Homemaking Tip - Put a Crust on It

You are going to have to pretend with me.  You will need to pretend I can take appetizing pictures of food.  (But even if I were a good food photographer, there would still be that problem of Calvin being frustrated that the food was cold once the picture staging was finally over and the food hit the table.  [Sometimes our blessings on the food are said much too quickly just for the sake of keeping the food hot.  I tell Calvin it is sacrilegious, but he is convinced God is on his side in the matter.])

Now that we are successfully pretending these pictures make the food look appetizing, here they are:

blackberry pie a la mode

This summer I've made a lot of berry pies that look like this.  Calvin loves them and requests them often.  These are much easier to make than a 9 or 10 inch pie and they bake much faster.

The pie filling is made by mixing four cups of berries with 1 cup of sugar, a dash of salt, and 3-4 tablespoons of instant tapioca.  Pour the berry mixture into the ramekin and follow the directions for making a meat pie listed below.

They are great.

meat pie 

Sunday we had roast, potatoes, and carrots like we often do.  I put them in an aluminum dutch oven it bakes at 325 degrees for the 3.5 hours we're at church.  We come home to a hot and waiting dinner.  

There are always leftovers when we have roast, potatoes, and carrots.  Sometimes we reheat them and sometimes I put the leftovers in a stew.  Neither are our favorites.  This week I put the leftovers into the little berry pie ramekins and put a crust on them.  It was good.  Really good.  I think we'll look forward to the leftovers more than the Sunday dinner now.

Meat Pie

1.   Cut the potatoes, carrots, and roast into little cubes and place in ramekin
2.   Pour a couple tablespoons of gravy over the potatoes and roast
3.   Put a pat of butter on top of gravy, potatoes, carrots, and roast
4.   Make a pie crust

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
9-10 tablespoons ice water

Sift flour and salt together.  Cut in shortening with fork until the size of peas.  Add water.  Mix until incorporated and dough is easy to handle.  Roll out on floured board.  Yields 12 ramekin-sized single crusts

5.   Cut pie crust in circles (add vent holes)
6.   Put crust on top of meat pie
7.   Crimp edges
8.   Baste crust with egg wash (if making a berry crust, sprinkle egg wash with sugar)
9.   Bake in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes
10. Reduce heat to 350 degrees for an additional 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Put-a-crust-on-it is going to be my future go-to solution when I don't know what to do with leftovers.


Thank you.  We can quite pretending the food in those pictures looked good and go back to reality now.