Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

OK this is my favorite blueberry recipe. It is the recipe that makes me excited about blueberry season every year. It is also the dirtiest recipe card in the box. So.... you know that means it is the best one! I don't remember where we found this one but it is now a family tradition. We get this treat once every year.

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

2 (8 oz pkg) Cream cheese (room temperature)
1 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
Blueberries (at least 4 cups)
Graham Cracker Crust (recipe below or use a purchased crust)
Glaze
Whipped Cream

Crust - Mix 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs, 1 Tbsp sugar. Butter a 9" pie pan generously. Press crumbs on bottom and sides.

Let cream cheese stand at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours Then beat with rind until creamy. Add sugar and beat, add eggs one at a time. Beat for 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Fold in 1 cup blueberries. Pour into the crumb lined pan.
Bake at 350 deg. F for 30 minutes or until set. Cool
Top with 1 pint fresh berries. Spoon Glaze over the top and garnish with whipped cream.

Glaze:
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
dash of salt
1/2 cup water
1 cup blue berries
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add berries and water, bring to a boil, stirring. Cook, stirring for a few minutes or until thickened and clear. Strain and add lemon juice. Cool.

Variation:
Top pie with 1 to 1 1/2 cup sour cream and 1 pint blueberries.

Strawberry Glace Pie

Sorry for the "not posting"ness going on here. I got shingles and life had to slow down in a big way quick to get better.
Now I am less stressed, spot free, and ready to post some more fun that has been going on in the background.

This is my favorite fresh berry pie recipe. My mom has made it for years. It is now comfort food for me. It is great with any berry. I have made it with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

Strawberry Glace Pie

Baked 9" pie shell
1 1/2 quarts strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp butter
1 Cup whipping cream, whipped
2 Tbsp powdered sugar (optional)
3 oz cream cheese (room temp.)
1 Tbsp milk

*Wash, hull, and drain berries. Mash enough of them to make 1 cup.
*Combine sugar and cornstarch. Add crushed berries and water. Cook over med heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Mixture will be thickened and translucent. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Cool.
*Mix the cream cheese with the milk and spread in the bottom of the pie shell.
*Place whole berries in pie shell with points up. Pour cooled berry mixture over the berries and chill for at least 2 hours.
*Serve topped with whipped cream sweetened with the powdered sugar if desired. Garnish with extra berries.
Enjoy!

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

One of Bryan's favorite pies is Lemon Pie. (I never noticed before that I treat pie names like proper names. Aren't they?) Well I can't eat much Lemon pie because it has so much sugar in it, it makes me sick. It tastes great but is overwhelming, and I am not a fan of meringue. When I was little my brother worked for Marie Calender's and would bring home leftover pies all the time. I discovered that meringue was NOT whipped cream and that it was made from eggs and that grossed me out. I haven't liked it since.
This pie recipe is one that I picked up while living with my brother Joe and his wife Lee. It is a favorite of mine now. It is sweet and sour, lemony and creamy. It is just heaven on a plate I'm telling you!

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

1 Cup sugar

3 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp grated lemon rind

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1 Cup Sour Cream

1 9" baked pie shell (you can use regular pie crust or I bet it would be great with a graham cracker crust)

1 Cup Whipping cream

Combine, sugar, cornstarch, lemon rind, lemon juice, egg yolks, and milk in a heavy saucepan or double boiler. Cook over medium heat until thick. Stir in butter and cool mixture to room temp. Stir in the sour cream and pour into prepared pie shell. Cover with whipped cream and garnish with lemon twists. Store in the refrigerator.

ENJOY!

Sorry there isn't a better picture. I snapped that quick before dinner the other day and there wasn't a scrap left to take pictures of when dinner was done.

Buttermilk Pie - Oh My!

