Resourceful Pie

11 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Summer Fruit Pie

Tags

cranberry, five-spice, green tomatoes, maple

Do you know what these are?

How about now?

Do they look like something to be put in a pie? (Say yes.)

I really, really hate waste. It’s one of my least favorite things ever. Levi likes to play this game with me where he says, “What if you had to choose between throwing out a full plate of (insert a delicious food here) or have someone give you $20?” And then he just ramps the price up until I finally agree to throw the hypothetical food away. It’s a really annoying game. The point is, it usually takes about $100 (depending on what the food is), where thereby proves my original point (that I hate waste).

Because I hate waste, I do weird things including but not limited to: saving rose petals from bouquets of flowers for making homemade rosewater, refilling shampoo bottles with dish detergent and olive jars with castile soap (much to my household’s confusion), making green tomato pie.

That’s what those are, if you hadn’t guessed yet. Well, tomato season was over, and there were a few cupfuls of tomatoes lingering on the vine that certainly weren’t going to turn red. What was a resourceful girl to do?

Luckily Ken Haedrich provides not one, but TWO recipes for Green Tomato Pie in his cookbook. I’m not the only crazy one around here.

Alright, now that you’ve gotten over your initial shock…doesn’t the filling actually look pretty in the bowl, with the contrasting green tomatoes and red cranberries?

Oh yeah, and I used bear lard in the crust. I guess that could also be classified as one of those weird/resourceful hunter/gatherer things I do.

But before I had the chance to bake this pie, there was a slight mishap in which Obi ate three-quarters of a dark chocolate bar and I had to rush him to the animal hospital instead of watching football and eating pie like I was kinda planning on. The Giants lost that game anyway. It figures.

When Obi had finished running into walls (apparently how he exhibits “chocolate toxicity”) and gobbling down his white rice and bland chicken breast, I baked the pie and then took great pleasure in feeding it to various friends and making them guess what they were eating. And hey! They liked it.

Kind of makes me want to start quoting Dr. Seuss…

“Say! I like green tomatoes and crans! I do! I like them, Jess-I-am!”

Pie Man

10 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Berry Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

pluot, raspberry

Jess went back “home” to New Jersey for a weekend. An unfortunate coincidence was that this was the same weekend as our Church’s Dessert Bake-Off. All our friends assumed Jess would dethrone the reigning champ with one of her pies. They breathed a collective sigh of disappointment/competitive relief when word got ’round that a Pie would be missing.

Jess decided that instead of not entering a pie, why don’t I, the Pie Man to her Pie Woman make one.

Jess is a woman that is profuse with consistently fantastic ideas, so, I dutifully followed her suggestion. The Dessert Bake-Off would have a pie from a Gelineau after-all.

I have seen a few pies made in my life (like, 120 or so) so, I was clear on the basics. From one layman to maybe another, here’s the step by step for us the NORMAL, casual, pie bakers.

Crust Into Dish…. Okay, crust isa hard part, and to be honest with you, Jess made that part for me ahead of time. I am only one man.

Sugar on Berries, Makes ’em good.
Surround the sugared berries in a cloud of a starch.

Pitch that happy family into the crust.

Cover the fruit with some more carbs.

Bake until it looks like you may not be able to resist eating the whole kit and caboodle.

I was happy with how it came out, and wished it luck at the competition.

(Note the sage and discerning Judge in the background).

The Man Pie came in second place!

Love Feasts

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Berry Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

blueberry, holiday, pluot, vegan

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! (As if you didn’t know…) It’s always been my favorite holiday, and not only because it’s practically synonymous with pie. I’m going to be trying my hand at two new recipes from Ken’s book later this afternoon; Jellied Cranberry-Pecan Pie and Triple-Layer Pumpkin Chocolate Pie. I’ll be sure to post pictures soon.

Ken also just posted a recipe for Maple Pumpkin Pie on his blog, so make sure to check that out if you’re planning on making a pumpkin pie for tomorrow’s feast but haven’t yet settled on a recipe. Oh, and if you’re baking Thanksgiving pies of any sort, leave a comment and let me know what you’re making!

I wanted to share some pictures from my last “holiday weekend” back in early September. We still had lots of summer visitors over Labor Day, which was fantastic.

Even my dad came out for his first visit to Simi Valley! Our Labor Day weekend activities included hiking, sea kayaking, and mini golfing. The weather was beautiful and the views from the mountaintops were too.

Dad was able to share some of his thoughts at our church service on Sunday morning, on praise, joy, and creation. Here’s a really cool picture a friend drew during his talk which sums it all up. I am thankful to have a dad who always has uplifting thoughts to share and who is focused on things like love, beauty, and peace. In fact, the title of my blog was his idea. Snuck “peace” right in there.

(It’s Sweeny. Not Sweeney. Just for the record.)

