What Idiot Said Pie is Easy?

I decided to do something a little different this Thanksgiving.  I promised my sister a pumpkin pie, but I had never tried the recipe before, so I wanted to make a small one first, to make sure I liked it.  That led me down the slippery slope, and within a few days, I had made eight different varieties of pie!  (I also used the leftover meringue to make meringue cookies, but not until after Thanksgiving, so I didn't share.)  I used a muffin tin as my baking pan, so was able to make a dozen pies per batch.   The top crusts and/or garnish were made using cookie stamps.   Recipes are as follows (although I will admit that I used commercial pie crusts (Pillsbury) on all of them, except for the lemon meringue):

Apple Pie (and variation:  Dutch Apple Pie)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/apple-pie-recipe/index.html

(To make it Dutch Apple, just replace top crust with a mix of 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. brown sugar, and 2 T. cold butter.  Put all three ingredients in a bowl and smash it up until it resembles coarse crumbs, then sprinkle on pie.)

Peach Pie (and variation:  Peach Crumble)

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/peach-pie

(To make Peach Crumble, follow same directions as for Dutch Apple)

Cherry Pie (which you could also make into Cherry Crumble, although I did not)

http://www.oregonfruit.com/of.pl?pg=rp&rcp=Cherry%20Pie

Pumpkin Pie

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/smooth-and-spicy-pumpkin-pie-recipe

Lemon Meringue Pie

http://www.food.com/recipe/the-ultimate-lemon-meringue-pie-63712

Pecan Pie

I actually have my own old recipe for this one:

9" pastry for pie
3/4 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 c. light corn syrup
6 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 T. unsulfured molasses
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400F

Cut pastry into 4"diameter circles.  Place pastry circles in greased muffin tin.

(At this point, if you want black-bottom pecan pie, add some semi-sweet chocolate ships to line the bottom of each mini-pie.)

Whisk together everything else except pecans, until well-blended.  Stir in pecans.

Scoop filling into pie shells.  Bake until filling is deep golden brown and set.  (It took approximately 40 minutes in my oven.  If you think the crust is getting too brown, but the filling is not set, place a parchment sheet or foil over muffin pan.

Easy as Pie Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie

See what I did there with that title?  ;)  Yeah, I'm clever.  :)

Okay, after making this dish, I decided I didn't like certain aspects of it.  The "pie" was a little dry and there was just a little too much chicken in the mix.  So don't pay attention to the picture, pay attention to the recipe, because I tweaked it a bit.  (Also, pardon the crappy photos.  I am taking pictures in my kitchen, with poor lighting, and just a basic camera [and less than basic understanding of photography].)

Okay, so the history behind this recipe is that it is based on my mother's chicken pot pie (which I love), but I wanted to play around with it a bit to see if I could make it better and easier.   My first realization was that no way no how was I going to make a better pie crust than her, so I cheated and used a store bought crust:  not as good as Mom's, but MUCH better than previous attempts that I have made at making crust.  My second realization was that I could just dump all this into a crock pot (minus the crust), rather than having to mess with the original instructions of adding ingredients in throughout the cooking process.  My third and final realization is that you don't have to cube chicken that has been cooked in a crockpot.  You can just shred it with a fork.  Easy, right?

As with the previous recipe, you can make this your own by adding, subtracting, or amending quantities of items listed.  I am thinking it would make a wicked turkey pot pie.  You can also double this recipe (which I did) and make two pies, then freeze one for later.  You can also make individual pies, using a muffin pan, but you'd have to adjust cooking time accordingly.

The recipe:

You will need:

*One two-crust ready-made pie crust.  (I like Pillsbury.)
*2 skinless chicken breasts
*3 carrots, diced into small cubes
*1/3 white onion, diced
*1 can cream of mushroom soup + 1 can water
*pinch of dried parsley
*1/2 c. fresh mushrooms (canned okay)
*2/3 c. peas
*1/2 stick butter (1/4 c.)
*1 t. poultry seasoning (or be brave, like me, and just toss in whatever seasonings sound good)
*dash of seasoned salt

Put everything except the crust in the crock pot, put that puppy on low and leave it alone for 4-6 hours, or until you get around to it, whichever comes later.

