Friendsgiving Pies of 2018

A special edition! My 3 year old son made his first pie, Pumpkin, and it was yummy. I am ever grateful for my family, and I do not take for granted that I have a wonderful new life as a mommy, and my son's dad is a great role-model chef!  Above and beyond all, I work at SGF Science Center HQ where we help people fulfill their own vision of family in all of its diverse forms; it's not always easy to have the baby you want, and it can be difficult to become a mother or father.  Anyway, I am an acupuncturist there and grateful for that work.  In my spare time I am still making pies!!!   This year is special indeed, due to our California family escaping the fires.  We are all together East and West and sharing our stories and journey.

Pies of Chihuahua

On our recent journey to Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, we were looking for a place to sit and eat after touring around for the day, and visiting the awesome 'La Rodadora' Interactive Museum, we were so happy to walk into a diner style restaurant called "Cafe La Nueva Central", established in 1958 - in the historic district, for some tasty comfort food.  An enormous menu caters to an array of tastes, including 50's style diner food, mexican plates, and even some classic chinese favorites.

They still had that 1950's feel, and bullet-proof cashier window.  Sitting next to an old jukebox that played the Mexican oldies, the pie cases were full of delicious pies and puddings.

We chose a booth next to the pie cases, and as we ordered lunch, it became clear that most of the customers were to ultimately take home a coconut, apple, chocolate, or banana cream pie!
This was THE place for pie in downtown historic Juarez.  We sampled their enchiladas, club sandwiches, fries, and strawberry milkshake, and even their arrachera beef flank steak and salad...and everything was incredible.  The banana cream pie was exceptionally good so we took some extra to go!

Arriba Juarez!!!

Dutch Market Apple Walnut Pie

This Apple Walnut Pie came from the Dutch market in Germantown, Maryland, where on Thursday - Saturday you can hit that bakery and choose from an enormous selection of yummy pies and other things too: cakes, pretzels, BBQ, candies, chocolates and more!  We chose a 1/2 pie and it was a fantastic choice.  The apples were cooked to perfection and somehow even with the crunch of the walnuts, there was a wonderful melt-in-your-mouth quality.  Such very good luck to kick off this autumnal pie season with a delicious apple walnut pie !!!

The Irish-Maryland Shephards' Pie for NYE

Welcome 2016!!!
New Years Eve was a 'night-in' for us with family, a Party-At-Home situation...and a perfect time to have a winter dish, with a Maryland Twist! Many folks wanted the recipe from me on this one, and I'll include the simple version: Make mashed potato your favorite way and then add a bunch of cream cheese and Irish shredded cheese (like Dublin Cheese) and garlic if you want.  Let that be the topping of your meat pie, or veggie pie and put a nice layer of Old Bay on it when you spread it over the top of the 'Pie Inside' : Carrots and Peas, and ground lamb (or chopped, or shredded turkey, bison, beef, or whatever your choice.  We did bite size cuts of lamb with rosemary, cinnamon, garlic and mint mixed with little frozen peas, carrots and corn for this one.  Add the Old Bay Seasoning.  Bake it for 45 min or whenever it all gets yummy together!

Caramel Apple Pie for Christmas

This Pie is a Caramel Apple Pie with a lattice crust...I got this recipe from my sister and recruited my family to do the apple slicing and dough rolling.  Making an easy simple dough for a double layer pie and then drizzling fresh squeezed lemon on the apples as we sliced, I quickly made a caramel sauce on the stove.  The pie turned out to be one of the best EVER, not overly sweet either.  We will be making it again and will report back to the Pie Blog - next time with a thicker caramel sauce and perhaps the addition of cranberries!!!

New Mommy continues to Bake Pies despite all obstacles...

Yes, the WannabePieChef continues...despite the obvious life change of becoming a Mommy.  I have made it through almost 10 months of mommy-hood, and not many pies were made, but indeed a new pie was discovered.  The store-bought Pie! No--just kidding.  My creation of the past season was a chilaquiles pie, and it's basically a taco pie.  Layer in the totopos and ground beef or whatever your flavor, chicken or steak; a layer of refried beans and jalepeños and onions (fresh or sauteéd) and of course the queso. A layer of salsa goes in between. Bake for as long as it takes to make it all melty and yummy.  Put some fresh chopped tomatoes on top.  Pour on some hot sauce as you like.  You could sub in eggs and make it a brunch thing, or chorizo, or mushrooms and more cheese.  I made this pie for my mexican relatives and they agreed that I can finally cook. (Andalé!) Stay tuned for the Christmas 2015 pie coming soon!

Giving Thanks at Pie Time!

This 2014 there's a lot to be thankful for, pies are on the list, as always! ...Practicing gratitude on a regular basis has been a theme I've taken up this year in particular.  Finding time each day to be grateful for something is the idea.  Each year presents new challenges and rewards; It's good practice to recognize the time for harvest, however big or small and whatever metaphorically that harvest may be.  Thanksgiving is really a great holiday for just that, maybe obviously so, and although I'm not cooking a ton of dishes, the guest list is short, and the bounty is small, I recognize my harvest this year simply as a couple of accomplishments I can be proud of, some challenges that were overcome, and a deeper appreciation for some very caring friends and family members who have stood tall in very nasty weather (literally and figuratively!)  Most of all I am thankful for health and some amazing special events coming soon in the next season!

This year my sister and I took on some Paleo, Whole Foods nutrition programs, and with that in mind comes this recipe for an amazing traditional Pecan Pie that ditches the corn syrup in favor of organic maple syrup, and utilizes an almond flour crust to get away from gluten.  The recipe can be found at the 'Deliciously Organic' website.  (In my opinion, Thanksgiving also needs a pumpkin candidate, so I'm making an organic pumpkin cake this year with cream cheese frosting.  This one is new!)

A recent yummy find at Mission Pie, Potato & Onion...had to order two slices!