On Sunday evening of Labor Day Weekend, before Maggie and Sara and Mike were leaving for the airport, we ended up cooking quite a feast and it felt more like a summery Thanksgiving than anything else. We were feeling particularly thankful for all our blessings. Maggie is vegan and often uses the phrase “vegan love feast” to describe a particularly joyful, delicious meal. Our feast that night was mostly vegan…except for all the grilled chicken we made for all the non-vegans who were partaking. But it was still a love feast.

I made a pluot-blueberry pie filling, just like I had made for Bear Lard Pie, but obviously didn’t use bear lard in the crust. That would have really killed the whole vegan thing. No butter, either.

Ruth and Bethany came over and Bethany was so helpful with her brilliant pie-stirring skills.

I even glazed the pie with coconut almond milk, which was very vegan of me.

While the pie baked, Obi and Bethany passed the time by striking similar poses on the couch.

Black-Eyed Pea Curry, Raw Pad Thai, and Edamame Hummus. Yum!

I could literally compile an entire photo album of pictures of dogs (mainly Obi) looking longingly at my pies.

Strawberry coconut milk ice cream, anyone?

Enjoy your love feasts tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bear Lard Pie

18 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Berry Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

bear lard, blueberry, pluot

The story continues at the end of August. (We’re catching up, slowly, we are.) It was a Sunday. I flew back home from a trip to Pennsylvania and New Jersey and landed at about one in the afternoon, California time. I already had friends in town; they’d beat me. About an hour later, Emily and I were heading three hours into the desert to pick up Matt, Paul, and Amanda; they’d finished hiking the John Muir trail the day before. Destination: Lone Pine.

(This is Emily. We took her to the Pacific Ocean for the first time later in the week, and she was really cute about it.)

We drove through some incredibly boring stretches where we said to ourselves why would anyone live here? And we also saw a farm proudly selling multiple kinds of jerky, stunning red rock cliffs, and a desert thunderstorm, which was eerily beautiful.

Everyone was tired when we got home. The washing machine got to work, and in the meanwhile there was a funny period of time where everyone wore Levi’s clothes.

Along with showers, clean clothes, and sleep, the hikers needed one more thing to complete their recovery process: food. Pie.

To go along with the wilderness theme we’ve got going on here, I had recently acquired a jar of bear lard from Northern California. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details…in fact, I don’t even know them. Just know that if someone asks you, hypothetically, if you would use bear lard in a pie crust, and you say yes, you can safely expect that the situation won’t be hypothetical for long.

I hadn’t made lard pie pastry before, due mainly to the fact that I don’t really trust whatever kind of lard can be bought at the supermarket.

I guess that kind of mentality is exactly how I end up with products made from bears.

Not to be gross, but the smell of the stuff when I opened the lid of the jar was a bit disconcerting. Like, yeah. It smelled strongly like an animal. Which I suppose makes sense. I made everyone else smell it, and I couldn’t get a consensus on whether or not to use based on smell alone. But, lest this bear die in vain, I decided I needed to carry on. I’m glad I did. Not only did the smell and taste disappear entirely once the pie was baked, but the crust was incredibly soft and flaky. Quite different from the results of using butter, but in a very pleasant way.

I didn’t use a recipe for the filling in this pie; I had lots of pluots from my in-laws’ tree (along with bear, another truly Californian ingredient) and mixed them with blueberries.

I wish my back patio could always look like this.

The Secret Life of Pies

06 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Berry Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

berry, blackberry, blueberry, peach, raspberry

I mentioned in my last post that there is often not enough pie to go around at the Camp. And it’s true. If I had an abundance of time and fruit trees, I’d feed pie to everyone every day. Since the sad truth is that I cannot produce pies at this rate, the distribution of available pie sometimes turns into a rather covert affair, including late night rendezvous, fork-fights, and sometimes even bribery.

I was lucky enough to get to stay in my friends Rachel and Vinnie’s cabin during Operation Onesimus again this year. For more explanation on what that is, you should jump back to this post from last year regarding the Onesipies. I once again faced the same challenges to pie baking, including the lack of a proper rolling pin (see above.)

I didn’t follow a recipe for either of the pies featured in this post. This first one featured a combination of delights from the local farm…blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. (The rolling pin was from the farm too and was also a delight when mixed with sparkling water and limes, for the record.)

Can I just say that it is extremely difficult to keep pie crust from browning in a very tiny and very hot oven? And can I also say, I’m getting pretty proud of my lattice-weaving abilities. A little crooked, yes. But steadily improving.

This pie was also largely berry-based, but had a healthy helping of white peaches in it too.

I got fancy with the top crust here and grated it with a cheese grater, the way Ken taught me how to when I made his Rainier Cherry Pie.

This is Rick Szabo. Pie is his self-proclaimed favorite thing.

True love.

