Fish gotta swim

Birds gotta fly

I gotta have

My hands in a pie….

Can’t help it. I whipped up a few pie crusts tonight. I had stuff to think about, and pie-making is the ultimate in cheap therapy. Making those homemade crusts just might be one of my favorite parts of the whole process.

I’m gonna make a couple of cheese pies in the morning for a breakfast at our daughter’s school. I forgot that cheese pies make their own crusts, so there I was….with crust. Couldn’t be helped.

Now, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story of Brer Rabbit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br’er_Rabbit

It’s not considered very politically correct these days, but my Dad really liked the story. In a nutshell, Brer Rabbit pleads not to be thrown into the briar patch, but it’s really what he wants all along. He was a trickster for sure. I think my Dad appreciated how sly the rabbit was…he was a rather sly old dude himself at times.

I thought of him when I saw the brand name of the main ingredient for tonight’s pie: Shoofly Pie.

So when my daughter needed two pies for school and one for her art class Friday afternoon…Please, please don’t make me bake pies! I’m not foolin’ anybody near as well as that rabbit. I’m hooked. Throw me on in.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been around molasses. I know my mom used it for baking, but it’s been awhile since I’ve been close by.

Stinky.

I mean the stuff smells kinda nasty. On the bottle, it is described as “unsulfered.” I have no idea what that means, but…P.U. I also was reminded of how the phrase “slow as molasses” came to be. After carefully measuring the black, sludgy liquid into a liquid measure, I had to use a spatula to “hurry” it out of there. Taking its time. Please don’t pour me into that pie!

The filling had molasses, brown sugar, boiling water (to dissolve the sugar), vanilla, and baking soda, which turned out to be the most exciting ingredient. When I put that 1/2 tsp of baking soda into the hot filling, it sizzled and bubbled like a party was goin’ on in there. Then it settled down and just looked like a black stinky swimming pool.

After I poured the filling into the chilled homemade crust, I put the butter crumble on top. The recipe said not to tamp it down, so I didn’t. Not that I could have if I’d wanted to–the stuff just sorta sank in the stink pool and eventually built up on top. Then it baked for 10 minutes at one temperature and 25 minutes at another.

It really was science in the kitchen, because I couldn’t believe that it turned into an actual pie. The crust did not really behave–it kinda fell in a bit. But it turned out, somehow. It even produced a very nice slice.You’re supposed to wait until it “cools thoroughly” to cut it. You may realize by now that I have a bit of a waiting issue…so I didn’t wait, and it still worked. I recently watched a great new show on the food channel entitled “For the Love of Pie!” It’s a very good show, and I will record all the upcoming episodes. It’s full of pie bakers and lots of good ideas. Anyway, one shop specialized in Shoofly Pie, and a customer of theirs described this pie as “tasting a slice of American history.”

I tasted it. Don’t know much about history. Let’s just say it has a very specific flavor. Has anyone else tasted Shoofly Pie? I’m curious about your reaction.

I mean, I just don’t know about it. Somebody please come over here and taste it tomorrow. I tasted it naked and with whipped cream (the PIE was naked, that is) and I just can’t make up my mind.

Shoo.

Shoo Fly.

Shoo Fly Pie.

Hmm.

Enough about that. Something caught my eye as I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight. Here it is. It’s on the bottom of one of those throw-away pans you use to take a casserole to someone. Don’t know why, but that pan was preachin’ to me tonight.

Support the bottom.

Now, I know this is true for cooking pies, big heavy turkeys and other stuff with hot scalding liquid in a cheapo pan.

We all know it’s true for panty hose and carrying babies.

And we’ve all seen what can happen if you don’t “support the bottom.” Someone or something’s gonna get burned, or dropped, or at the very least–look horrible.

True in life, you know. Not much is gonna happen for any of us if we’re not supported. Sure, we can make it through, but the end results are always so much better with support. We’ve all seen what happens when people are not supported. They get burned. They feel dropped. They look (and feel) horrible.

