OLD HOUSE HOMESTEAD

April 4, 2013

Turtle Pie

Welcome to day three of the recipe share from the Gooseberry Patch cookbook Game Day Fan Fare Early Bird Review!

When I told the kiddos that we were having Turtle Pie for dessert they were a bit hesitant. Hubby asked if it was snapper or box. Ha! Well rest assured...it's not that kind of turtle pie.

Two of our girls helped (they didn't get in the pictures this time) and they thought it was super easy!

Edited to add...
A few people had issues with it being called Turtle Pie since there isn't any chocolate in it or on it.

Here are my thoughts:
a) I just copied the recipe out of the book and made it. Sounded good. It was.
b) Sandy R. shared this on Gooseberry Patch's facebook page and I found the same thing on the internet. "Turtle pie came from an old restaurant chain called "the velvet turtle", it was an old school steakhouse that mostly catered to older people, lots of prime rib, beef wellington, Cesar salads and
so their signature dessert was a pie with pecan/praline ice cream and a caramel topping."

Now...you can't believe everything you read on the internet, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
c) If you have an issue with eating Turtle Pie without chocolate in it, by all means...add some chocolate. *smile*

Turtle Pie (page 216)

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. chopped nuts (we used pecans)
1/2 c. butter, melted
14-oz. jar caramel topping, divided
2 qts. (8 cups) vanilla ice cream

In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter. Spread mixture on a lightly greased baking sheet; bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until crisp. Cool completely. Crumble crust and transfer to a 9"x13" baking pan, reserving 1/4 cup for topping. Pour half the jar of caramel over crumbled crust. Spread ice cream over caramel. Drizzle with remaining caramel; sprinkle with reserved crust crumbles. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving. Cut into squares. Serves 24.

Notes:
*I cooked our crust on 375 for 10 minutes and it got a bit crispier than I'd like so keep an eye on it in the oven since temperatures vary
*Served our family of 11 very well with a bit left over.

It was very delicious! Think of it as a praline pecan ice cream flavor. Very yummy! All thumbs were up at our house!

♥ ♥ ♥

Want to win a copy of this cookbook?

Go enter the giveaway HERE!

♥ ♥ ♥

Be sure to go visit other

Gooseberry Patch giveaways this week over at

GOODEnessgracious.com

and at

TheCountryCook.com

April 3, 2013

Farmer Boy

Our little guy, Samuel, is 17 months old and I'm almost positive he's going to be a farmer some day. He knows all sorts of farm animal names and sounds. I thought I'd share a little video I shot of him last week. It was close to nap time so he was a little sleepy and when the camera comes out he gets extra goofy so this video is hilarious beyond words. Enjoy!

April 2, 2013

Snack Mix and a Giveaway!

Today is day two of the Gooseberry Patch giveaway! For more details and to enter visit yesterday's post featuring Easy Cheesy Bean Dip HERE.

Today's recipe is yummy, too! (I've tweaked it a bit here and there so I'll give you the GBP recipe and my tweaks, too.

Touchdown Toss (page 45)

3 c. doughnut-shaped oat cereal
(You know, the one that begins with C-H and ends with E-E-R-I-O-S?)
3 c. bite-size crispy corn cereal squares (Yep, starts with C-H and ends in E-X.)
3 c. cookie-shaped cereal
3 c. pretzel sticks, broken
3 c. graham crackers, broken
1 c. sunflower kernals
2 c. candy-coated chocolates (The thirteenth letter of the alphabett squared *wink*)
3 c. salted roasted mixed nuts
3 lbs. white melting chocolate, chopped

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except white chocolate. Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for one minute; stir well. Continue to microwave at 30-second intervals until chocolate is completely melted. Pour metled chocolate over cereal mixture; stir to coat well. Transfer cereal mixture to 2 ungreased 10"x15" jelly-roll pans. Spread cereal mixture evenly on pans; refrigerate for about 45 minutes, or until chocolate is set. Break into pieces. Makes about 24 cups.

That's our Rebekah...she made this! She's quite the handy-dandy helper in the kitchen!

Now...here's how we tweaked it!

Since we have some peanut allergies in our family we did a half-and-half sort of mixture. After mixing together everything except the nuts and chocolate we separated half in one bowl and half in another. We added 1 1/2 cups nuts to one bowl. Instead of using 3 lbs. of white melting chocolate we use 1 lb. It was very tasty! I think the 3 lbs. would be too sweet. It was the perfect mix of sweet and salty!

♥ ♥ ♥

Be sure to go visit other Gooseberry Patch giveaways this week over at

GOODEnessgracious.com

and at

TheCountryCook.com

♥ ♥ ♥

Visit Old House Mercantile for a little bit of something to make your life a little more special!

April 1, 2013

Cookbook Love!

The lovely people at Gooseberry Patch have published my Easy Cheesy Bean Dip recipe in one of their new cookbooks that will be out soon! Check it out over at my Amazon shop HERE.

Oh, and the fine folks over at GBP have given me a copy to giveaway! Scroll down for details!

Easy Cheesy Bean Dip

1 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 can bean dip
1 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 package taco seasoning mix or my homemade mix HERE
1/2 lb. shredded colby-jack cheese

Mix all ingredients except the cheese. Layer in a crock pot or a casserole dish 1/2 the mixture and 1/2 the cheese; repeat. Cook on low for 4 hours or so or bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with nacho chips, chopped tomatoes, black olives, guacamole, etc.!

Notes: Sometimes I add 1/2 pound browned, ground beef to the mixture to give it a little more protein. A lot of times when we go camping I'll take a crock pot with us and the ingredients. I'll pop it all in the crock pot after breakfast and it's ready by lunchtime!

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GIVEAWAY SCOOP!

One copy of Game Day Fan Fare will be given away!

Giveaway starts now and ends midnight April 10th

I'll announce the winner Thursday April 11th

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