Sharon, I just love pecans and am looking forward to trying your recipe. We have several native pecan trees on our property. Actually we have probably a couple dozen trees, but two are right by the house and easy to access...the one in the front yard drops pecans everywhere. The one on the edge of the woods drops them into tons of leaf litter and debris, so I have to search harder for those. Most of the other trees are way back in the woods and I usually leave their nuts for the wildlife. I grew up in a pecan-loving family. If the only thing I do is make batches of pecan pralines for family members for Christmas, they are just thrilled to death. They're even tickled pink if I just give them big zip-lock bags of pecans from our place. Our first year here there was a huge bumper crop of pecans in the front yard right at Thanksgiving. All my siblings, their spouses, my mom and dad, my nieces and nephews, my aunt, my cousin and her spouse and kids spent their Thanksgiving picking up Wal-Mart bags full of nuts. They even wanted to eat outside at the picnic table under the pecan tree. Apparently they allthought they were helping me out by picking up the pecans for me. When I told them to keep the pecans for themselves, LOL, they ran back outside and picked up more. I was rolling on the ground laughing at them! "Oh", they said delightedly, "You mean we can keep them? Let's go find more!" Clearly my family members know the value of a good sack of fresh pecans! I had the last laugh though. I was SO relieved thinking of them spending all THEIR time cracking and picking out the nutmeats, because I'd intended to do it myself and give the nuts to them for Christmas. Instead, they all got gifts from the store, and I didn't spend a month of evenings cracking pecans and picking out the nutmeats to give away. So, we all were happy! I still need to find and post my recipe for pecan cream pie like my aunts used to make. I haven't made one in ages and just thinking about it makes me want to make one right now. Dawn

momj74 LOL. So far I KNOW about: Blueberry pies (yes that's plural), apple pies (again more than one), pecan pie (and yes I've been asked to bring one too and she knows I'm a great baker), pear tart, cranberry bread, brownies, GF bread, trifle, TWO turkeys... I know we will be there for 4 days but I truly hope she doesn't push all this food. I'm on day 8 of 90 for WW (small goals) and I will be SO mad if I ruin it. I am going to take all my ingredients weighed out, mis en place and mixed if appropriate and bake at her house. Thanks for all the advice

I use a 375-degree F oven (they aren't picky, the oven can be anywhere between 350-425) and toast pecans for about 7-minutes (5 minutes for a hot oven and 10 minutes for a cooler oven). Just lay in a single layer in a cast iron fry pan or on a baking sheet or pizza pan. When I use a cookie sheet or a pizza pan I like to line it with a sheet of parchment paper, and then use it to "funnel" the nuts off the baking sheet. The wonderful odor and the nice golden brown color are your cues they are done. Stir them a couple times. Set a timer if you tend to wander off like I do...:-) I have to wear a Polder timer on a lanyard around my neck (a multi-tasker who tends to do too many things at once). The link below will give you a good variety of ways to toast pecans and other goodies. If you've never toasted your oatmeal before, it's wonderful to use in baked goods or making your morning cereal -- that's another experience you should indulge yourself in. Very YUMMY! Try Martha Stewarts oatmeal recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/toasted-oatmeal -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: 4 Ways To Toast...

Not up to making the wonderful "scratch" brownies above? Try these with either Pillsbury Brownie Classics - Traditional Fudge or Duncan Hines Family-Style Brownies. Both these mixes make a 9 x13 inch pan of brownies and directions call for the addition of eggs, oil and water. Cheesecake Marble Brownies 8 oz. package cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, softened to room temperature 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract 1 egg One 9 x 13 inch fudge brownie mix plus eggs, water and oil per package directions Prepare filling by beating cream cheese and sugar together until smooth - no lumps of cream cheese. Beat in vanilla and egg. Cover and chill filling until ready to finish brownies. Preheat oven and prepare pan per directions on brownie mix. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and spread in pan. Spoon filling onto brownie mix in 3 or 4 longitudinal stripes. Using a circular motion with a fork, fold some of brownie batter over the filling, working down each stripe. Then move the fork across the stripes crosswise, back and forth, to create swirls. Don't overdo it. Bake according to package directions, but a few minutes longer. Pale filling will be very slightly browned near the edges of the pan when brownies are done. You can prepare a double recipe in a 1/2 size sheet cake pan (about 10 x 17 inches), baking a little longer than directed on the brownie mix. Make sure the pan fits in your oven with a little room to spare first. If you have to bake a lot of brownies in a hurry, you can bake nut brownies or plain brownies for the kids on the upper shelf of the oven and the marble brownies on the lower shelf. The marble brownies take a little longer to bake. I recently goofed up and used only one egg instead of four in a double recipe of the marble brownies, but the adults in the crowd still loved them. I guess "gooey" does have some appeal at times. Kids tend to prefer plain brownies, though.