Pie oh My! (and a kitchen giveaway!)

(NOTE: Be sure to read all the way to the end for the giveaway!) When I first married Todd and we lived in a tiny apartment in Three Rivers, Michigan, I loved to putt around in our minuscule kitchen.  The shiny new kitchen gadgets we’d received at our showers and for our wedding were a delight to me.

If you have read my book on hospitality, A Life That Says Welcome, you know I had about zero culinary skills when I began. To make matters worse, I married into a family full of people adept at interior decorating, sewing, baking, cooking and one who even ended up crafting a wildly successful bed and breakfast that was featured in Southern Living Magazine!

Well, I wanted to learn to be wildly successful in the kitchen too!

I started with pies.

Yes ma’am! I wanted to learn to whip me up a from-scratch crust, picked-the-fruit-up-at-a-southwestern-Michigan-roadside-stand, gen-u-ine perfect pie!

So I started with peach, since the fuzzy fruit was in peak season.

And folks, I took it waaaaay too seriously!

I stressed and obsessed.

I peeled and sliced, making sure all the slices were the same size.

I measured and sifted and rolled out the dough.

The result?

It was edible, but ugly.

Well, 24 years of practice has found me still making pies.  (And it is true–practice does make perfect. Got myself three blue-ribbon rosettes from the Clinton County Fair to prove it!!!! Yes that is total bragging! But it was also to encourage you. If this Betty Crocker drop-out can learn to do it, anyone can!)

Seriously, pies are so versatile! They can break the ice with a new neighbor, say “I am praying for you” to a troubled family, “Thank you so much!” to the man who fixed your kitchen sink or “We are thrilled for you!” to the couple welcoming their first baby.

It has been a pie week around here.  In our circle of friends pies were needed for two families who lost loved ones, one who welcomed baby number six, a dear grandpa of my son’s friend who ran him to baseball games at times we could not and we wanted to say thank you, a new friend who stayed home from work with a serious case of vertigo and couldn’t cook for her family, and yes, the friend who worked on the plumbing under my kitchen sink (uh…even thought that was many weeks ago and I’m just now getting him his promised peach pie. Sorry Doug!)

So, the total so far this week?

Seven and counting.

Now, while there are times I can make my blue-ribbon, flaky, from-scratch crust, let me just say, those roll-out refrigerated kinds work wonders too!!! And I did me some shortcut rolling this week to save time and my sanity.

Yes, I still love making pies. And I love the look on the faces of friends and strangers when I deliver one.

How about you? Will you set aside time this weekend to ask God who might be encouraged or cheered by a pie made from your sweet hands? Here are a few EASY recipes to get you started. (I’ll post the from scratch crust recipe here too for the brave.)

Easy Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

One box roll-out refrigerated pie crust

2 1/2 C. chopped, cooked chicken

1 C. sharp cheddar cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 bag Freshlike frozen vegetables for soup (don’t just use mixed vegetables, find one that has potatoes in it too)

Salt and pepper

Mix all but crust in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I use about 4 shakes of salt and 6-8 of pepper.) Roll out one crust in a pie pan, leaving the edges hanging over.

Place ingredients from bowl into crust. Roll out second crust on top. Use your fingers to crimp edges of both crusts tightly together to seal. (I like NOT to have them hang over the edge of pan, but instead push them in close to the pie so the edge of the pan still shows. This prevents the edges of the crust from burning.)

Seal well with Saran wrap. Add a note that says: “Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.” Note: if they’d like to freeze the pie for later, it will be all wrapped and ready. Just make sure they know to fully thaw it before baking or it won’t be done in an hour.

Fresh Peach Pie

(This recipe is taken from the 1963 Martha Dixon Cookbook. She was a local Lansing, Michigan TV personality whom my mother loved. Her cookbook was re-released in 1984 and my mom bought me a new copy for a bridal shower gift. It is now vintage with splashes and stains, the way a cookbook should be!!!)

