This month my family had our first family reunion in over 20 years! The reunion had been a tradition from it’s onset in 1927 in Iron City, Georgia. The black and white photo is of my great-great grandparents (center front) and their 14 children at the first reunion. Generation after generation looked forward to getting together once a year to visit, hold new babies, meet those who married into our family, and feast on some of the most delicious home-cooked savory dishes and desserts under the sun!

The reunion survived several re-locations over the decades, but somehow after the early 1990s it fizzled out, I’m sorry to say. The good news is one of my cousins took the bull by the horns and got things moving in the right direction once again!

Our family had a wonderful long weekend reunion in St. Pete Beach,FL with 65 family members in attendance! We were all so thrilled to be together! Look at all those smiles in our group picture!!

Each family was asked to bring a dessert to share after dinner each night. Here’s a favorite chocolate pie recipe which travels really well and is usually eaten right up! It couldn’t be any easier to make either!

Chocolate Pie

makes 2-9″ pies (regular NOT deep dish)
preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 sticks butter
1 cup chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sugar
2 unbaked frozen pie shells (regular NOT deep dish)*

Melt butter and chocolate chips in a sauce pan or in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave. (I microwave mine for 1 minute on high and stir, continuing at 1 minute intervals until completely melted.) Mix in remaining ingredients. Pour into pie shells. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Delicious served with ice cream or whipped cream, or simply just as it is!

*I accidentally purchased deep dish shells and had to increase the filling by halving the filling recipe and adding it to the original recipe. It was exactly the amount needed for two deep dish pies.