weekend ranch guests...

We had so much fun this past weekend with our Ranch guests!  The Darnell's are just the sweetest family...James, Lindsey and little Claire.

We had planned to visit them in Jackson for months....and months, but never got around to making the trip.  Now they're moving even further away to Tampa!  Atleast now, maybe we can find a good excuse to make a beach trip!

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day, so we spent lots of time outside catching up and more importantly, playing with Claire. 

This little girl is something!  She is the sweetest and happiest thing!  She really liked being at the ranch and meeting us for the first time!

Chams and James fired up the smoker and we enjoyed fabulous ribs and chicken.  There's nothing like it on a pretty, spring-like day!

I've mentioned it before, but it's worth saying again...my Chams can throw down on some smoked meats.  The ribs on Saturday were his best yet!  So tender and juicy.  They fell right off of the bone.  It's definitely one of his many talents!!

I would like to think that cooking is a talent of mine, but this weekend's dessert would prove otherwise.  Maybe I just love cooking, and it's not really a talent.  Anyways...we made Garden and Gun's pecan pie for Thanksgiving, and it was absolutely a-mazing so we decided it would be perfect for our friends.  I'm not sure if it was the flour (it was pretty old), the vanilla (I didn't have enough), or I didn't mix it well enough (I got impatient), but it was a complete flop.

I want to share the recipe anyway, because it was absolutely wonderful the first time!

Garden & Gun Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cups dark corn syrup
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 ½ tsp. all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. bourbon
1 ½ tbsp. melted sweet butter
1 ¾ cups pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a hand mixer, combine sugar, syrup, salt, flour, and eggs, mixing well. Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into unbaked pie shell.  Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes (a toothpick inserted in center should come out relatively clean).  Remove from oven and place on cooling rack, allowing pie to rest for 2 to 3 hours to set. 

Everyone said they loved the pie which made me feel a little better, but I knew it wasn't the best.  When sugary somethings get stuck in your teeth, you know it's not exactly right!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends!  We were very thankful to share the ranch with them for the weekend and spend time with them before their move south.  We can't wait to visit them at their new "ranch" sometime soon!!!