Bluebarb Pie

Hello everyone,
Tonight the rhubarb called to me once again and then my loving husband brought home fresh blueberries. I was left with no choice - I had to make bluebarb pie. It turned out fantastic. You can judge how it looked:

I roughly followed the recipe for fresh berry pie in the Joy of Cooking, I made my pie filling from:

Bluebarb Pie Filling
2 cups blueberries
2 cups rhubarb, chopped small
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2/3 to 1 cup sugar (I used 2/3 cup but found I should have used the full cup for the perfect pie.)

And I used my favorite pie crust that never fails me. It was a good day for pie and ice cream. Yummy.

Sweet Potato Pie

Here's a first for me: Sweet Potato Pie! (With Streusel topping)

I had some left-over sweet potatoes from Easter dinner and thought about this. I had heard of sweet potato pie, but never tried it. I had a recipe for it in the Better Homes and Gardens 14th Edition page 441. My sweet potatoes were sweetened before they were served on Sunday, so I used a little less sugar than the recipe called for and it was still plenty sweet. It turned into a lovely pie, much like a pumpkin pie, only sweeter and less eggy tasting. I would have liked it with nuts throughout it, but I liked it anyway.

The recipe also says it can be made without the streusal and add whipped cream instead. If you'd like the recipe, leave a comment and I will add it!
Enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Pie

This has to be my favorite pie - Lemon Meringue. I used to hate meringue and so when I made pie just for myself, I would beat the egg whites in with the filling and that was just fine with me. In the years since, my taste buds have mellowed, I married and had 4 children. Now I make pie with meringue on top.

Some of the children love it, some like it, everyone eats it. Some leave the crust, others, the meringue. I finish what they don't and we're all happy! I got the recipe from the lemon juice, Realemon. For an even better pie, make this with fresh squeezed lemon juice in place of the Realemon and add a tsp of lemon zest. Awesome lemon flavor!

Realemon Meringue Pie

1             9 inch baked pastry shell

1 1/3 cup sugar

6 Tbsp     cornstarch

1/2 cup    Realemon juice

1 1/2 cup boiling water

4              eggs, separated

2 Tbsp     butter

1/4 tsp     cream of tartar

1/3 cup    sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In heavy saucepan, combine 1 1/3 cups sugar and cornstarch. Add Realemon.

In a small bowl, beat egg yolks. Add to Realemon mixture.

Gradually add water, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. (About 8-10 minutes).

Remove from heat. Add butter. Stir until melted. Pour into prepared pastry shell.

In small mixer bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/3 cup sugar, beating until stiff but not dry. Spread on top of pie, sealing carefully to edge of shell. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Chill before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

Enjoy a delicious pie every time!

My favorite Apple Pie

So, Mom and Dad were here and the only thing I baked was my favorite Apple pie. Here's how it looked, coming out of the oven:

Everyone was eager to dig right in so I snapped a few pictures very quickly and cut 'er up! YUMMY!

Since it was still hot from the oven, what better way to serve it than with some vanilla ice cream? The apples were oozing a little juice still, but the pie tasted great! It was gone in 5 minutes!

If you want to try it yourself, I got the recipe from some Kraft magazine a few years ago. I've made it so many times, here it is from memory:

Kraft Perfect Apple Pie

Pastry:

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup shortening (room temperature)

5 - 7 Tbsp. cold water

Combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until the size of small peas. Add 3 Tbsp. cold water and stir with a fork. Add more water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, just until the dough comes together in a ball. Do not overmix the pastry or it will become tough. Divide the pastry into 2 balls. Roll each out on a lightly floured surface or between 2 pieces of wax paper (NOTE: I always use wax paper - way easier!) Make one about 11 or 12" in diameter. Line a 9" pie plate with it. Make the other just a bit larger than the top of your pie. Keep it set aside and covered while you prepare the filling.

Filling:

(I preheat the oven to 400 degrees F at this point)

6 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples (about 6 large apples)

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

3/4 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. flour or cornstarch

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Peel and slice the apples and sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine the other ingredients and sprinkle over the apples. Toss to coat evenly. Pour filling in the prepared shell. Top with the second pastry round. Crimp edges. Cut steam vents in the top crust.  Bake at 400 for about 35 minutes, until golden on top and apples are soft when pierced with a fork.

Cool on a wire rack for 10 to 20 minutes (if you can wait that long) to let the filling thicken a little and prevent burnt tongues! Add ice cream to make a perfect thing even better! I highly recommend French Vanilla.