National Pie Day!

(Not to be confused with Pi Day, March 14th.)

As if we really need an excuse to indulge in a slice (or two).  That being said, I'm all for food-centric holidays.  Here are some of my favorite pie recipes, savory and sweet, to make your day especially delicious!

Savory Pies

• Caramelized onion & mushroom galette
• Beef hand pies
• Winter vegetable pot pie
• Tomato & corn pie

Sweet Pies

• Apple crumb pie
• Chocolate peanut butter pie
• Chocolate pudding pie
• Coconut cream pie
• No-bake Oreo cream pie
• Pecan pie with chocolate chips
• Sour cherry pie
• Sweet potato pie

Chocolate peanut butter pie

I fancy myself a relatively creative person with a very active imagination.  Throw in a major passion for food and you can guess what occupies my thoughts 90% of the time.

So, when a friend says something like, "Katy, I need an idea for something to make to take to a party," my mind goes from 0 to 60 in no time at all.  Pedal to the metal, baby.  With no direction whatsoever, I can quickly come up with no less than 10 ideas ranging from appetizers to entrees and (obviously) desserts.

And if he/she provides a few parameters for said dish?  You might think that'd tap the breaks and narrow my focus, but you'd be mistaken.

Sweet potato pie

It's Thursday and you know what that means.  Exactly one week from today is Thanksgiving!  The day when home cooks across America will be glazing, stuffing, roasting, and even frying turkeys of all sizes for the ultimate feast.  I cannot wait!

Today is also the third and final day of new recipes for delicious dishes to add to your turkey day buffet.  The theme is "Everything But The Turkey" since the bird is the easiest and most obvious component of the meal.  Plus, side dishes and desserts afford us the chance to be creative.

So far this week, I've given you recipes for fluffy sweet potato biscuits and irresistable warm farro salad with butternut squash, hazelnuts, and cranberries.  Today is time for dessert, last but most certainly not least.

Fast Friday: Chocolate pudding tart

Is it really only Friday?  This week has zipped by, thanks to unusually busy evenings.

Though I'm nearly 30 (!), I still tend to think of weeknights like school nights and try to avoid making plans.  After a long day of work, I want to enjoy a glorious routine of exercising, making dinner, lounging in sweats, and not getting dressed up to go out again.

But, rules routines are made to be broken, especially when one's best friend of 20 (!!) years turns the big 3-0 (!!!).  A milestone birthday like that deserves multiple celebrations: Milkshake Mondays, a surprise dessert party on Tuesday, and dinner last night.  Tonight, a group of ladies is going out to commemorate her actual birthday, which is today.  Basically, we've eaten our way through the week, and I'm sure this is exactly how the birthday girl wanted it :)

Oreo cream pie

Remember that time I told you there'd be a recipe for a Oreo cream pie on the blog last week?  Oops.

Let's say this Oreo cream pie and I are fashionably late.  With our oversized sunglasses, just blown-out tresses, and Louis Vuitton handbags dangling haphazardly from our arms.  Typical Hollywood behavior, y'all.

Which is totally fitting since this was the star of our Oscars party.

And, just like a celebrity to a party, it was late to arrive and the first one to leave.  Us gals in our finest sweatpants and sweatshirts totally devoured this dessert!

Caramelized onion and mushroom galette

Have you ever been out at a restaurant and watched other people eat?  I mean, really watched them to see if they are totally enjoying whatever it is they ordered.  It's basically People Watching: Food Edition.  This is not to be confused with staring because that's just plain creepy.  People watching is for refined folks like ourselves.

I love to watch how others react to both something delicious and something dreadful.  Kids tend to be more overt about their feelings toward their food, which makes watching them dig in and get food all over their faces much more fun (especially when you think of the parents who must bathe said children later).

Adults, however, are more complicated thanks to two very powerful words: social etiquette.  Sometimes, they're forced to mute their feelings in order to be a gracious guest and not offend the host cook.  Or one partner will force his way through a dish not to look like a picky eater to a woman on their first date.

But, the worst fate, as far as I'm concerned, is when a person must share her attention between present company and an extraordinary dish.  You know that feeling -- we've all had it -- when your plate is clean and you realize you didn't really savor the food at all, and you want a do-over.  How tragic!

Individual winter vegetable pot pies

In case you've just joined me, I'm sharing super comforting and hearty recipes that aren't going to break the bank... or the waistband in your pants.  There was the velvety baked potato soup.  And don't forget the penne with goat cheese and butternut squash.  Today I've got something that will even jive with your busy party schedule.  Hear me out.