I’ve been in both places and you probably have, too. I’ve been the one to need support. Without it, I would have splashed all over the place–truly a “hot mess.” I’ve also been blessed to be the supporter a few times.

I’ve found that holding a person up in a time of need does not make my emotional “arms” tired–only stronger.

Be a supporter. If you can possibly help it, don’t let anyone feel dropped, burned, or horrible. It does us all good to take our eyes off of ourselves for a while and seek out others who need us.

And when you feel yourself starting to spill over the edges, let someone support you. It will make you both stronger.

Today’s pie is a Bananaganache Pie. It is like a banana cream pie, but the crust (homemade, by the way!) is coated with chocolate ganache.

Oh my ganache!

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

Anyway, my soundtrack for baking this evening was “The Goat Rodeo Sessions” featuring Yo-Yo Ma and some of his fiddle buddies. Excellent music for baking, driving, dinner or whatever. Good for thinking, too.

After pre-baking a homemade crust (side note: margarine is NOT the same as butter. Duh.), I made a chocolate ganache with semi-sweet baking chocolate and half and half. Then I spread that awesome stuff on the bottom of the crust and put it in the freezer to stiffen up a bit.

Next, I lined the bottom with sliced bananas. If you’re ever wondering what to do with extra banana slices, dropping them into leftover chocolate ganache is an excellent idea. Just sayin’.

The pie’s filling goes on top of all that. It’s made of banana pudding, whipped cream, and some cream cheese–all blended together. Thick and tasty.

On top of THAT, I placed more sliced bananas. Finally, I added chocolate shavings and whipped cream, just to increase the awesomeness.

It sure did look cool. I hope it will be tasty. And I wish it was magical.

But it’s not.

Today, I’m thinking of some friends of ours–doesn’t matter which ones–that have had a loss this year. It was a terrible, tragic loss–death of a loved one. It wasn’t fair. It didn’t seem right. We all were filled with questions–I’m sure especially them.

It sucked.

I’m thinking about them because the holidays are upon us. It’s almost Thanksgiving. First Thanksgiving without their loved one.

Maybe you know someone like them. Lost a daughter, a father, a classmate, a son, a friend, an unborn child, a spouse.

I can quit any time I want….really!

Or so I thought. At 5:30 this morning, I fell off the wagon–or got back on, depending how you look at it. I woke up thinking about pie. It didn’t help that Daylight Savings Time was this weekend, which I think is a crazy idea. Here’s my alternative plan: Wake up when it’s light. Go to bed when it’s dark. Duh.

Anyway, my addicted brain started making a list of justifications:

1. I never made a pie for Ruthie’s Language Arts teacher.

2. I have that one stray crust left.

3. We’ll never eat all those apples.

4. I’m up early anyway.

And the list goes on. The truth?

I accidentally got addicted to baking pies. Woops.

I guess there are worse things to get hooked on. Can’t see the harm in it. Besides, there are so many people who deserve pie! So I started baking at 5:45.

Today’s pie is for Mrs. Carter. She encourages my kid in language arts each day. I’m thankful for her, and so is my daughter. So she deserves today’s Apple Pear Crumb Pie.

It’s just apples and pears and cinnamon, oh my! Well–and flour and sugar, too. I did only have the one crust, so I made a crumble for the top.

And speaking of addicting, the familiar pie-baking smell that filled my house just filled my soul at the same time. Smells like home around here.

They say it takes 21 days to form a real habit. Turns out, 40 days works, too. 

One of the things I’m hoping to practice as a 40-year-old is more of this “fearless trying.” I tried pies, even though I never had and didn’t know how. This weekend, I tried spaghetti squash, which was delicious. I just bravely brought it home and figured it out.

You could do the same thing with squash or anything else.

Today’s “fearless” feat? Mammogram. First one ever. Do I think it’ll be as rewarding and fun as baking pies? Probably not. Necessary? Without a doubt.

Today is the very first day my insurance would pay for a mammogram. So I’m getting one. Cancer took my Dad. I’ll be darned if it sneaks up on me.