I guess the secret’s out now. Onesimus attendees, you now know something that you may have suspected and feared already…namely, that your teachers and cooks don’t go to bed early. They stay up and eat pie. Without you. Sorry about that.

(Hey, at least now you know so that next year you can try to sneak into the secret pie parties…right?!)

(Warning: the picture below may contain graphic violence.)

Suffice it to say that this pie did not survive the night.

Now, let’s turn our attention to Mr. Grated Crust. He was being enjoyed a sneaky slice at a time by various friends and relations.

Sometimes when you leave part of a pie in your cabin, you come back to find that it has greatly diminished in size. In this instance, the pie thieves left a thoughtful payment of pocket change wrapped in a paper towel, placed neatly in the then-emptier pie pan.

What kinds of things have you done to get your hands on some pie?

Just Peachy

04 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

peach, peach butter, sour cream

I had a really, truly fantastic summer. I did so much straight-up living. What I’m doing now, the writing and reflecting, always takes a back seat in the summer. I’ve grown to realize that’s okay. One thing I’m working on right now is not doing things just to do them, but to make the most of the jam-packed satisfying times when they present themselves and catch up on the to-do list (i.e. WRITE BLOG POST) in the quieter and more lonely times.

Two key elements of my summer were:

1) the Camp

2) pie

You may ask, “What camp?” There is no way to describe it. It’s just “the Camp.” It’s where I have spent every Sunday and at times other days of the week for most of my life. I have learned a lot about God there. Among other things, this summer I got to teach a hilarious bunch of three-year-olds about Jesus and his miracles of healing…what a great way to spend a week.

My cousin’s house borders the Camp and luckily her family is not averse to me using the kitchen for Pie-Making Purposes during the summer. The first Camp Pie of this past summer was Peachy Peach Butter Pie with Sour Cream Topping. What a fun thing to say. I think I went around the farmer’s market where we bought the ingredients saying “Peachy Peach Butter” and permutations such as “Peachy Peaches” basically nonstop. I think I also sang that “Moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches” song for a while too. Just for good measure.

Making Peachy McPeach pie is a team effort. (We made two of them actually, cause there’s never enough pie to go around.) My best friend Maggie peeled and sliced the peaches like a champ.

In the meantime, I made the crust with one of my all-star helpers, little cousin Ava. She helped me make Sweet Corn Pie last year when she was so much littler! Ava is growing up into a very smart and sweet girl. And boy, does she love to bake. Making pie with Ava is becoming one of my favorite summer traditions.

So I’m kind of hoping you figured this out already, since the pie title’s got peaches and peach butter in the name; there is indeed actual peach butter in the filling along with the peaches. Alstede Farms makes their own peach butter–same farm we bought the peaches from. Fresh Jersey peaches all squashed and spiced in a jar. Mmm mmm mmm.

Exhibit A: The cooked pie in the topless state.

Exhibit B: Brad and Kathleen, some top quality peeps, with the topped-up version of Peachy Peach.

Stay tuned: more Camp pies coming soon!

Summer Solstice

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Apple Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

apple, lemon, Minnesota, orange, pear, rhubarb

On the afternoon of the Summer Solstice, Grandmother was taking her well-earned daily nap, Aunt Sarah and cousin Matt were swimming off the dock, and Levi and Uncle Joe were shopping til they dropped at Gander Mountain. Granddad and I worked on a puzzle and made this pie. He has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t remember much of anything these days, but I think baking is a relatively familiar territory for the following reasons.

1. He has eaten possibly hundreds of my Grandmother’s delicious pies (blueberry and apple are the best kinds.)

2. “Grandfather bread” is a term used in my family to refer to the amazing bread he used to make every week in his bread machine. Grandmother has since taken over the breadmaking (Zante currant is the best kind.)

3. He used to be a research chemist, and what is baking, really, other than edible chemistry? (Post-Its and Scratch and Sniff were some of the best projects he worked on.)

I told Granddad that we were going to make an “Experiment Pie,” meaning that I had no recipe to follow. He laughed and stirred the filling: rhubarb, an apple, a pear, a little bit of pomegranate-lime juice, a squeeze of lemon juice, lemon zest, orange zest, powdered ginger, and nutmeg.

Butter pats go on top, because more butter is more better.

That evening–the sun didn’t set until ten–there was a Summer Solstice feast of epic proportions at the cabin.

There was a strawberry jicama salad from neighbor-friend Jackie.There was a pile of crispy walleye and bass straight from the St. Croix.

And to top it all off, we enjoyed a trio of pies (Experiment Pie, the Nectarine-Lime Pie of yesterday’s post, and a Grandmother Marie Apple Pie).

Cabin Pies

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

lime, Minnesota, nectarine

Minnesota is among my top favorite states in the Union, and my aunt and uncle’s cabin on the St. Croix river is among my top favorite places to hang out. Levi and I have been able to go every summer for a few years now and in between all of the fishing and Adirondack-chair-sitting, I always manage to find time to bake a pie or two.

