What do you like to do with oranges when you have an over-abundance of them? Last week we became the grateful recipients of some delicious, tree sweetened oranges.  I already was able to can some Cranberry Orange Marmalade, but that only made a small dent in our inventory.  I promised you more recipes, and today I have a really sweet one for you, perfect for a Valentine's Day dessert. 
     Everyone has probably heard of citrus curds.  Lemon curd is the most well known.  It is delicious on scones or in a pie.  I have seen recipes for grapefruit curd as well. So, I thought why not an orange curd?  Of course, it turned out sweet and wonderful.  But, you know how I am, the gears started turning and I thought about how much we like chocolate with oranges.  Those chocolate covered orange sticks are a family favorite, and those chocolates that are shaped like an orange come to mind.  So, I thought, why not an orange curd meringue pie with a layer of chocolate ganache?  I hadn't really even made a ganache before.  It was so easy! If you haven't made one, you will wonder what you have waited for. 
​       So, lets start making this delight, one step at a time. 

First I made the Orange Curd.  After you make it, it has to cool for an hour.  During that time is when I made the pie crust and the ganache.  Here is the orange curd recipe:

After I put the pie shell in the oven, I made the chocolate ganache.  Here is the recipe:

     Seriously, that is it! So simple!  Depending on how sweet you want the ganache, use that sweet of chocolate in it. 
     After the shell is out and slightly cooled, I spread a thin layer of the ganache over the bottom of the shell.  I had enough to coat two pies. Then I let it cool a bit.

     When the ganache is fairly cool, spread the orange curd over the top of it. 

The final step is to add the meringue. I whipped up the 6 whites that were left over with a little cream of tartar and when they started to get whipped, I added sugar (to taste) until stiff peaks formed.  Then, I piled it onto the pie.

Now, you put it in the oven set at 450 degrees F for about 5 min.  (Well, as you can tell, I left mine in a little longer.  I got distracted.  What you really want is for the meringue to be set with golden brown parts on the peaks.)

     Now, you need to refrigerate the pie until it is set.  We had a little trouble waiting quite long enough, but the result was delicious. 

     There was enough orange curd for 1- 9" pie.  If you are wondering what I did with the other ganache coated pie shell, I filled it with chocolate pudding and topped it with whipped heavy cream! you can't go wrong with that! 
​        Now, for the rest of these oranges, I will let you know how my orange chicken turns out! 

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     My girls and I threw an early Galentine's Day party at Lindsey's house. Alicia couldn't be there of course, since she lives in California, but Lindsey and Maddy came, along with my two DILs,  my granddaughters (except Sofia, Alicia's baby) and my "adopted" daughter Charly.  Maddy and I decided to team up today to talk about our favorite ideas for decorating and enjoying your own Galentine's Day, because, after all, who enjoys a sweet, pink party more than a bunch of girls?
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     You may think that a post about canning at the beginning of February is strange. But, here in Phoenix, it is very normal.  At this time of year, people's citrus trees are loaded with fruit like lemons, oranges and grapefruit that they are begging people to come and pick.  We have been the lucky recipients of some of this bounty! I am going to give you a recipe for Cranberry Orange Marmalade that I've come up with that makes use of the bushels of oranges we have been blessed with. 

      I still had fresh cranberries to use up! Those little things keep pretty well, but I needed to use them.  So, I decided to put them together into a Cranberry Orange Marmalade.  It tastes really good! I may tweak it a little later, and if I do, I will let you know, but for now this recipe is great and will be delicious on bagels, muffins or biscuits. 

     We still have lots of oranges, so watch for more recipes using them soon! I hope you give this one a try! 

     Time for a thoughtful post! 
     Later this month, the daughter of some close family friends is getting married.  Her bridal shower was the other night and I wanted to get her something special. I started looking around my house for things I was given as a wedding gift, 38 years ago, that I still use.  Of course, there are just a few things that have stood the test of time and speaking of time, one of the gifts that I noticed first is this clock that we received as a gift from some of my relatives. 

     Throughout our marriage, this clock has hung on our kitchen wall wherever we have lived.  For 38 years, it has faithfully ticked away the hours, minutes and seconds of our lives.  I can only remember having to change the battery 2 or 3 times over all of the years that we have been married.  (My memory may be failing me, but seriously, changing the battery doesn't happen very often!) 
      As I thought about the fact that this clock has been the one that I have looked at the most when I needed to know if it was time to pick up my children from school, or if it was time to start dinner, or time for my husband to get home from work or time to leave for church. I started to feel a little bit nostalgic about all of those little moments that this clock has been there for.  I began to think about what a precious thing our time is and how often I have wasted it or under appreciated it.  I thought about some of the little memories that are only fleeting little moments, just seconds long, that will always stay in my heart.  Such as the laugh of a baby, a surprise hug or kiss from a child or my husband, a moment of dancing to the music or singing along with it, and so many more little treasures that have happened in this life of our marriage.  When I look at this clock, it represents the precious time with those I love and my recognition of how quickly the time passes.      

      I believe that this life is just a tiny part of my existence.  I believe that our spirits are eternal and that our lives will continue after death.  In our religion, we believe that we can have an eternal marriage and not one that ends at death.  So, while time is such a precious commodity during this part of our lives, eventually, in the eternal realm, time will mean nothing as we experience the joy of being with those that we love, forever, including those that have gone before us.  But, making the time in our lives now count for good is very important to us if we want to reach that celestial place. 

     As I think about our friend's daughter and her fiance, just starting out together like my husband and I did 38 years ago, I feel so happy for them and for all of the moments in time that they will be seeing in their lives as time progresses.  I decided that a clock would be the best gift I could give her for her Bridal Shower. (I think this is the one I got for her! I also love this one or this barnwood one.) I wrote her a note to tell her how I feel about it.  She may think I am just being a little silly and mushy.  You may be thinking that as well.  But, I feel blessed that time has brought me to this place in my life where I feel thankful for the times of my life and excited for others to be able to have their own experiences and I pray that they will use their moments wisely so that one day they can cherish those moments as I do. 
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