So, I’m off to deliver a pie.

What will you fearlessly try today?

Well, folks. My iphone app says this:

Event: Turning 40

Happening NOW.

It’s here. It’s the eve of my 40th birthday, and tomorrow, I’m not planning on baking any pies. But today, I baked two new ones. They were selected solely on the basis of what I already had in my pantry and fridge. After baking them both, I have ONE egg left in my house. Makes a baker sweaty….

Before I share those, here’s a slice of yesterday’s Banoffee Pie. It was super delicious, and I won’t tell you how much I’ve had….I will make this one again for sure.

The first pie today was Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, whose recipe I found in my PIE cookbook. I have really enjoyed that “delightful pastry tome,” as the cover calls it. It had lots of cookie ingredients in a regular pie shell; eggs, butter, flour, milk, 2 kinds of sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips. The only thing I left out was walnuts. I don’t love ’em that much, and I’d always prefer a cookie without nuts, so I just didn’t add them. I added some extra chocolate chips instead. Besides, my husband’s allergic to walnuts.

It was very easy to make–only took me about 10 minutes to mix everything together and get it in the crust. It did bake for a full hour, and the book said not to worry about the top crust looking quite brown, so I didn’t.The crust got a little wonky on the edges, but I don’t think that will impact the taste. Who doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies?

Pie #63 was a Fluffly Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie. I found the recipe on the back of the paper stuck in a store bought pie pan. Amazingly, I had exactly enough cream cheese to put this one together. I was glad to find one more can of pumpkin in my pantry, too. I’ll have to replace that one, because we always make pumpkin muffins for breakfast on Thanksgiving, and it’ll be here before you know it.

We’re saving the pies for tomorrow evening, when a few friends are coming over to watch a movie. Can’t wait to celebrate–with pie!

If you had told me on September 24, when I baked that first peach pie, that I would bake 63 pies by November 4, I’m not sure I’d have believed you. Crazy. Will I stop baking them now? Probably not. You might not see pie every day in my house, but now it will be a welcome guest. The holidays are coming–great excuse for more pie!

What have I learned in 40 days (plus a few) of pie baking?

1. Food can definitely be art.
2. Sometimes, you must slow down and concentrate to do something properly.
3. Even when you mess up, something good can happen.
4. Some things are worth the wait.
5. Some things aren’t.
6. Paying attention to details matters–sometimes.
7. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
8. Everyone likes gifts, and people should give more of them.
9. Gifts don’t always cost money.
10. Pie–like life–is so good, but it’s even better shared with others.

That’s my plan for now…to welcome the years with arms open wide.

“Oh, how sweet the light of day,
And how wonderful to live in the sunshine!
Even if you live a long time,don’t take a single day for granted.Take delight in each light-filled hour.”

Ecclesiastes 11:7-8

(The Message)

Baker’s lesson of the day: if you try to lick yummy stuff out of a measuring cup, you WILL get it on your nose. Use your finger.

What I was trying to lick out of this measuring cup was the delicious toffee sauce needed for today’s Banoffee Pie. This pie was a special request from Christie–she told me where to find the recipe and everything, so I had to try it.

I couldn’t figure out how to pronounce the name until I read all of the ingredients: Bananas + Toffee = Banoffee Pie. I prepared a graham cracker crust using my awesome food processor. That’s the only way to go when it comes to getting graham crackers finely crushed. This recipe called for a spring form pan. We have several of those, because I happen to be married to the Cheesecake King. Hang around for the holidays, and maybe you’ll get to taste one of those beautiful, delicious creations.

Anyway, the crust hung out in the refrigerator while I prepared the toffee sauce. This required sugar and water, lots of watching and “swirling” the pot, and then butter and sweetened condensed milk. I really did poor what I needed into the crust before I “cleaned up” the measuring cup. As I ran upstairs to let my hubby have a taste, I immediately started thinking of other stuff I could dump that toffee sauce on. He’s allergic to bananas, so we’re gonna think of something else awesome to dump it on–or either just eat it out of the pot. Whatever. It’s just really awesome sauce.

