Thanksgiving 2008

We spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house for the first time in our 9 years of marriage. My parents have always lived too far away to justify visiting for Thanksgiving or else they've come to our house for the holiday. Now that they live only 3 hours away, we're so glad that we get see them alot more often. It was a fun weekend with lots of good food, family, and laughs. From now on, Thanksgiving at my folk's house may just have to be a yearly event, especially if my mom is gonna spoil us by baking us each our own pie - yum! And my pie of choice was...

I have always loved cherry pie and request this for my birthday, thanksgiving, mother's day - basically anytime I can get away with it since Jake doesn't like it. The last couple of years however, my cherry pie has been better than ever which I attribute entirely to the fact that I have quit using canned cherry pie filling and have been making my own freezer variety. My generous sister-in-law Jennie has a cherry tree in her backyard and since no one in her family eats cherries, she lets me come, pick, and have as many as I want. Can I just say that I love her - and not just cause she lets me have cherries, I promise. Anyways, the cherries aren't even pie cherries but sweet cherries - double yum! The first year she gave them to me I made myself sick I ate so many cherries, so I had to come up with another way to preserve this bounteous goodness. Low and behold, I came across this wonderful - and most importantly - easy recipe to make freezer cherry pie filling.

Freezer Cherry Pie Filling
8 cups cherries
1 cup sugar (you may need to add more if using pie cherries)
5 Tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp. vanilla

Wash and pit cherries. Drain. Combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in cherries; let stand until juices begin to flow, about 30 minutes. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. Ladle pie filling into plastic freezer boxes, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Add 1/2 tsp. of vanilla to each pint container. Cool at room temperature, not to exceed 2 hours. Seal, label, and freeze.
Yield: about 4 pints.

When ready to use pie filling, thaw in refrigerator overnight. Bake in your favorite crust, serve warm, and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum, yum, yum!