Strawberry Cream Pie for Granny's Birthday

We are back from our trip back home.  We had several things to take care of during the last week of February so we headed home to the cold weather of Georgia.  It was quite a shock for us as we had gotten used to the 70+ weather here in Jacksonville.  We had a great trip home.  Lainey came home for the weekend with her friend Nicole from Mars Hill.  This was the first weekend after the swim season finished, so Lainey headed home.

We also celebrated my mother's birthday on February 22.  Instead of a cake, I made a strawberry cream pie from the April 2012 issue of Southern Living.  The picture of my pie is below.  

The pie looks as yummy as it tastes. 
Ingredients

3 TBS Cornstarch
2 TBS All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Cup Sugar divided
3 Cups Half and Half
6 Egg yolks
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 9 oz package Chocolate wafer cookies
4 oz. Semisweet chocolate baking bar chopped
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1 qt. Fresh strawberries
1/4 cup Red currant jelly. 

Directions.
1.  Whisk together first 3 ingredients and 2/3 cup sugar.  Whisk half&half and next 2 ingredients in small bowl; gradually add to cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly.
2.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly, for 1 minute.  Remove from heat, pour into bowl, cover and chill for 24 hours.
 3.  Preheat oven to 350.  Crush wafer cookies and chocolate bar in food processor until finely crushed.  Stir in melted butter and 1/3 cup sugar.  Firmly press into bottom of lightly greased 9 inch pie plate.
4.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. 
5.  spoon chilled half and half mixture into prepared crust.  Cut 8-10 strawberries in half and arrange around outer edge of pie.  Hull and slice remaining strawberries and arrange in center of pie.
6.  Cook jelly in a small saucepan over medium head for 2-3 minutes.  Brush mixture over strawberries.  Chill for 30 minutes. 

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Another great treat for us while we were at home was to spend time with Katy.  We went house shopping with her.  She would love to live in the Decatur area--so if anyone has a home for sale there that is in the price range for a nurse who has worked for 6 months--let us know. 

We saw Dixie Swim Club at the OnStage Theater in Monroe, thanks to Clay Sims and his lovely date, Marion.  Patti Souther quite easily charmed the hostess to get us a table at the very crowded  Longhorns for a terrific dinner before the play.   We ran into Anthony O'Kelly while at the play--What a treat to see a former student! The play was great-- it's so much fun to see local talent.

After the play we headed home to discover Caroline had arrived with 16 of her closest friends from Furman.  They were stopping for the night, headed for a stay at the Suwanee River in Florida.  Her friends are very gracious guests.  We were happy to have them visit.

 
 
Romans 8:28    1 Corinthians 1:23-24