Oatmeal Pie

I have finally made the Oatmeal Pie! I've been talking about making this pie since our visit to Amish country last month. I did a simple search on Google for a recipe and came across one that claims to be from Charleston during the Civil War era. As most people know, pecan pie is a very popular pie, especially in the South. But according to this person, pecans were hard to come by during the Civil War so people substituted oatmeal. I did make one tiny adaptation to the recipe and added chocolate chips. I love anything chocolate and thought it would be good in this pie. This pie tasted so yummy and you feel slightly less guilty eating it because of the oatmeal.

Ingredients:
one pie crust
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (uncooked)
1 cup chocolate chip

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs until frothy.

Combine sugar, flour and salt in small bowl. (If not using chocolate chips, you can add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon at this point). Add eggs; mix well. Add corn syrup, melted butter and vanilla. Mix in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Pour into uncooked shell and bake for 45 minutes.

Weekend in Amish country

The wonderful thing about Charles being in the military are all the holidays he has off. For Labor Day weekend, he had both Friday and today off. We decided to spend Friday and Saturday in Amish country (Ohio). I've never really been to Amish country, but have seen bits and pieces about it on TV. Charles and I love visiting the country...it's just nice to get out of "civilization."

The fun thing about visiting Amish country is finding a cute B&B to stay in. We were lucky to find one with an available room on short notice that didn't cost an arm and a leg. We ended up staying in Sugarcreek, the little Switzerland of Ohio. This area of Ohio also has the largest population of Amish and Mennonite people. The B&B had a video and some books about the Amish and Mennonites that were really interesting. Visiting Amish country really made me appreciate their culture. They value community and family. They also take care of each other; if someone's barn burns down the whole community will get together to help rebuild it. I think this characteristic is really missing from communities now.

The only disappointing thing was pie. I was looking forward to trying shoo fly pie, which I've seen on the Food Network when they've talked about Amish country. But I didn't see it anywhere. I'm guessing it's a Pennsylvania Amish thing. We wanted to try Oatmeal pie on Friday night, but the restaurant was out. I had never heard of Oatmeal pie before, but after looking it up when we got back, it seems similar to Pecan Pie. Once I get all the ingredients, I'm going to attempt to make it (and of course share on here!)

If you have never visited Amish country, I highly recommend it. I wish we could have stayed longer, but hopefully we'll be able to visit again.