{MONDAY'S MENU} Berry Medley Pie

ELDER TIMM'S IS BACK! So, a while back I posted a recipe for RIBS and mentioned Elder Timm's & Cardion and how we LOVED to spoil those two...well, ELDER TIMM'S CAME BACK! He has just 3 months left. When we met him, he had only been out for a few. He said that he is finishing his mission out here. We are glad to have him! First thing he did was call and ask for dinner. YOU BET! I am sure there will be many more opportunities to feed him & Elder Martinez in the next couple of months. I will have to get pics.

SO, in order to completely spoil him I had to come up with something DELISH! So, I made my mom's lasagna, the one that I posted a few weeks ago, and for dinner I whipped up a PIE! Yes, a PIE! A berry pie that included the likes of Blueberries, Marion berries & Raspberries! OH YUM! So, today I am sharing it with you! I can't take all the credit however, this WAS inspired by PW's Blueberry Pie, and I used my mom's pie crust recipe! I have to tell you, if you are intimidated by baking or pies, you MUST try this one! It was SO easy, and SO yummy! Let's get to it! My kids are at school, and there are errands to run!

BERRY MEDLEY PIE

Whisk together 1/2 c. cold water & 1/2 c. flour. Set aside.

Now put 2 1/2 c. flour, 1 tsp. salt & 1 Tbsp. of sugar.

With a fork you want to "cut" in the shortening until all of the flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Now you are going to "cut" in 1 1/2 c. butter flavored shortening. I know, I know! But you won't be eating the entire pie by yourself so just suck it up and add it! And please, if you haven't ever tried the Crisco that comes in cubes like this...you must! It is SO much easier and SO less messy!

Now please go wash your hands really good, because this is about to get dirty! The biggest secret to the PERFECT flaky pie crust is to mess with it as little as possible.

Pour your water/flour mixture in and mix with your hands until just mixed. It shouldn't be sticky.

This recipe makes two pie crust, if you are making cream pies or whatever. If your pie needs a top, this recipe will take care of the bottom and top. Don't you just LOVE when I state the obvious?!

Put the point in the center and unfold. Now poke holes in your crust with a fork on sides and bottom.

Now for the fun part! You can use fresh berries if you would like. You will need 2-3 pints of them, which can get expensive! But, let me tell you a little secret. I used FROZEN! We had the Berry Medley from Costco in my freezer. I pulled it out and ran cool water over it until they were thawed. They tasted SO good! Just like fresh!

Now measure 2 - 3 pints. I used 3. Make sure you measure when they are thawed. There is a difference!

Let's just take a moment to admire them, shall we?! YUM!!

Make sure you drain your berries really good, but don't squash them. Then coat them with sugar. I don't know how much, just eyeball it! I used about 3 Tbsp. I should have used a little more. The berries were a little tart, but not anything the Vanilla Ice Cream didn't take care of! Wait, I bet Honey would work really good too! Hmmm, I am going to have to try that!

Now add a couple of tablespoons, or more, of flour. This is to thicken up the sauce. You don't want a soup, but you don't want it rock hard. I think mine turned out just about perfect. I think I used about 2-3 Tbsp. Now add a couple of dashes of Nutmeg.

Now mix it all up and pour it into your crust!

Roll out your other ball of crust and lay it on top. Cut four slits in it so it can vent a bit.

Now top all of that with about 10 pats of butter.

Then go around the outside of your crust and press the tops and bottoms together. Then using your fingers you can make this pretty little design. My mom taught me well! Have I ever told you how PRETTY her pies always are?! They ARE! And they are YUMMY!

UM, yeah! Can I just say that I am SO glad there is one more piece in the fridge CALLING MY NAME! NO it is not saying "Ryan" it is saying "Amy". Besides by the time he could get home to do anything about it, it will be somewhere between home and Ketchum, resting happily in my stomach. HA!

Now, the problem with crust is that sometimes the outsides try to get too dark, too fast. This baby has to cook at 400 degrees for 35-40 min so I have to do a little preventative maintenance. So, I folded up a LONG strip of tin foil and gently wrapped it around the edges, just to protect it! It helped!

This would be Mallory's interpretation of mom cooking in the kitchen. I was in here for a bit on Saturday afternoon. When I was done she came in and started pulling all of the drawers open, then sliding them all shut, then she would start again, all the while saying, "Make, Make, Make". NICE! I taught her how to do the laundry the other day, maybe she would appreciate a lesson in cooking! I will have to decide if I am feeling up to that today! :)

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?! I must add that you MUST have Vanilla Ice Cream with this! What is better than ice cream and warm pie, for one. And for two...well, it just has to happen OK?!

Now, I started by flouring my counter top, THEN I remembered that this whole process is SO much easier if you use wax paper under your crust. Do whatever works best for you.

Roll your crust out flat and thin. Don't mess with it too much, but make sure that you get the crust big enough to sit in your pie plate with some overlapping.

The easiest way to move your crust over it to fold it in half, then in half again.