I saw a picture of a buttermilk pie over at Warm Pie, Happy Home. She promised to post the recipe in the next post but that was on Feb 1st and I couldn't wait any longer. I needed a worthy desert for Sunday dinner yesterday. Well after a little thought I KNEW that buttermilk pie had to happen. So I went off on a quest for a recipe. I searched blog land and food sites gathering information. I finally put together several recipes that I found and came up with a pie to try. One thing I noticed was that this is a Southern Pie. (the South does have good pie!) The recipes I found though fell into to lines. Northern versions of this pie called for lemon for flavor which would be lovely. The Southern versions called for only Vanilla. Well the South won out, A. because my husband is a Civil War buff, and B. because I don't have any lemons. :o) I gave the pie my own twist. I figured that anything with that much butter, buttermilk and eggs should be pretty good with nutmeg. I was right!
Another thing I noticed was that most recipes called for 2 cups of sugar, I used 1 cup and it was still rather sweet, even for my sugar fiend of a husband. So I will post it as I made it but will be trying less sugar next time.

Buttermilk Pie

3 large eggs
1 cup sugar (use more like 2/3 to 3/4 cup)
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
1 unbaked 9" pie crust
Nutmeg

Beat the eggs in a mixer. Mix the flour and sugar together (this keeps the flour from lumping when you add it to the eggs). Add the mix to the eggs. Mix until creamy. Add melted butter and mix well. Add the buttermilk and vanilla extract.
Pour into your pie shell.
Bake at 325 deg F for at least 1 hour to 1 hour 15 min or until the custard sets. (don't know when that sets?? I'll tell you)
When a custard is set it will still jiggle, it is a custard after all. But when it is done the center shouldn't jiggle more than the outside edges. If the center is still a little sloshy, then give it a few more minutes. It all depends of how deep your pie dish is and things like that. I baked 2 pies and one needed 15 minutes longer than the other. Go figure.

I had to fight my whole family off while this pie cooled. It is wonderful warm but even better cool.

If you look at the bottom right of that slice of pie you will notice that is a little bit slippy and could have used another 5 or so minutes but NO ONE was going to wait for that. The second pie was firmer.

Blueberry Pie

When did I decided that pie was for me? The first time I had blueberry pie. I don't know how old I was. I remember being at my grandfather's house for Thanksgiving. I remember being in the kitchen, listening to my mother and my older sister's talking and laughing. Then came the pies. There were so many and they were all so good. I already liked pie better to cake any day but when my mouth closed on the forkful of flaky crust, tart fruit, and sweet syrup, ... oh my I love pie! I knew I had to make pie. From then on I listened when pie was talked about, watched when pie was made, read about pie in every cookbook I got my hands on.
So in honor of that early pie memory, here is my favorite blueberry pie recipe. It calls for frozen blueberries which is why I love it but fresh can also be used. Just blend some up in the blender to get the juice needed.

Blueberry Pie

Pastry for 2-crust pie
3 cups frozen blueberries (unsweetened)
Blueberry juice (drained from the thawed berries)
Water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp quick cooking tapioca
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp. lemon juice

Thaw the berries and drain off the juice. Add enough water to the juice to make 1/2 cup liquid. Pour into a sauce pan and add the sugar, tapioca, cornstarch and stir. Cook quickly until thickened. Set aside to cool.
Add berries and lemon juice to the cooled juice. Pour filling into your pastry lined pie pan. Add a top crust and cut vents and flute the edges.
Bake at 425*F for 30 minutes.

This pie is great warm or cold, with or without ice cream.


I think my little peep liked it.

Apple Pie Filling for Canning - Tutorial - PPP

I have never tried this before. My friends Diana and Jill have talked me into giving it a whirl. Since I did have an abundance of fabulous apples this year I figured I would try.

So here are the ingredients you will need.
6 quarts of peeled and sliced apples (good sweet and tart apples)
1 1/2 cups Clear Jel
3 cups sugar
5 cups apple juice (can use water if you don't have any juice)
2 cups water
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt


Now for how to do it.

1. Start with good tart apples. Tart means tangy and sweet like Jonathan, Macintosh, Jonagold, or even Fuji and NOT sour like Granny Smith apples.



