Almost Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Another easy but much better than the original tip - (I stumbled upon this accidentally, when I had already mixed the pumpkin with spices around 10pm one night, and THEN discovered I had no evaporated milk):

When making pumpkin pie, follow the recipe on the can of pumpkin (not the canned pumpkin pie filling - I've never tried that). Replace the evaporated milk with half milk, half sour cream. Double the cinnamon. Add FRESH grated nutmeg. It really makes a difference!

Three Berry Pie

I think this is officially a "deep dish" pie, because I only put a top crust on it. But this would actually be a "shallow dish" pie if there was such a thing - it probably is only enough for four people. Because I have yet to remaster the art of making pie dough (I could in my teens, but lost the touch), and I only had one roll out pie dough in my refrigerator.

Combine:

1 pint blueberries - they were a bit old - when they start to look like raisins

5 large strawberries

about 3/4 cup of frozen raspberries

mix together:

1/2 cup sugar

4 teaspons cornstarch

Mix the sugar into the berries and pour into a pretty tart pan. Top with pie crust - I cut mine into long strips and made a lazy man's lattice.

Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, then turn down to 350 and bake another 30 - until the juices are nice and bubbly and the crust is starting to brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Blueberry Season!

Yesterday I bought ten pounds of blueberries. WHY, you might ask would anyone want ten pounds of blueberries? Well because blueberries are the freshest and most economical in Pennsylvania in late June and early July. So I washed the berries, picked out the stems and the few little green ones (NO ONE wants to eat that bitter bite), and put them in three cup containers in my freezer.


Once I filled all my little containers I still had about a cup and a half of berries left - breakfast!! A wonderful start to a Monday morning for the resident Southerner and I - just in a bowl with cantelope and raspberries.


All winter I'll be able to make blueberry crisps (place blueberries in a casserole dish, cover with a mixture of melted butter, brown sugar and old fashioned oats. bake until hot and bubbly. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream); baked blueberry oatmeal, blueberry pancakes (or better yet REGULAR pancakes, layered with plain yogurt, with a lightly sweetened blueberry topping); and of course blueberry pies!


I actually used up the last of the 2007 blueberries just a few weeks ago, making a pie for Father's Day. I used the Joy of Cooking blueberry pie recipe, but reduced the sugar a little and added both vanilla extract and grated orange peel to the blueberry filling:


Preheat oven to 425.

(directions say: "Make flaky pastry dough, page 859"), but I just opened the box marked "pie crusts", and unrolled one of the pastry rolls into a 9" glass pie pan.


Then I mixed gently in a large bowl:


5 cups blueberries (I think I used closer to 6 cups)

1/2 cup sugar (recipe calls for 3/4 - 1 cup)

3 T cornstarch

2 T dried orange peel (if you are going to omit this, add a squirt of lemon juice)

1/2 teaspoon salt

a splash of vanilla extract


Spoon this mixture into the pie crust. Cover with the other crust, crimp the edges, and use a paring knift to vent the top crust.

Bake for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 350, and bake another 25 - 35 minutes.