This recipe is from my dad’s cousin, Joann Vanderpool, who lives in Tennessee.

I look at her cooking almost every day on Facebook.

She posts today’s meals and meals she made a few years back.

I saw this recipe and thought, what a perfect thing to make for our nephew’s, Jason Paul, birthday.

Jason grew up in our household when he was young, around 4 years old.

The year I was pregnant with our daughter, Katherine; two of my husband’s sisters, Kimberly and Karen, asked if their boys could live with us.

So there we were, in a two bedroom home on Front Street, on the Rez, with 4 boys, including our Joseph, over the course of a winter.

Keith played the most pranks.

His brother, George, giggled at them all.

Jason stayed a whole year and we became quite attached.

To this day, Jason, is my favorite nephew.

I presented him with an Inupiat name, Oopik, which means snowy owl.

March is the 9th anniversary of my recipe column.

Nine years! Thank you all for reading, enjoying and cooking!

Ingredients

Crushed pineapple, 20 ounce can

Cherry pie filling, 21 ounce can

Sweetened condensed milk, 14 ounces

Cool Whip (or generic brand), 16 ounces

Pecans, ½ cup (optional)

Preparation

Drain the crushed pineapple in a strainer and then press to squeeze more of the juice out. In a large mixing bowl, add the pineapple, cherry pie filling and sweetened condensed milk. Mix well. If using pecans, mix in. Fold in the Cool Whip. Scoop into your serving containers, such as a pie dish or cupcake holders. I used a glass Bundt container and two small aluminum pie plates. Freeze for at least an hour or refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Remove the frozen ones from the freezer 15 minutes prior to serving.