, like pumpkin and apple. I haven't had a pie to myself in years and it's too rich for me these days to eat a whole one. I ate one that night and kept a smaller piece for myself but packed the rest of it up and sent it with him.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie


3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup Karo Light or Dark Corn Syrup
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pecans
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 350F.

In medium bowl with fork beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, Karo, margarine and vanilla; stir until blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust.
Bake 60-70 minutes or until the middle is no longer jiggly.