Easy as Pie: Sweet and Savory

Cooking for your family is a wonderful way to stay connected. Our lives are busy, and one of the first things to go is a seated meal at the dinner table. Nowadays, we often opt for fast food or frozen meals without high quality ingredients. Who can blame us? Unless cooking is your passion, it’s likely been a while since you made something from scratch. 

Penzey’s Spices, a popular cooking magazine, offers some fun, simple recipes that will motivate you to spend more time in the kitchen. The feeling of preparing something homemade is incredibly rewarding, especially when your kids think it’s delicious! Remember that the joy of cooking can be taught to a child by their parent, and their attitude often reflects yours. Try taste-testing some of these special sweet and savory pies. The whole family will be asking for seconds! 

SWEET PIE 

Grandma’s Great Aunt’s Apple Pie

Crust: Makes 2 nine inch pie crusts

• 1/3 cup butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• Dash of salt
• 2-2 1/4 cups flour (unbleached) 

Filling: 

• 7-8 apples
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons instant tapioca
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces

Directions: 

Crust: mix together the butter, sour cream and salt. Work in the flour until the dough holds together. Knead lightly into two balls or discs. Roll out each ball so that it is bigger in diameter than your pie plate. Gently place one of the crusts in a 9 inch pie plate.

Filling: preheat oven to 425°. Peel and thinly slice the apples. Please in a bowl and add the sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Mix well. Let sit for 10 minutes and then spoon into the pie shell. Dot with butter. Cover with the second piecrust and crimp or flute the edges to seal. Cut small slits in the top crust to vent. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350° and continue baking for 30 minutes or until the crust is light brown and the apples are bubbly.

SAVORY PIE

Crab Pie 

**You will only need one pie crust for this crab pie. Feel free to use the crust recipe mentioned above. If you make this recipe with a frozen pie crust, be sure to let it thaw before you start.

Ingredients: 

• One unbaked pie shell
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons flour
• Two eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 7-7 1/2 ounce can flaked crab (real or imitation)
• 4 ounce Swiss cheese, diced
• 4 ounce cheddar cheese, diced
• 1/3 cup chopped yellow onion (1 medium)
• Seasoning of choice 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large bowl combine the mayonnaise, flour, eggs and milk. Mix thoroughly. Fold in the crab, cheeses, onion and seasoning. Spoon into the pie crust. Bake at 350° for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Let set for 10 minutes.

Whether it’s savory or sweet, there’s nothing like a home cooked meal. Let’s get cooking!