Pecans

Sherry likes pecans. She really, REALLY likes them.

I don't think we're quite in her class of pecan aficionados, but our family enjoys pecans also. My dad loves to cook with them. He'll add pecans to every cookie and candy he makes. We can always find chocolate chip pecan cookies and pecan sandies at my parents' house. Dad also makes great fudge and divinity candy liberally laced with chopped pecans. Cakes, pies, puddings? Dad throws pecans in those, too.

One Christmas I made cornbread dressing with pecans in it. Glenn and I liked it. Everyone else said they preferred their pecans elsewhere - like salted, in the nut dish. Joan likes to make salad with lettuces, chopped Granny Smith apples, pecan halves, and feta cheese. At Thanksgiving and Christmas I make pecan pies and sweet potato casserole with lots of pecans.

The best place in Alabama for pecan lovers is Priester's. You can get pecans made all kinds of ways there, and various dainties made with pecans. David loves their divinity. Stopping at their store in Fort Deposit is a "must" if we have to drive on I-65 south of Montgomery. They put out samples of all their pecans and we love to taste them, then select a few to buy and take home.

We have a lot of pecan trees in our yard. They are old, and haven't been tended for many years. Dad is excited at the thought of all those pecans to harvest, so he's been fertilizing around the trees all summer and he thinks that by next year our trees will be healthier. They already produce lots of thin-shelled pecans, but they seem to be weak and easy fodder for insects, etc.

I hope to get some pecans this year - at our leisure. I remember Dad waking Chuck and me early on November mornings (maybe 4:00 a.m.) and taking us around Auburn's campus to gather pecans. It was very dark and cold - ugh! We were probably 12 and 10 - too old to think of it as a fun adventure, and too young to realize what a great addition to baked goods those pecans would be. We were just the right age to grumble at the whole process - the gathering of the pecans, shelling them (yeah, that was our job, too), and chopping them.

Now I enjoy our pecan trees and I'm so glad someone planted them many years ago.


Sweet Potato Casserole
3 c. cooked sweet potatoes, mashed
1 c. sugar (1/2 c. white and 1/2 c. brown)
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg

Mix all ingredients and put in greased 9x13 baking dish.
Top with blended mixture:
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. butter
1 c. chopped pecans

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

(Steve thinks it's better than pumpkin pie!)