We've all done it.  Skipped dinner before a holiday party knowing that we'll indulge in many treats once we see the buffet of choices.  But then, after some grazing, it hits you around 10 o'clock -- intense hunger!?!?!   The kind that hits you like a ton of bricks that you can't ignore.  The kind that reminds you that you haven't had anything substantial in way too many hours. 

Instead of skipping dinner so you can try that totally sinful chocolate pecan pie (ahem, this one) without guilt, why not have something packed full of vegetables that will keep you full for hours on end so you don't overeat at the party and can focus on the delightful jolly makers you only get to see a few times a year (and hey, those slightly-annoying-but-worth-paying-attention-to-for-a story-to-share-with-friends-later guests, too).

Chocolate chip pecan pie

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I had to give you another dessert.  I know there are more than enough ideas here, but are you really going to fault me for giving you just one more?  I think not.  Especially when it's a pecan pie with chocolate chips!  In other words, my new favorite pie.  Hands down, no contest.

I've made pecan pies before, and they've been darn good.  Disappearing good.  But not great.  Pecan pies have the reputation of being too gooey and runny, and so sweet that your teeth ache with only a few bites.  And those whole nuts on the top of the pie?  Gorgeous, sure, but a nightmare to cut through for pretty slices.  Nothing pisses me off more than an ugly piece of mediocre pie served to guests.

What?  Some folks have road rage.  I have pie problems :)

Alliteration and Americana

Tonight, the University of Pittsburgh hosts the University of South Florida for a rare weeknight college football game, and I've been assigned the dessert course, natch.  "To heck with second-rate tailgate food," is what I say!  I pulled out all the stops last night and whipped up my most favorite pie: apple crumb!

What could be more American than college football and a classic apple dessert?  Absolutely nothing!    Panthers and pie!

P-I-T-T, let's go Pitt!  (Try not to stink up the joint like you did for last weekend's bout with Notre Dame, k?  Thanks!)

Tomato & corn pie

Remember that song and dance I gave you yesterday about turning off your oven?

Well, uh, scratch that momentarily, but only if you have a functioning air conditioner in your residence.  I'm not trying to give anyone a heat stroke.  Besides, if you were too sick, you wouldn't be able to properly enjoy this mind numbingly-delicious tomato and corn pie.

(Can you tell I was trying to keep the apartment as cool as possible by closing the shades?  Oven on, shades closed.  A fair trade-off in my book.)

This time of year, my tastes have shifted from stews and meatloaves to anything littered with fresh fruits and vegetables.  I've even been known to forego cake and ice cream in favor of diced strawberries with a little whipped cream. The heat makes people do strange things, I tell you.

Coconut cream pie

(I've flown the coop and headed south!  :)  I'll be spending the next few days on vacation in Savannah, Georgia.  While I'm off enjoying the sights and tastes of the area, I've prepared some recipes to keep your eyes and stomachs happy and satisfied.  Any questions or comments will go unanswered until I return.  Thanks for understanding!)

It hardly seemed fair for me to abandon ship the rainy Pittsburgh weather in favor of 90+ temperatures and leave you without any distractions.  On Friday, I gave a teaser of three recipes to come this week.  Sure, I could've done a better job disguising the final products (original idea was to use a picture of the cans of coconut milk), but why when they were just so darn gorgeous?!  First up is this luscious coconut cream pie.

See what I mean?

Beef, cabbage & potato hand pies

 

Happy Pi Day, math fanatics everywhere! :)  It seems like just yesterday that I first celebrated Pi Day in the 6th grade.  Through junior high and even high school, our math teachers were incredibly enthusiastic about this little holiday and planned a full day's worth of activities for students to enjoy.  The halls were lined with 100 yards of continuous computer paper (you know, the stuff for ancient dot matrix printers) with the number pi taken out to as many decimal places as necessary.  A surprising number of people sported Pi Day shirts -- I still have my green one, in fact.  And, for one day, even an advanced calculus class had a party and noshed on Hostess Fruit Pies -- yum!  Did your school celebrate Pi Day?  Do you still celebrate it?