Follow the instructions on the pie crust to make a two-crust pie.  Put the first crust in a standard baking pie dish.  Put in your filling (approx 4 cups).

Put the second crust on top, and do whatever you need to do to make the crust look presentable.  (I folded the top crust over the bottom, then just made thumb impressions all the way around.)  Cut a little slit in the center to let steam out.

I baked mine at 325F for an hour.  If you want a darker crust, you could bake it at 350F or 375F, but I would set the timer for 15-20 mins and check to make sure you don't overcook it.  Remember, all you are really cooking is the crust, since the filling is already cooked.  Once the top looks nice and brown, your pie is done!

Cut a slice and enjoy!!

Vegetable soup

The history behind this soup recipe is that it was given to me over twenty years ago by a woman I worked with.  The woman who gave me the recipe did not believe in measuring, so her written instructions included words like "sploosh of" and "splash of".  I did not like this, initially, since I am a very "by the measurement" kind of cook.  However, I have now learned that this was a gift to me; consequently, I am returning the favour by giving it as a gift to you, with no set measurements.

Not having a strict recipe to follow made me learn to taste the dish as it was cooking, and to add things as needed.  It also allowed me to put in more of the things I like and less of the things I don't.  I would suggest you do the same.  I would venture to say that there is no one ingredient in this recipe that "makes" the dish:  you could omit one or two things, or substitute them, and still end up with a delicious meal. 

This particular recipe, for example, calls for stewing beef, but I have made it as a pure vegetable soup by using vegetable bouillon and omitting the meat.  I have also made it a meat-lover's soup by adding ham and sausage to it.   I have made it with bouillon and without. 

You can also play with the size of the veggies.  If you like chunky soup, chop them bigger.  If you like more homogenized soup, chop them smaller.

Make this soup on a day when you can stay home and taste it as it cooks, so you can get it to perfection.  :)

The recipe:

* 6 c. water
* 6 beef bouillon cubes 
* stewing beef
* bag of peas
* carrots
* celery
* onion
* potatoes
* green bell pepper
* bag of corn
* zucchini
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 1/4 head cabbage
* 2 cans of stewed tomatoes
* garlic salt
* lemon pepper
* seasoned pepper
* oregano
* 2 bay leaves
* white cooking wine
* Worcestershire sauce

Combine the water and bouillon in a large pot and allow bouillon to dissolve.  Add all other ingredients.  Mix well and cover.  Stir occasionally while cooking over low heat.  (Takes approximately 4-5 hours.)

I should warn you that this makes a LOT of soup.  I use a stockpot to make it.  If you want to use a large crockpot, I would halve the amount of water and those few ingredients that actually have a measurement beside them. 

One thing that I learned is that it is difficult to buy just the right amount of some veggies for soup.   Cabbage is a good example.  So is celery.  The way I get around that is to buy enough to make TWO soups.  Then, while I'm cutting up veggies for the soup, I just cut enough up for two, and toss the extra in a large zip-lock bag.  When I'm done, I have one stockpot of simmering, lovely soup, and one bag full of all I need (minus seasonings and meat) to make a second stockpot.  I toss that bag in the freezer, and I look forward to the day when it doesn't take me all morning to cut up veggies for soup!  :)  (If you are using a large crockpot and halving the recipe, you can easily cut up enough veggies for three pots of soup!)

Here it is almost immediately after all the ingredients had been added to the pot.  It doesn't look like there is enough liquid, but you'll just have to trust me.  You don't need to add any more water.

Here it is, only about 30 minutes later.

And after about two hours.  (Pardon the blurry pic, but I couldn't get through all the steam rising up.)











Give it a try, and I would love to hear from you if you make it, but tweak it to fit your personality!