Upon arriving at the cabin this year, I was disappointed to learn that due to the winter having been long and cold and the spring extremely rainy that the growing season was well behind schedule. I came hoping to make pies with Minnesota-picked currants and raspberries, but not even the strawberries had ripened yet. I heavy-sighed for a while and then went forward with some plan B’s.

Luckily, Trader Joe’s was good for a crate of delicious, juicy nectarines and the Marine-on-St. Croix general store carries limes. (If you ask me what my favorite fruit is and tell me I absolutely must decide on just one, I usually go with the nectarine.) The recipe I used here is called No-Peel Nectarine-Lime Pie. Funnily enough, I made this pie already–four years ago. It was one of the only pies from my cookbook that I tried before deciding to bake every pie in the book…therefore, it had not yet been properly documented or included in the official count of pies. Now it’s rolling in, finally, at number 109.

This pie has a lovely streusel topping which balances the lack of sweetness in the actual pie (only a little over 1/3 cup of sugar is used in the filling.)

Besides the limes, there was another purchase I felt necessary to make at the general store. I often kick around the idea of having a summertime pie operation based in Marine, and everytime I see a bit of competition pop up, I do some sampling to find out what I’m up against.

A line of mini-pies all flavored with a different form of booze? Genius. I’d give these an A+ for concept, B for taste.

Watch for another post tomorrow containing more cabin pie-making adventures!

Pie-in-a-Jar!

27 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Apple Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 29 Comments

Tags

apple, berry, blackberry, blueberry, jar, mini pies, pear, pie-in-a-jar, raspberry, spices, strawberry

Pie-in-a-Jar is as exciting as it sounds.

They’re pies. In JARS.
They’re so super cute.
I think they would hold up really well in the mail. Big question is whether they’ll hold up internationally. Now taking domestic and international volunteers to help me test this theory out.

A year ago, I send some normal pie pies (as opposed to pie-in-a-jar pies) to a bake sale in Palm Springs benefitting the school I teach at. You can read that post here. This year, I was asked to contribute again to the same sale. I decided to make mini pies in jars this year after pondering the following key points.

What’s better than a slice of pie? A whole pie to yourself.
What’s more socially acceptable than eating a whole pie? Eating a whole mini pie.
What’s easier to transport than a jar with a lid?…Nothing.

(My points just seem to be rolling out in groups of three this evening.)

This post from Our Best Bites provided me with some inspiration, and even comes with some rather adorable labels to top your jars with. It’s worth checking out if you’re interested in making your own pies-in-a-jar. For my part, I did what I usually do…read some blog posts on the subject at hand, then decided not to follow any of the recipes after all. So, in all accuracy, I probably couldn’t replicate these exact mini pies ever again.

(Awkward silence as you ponder how unhelpful of a blog writer I really am…)

I made two types of pies-in-a-jar; a pretty basic apple pie with lots of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lemon and lemon zest) and a pear and mixed berry pie (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, almond extract).

I love how they look here, all packaged up and ready to travel!

Have you ever tried baking pies (or anything else) in a jar? I would love to hear:

Stories about YOUR mini pie experiences, or questions about mine.
Interest in being a mail-tester for a pie-jar (depending on the number of comments I receive, I’ll put your name in a drawing.)
Which of the two above flavors you would have purchased had YOU attended the bake sale?

The Republic Strikes Back

14 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Berry Pie, Pie Destinations, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Republic of Pie

It’s still good. I went back to confirm, and it has been confirmed. Check it out if you ever get a chance (The Republic of Pie in North Hollywood.)

A few items for your perusal.

Item 1: Pecan bar. Not pie, but very good nonetheless.

Item 2: Very pleased mother-in-law with quiche and strawberry-rhubarb pie. Made the mistake of saying out loud, “This is the best strawberry-rhubarb pie I’ve ever had,” forgetting that she has had mine.

Item 3: A Charming Chair.

Item 4: Chai latte with almond milk and a tiny strawberry rose with an even tinier dabble of whipped cream (a complimentary plate of which were brought over to our table whilst we dined.) Thanks again, Republic, for another lovely evening! Also, apparently you hosted a pie-eating contest tonight in honor of Pi day….fantastic. I just baked a pie. And ate at least six kinds, and taught my 2nd and 3rd grade students about pies and fractions. And screamed and cheered at 1:59 pm. (….3.14159. I know there is someone reading who doesn’t get it.) Pi day post to come.

The Peace of Pie

Category Archives: Summer Fruit Pie

Resourceful Pie

Pie Man

Love Feasts

Bear Lard Pie

The Secret Life of Pies

Just Peachy

Summer Solstice

Cabin Pies

Pie-in-a-Jar!

The Republic Strikes Back

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