At this point, I ran to the store to get whipping cream and more bananas. I also had to get the propane tank filled–one of the things I love about fall is a fire in the fireplace, and I’m lost without the gas starter.

The sauce has to sit in the crust, in the fridge, for at least an hour anyway.

When I got back, I whipped up the heavy cream, sliced some bananas, and put the pie together. Not too difficult at all. I’ll have to let you know if it comes out of that spring form pan without exploding. But even if it doesn’t, I bet it’s gonna taste great!

Best news of all? There was some more of that magic toffee sauce left. I dumped it on a banana and added some chocolate. Heavenly.

That makes 61 pies. I’m planning on baking several tomorrow–not sure if I wanna bake any on Friday. My husband’s taking the day off to escort his favorite Pie Lady around town.

Here’s a famous pie rhyme for you….

Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair;
Said Simple Simon to the pieman “Let me taste your ware”
Said the pieman to Simple Simon “Show me first your penny”
Said Simple Simon to the pieman “Sir, I have not any!”

Simple Simon went a-fishing for to catch a whale;
All the water he had got was in his mother’s pail.
Simple Simon went to look if plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much which made poor Simon whistle.
He went for water in a sieve but soon it all fell through;
And now poor Simple Simon bids you all “Adieu”

I never really learned how to play chess. It’s sort of an embarrassing confession for someone in a pleasantly nerdy family such as mine. I know there are kings and pawns, and I know you can move in different ways than in checkers. My daughter and my husband know how to play, and I think I need to add learning this game to my to-do list. My brain could use the challenge. I started thinking about the game as I baked today’s pie, Chocolate Chess Pie.

Why is it called “chess” pie anyway? I looked it up, and here’s what Wikipedia says:

“The pie seems to have no relation to the game of chess, which has led to much speculation as to the origin of this term. Some theorize that the name of the pie traces back to its ancestral England, where the dessert perhaps evolved from a similar cheese tart, in which the archaic “cheese” was used to describe pies of the same consistency even without that particular ingredient present in the recipe. In North Carolina and Old Salem Cookery, Elizabeth Hedgecock Sparks argues that the name derives from Chester. There is also a theory that the word “chess” pie comes from the piece of furniture that was common in the early South called a pie chest or pie safe. Chess pie may have been called chest pie at first, because it held up well in the pie chest. Another theory is that it was originally called “just pie” because it was so simple and plain, and slang or accent morphed it to “chess.””

Hey! We had a pie safe growing up. It was white with a tin front–had the little holes punched in the front (I’m guessing for proper ventilation). It stayed downstairs in our house and my Dad kept some of his stuff in it. I think that thing is still in Mom’s garage.

I tend to believe the last explanation. It’s “just pie.” If you say it just right, “just pie” quickly turns to “chess pie.” Even though that’s probably what happened, I do tend to disagree with the phrase “just pie.”

What do you mean, just pie?

I’ve baked 60 pies as of today, and I’ve learned that there’s no such thing as “just pie.” Each pie came with a challenge, a story, a process, a reward…and so much to think about. Just pie. No way.

This chocolate chess pie had sugar, cocoa, evaporated milk, vanilla, and eggs. It was simple to make, and I used a store-bought crust because I am pooped out from Halloween last night.

As I mixed the ingredients, I thought of my dear friend, Karen, who makes a mean chocolate pie. It’s her specialty, in my opinion.

I’ve known Karen since 1989. She’s known me for more birthdays than anybody I hang out with these days–except for my Mom and siblings. We’ve been college roommates (that’s how we met so long ago) matrons of honor, godparents, church staffers, party people, go-to-lunchers, listeners, call-when-you-can’t-tell-anyone-else-ers, consolers, celebrators, criers, helpers, tell-the-truthers, neighbors, laughers, sense-talkers, huggers, Virginians, come-to-the-hospital-right-now-ers, Georgians and so much more together. To say that we are “just friends” would be the same as saying “just pie.” I treasure the friendship we’ve built over the last 22 years, and I’m looking forward to being old ladies together. Thanks for everything, K.

