This weekend, we’re visiting with my Mom in Crewe, VA. It takes about 10 hours to get here. On the way, we stopped to visit some great friends, so we got in around supper time last night. My mom fixed us a supper of Brunswick stew and graciously helped me whip up a pie. I was really tired, but she had stuff around–in the pantry–so we just made this one: an apple pie with a crumbly crust. She had frozen pie crusts (first time I’ve used those), and in order to have a top crust, the package claims that you can simply turn a second crust over on top of the filling and, after it thaws a bit, crimp it and bake it. Wellll…..not exactly. But thanks to desperation and Mom’s ability to turn nothing into something, we just crumpled the crust up with cinnamon and butter. Turned out pretty good. I didn’t taste it ’til after breakfast this morning, so it was cold. It held together well, but I drew the definite conclusion that I like warm pie much better if it’s a fruit pie. One really good thing about last night was getting to enjoy my first fire of the fall. Fall just kind of snuck up on us, and the fire felt really good while we waited for the pie to bake.

Today, we went to King’s Dominion, an amusement park in Doswell, VA. I knew how tired we’d be (MAN, am I tired) after we got back, so I decided to make a breakfast pie this morning–that way my pie committment would be fulfilled early. Once again, Mom came to the rescue with eggs, sausage, cheese, and another frozen crust. We made a sausage pie. It turned out all right–my husband really liked it. I wasn’t thrilled with the texture–a little too custardy for me. The reason was that the recipe called for a WHOLE PINT of half and half. It was so liquidy going into the oven that we had to put it on a baking sheet, and I really had my doubts about whether it would ever get solid, but it did.

Tomorrow, Mom’s going to share one of her pie recipes with me–one that all the grandkids ask for. You’ll have to wait and see what kind of pie…I’m glad I could count on her pantry to rescue me from pie making emergencies!

So we had a good time at King’s Dominion, even though it was cold and rainy. We’re all looking forward to a good night’s rest and some sleeping in tomorrow.

32 days ’til 40. Time flies when you’re having fun!