2. Peel and slice your apples. You can put them on an apple peeler, corer, slicer if you have it or do it by hand.



3. Place the apples in a large pot with some water and steam/boil them for 4 to 6 minutes depending on how soft your apples are. Take them right off the heat and drain them. Save that water to use as your water later in the recipe.

4. Mix the clear jel, sugar, juice, water, salt and cinnamon in a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. This will get really thick really fast.

(Sorry my stove top was filthy with canning crud on it all day from making loads of apple sauce.)

5. Add the apples to the jel stuff and mix well. Pour it into clean, sterilized jars and process in a water bath canner or steam canner for about 25 minutes. It makes about 7 quarts pie filling.


There you have yummy apple pie filling just waiting to be poured into a crust and baked. I understand that this isn't enough to make a pie. You will need 1 1/2 jars to make one good sized pie. So I guess that means you would have to use three jars and make two pies. Hmmm.... What is better than a hot apple pie? Two hot apple pies. hee hee

Scrappy Hot Pad Tutorial

This is the start of a group of tutorials I want to post this fall that are all easy gift ideas. I like to give homemade whenever possible and thought I would share some of my ideas with you.


I went into my sewing room yesterday to clean up after the Fall Festival madness and got very sidetracked. I grabbed a pile of hand dyed fabric scraps left over from wrapping my soaps and had the pile over the trash when I realized they could still be used. I dyed up this bunch of fabric using some hunter orange fabric I got from one of my friends. I had almost 70 yards of the stuff and only needed to make one hunter jacket. So I dyed it. I have been finding uses for it for years. Now what is left of it is used to wrap my handmade soaps.

Supplies:
Fabric strips 1" to 2" wide - just whatever you have
2 pieces of cotton batting or tight poly batting slightly larger than the finished hot pad you want to make
Backing fabric
thread
Binding fabric

To start with I just randomly sewed together the strips I had. They were about 9 inches long.



Then I used my rotary cutter and squared it up.


I cut it to be 8 1/2" by 9 1/2". The size doesn't matter. That is just how big it could be to get it all square. I have large hands and like a large hot pad when cooking so I don't get burned. I also like larger hot pad for putting a hot pan on the table.

Next I layered my top, batting, and backing. I cut the backing last to make sure it was wider than the other two layers. I do this so that if the thing shifts while quilting it, I won't find that the back is now smaller than the front or off center by a fraction.
Then I pin the layers together

Next you bring it back to your sewing machine and quit it. YES YOU CAN QUILT IT TOO. I just did stitching back and forth. Since I am no good and a straight line, I did wavy. You can do all kinds of fancy things but this is the easiest.

When I have enough quilting in it for me, I stitch all around the edge to make sure it is secure.

Then I square it back up again.

This is what the back looks like.

Then I bind it.

Sorry I won't show you how I bound it because I am a binding spaz but I will direct you to some great binding tutorials I used.
Sandi Henderson's Bias Tutorial
Angry Chicken's Bias Tape tutorial (all on the machine)
Heather Bailey's How to Bind a Quilt Tutorial

August PPP - Tomato Pie

I have to admit that the first time I hear the name of this pie I winced. Tomato Pie? Well it isn't a sweet pie. It is a wonderfully savory pie. I first saw it over at the Joyful Adobe. It looked so good I had to give it a try. It is well worth it!


I also tried a whole wheat crust. I wasn't satisfied with the results so I won't post that recipe yet until I like it myself.


