Splendid Mayhem: Apple & Pear Pie

Welcome To Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Apple & Pear Pie

Ok, I have to brag :) I LOVE making new things and I love it even more when the new things turn out fabulous! Tonight was one of those nights!! I made an Apple & Pear Pie for dessert. It was wonderful! I'm sharing the recipe with you!

Apple & Pear Pie
3/4 c cushed Nilla Wafers (about 24 wafers)
1/4 c Packed brown sugar
1/2 stick melted butter (1/4 c)
1 ready to use refridgerated pie crust
4 oz cream cheese (1/4 block)
2 large apples (I used granny smith) - peeled & sliced
1 large pear (mine was green, haha) - peeled & sliced
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Cool Whip or ice cream for the top

Preheat oven to 375. Mix wafer crumbs, brown sugar, and butter until well blended; set aside.

Place pie crust in 9 inch pie plate. Spread cream cheese carefully onto bottom of crust (I softened mine first) Sprinkle with half the crumb mix. Combine fruit in large bowl. Add sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Toss to coat. Pour into pie shell. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs mix. (I made to batches of crumb mix and used 1/4 under the fruit and 3/4 as topping)

Bake 35 minutes or until fruit is tender and crust is lightly browned. I put foil around the crust edges after it'd been in the oven for about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Serve with cool whip or ice cream :) ENJOY!

If you happen to make this, will you come back and comment about it? You don't have to comment on this post, I just want to know what you think about it! I love it! It's very sweet though.