Only 2 more days for being 39 years old. Gotta go….lots to do!

I’d like to start off by showing pictures of the cute pies I delivered this morning. I sent the “Little Boo” to my friend Olivia. The “Big Boo” went to my son’s second grade teacher, and another “Big Boo” went to the front office staff at his school. I thought the candy corns looked great on those pumpkin pies.

Today’s pie is called Velvet Elvis Pie because of its ingredients–peanut butter and bananas (the King’s favorite). The “velvet” part is because of the added chocolate. Doesn’t chocolate make everything velvety?
I found a recipe online a while back and I forgot about it–until today when I noticed I had some bananas ready to use. Luckily, I also had all the other ingredients around for the pie.

I chopped about 4 ounces of semi-sweet baking chocolate and melted it with butter and a little corn syrup on the stove top. Melty chocolate is very tempting, but I did not lick the spoon until AFTER the pie was done.

The pie requires layers of sliced bananas in a graham cracker crust (called for chocolate graham cracker, but that’s not what I had on hand), yummy peanut butter stuff (made with crunchy peanut butter and cream cheese) and the melty chocolate. The most challenging part (besides not eating all the ingredients) was spreading the thick peanut butter stuff over the bananas without moving the bananas around too much. It worked out pretty well with a small spatula, but it was not a job to hurry through.

The finished pie ends with peanuts on top of the last layer of chocolate. Crunchy, salty goodness. Then it all goes into the freezer for six hours. Just enough time before tonight’s trick-or-treating fun with friends. I’ll be taking three pies over there tonight: Velvet Elvis, a pumpkin pie from last night, and a second lemonade pie that I made this morning before the Elvis Pie. That ought to be enough for everyone to have something they like.
I think the finished pie looks tasty, and I’m anxious to see a slice of it tonight. I love the way layered ingredients look in a slice of pie.

3 days to go until the big 4-0! 59 pies baked. Stay tuned!

Today, I baked FIVE pumpkin pies.

3 large and 2 small pies were the result of what was supposed to be 2 regular pumpkin pies. Here’s what happened.

I want to take pumpkin pie to our son’s teacher tomorrow morning–it’s Halloween, and we’re headed to the school to help carve pumpkins. Besides, teaching second grade just deserves a big thank you, right? So I start out this evening on what should be an easy pie night. Well….don’t should on yourself, pie-maker. You were wrong.

I zipped by the store on the way to a Halloween dance my 13-year-old had at church. She forgot to tell me that she needed to bring a snack, and I knew I needed a couple of things for pies. When we went to the store, I had purple-ish pink hair leftover from a different Halloween activity earlier in the day. She was wearing a TARDIS costume. If you don’t know what a TARDIS is, Google it. We’ve raised a sci-fi geek, and we’re proud of it. Anyway, she was acting just like a 13-year-old girl in the grocery store in her Halloween costume–stuck somewhere between horrified and awesome. So we were hurrying, and I eagerly chose two frozen crusts for the pumpkin pies. “These are fast,” I thought to myself. No worries.

*cue horror film music*

Anyway, I get home after dropping her off and get started on the pies. The first thing I could have done differently is to CLEAN UP, DANGIT. The kitchen looked like a tornado hit it, but I really wanted to get those pies in the oven, and they would be simple. The result of not cleaning up was finding spaces to do things. This took more time and creativity than I had at the moment.

Next, as I was pouring pumpkin filling into one of those easy frozen crusts, I noticed a small defect. It really didn’t matter (or so I thought). It was just a little piece of crimped crust that had chipped a bit. No biggie. I just stuck it back on and gave the dough a little “squish.” Problem solved.

Wrong.

Just a few minutes later, the kitchen was filled with the smell of gourds on fire, and I opened the oven to find this not-so-picturesque baking situation.