Fresh Tomato Pie

Pastry for a 2 crust pie
Fresh tomatoes (skins removed, seeded and sliced thin)
Salt
Pepper
Basil (I used fresh and would use lots of it, maybe a couple of big handfuls)
you can also use dry basil, about a teaspoon should do
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cups shredded white mozzarella

Prepare your pie crust.
Prepare the tomatoes and dry them between layers of paper towels. I would recommend drying them as much as possible. The more water you can remove the better the end result will be.
Layer the sliced tomatoes in the pie crust till it is full.
Season with salt and pepper.
Chop up the basil and sprinkle it on top.
Mix the mayo and the cheese and spread on top of the tomatoes.
Cover the pie with the remaining crust, crimp the edges and make slits in the top.
Bake at 400 deg F for about 45-50 minutes.
Cool for about 20 minutes. (if you use a stoneware pan it takes a lot longer to cool)



***Changes I would make next time***

I would leave the top crust off. That would let more steam out. I didn't use near enough basil. I have adjusted the measurement above to account for that. I might even spread pesto in the bottom of the crust before I put the tomatoes. That sounds yummy!

Missouri Peach Pie - PPP

Peaches have to be one of my favorite fruits. Thus one of my all time favorite pies is Peach Pie.

On the way home from the Zoo last weekend I found a road side fruit stand with fresh Missouri peaches. I had to have some. We made Jam and saved a few for pie.

Missouri Peach Pie

Pastry for a 2-crust pie

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

5 cups sliced, peeled peaches

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

2 tbsp butter

1. Combine sugars, flour, cinnamon and salt.
2. Sprinkle peaches with lemon juice and almond extract.
3. Add sugar-flour mixture to the peaches and mix gently. Pour into a pastry lined 9" pie pan. Dot with butter. Adjust top crust and pinch the edges. Cut vents.
4. Brush the top of the pie with cream and sprinkle with sugar. (this is optional but makes a pretty pie.)
5. Bake at 450 deg F for 40-45 minutes, or until juices are bubbly and the crust is golden.
6. Serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream.

Pecan Pie

Hurray, I made 2 pies this month so you get another divine pie recipe.




This is one of our family favorites and usually only appears on Thanks Giving Day. However, it was Bryan's birthday this week and I decided to make him pie instead of cake. He loves this pie and really hates rhubarb. He kinda wanted to know why I was making pies that he hates. (because I love them hee hee). So in honor of his birthday I made HIS kind of pie and it is to die for.
Here are my thoughts on pecan pie. I do really like it for the flavor but the traditional pecan pie is so rich, sticky, and sweet that I can't eat more than a bite. This pie does not have corn syrup and other stuff so it is less sticky and sweet. It is rich though and a tiny slice is plenty. (unless you are a big pig and it is your birthday, hee hee). This recipe is actually a chess pie made with eggs, sugar, and flour. I love how the flavors blend together. I will be posting some more chess pies this year. There is a raisin recipe I have that can put you in a sugar coma. I love it!

Pecan Pie or (Heirloom Chess Pie)
1 unbaked 9” pie shell
¼ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup cream
2 cups chopped nuts

Cream butter.Add sugars and salt.
Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.Do not over cook.

You can substitute just about any nut in this recipe. My sister Jeanne makes this with black walnuts sometimes. It is so delicious. My favorite Thanks Giving memories are of me, my mom and my sisters sitting at the table after all the guys have passed out. We take a plate and nibble on tiny slices of our favorite pies and talk and laugh a lot. It is really good times.

Rhubarb - Orange Custard Pie

I don't know if Rhubarb Pie is an acquired taste but this one is the only recipe I will eat.
This is my mom's recipe and it holds some of my very fondest memories. As a little girl I was allergic to Rhubarb and would break out in hives if I ate it. I knew this would happen but I couldn't resist snitching some of this pie. It is that good. Tangy, sweet, sour, and buttery. It does everything you need a pie to do!
I have been craving this pie for months but there is sadly no Rhubarb to be found right here, not even frozen rhubarb. So my little brother Jon said that he could get some up in central Missouri and that he would bring some when he came again. HE DID! THANK YOU JON! So I made pie.

