Summer's Last Hurrah

   Recipe For Summer’s Last Hurrah!

      There are recipes for all sorts of things, but this one is special.
If you try it, yours will turn out quite differently, I’m sure.  Taste means more than the touch on the tongue.
     Ingredients
1 Visiting celeb, best if you have not seen her in years.

Cousins

2. Well tended grounds, meaning someone has worked all summer in preparation for this event.
3. Lots of food and (there were drinks).
4.  Three handsome, hard working young men to cook and prepare roast chicken and pulled pork. (This is not easily found and may require some substitutes). One of these young men got up before daylight to get the pork buttes in the smoker.  Watching them work I knew this was not the first time they had done this.

Man In Charge

5. Lots of children, What’s a good time without children?  And there must be a baby with a big bow on her head.

6. Perfect weather, with tables under tents. Don’t forget table decorations..  7. Old friends to recall incidents you would rather forget.

8.  The chickens must have been raised on the farm with special organic feed.
9;. Secret recipe pork rub.
10;. And lots of laughter.
      Equipment needed
Large, stainless steel pans for the meat. Some kind of electric thing to keep the pork hot.

Rubber gloves for the fellows to wear preparing the meat.
Bearclaws (purchased from Amazon)  to pull that succulent pork apart.
White table cloths, (not plastic).
   My small part in this was pies, strawberry-rhubarb pie and apple pie.

Pies, cookies, Rice Krispie Bars, Brownies

It is tricky , baking pies for a carry-out.  So this is what I did.
Prepared the pie dough the day before, putting it in the pans and putting the tops between sheets of wax paper, then the frig.  My method for fruit pies is cooking the filling and baking at 400.  Others have success differently, but here is my method.
    Ten pound boxes of frozen fruit are available at my local grocery every August.  It is great having them in the freezer.  I cook about 1 cup of sliced, frozen apples, a little water, scant half cup of flour, 1 cup sugar, some butter and cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice until thick. Refrigerate.  The next day it is easy to add more apple slices to this filling, I thawed the frozen apple slices in the microwave briefly., fill the pie crust, apply the top, sprinkle a bit of sugar on  and bake at 400.  Bake until the top crust puffs up a bit.  It may be a bit juicy, so put some aluminum foil under the pie pan.  Perfect and freshly made.
   Strawberry-rhubarb pie is a great treat.  My skill in raising rhubarb is non-existent, so the frozen comes in handy.  In a large, heavy duty skillet I combine about 2 cups of frozen rhubarb, heat on low to get a little juice.  Take off the burner and add 2 TBSP. minute tapioca and let stand for about 10 minutes.  This will soften the tapioca.
   Then add 2 cups of frozen strawberries, heat until they thaw.
Combine 2 TBSP corn starch, 1 cup sugar, some butter and a bit of nutmeg.
Cook until thick.  Fill prepared crust, add the top crust  and bake until top is puffed up.   Enjoy, pie lovers.
   May your summer provide memories to last a life-time.