Coconut Cream Pie

I have been wanting to make a post about this for a while but we have been so busy with the Godwit Days birding festival that I just haven't had time!  There is nothing that will wear you out quite like driving around looking at birds from sun up to sun down.... especially in the rain!

But we got the amazing opportunities to see tufted puffins (which can only be seen from shore one location in California), marbled murrelets (an endangered species), and this morning I got a great look at the brown shrike, an Asian bird that somehow lost his way and ended up in Humboldt!  People have been flying in from all over the country to see this bird that is hanging out right by our apartment--how amazing?!
Here's the picture I took through the scope

The real reason for this post though.... was my attempt to make my own coconut cream pie for book club last week!  If you like coconut cream pie, I highly suggest you attempt this recipe because it is delicious and easy.  I used this recipe from Allrecipes but made a few changes with the suggestions in the reviews and I used wide coconut for the top just because I thought it would be prettier ;) 

1 1/2 c canned coconut milk
1 1/2 c half and half
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 c sugar
1/3 c cornstarch
1/4 t salt
3/4 c coconut
1 t vanilla
1/4 c wide coconut, toasted (on a baking sheet for about 5 min at 350)
whipped topping
pie crust- using allrecipes article for baking

The only difference I made in the actual combining of ingredients is that I slowly added the already beaten eggs once the mixture was slightly warm.... otherwise you can just follow the directions in the link!

Enjoy!