Son of a pumpkin!

Already, I had three other pies in there with this one, because I realized as I filled the two pie shells that I was going to have A LOT of extra filling, and I couldn’t bear to waste it. That’s how I got the two tiny pies. I happened to have two small pie pans left from when I made mini pot pies, so I dumped the filling in those. Cute! But now, one big pie and two little pies baked on as I struggled with the pie-saster at hand.

I quickly got a refrigerated crust out, tossed it in a pan and crimped it. I dumped off some of the filling from the mutant pie and added some from the bowl of never-ending filling. So now I’ve got five pies. I stuck the broken one back in and finished baking it. After the first four came out of the oven, I stuck in the fifth. There was no way they were ALL going in at the same time.

Whew. I’m off to tackle one of those tiny pies with a heap of Cool Whip.

Tomorrow morning, I will pick the best two pies and decorate them with cute little whipped cream ghosts–barring any other pie-bacles…

Here’s the Pumpkin Pie-looza line up.

That makes 57 pies in 37 days, I think.

Pass the whipped cream.

Do you know this song by ABBA? I love this lyric:

“Nothing can capture the heart like a melody can”

Today’s pies are for some beautiful music makers I know–Lee and Jessica. They both lead worship at our church. I don’t know about you, but music speaks to me–way down deep. There have been many Sundays (and Mondays, and Wednesdays, and Saturdays) when music has taught me far more–spoken to my heart–more than words ever could. There’s a reason it soothes babies and “the savage beast.” Everyone in our house loves to sing, so there’s always a song coming from somewhere.

It’s a lovely way to live, I think–with a song in your heart.

So, Lee and Jessica, thank you for the music you share with so many.

And I’m thankful for a voice to sing along!

To get going on the filling for today’s Red Hot Harvest Pie, I first had to peel a whole bunch of apples and pears. I think those reds and greens are so beautiful next to each other. I hope the insides will match up, too.
After lots of peeling, I mixed the fruit with sugar, flour, and cinnamon. I filled the pie shells (which were waiting in the freezer) and then sprinkled each pie with a few red-hot candies. I love the sweet cinnamon flavor of those things.

Next, I created two different top crusts; a lattice on one and flower cut outs on the other. I carefully covered the edges of both pies for the first 50 minutes of baking and then uncovered them for the last 20. This seems to give just the right amount of browning.

Forgot to mention that each top has brushed melted butter and a sprinkling of sugar on top.

Here are the two finished Red Hot Harvest Pies:

Only a tiny bit bubbly, but otherwise, I thought they looked pretty cool. I like the way those little flowers “bloom” all over that pie. I sure hope these pies will be as sweet as the folks I give ’em to.

52 pies baked as of today–5 sweet days to go.

Today’s pie took about seven minutes to make. My husband remembers his mom making it when he was growing up, and he found this recipe for me on the web. You can make it too–I couldn’t believe how easy it was.I used a store-bought graham cracker crust. You can make one if you want–today, I didn’t want to. In a bowl, I put 12 ounces of Cool Whip, 6 ounces of frozen lemonade, and one can of sweetened condensed milk. I folded it together with a wooden spoon. Then I dumped it in the crust. I put the little plastic cover over the pan and put it in the freezer. That was it. It just has to freeze about 6 hours or overnight.

We both tasted the filling, which was lickety-licious. Likeable and lickable. Lick-o-riffic!

Can’t wait to taste it tomorrow.

Again, I’m kinda dumbfounded about how simple the pie was to make. Some part of me really wanted to put more stuff in there–surely, it must be more complicated. At the risk of making a really cheesy life parallel here, life really is more simple than we make it. We try so hard to make it complicated, detailed, difficult….MORE.

But it doesn’t have to be. When I think of the most beautiful, precious things in my life–these things are not the complicated ones.

I’ll leave you with these famous lyrics. I love this song–it was played on the organ as my new husband and I exited the sanctuary after our vows.