Coconut Cream Pie

In a nutshell, this pie is incredible. It's creamy, sweet, and perfect for summer!

Ingredients:

• 1 deep dish pie crust

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

• 4 egg yolks

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup corn starch

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Topping:

• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream

• 2 Tbsp. sugar

• Splash of vanilla

• **Whisk all of these ingredients together with a handheld electric mixer until it forms stiff peaks. You will have extra whipped cream most likely.

• **Toasted coconut- I spread some shredded coconut on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

1. Bake your raw pie crust in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until it is fully cooked. Set aside.

2. In a medium sauce pan- OFF the heat- whisk together the cream, milk, egg yolks, sugar, corn starch, and salt. Mix well until it's no longer lumpy.

3. Put the sauce pan on the stove on medium heat. Cook and stir constantly until the custard thickens. This will take about 10-12 minutes.

4. After the custard is thickened, turn off the heat and add in the vanilla extract and coconut.

5. Mix well and pour into your pie crust.

6. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours. Overnight always works best for me!

7. When the pie is fully set, cover it with fresh whipped cream and toasted coconut. Enjoy!

Vegetable Soup

I grew up eating this soup, and it has always been one of my favorites! There are many ways you can tweak this recipe- add whatever veggies you like! The one thing you MUST do to get that delicious flavor is BOIL A HAM BONE to make your broth! :)

Check out my YouTube video on how to make this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCdw6NwvR7I

Ingredients:

• Ham bone and leftover scraps of ham (my dad makes ham all the time. Any time he makes the ham, we save the ham bone and any scraps of ham that weren't eaten that day. If we don't want to make the soup within a few days, we will just freeze it all and pull it out whenever!)

• Enough water to cover the ham bone in a large soup pot

• Salt, to taste

• 1 diced onion

• A 32 oz. bag of frozen mixed vegetables

• 2 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes (or any tomatoes you have on hand)

• 1 small can of tomato sauce OR 2 Tbsp. of tomato paste

• 2 diced potatoes

1. In a large soup pot, cover your ham bone with water. Add a good pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and partially cover. Once it comes to a boil, bring the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 2 hours. Try not to let too much water evaporate!

2. Take out the hambone and set aside.

3. Add in the diced onion, mixed vegetables, tomatoes/tomato paste, and diced potatoes. Now that everything is added, see if you need to add any water to it.

4. Let this simmer for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

• I serve mine with either corn bread or Ritz crackers! Enjoy! :)

Strawberry Ice Cream

This is the perfect recipe for the creamiest strawberry ice cream ever!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 5 egg yolks

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/8 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 lb. fresh strawberries (if you've seen my YouTube video on this recipe, you'll know that I didn't have this many strawberries!)

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring the milk and cream to a simmer.

2. While the milk and cream are warming up, beat the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl with a hand held electric mixer. Do this for 2-3 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and pale in color.

3. When the milk/cream comes to a simmer (don't let it come to a boil!), take about 1/4 cup of the hot mixture and add it to the egg yolk/sugar mixture. Mix it again for several seconds. This will temper the egg yolks.

4. Add the egg yolk mixture to the milk and cream. Cook on low for 5-7 minutes or until it thickens.

5. Pour the custard over a sieve into a large bowl. Add in the vanilla.

6. Cover the custard with some plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap actually touches the top of the custard so that it doesn't form a skin.

7. Let the custard cool in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours. I often let mine cool overnight.

8. Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor. You can strain the strawberries if you don't like the seeds. Add the puree to the cold custard and mix well.

9. Pour the custard into your ice cream machine. Make sure that the insert of your ice cream machine is completely frozen. My particular ice cream machine takes about 25 minutes for the ice cream to get fully frozen. (read the instructions on yours, because they are all different!)

10. I always take several strawberries and dice them up to mix in after the ice cream is done.