It's Pecan Pie Day Y'all!!

When I discovered this pecan pie recipe, I filed it away to share with you today. I'm out of town for a few days, and I'm not sure if I'll spend any time baking, but this one is definitely on my "to bake" list. If you know anything about me, you know I'm a lover of pecans, cream cheese and caramel, so combining these three flavors in a pie crust is something I'm really looking forward to. I have a wonderful Pecan Pie Cheesecake recipe that I usually make for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but this one is so much easier and faster. According to stats from The Georgia Pecan Commission, my home state produces 88 million pounds of pecans each year--enough to make 176 million pies. I'm now wondering how many of those 88 million pounds can be directly connected to me. Very likely, many more pounds than I'm willing to admit!! LOL

In honor of National Pecan Pie Day, here's the recipe. I know I'll be making a couple of changes by using salted caramel and making my own crust. Enjoy!!

Caramel-Pecan Cheesecake Pie


Sheila Denise

P.S. While you're checking out The Georgia Pecan Commission's site, browse through their great recipes.

Thursday Treasure - Cookie Love

This is one of those days where I'm not posting about what I had originally planned to talk about. I know I'm not the only one who falls into this mind-changing category, so don't give me that look. ;-)

Today's treasure popped up last night as I was preparing to fulfill a cookie request. My instructions were to make just any kind of cookie. Say what?? I mean, I received absolutely NO guidance...zero, el zippo, nada. So in traditional TSE fashion, I stood looking into the pantry waiting for something to fall into my hands to help me make a decision. Sadly, that didn't happen--I actually had to REACH into the pantry and this is what I pulled out.

The red chips are cherry flavored. I discovered these little red goodies in January while stalking the shelves at Super Target and thought I'd add them to pancakes for Briana, my four year old great niece or possibly use them for Valentines. A cookie never occurred to me, since I'm more of a Plain Jane cookie type. Well, I've officially changed my mind. Anywho, I thought the cherry chips would go well with white chocolate and pecans, so that's where I went with it. I must say, I am quite pleased with the outcome. Just the right balance of flavors. Since I'm not enamored with chocolate, I'm not a fan of the old school chocolate chip cookie and I wasn't sure if I'd actually like this one. Give me a simple shortbread, vanilla or lemon cookie and I'm a happy girl...until last night. This cookie is now on my Cookie-With-Stuff-In-It list. I'd like to introduce you to my friend. Her name is Cherry-White Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie.

The recipe is super easy and you can find it here. If you've ever followed the Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe, it'll look extremely familiar, because it's the same thing. I simply used 1 cup each of the chips.

Now that I have a multi-faceted cookie to add to my list of favorites, I've decided to nominate it for the Thursday Treasure Award.

While I'm munching, I'd love to hear about your favorite cookie.

Sheila Denise

Spinach Salad...Simple & Delicious

A couple of weeks ago, an opportunity was presented that has allowed me to reconnect with many people whom I hadn't been afforded the time to truly relate to on the level that I would prefer. So in my excitement of hanging out and reconnecting, it occurred to me on Sunday that I have been eating and drinking like a celebrating idiot. I've probably eaten enough over the last couple of weeks to feed a frugal family of four--mind you, I'm not ashamed of this fact, but the truth is, I need to do a better job of making better decisions regarding food. Yes, I'm sure you noticed that I didn't mention drinking, that's because I ain't changing my "drankin" habits.

In efforts to eat better, I decided to visit one of my favorite markets for fresh produce, seafood, cheeses, coffees, desserts (that I didn't purchase) and practically everything else under the sun. This place is Your Dekalb Farmers Market, in Decatur. This place is simply a sight to behold and well worth the trip. I would have taken pics for y'all but they don't allow cameras, so you'll just have to take my word for it or go see for yourself. Besides having almost everything I needed to stock my fridge with freshness, the prices are fantastic!! I always leave wondering if they forgot to ring up half of my purchase.

In honor of my first day of "being good" with my eating habits, I decided to make a Spinach Salad. You know the green stuff that many people overlook on salad bars...yep that stuff. This is one of the simplest salads to make. You only need a few ingredients.

Spinach
Strawberries
Pecans
Red/Purple Onion
Goat Cheese or Bleu Cheese

Add a basic vinaigrette and dinner is served. Tonight, I used EVOO, strawberry balsamic vinegar, stone ground mustard, honey, coarsely ground black pepper and this was the perfect combination to bring all the salad ingredients together.

Y'all pretty much know by now that, besides baking, I'm not a measuring kinda girl, so I have no idea how much of each ingredient I used to make the dressing, but I can tell you that the best mixing method is a good old-fashioned mason jar--I used a recycled Classico Pesto jar. I know what you're thinking... on top of being really cute, I'm rather crafty huh??

Please send good vibes in my quest for better eating.

Sheila Denise