Mom's Rhubarb - Orange Custard Pie

1 Pie crust
3 eggs separated
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
3 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups rhubarb cut in 1/2 inch slices
1/3 cup chopped pecans

• Beat egg whites until stiff; add 1/4 cup sugar gradually, beat well after each addition.
• Add butter and juice concentrate to egg yolks and beat thoroughly. Add remaining 1 cup sugar, flour and salt; beat well.
• Add rhubarb to yolk mixture; stir well. Gently fold in meringue (egg whites). Pour into pastry-lined 9" pie pan. (make high fluted rim) Sprinkle with nuts.
• Bake at 375 deg F 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325 deg F and bake for an additional 45-50 minutes. Cool.

Here is a seal of approval.

My Nephew James couldn't get enough of it. It was good enough to lick the spoon when you are done!

May PPP - Cheese Pie

OK so I wanted to do Rhubarb pie this month but I can't get my hands on any Rhubarb so I settled for a cheese pie. It is SO good!



I got the original recipe from my Fabulous Niece Rebecca of Marvelous Pigs in Satin. You MUST check out her blog. I have changed the recipe just a tiny bit but will include the original information.

Rebecca's Cheese Pie
(healthful Cheesecake)

Crust:
1 1/4 cup crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp butter
Mix together well in a food processor and pat into the bottom of a large pie pan.

Filling:
2 cups yogurt cheese **
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 325 deg F.
2. Mix Sugar, cheese, sugar, flour, salt, eggs, and yolks well.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add sugar and beat till glossy peaks form.
4. Fold egg whites into filling mixture and pour into pie pan.
5. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to one hour. Cool and serve.

Sauce

2 cups berries (strawberries or I like raspberries)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp corn starch
Mix in a sauce pan and heat to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Cool and serve.



**
The original recipe called for
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup yogurt

Rebecca said she has also used:
1 1/2 cups cream cheese
3/4 cup sour cream

You get yogurt cheese by straining yogurt for a while. I have tried this with store bought yogurt and it didn't really work. I tried it with home made yogurt and it works very quickly. In about an hour hour have nice thick yogurt cheese that looks a lot like Ricotta cheese.

How to you make yogurt??
You heat some milk to 120 deg F. You add a couple of heaping spoonfuls of plain yogurt to it and mix in well. I use 2 quarts of milk at a time and like that.
Then you put it into a small ice chest. I pour boiling hot water in there first and then drain it out. That heats up your box. I put towels around the jar to keep it warmer. Then you let it sit for 12 hour or over night. Then have lovely homemade yogurt to eat. It is a little watery compared to store bought but tastes better and you can strain it for a little while and thicken it up that way.

Skillet Pot Holder Tutorial - PPP

I think I saw this idea at a dinner. It was so cool! I love pot holders but hate having to grab for one all the time when I am doing a ton of cooling where I constantly have to pick up the pan, such as when I am making crepes. I have singed a good many darling hot pads in the process.
Well here is my solution and a very clever on at that (not my idea but my version of it.)
I decided to make a skillet handle pot holder. This stays on the handle while I am cooking. I don't recommend walking off and leaving it unattended but you shouldn't leave a hot pot unattended anyway. :o)
After making several apron from jeans, I have several bits of scraps left over. So this is my material of choice. It is heavy, durable, washable, and free.

Skillet Pot Holder Tutorial

1. Trace the handle of your skillet onto paper to make a pattern.


2. Add a generous amount of space around your tracing to fill out your handle, maybe 1/4" to 1/2". Don't add too much space at the top or it will make your pot holder too long and it will keep sliding off. Cut out your paper pattern.


3. Take a piece of denim twice as long as your pattern is. Fold it in half lengthwise. Fold it in half again the other way. This gives you 4 thicknesses. Place your pattern piece along the folded edge and trace it with pen or pencil. Sew on the traced line. (By using the folded edge, the bottom of your pot holder is already finished when you are done. )


4. Trim within 1/4" of the sewn line.


5. Turn and you are done.


There you have it a pot holder that exactly fits your pan for quick, safe and easy fast cooking.

