Pie! Cream, Fruit, and Spaghetti.

Last Sunday's Pie Social was a big success!  Over 200 guests, 42 pies, 3 double batches of homemade brownies, 3 gallons of homemade ice cream, the rain let up enough for many to go sit outside on porches, stone walls, and stairs.  We had to set up inside because, in spite of a fairly optimistic forecast for mainly clouds, it drizzled all day.  And it was very warm and muggy.  Thank goodness the drizzle abated and most, especially the children, could disperse all over the property outside.  At the end of the evening, there were just enough pieces leftover from a few pies to equal one pie and we gave that away the next day to a friend who is housebound and a big pie lover.  The brownies were all gone as was every drop of ice cream.

Good butter marbling means that crust is going to be flaky and crunchy - yum!

 On Saturday, the day the cream pies were made, my sons and daughter in law pitched in.  We made such good time and got done way earlier than ever that Dan took us all out to dinner for seafood at Petey's

 Peanut Butter Cream without its topping

After, I immediately made notes of what I will and will not be doing next year if I do this again, which I probably will.  Here is a list of what I made.
6 Chocolate Cream
3 Banana Cream
2 Coconut Cream
3 Peanut Butter Cream
4 Key Lime
4 Strawberry Tarts
3 Dutch Apple
2 Strawberry Rhubarb
2 Blueberry
2 Blackberry Crumb
4 Pecan
2 Peaches and Cream
2 "The gods" Raspberry
3 Lemon Meringue

I won't do the Peaches and Cream again; it wasn't bad and both were totally eaten but I've made better peach pies.  I will make more of "The gods" raspberry as it was the hit of the night.  It's a fresh raspberry pie with a pastry cream/whipped cream "frosting".  Sadly, it was the only one I didn't get to taste as it went so quickly - people were raving about it.  I will do strawberry rhubarb but I'll go back to my old recipe which I think is better - it was still tasty but not quite as wonderful as my tried and true.  I'll make one additional blueberry as those went too quickly and make my more traditional blackberry pie instead of the crumb one which had more of a cakey crumb consistency than I expected.  The peanut butter pie (which I renamed White trash Peanut butter pie) was also a huge hit, my first time making it this year and I will definitely make it again.  Even with these cons I'm listing, the pies were all really good but some recipes I've used over the years of doing this I have liked better.  You'd think I would use the same tried recipes every year because they are good and they work but I am always searching out new variations and I love to experiment.  As for pictures, I took several befores but no during or afters!  I was too busy playing hostess and forgot.  Oh well.

 The fruit pies in the dining room

 Cream pies in the kitchen

 Heath being silly!

 More Heath silliness.

And Heath's hand going for the brownies!

Now, a couple days before the Pie Social, I was listening to the Today Show in the background and Matt Lauer was raving about a Spaghetti Pie that a chef had made on the show the day before that he thought was so good he said he could eat it a couple times a week.  And he added that after saying that, the recipe was the most hit on the show's website ever so I knew I had to try it.  The chef had been demonstrating recipes for the show that kids would love as they get back in to the school year - food for fuel.  I made it the day after the Pie Social and we loved it too!  Here is the recipe.  It's so simple, so basic, you, your children, anyone who loves pasta and cheese will love it.  And I think it can be taken up a notch as well with herbs, veggies, whatever.  Try it!

SPAGHETTI PIE

12 oz spaghetti cooked and drained - save 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
1 small onion finely chopped
1 lb ground turkey or ground sirloin - I used half lb of each in mine
1 cup tomato paste (I used the whole 12 oz can - who wants to save or throw out 4 oz?)
3 large eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 T olive oil (use 1 T for the onions and 1 for the pie plate)

Saute onions until soft, add the meat and brown then add 3/4 of the tomato paste and the reserved pasta water.  Stir well and cook through.  Season with S&P - it should have the consistency of a thick bolognese.  Set aside.  In a large bowl mix together the rest of the tomato paste with the eggs, parm cheese and 1 cup of the mozzarella.  Mix in the cooked spaghetti noodles.  Now, grease your pie plate with the remaining olive oil.  Layer on 1/2 the meat mix.  Add all the noodle mix and press down on this then top with the rest of the meat.  Sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella cheese.  Bake 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Cut like a pie and eat it hot!  Delicious!

 One spaghetti pie was made for us and the other for a young friend that just had a baby.

And to end, a few more pictures of pie delight!  These apples are from our Rye tree, not for the pie social, but just because we want to know how our own apples taste when baked.  I made this just tonight - it came out of the oven as I finished this post.  Breakfast tomorrow!