SnowPie2K16 - 15

This week's pie is again brought to you from the Ann Romney cookbook. I loved the Simple Apple Pie recipe so much I decided to try her Strawberry Pie as well. My family loves strawberries. A lot. If I could successfully grow plants I would have a yard full of strawberries, but alas I can't even keep an aloe plant alive (though with renewed effort I have plants all over my yard/house right now that I'm really trying to keep alive).

This pie would be perfect for a spring or summer dinner. It's really tasty, nice and light. Sorry for the picture, we were hungry for pie, this is what you get.

Ann Romney's Strawberry Pie

1 - 10 in pastry shell, baked and cooled
3 pints strawberries
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Whipped cream or ice cream for serving (I didn't think it needed anything else...)

Clean and hull the strawberries. Thoroughly mash 2 pints of the strawberries. Stir in sugar and flour; set aside until they begin to gather their own juices. Place macerated strawberries into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil gently 1 minute. Cool to lukewarm.

Beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Spread the softened cream cheese on top of the prepared pastry shell. Spread cooled strawberry mixture over the top. Using the remaining pint of strawberries, arrange whole berries neatly (around the rim) on the pie. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Top with whipped cream or ice cream to serve.

SnowPie2K16 - 14

It's Springtime and it's gorgeous here in West Texas. The pollen count is abnormally high, and so are the temperatures. I'm loving it, but it's looking like it may be a really hot summer.

This pie is one of my kids favorites. They've requested in place of birthday cake several times, and because I'm a fan they've gotten no complaints from me. 

It's an ice cream pie, so obviously it can be made in advance, if you've got the freezer room to store it, but the downside is you've got to let it freeze, so it can't really be a last minute dessert choice.

The original recipe came with regular lemonade, but we've done variations with pink lemonade, and my daughter's favorite, Strawberry Lemonade, which is what I get to share with you today. Enjoy!

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE PIE

1/3 cup Strawberry lemonade powdered mix (pre-sugared, not the packets)

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups vanilla ice cream (so glad Blue Bell is back!!!), softened

1 tub (8 oz) whipped topping (ie, Cool Whip), thawed

1 prepared (6 oz) graham cracker crust

Place drink mix in a large bowl. Add water and stir until mix is dissolved. Add ice cream. Beat with mixer until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spoon into crust. Freeze at least 4 hours until firm.

SnowPie2K16 - 13

Pi Day Second Edition

So we had Chicken Pot Pie for dinner, but what would Monday be without pie for dessert too? I went simple, Apple Pie, and it was sooo good! This is probably my favorite apple pie recipe, and it's my simplest. I found it in Ann Romney's cookbook, and it's definitely a keeper.

ANN ROMNEY'S APPLE PIE

Pastry dough for double crust pie
6 granny smith apples (I used Fuji)
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
(I also added 1 tbsp cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 425°. Line a 9-inch pi plate with half of the pastry dough. Peel and core apples. Slice into pie plate over unbaked crust. Add sugar, dot the butter on top, sprinkle on flour, and mix it all together with your hands. (I mixed everything, including the apples in a large bowl before putting it into the crust, much, much easier and less messy...). Ann writes, "I like mine plain, so I don't add any seasonings", but I added the cinnamon and loved it. Roll out remaining pastry dough and lay gently on top of pie. Cut a few slits in top of the dough.

Bake pie at 425° for 10 minutes to set the crust, then reduce heat to 375° and bake until bubbly and brown, another 35 minutes.

SnowPie2K16 - 12

Last week was Spring Break. Thank goodness! We traveled to the Houston area, enjoyed rain and fun with family and didn't think about pie all week. It was kind of a nice break before heading into our Pi Day 2016 extravaganza.

Normally we just have pie for dessert on March 14th, but this year because we've been having pie every week I decided to do Chicken Pot Pie instead. I've never made it, my husband is picky about it, and I'm pretty sure my kids have never eaten it. We'll do it again, this was definitely a winner!

Seriously, this was comfort food all wrapped up in a delicious pie crust, filled with healthy veggies, and chicken, served in the best little package ever!

I got the recipe idea from Our Best Bites. (I own all of their cookbooks, they're my go to place for recipes). I adapted a little bit, but for the most part stayed true to their recipe, because "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

CHICKEN POT PIE

pie crust - here's the trick, if you're making these in ramekins/mugs, like I did you only need crust on the top, if you're making it in a pie dish, you'll need two crusts. Unless you're making a ton, like I did, and then you'll need a lot of crust to cover all of the pies...I made 10 ramekins full and used 2 pie crusts because I rolled it thin.

1 lb chicken (it's really good with chopped up rotisserie chicken...
1 bag frozen mixed veggies, thawed
1 onion, minced
butter
5 medium red potatoes, diced
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)
ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°.

1 - Boil potatoes until tender.
2 - Meanwhile saute onion in butter until it's translucent.
3 - Combine soup, chicken, veggies, onion and potatoes in a mixing bowl and season to taste.
4 - Fill pie crust (or ramekins/mugs) with chicken mixture, top with crust, crimp edges, cut some vent holes, place on a cooking sheet, then bake for 40-45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving.

SnowPie2K16 - 11

My husband had a friend in college who had diabetes. He had an insulin pump and loved his "external pancreas" but didn't really take care of it... for example, he loved (LOVED) chess cake. For those not familiar with chess cake, it's basically a little bit of flour, a little bit of lemon, some eggs, and a big bag of powdered sugar... This roommate would make the cake, crank up his pancreas, and go to town. 

Not to chase you off, but this week's pie is Chess Pie. A first cousin to Chess Cake. This recipe has a lot (A LOT) less sugar than the cake version, but if you're on a diet you might want to move on. There's really not a great way to make this one healthier. This is a "I-had-a-bad-day-and-desperately-need-comforting-food-in-the-form-of-lemony-sugary-pie" pie.

Plus I live in the South, this is a standard. Down here people eat Pecan, Pumpkin, Buttermilk and Chess pies. I'm pretty sure that's it. 

LEMONY CHESS PIE (adapted from about 3 different recipes to make it as yummy and healthy as possible...

1 - 9 inch pie crust

2 cups white sugar

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

5 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp cornmeal

1/4 cup lemon juice

grated rind of 3 lemons

Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs, then milk. Mix in flour, cornmeal, lemon juice and rind. Pour into crust and bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes. Let cool for 10-15 minutes.