My Grandma is a Genius

This weekend, I went and spent a day and a half with my grandparents, who live about two hours away. My grandma has been my inspiration for MANY things over the years; she taught me to sew and encouraged my creativity; her incredible cooking, baking, and gardening skills taught me to appreciate the home-made and experiment in the kitchen for myself; and her love and care has always supported me, especially over the last few months since my diagnosis.

I'm not sure how long it's been since I just spent an entire DAY with my grandparents all on my own.. in fact, I'm not sure if it's ever happened before. It ended up being one of the best weekends of my summer, and I can't wait to do it again sometime!

So let me dive into the eclectic elements that made this weekend so wonderful:

ONE. Fresh peach pie surprise.
Although I love all desserts, fresh peach pie is probably one of my all-time favorites. When I arrived at my grandparents on Friday evening, my grandma pulled out a mini-pie that she'd made special just for me!! It was a complete experiment on her part, and it ended up, hands down, being the best thing I've tasted all summer! Let me share how she concocted this sugar-free marvel....

First of all, she used a small pie pan, only about 5" I'd say. She took a low-carb tortilla and trimmed it to fit into the pan like a pie crust. She buttered it lightly, sprinkled it with cinnamon and Splenda, then baked it in the oven at 350 for a couple of minutes until it was just barely starting to brown.

Once it was cool, she filled it with slices of fresh peaches. For the glaze, she mashed up one peach and cooked it over the stove, mixing in less than 1 tsp of corn starch and less than 1/4 c. of Splenda. She let it cool just a bit, then poured it over the pie and refrigerated it.

Now, I wish I had a picture to show you, but I don't. It was so good that I'll confess to eating the whole thing in 2 sittings. This marvel ended up being maybe only 12-14 carbs for HALF of that little pie!! (And that's with Light Whipped Topping!) I actually even liked it better than a normal fresh peach pie. The glaze was SO good, and even more flavorful than the sugary gel that you normally use.

TWO. My grandma's sewing haven.
I love to sew, something that both of my grandma's taught me from a young age. This grandma has an incredible sewing room built in her basement, complete with more fabric than any normal person would use in an entire lifetime ;-) We spent much of Friday evening and Saturday afternoon in this lovely little room; she quilted, and I made a new tote bag. I don't care if you're diabetic or not. ALL girls love and need big purses!! Anyway, it was completely relaxing and therapeutic, and I now have a Vera-Bradley-ish purse that was inexpensive and one-of-a-kind!

Amy Butler Birdie Sling Tote Bag Midwest Modern Sewing Pattern

THREE. Home-made berry jam.
After growing up with all home-made jams, I'm rather biased against store bought preserves. Using some sugar-free pectin given to me by a friend and a combination of red and black raspberries, my grandma and I made several jars of delicious, healthy, and sugarless jam! Hello breakfast love.

Natural ingredients and no preservatives! 

Nothing so beautiful as fresh jam!

So that was my lovely weekend. Not to mention feasting on fresh garden veggies, visiting the world's cutest antique/vintage store, and lots of coffee. Thank you, God for family and creativity!