So many pies, not enough people: day 4 and 3

So I skipped day four. My intention was to do candied yams. The reality is, I don't really have a "special recipe" for candied yams. I just do it the straight forward way. Slice, boil, baking dish, salt, pepper, butter, brown sugar, marshmallows, bake, eat, yum. So there is day 4.

Day 5: Pie filling

Last year I made 7 pies. 2 banana cream, 1 lemon sour cream, 2 berry, 1 apple, and 1 chocolate cream, (and I bought a pumpkin, I have never tasted a pumpkin pie that was significantly better than I store bought one). This year I am only having 7 adults to dinner (Fairb's family is coming down execpt his sister who just canceled, if you could only read the blog in my head right now . . . .). So now I am struggling what pies to make. This is one pie I am definitely making because it is fairb's favorite. This is the easiest pie recipe, and it is the best banana cream I have tasted (I have tried Martha's recipe, which is painful to make, and this one is better). This is a recipe taught to me by my friend Lori, the pie goddess. You can do the exact thing for chocolate cream, just use a chocolate pudding box.

Banana Cream Pie
1 small box instant banana cream pudding
½ can (7 0z) sweetened condensed milk
7 oz water
1 ½ c heavy whipping cream
2-3 bananas
1 cup heavy whipping cream whipped with sugar and vanilla to taste.

In mixing bowl, mix together water and sweetened condensed milk. Add dry pudding mix and beat until mixed well. Refrigerate. Ina separate bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff. Fold pudding mixture into whipped cream. Peel and slice banana and layer with pudding mixture into baked pie shell. Chill until set, (about 1 hr) garnish with whipped cream and more bananas if desired.



This is also taught to be by Lori. The key is to thicken the sauce first, and then add the berries at the end. That way you have to joys of whole berries and not a big sloppy concoction.


Berry Pie
1 ½ lbs frozen berries (1/2 bag tripe berry blend from costco)
1 c sugar 1 T lemon juice
¼ c cornstarch 2 T butter. Thaw berries in microwave for 3-4 minutes. Collect juice from thawed berries and save. Mix together sugar and corn starch in sauce pan. Add juice from thawed berries and about 1 cup of the thawed berries. Mix together over medium and stir until boils and thicken. Add remaining berries. When thick, take off heat and stir in lemon juice, and butter. Fill unbaked pie shell and bake at 425© for 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 350© and bake for additional 20-30 minutes