So, from one pi to another (pie), it's time to share with you the winner of the St. Patrick's Day Irish recipe vote-off: beef hand pies!  Thank goodness, because it would be sacrilege not to have some sort of pie on a day like today.  And, with my no sweets Lenten promise, family favorites like this are officially banned.  (That doesn't mean you can't indulge, so please be my guest!)  I didn't think it were possible for a savory pie to live up to its sweet counterpart's excellence, but I happily stand corrected.

Apple crumb pie

I love my friends.  I love food.  So, it comes as no surprise that I enjoy baiting my friends with promises of food.  Did I say baiting?  I meant treating.  Really.  With as many grand baking plans as I have, it helps to have occasions for which to make dishes and desserts.  But, my life isn't an episode of Sex and the City (not that I'd ever want it to be, thank goodness) so my social calendar isn't exactly packed with swanky events.  If you're familiar at all with the show, you know that the opportunities for cocktail attire and schmoozing at fantastic restaurants are never-ending... do these women ever actually work or sleep or spend time with their husbands and children?  Or just talk about doing such things.  Anyway.  While tuxedos and sequined dresses may not be in my near future, a hockey game in a cozy apartment seems like perfect occasion for dessert and good company.

Sour cherry pie

Maybe I've seen too many movies, but I firmly believe that every family has at least one great food story.  Be it a terrific disaster involving one very blackened Thanksgiving turkey or a quest to discover the key to a top secret cookie recipe from six generations ago.  This story has neither of those elements :)  But, at least to me and mine, it is a pretty fantastic history of the Kemp family and its love of a rare but delicious summer fruit -- the sour cherry.  If you'll permit me, a trip down memory lane...

Shortcut vegetable pot pie

Welcome to I'm-going-to-live-on-whatever-I-have-left-in-my-kitchen week!  Knowing that I'll be heading home to my parents' house mid-Friday for the Easter holiday this weekend, I just can't justify going on a huge grocery trip for 5 days worth of meals.  Sure, I have milk and a few eggs left, but it's slim pickins in the pantry and refrigerator.  And I really mean slim... except in the cheese category.  I always have at least three varieties of cheese.  Obsessed much?  No comment.  But what else can I make?

Every now and then I like to starve challenge myself to see what I can do with ingredients that tend to be neglected -- in this case, the bag of mixed vegetables and almost empty package of phyllo dough in the freezer, and a can of cream of chicken soup in the pantry.  You should know that this isn't a traditional pot pie, but, surprisingly (hey, this was an experiment, after all!) equally as delicious and satisfying.  Not enough flour and butter for traditional pie crusts and no chicken.  And it's actually a little healthier without the oodles of butter in the crusts.  By brushing the phyllo dough with oil, the sheets take on a nice golden color and add a light crunch to the creamy vegetable filling.  The condensed soup is a much easier version of the flour-milk-and-butter roux and more flavorful, in my opinion.

And hey, the result was a success -- a creamy, oozing cheater's vegetable pot pie that warmed every bone in my body on a cold and rainy Sunday.  A filling and satisfying lunch to give me the energy I needed to scream my face off at an evening Penguins hockey game.  Yessssssssss :)

Note: If your food stock isn't quite as pathetic as mine and you have some chicken lying around, feel free to bake two chicken breasts, let them cool, and shred them to add chicken to the pot pie when you add the vegetables to the soup.

Tip: If you have leftover onion and don't plan to use it anytime soon, dice it up and put in a freezer bag for later.  Then, whenever you need a little onion for a recipe, just measure out what you need from the freezer bag.  Because the pieces of onion are small, they'll thaw in no time and save you tons of prep time.

Super Shortcut Vegetable Pot Pie
-makes 6 servings

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion (I had a bag of diced onion in the freezer)
1 (16 ounce) bag of frozen mixed vegetables
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
6 sheets phyllo dough, thawed (let sit at room temperature, sealed in plastic for 30 minutes)
Olive oil, for brushing

Preheat oven to 400F.  Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, vegetables, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Cook until vegetables have thawed (don't worry, they'll soften further in the oven) about 4-5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, add condensed soup and lemon juice.  Stir in vegetables until thoroughly mixed.  Pour mixture into 9-inch glass pie plate.  Place two layers of phyllo dough over dish and mixture.  Brush lightly with oil.  Repeat two more times.  Sprinkle top layer of dough that has been brushed with oil with a little salt and pepper.  Using a knife or kitchen scissors, trim dough so it fits over dish.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until mixture is bubbling.  Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.  Serve with buttered biscuits or alone, both will warm your tummy just as well.