Avocado Pie - April PPP

Yes that is Avocado Pie and it is really pretty good.
Why avocado pie? Because my Flirty Apron Swap Partner Nicola sent me a bunch of Avocados and I have been trying other recipes with them.
Here is the Pie recipe.

Avocado Pie

INGREDIENTS:
1 (9 inch) prepared graham
cracker crust
2 avocados - peeled, pitted and
pureed
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 (5 ounce) can sweetened
condensed milk

I prepared the pie crust and browned it in the oven (the March Pie has a crust recipe)
The I put the lemon juice, milk and avocados in the food processor and blended it till it was smooth. Pour this in the pie shell and chill in the fridge till ready to serve.
I served it with whipped cream on top.
This is an unusual pie. The flavor is light and fresh. Tart and sweet.

Key Lime Pie - PPP - March

My dear friend Rachel of the Country Cupboard Bakery suggested the pie for this month. She said she had tried Key Lime Pie once and thought it was lovely and wondered if I knew how to make it. Well, no but I could try.
Rachel runs this little Mennonite Bakery just down the road from my house, out in the middle of no where in South West Missouri. She has the most wonderful goodies there. Here Cinnamon Rolls are famous and positively sinful!!! She also stocks Jam from Das Jam Shop that is a local Mennonite Jam factory. They jams are simply divine! I love them!

On to the pie.... When looking up ideas I had some rules in mind.
It had to be tasty,
It had to be easy,
and it had to have reasonable ingredients.

Here is what I came up with.


(sorry this is the only photo, I meant to take a lovely picture of a slice of pie topped with whipped cream and a slice of lime but it is all gone. Once we cut into it we forgot all about photographing it and just snarfed it down.)

Key Lime Pie for Rachel

4 egg yolks
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 cup Lime juice (key limes if you can get them and fresh if possible)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp lime zest (optional as lime zest can be bitter)
1 - 9" pie graham cracker crust

1. Pre-bake your graham cracker crust.

2. Pre-heat oven to 370 deg. F.

3. Combine egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, sour cream, and lime zest. Mix well and pour into your pie shell.

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

5. Allow to cool. Top with Whipped Cream, garnish with lime slices, and enjoy!

There you have it, easy, fast, and good!

Easy Graham Cracker Crust

1 package graham crackers (9-8 whole crackers), or 1 1/3 cup crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
Mix very well, pat into pie pan and bake at 375 deg F for 8 minutes.


Note: You can use 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime juice. If doing that, I would use lemon zest instead. It tastes so much better.
Also if using farm fresh eggs, you will not get a greenish pie. It will be yellow. :o)

Oh I almost forgot to add the squeezing key limes is hard!! I was going nuts with my citrus juicer until I remembered my garlic press. I cut the limes in quarters and put them in there. It still took a while to get 1 cup of lime juice but my hands weren't killing me when I finished!

March PPP - Carrot Pincushion Tutorial

These pincushions just make me happy! I love carrots.


This should be a fast, easy, and painless tutorial. (if I don't talk too much)

1. Make yourself a carrot template. You want a pie shaped piece. The angle of this triangle is about 45 deg. The sides are 9 inches long and the top is about 7 inches across. These are abouts. You want to make sure that the top side is curved like a pie piece though.


2. Cut out your carrot.



3. Fold the carrot in half and stitch along the long side. 1/4" seam allowance.



4. Turn the carrot right side out. To get the point you are really going to have to dig it out with a pin or something. Be careful and don't push too hard and rip you carrot tip.



5. Stuff the carrot. Start by putting tiny pieces in there and packing them in tight. You can then add bigger pieces but pack them in tight and keep squeezing and re-shaping the carrot as you go. You really want it tight.


6. Take strong thread and make a gathering stitch across the top of the carrot. Pull it tight and stitch it in place and tie it off.



7. Tear off a strip of green fabric about 1" by about 12". Fold it in half and knot it near the ends.



8. Stitch the carrot stem in place securely.


You're done!