April 26, 2014

Checking things off the list

For years, I wanted to learn to make a decent pie crust. Okay, stop laughing. I've never really been a Susie-homemaker type gal. And, maybe pie crust wasn't the highest on my list, but it was on the list. I'd always shied away from trying, in part because I'd heard it was hard, that it is an art, and in part because honestly, the road to dropping a pant size is not paved with pie.

But finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. My DH loves strawberry pies, and he buys them from Coco's, which is sort of like an upscale Denny's. I don't eat those pies. The strawberries are large, and generally tasteless, and they are liberally coated in a red colored, 'strawberry' flavored cornstarch based goo that I find icky. And then the pie crust is tough and icky too. I can't figure out why he likes those pies. Ryan eats them too.

Like I said, I couldn't take it any longer. I pulled out the big, red gingham covered, 3-ring binder cookbook and looked up pie crust. Shoot, only 4 ingredients, and I have all of them here. How hard can it be? But my first pie crust didn't cradle a strawberry pie, it was actually on top of a turkey pot pie. And I didn't take any pictures. But, is was a very satisfactory pie crust, and bolstered my enthusiasm for the task. Oh, I should also mention that getting a real rolling pin made the job much easier.

Ready for the oven. The directions said poke a bunch of holes with a fork. I might have overdone this.

Baked pies shells in the background, strawberry filling ready to go in.

Tada! WE HAVE PIES! Really yummy pies. I think the filling looks slightly gross, but it tastes very good. And it turns out, I can make a fairly decent pie crust. I think we'll be doing this again, probably soon. Watch out, waistline!



3 comments:

  1. Pie crust is something I have not mastered. Maybe that's a good thing....

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  2. So, I've a freezer full of last year's blackberries, and having just tilled under the old strawberry beds and replaced with the two old potato boxes now planted with fresh new 'Tristar' strawberries, along with all the lovely golden 'Fall Gold' raspberries that Shae, you and Rowan so dearly loved to nosh on fresh on the bush, let me know what those four ingredients are and I'll make sure I have them on hand for ya. I do have a real rolling pin, and a whole bunch of old Julian Pie tins plus Romella milled her own flour this year from both her wheat and what I had come up as volunteers from the wheat straw. Yeah, I can go up a pant size; it's easy when you wear sweat pants with elastic.

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    Replies
    1. I know you've got the stuff already; flour, shortening, water, salt. Yummmm, blackberry pie....

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