5-6 cups sliced fresh peaches

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 C. sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon butter

One box roll-out refrigerator dough (or from-scratch recipe below)

Mix all but butter in a bowl. Turn into a crust-lined pie shell. Dot the top with butter. Cover with remaining edges. Crimp tightly, pushing toward pie and not leaving crust on the edge of the pan. (This prevents burning). Bake at 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes until bubbly.

From-Scratch Crust:

2 cups unbleached flour

scant cup butter-flavored Crisco (about a teaspoon or two less than a cup)

1 teaspoon salt

6-8 tablespoons of water from melting ice (seriously–cold tap water will not work, so get out a bowl, fill it with  ice and let it begin melting a while before you begin).

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender (or two forks if you don’t have one) Stir water in lightly to form a ball. DO NOT HANDLE TOO MUCH! It will make the dough tough, not flaky. Divide in half and roll out on a well floured counter to make a circle just a bit bigger in diameter than your pie pan. Repeat with top crust. Follow recipe for your favorite pie.

Okay–now for the giveaway. Leave a comment from now til midnight PST Sunday on pie. What kind of pie you like. What pies  you make. Why you have never, ever made a pie. A funny flop-of-a-pie story. What kind of pie your hubby likes. Anything! One random winner will be chosen to receive a copy of my book A Life That Says Welcome along with a Paula Deen Apple pie-scented candle and a gen-u-ine kitchen pastry blender.

Happy Baking!

84 Comments

  1. This peach pie sounds amazing! I don’t really have any funny pie stories, but I do love to make pies! I think my favorite is apple, which I make all the time in the Fall!

  2. I’m not a pie maker. Growing up my sister made the pies and I made the cakes and cookies. But my husband loves pecan pie. So I learned from the Karo bottle how to make a really good one. I changed it just a little bit putting extra vanilla in it. Everyone loves my pecan pie! As for crust, everytime I’ve tried I just end up with a mess. But that isn’t going to stop me, I’ll keep trying. Meanwhile, thank goodness for the store bought ones!
    Blessings,
    Vonnez

  3. Wow! Lots of pie lovers out there! I have too many favorites so I will add to the Peach Pie Lovers total…just put on a scoop of homemade ice cream…drooling on my keyboard….lol! Do you think there will be pie in heaven?

  4. I am usually a cobbler kind of girl. I guess because I’m always in such a rush and with a cobbler you just dump it all in there. Pies definitely take time. That’s probably what makes them so good. I have fond memories of my mom’s pecan pies. She’s gone from this world now, but I just used her recipe to make that pecan pie just the other day and it transported me back to many good memories.

  5. I used to make pies all the time. My favorite is apple. Since I’ve been married (20 years), I haven’t made hardly any. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because it is too time consuming. However, I am going to make a couple of peach pies this week and hand them out. I know a couple of people that could really use them. Thanks for reminding me that it is not about “me” but about doing things for others. Nanci

  6. I too use to make many pies when my kids were young. They loved them. I love the easy cream cheese cherry with the graham caracker crust. Love your articles!

  7. I had a crazy weekend and am now just getting a chance to see your post. Thank you for the great recipes! I am always looking for new ones. I can’t wait to try the chicken pot pie! I am not a baker but, will be going out this week to find some peaches. I might actually try to surprise my husband with a made from scratch peach pie ;-)

  8. I am not a wonderful pie maker, but my all time favorite is using fresh apples (Sept & Oct are coming right up!) and making home made apple pie. My mom loves lemon meringue pie, but there is no way I can make it-I can never get the meringue to the right consistency… so I usually get it at the bakery…I know it’s cheating :( Hubby eats any kind of pie except for toutiere pie, which is something my French Canadian family enjoys.

  9. I use the refrigerated pie crust everytime and love it! One of my favorites is the sour cherries with almond flavoring added – yummy. Made a peach pie a few weeks ago that was yummy. I was not confident in the kitchen as a young bride – hung up on not making mistakes and wanting everything to be perfect. I got over that pretty fast! Thanks for your encouragement to encourage others. :D

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