Guy cooking -simple blueberry pie.

Crushed

Woke up feeling very discouraged so I am using pie therapy.  I am making both a blueberry and a turkey pot pie.

I have developed a simple reliable blueberry pie recipe

You need

1) Frozen pie shell (deep dish)

2) Refrigerator pie crust (this is flat and comes in a roll)

3) can of blueberry pie filling

4) Pint of fresh or frozen blueberries.

5) 1 egg  and a basting brush

6) cookie sheet

7)   oven  

Sugar is cheaper than blueberries so all commercial pie fillings are high on sugar and skimpy on blueberries.  

So you take the frozen pie shell put it on the cookie sheet and pour in the canned pie filling and then pour in the fresh or frozen blueberries.  Mix carefully  Unroll the pie top and put it on the pie.  You press down the edges and cut off the extra.  For fun I sometimes use a Swiss army knife but you can use a bayonet knife, Bowie knife,  dive knife or machete 

scramble  the egg with a tiny bit of water and paint the top of the pie. 

Timing.  I have a convection oven and 40 minutes at 350 does the job but conventional ovens take less time but higher temperature  for frozen blueberries add 5 minutes.

It will be very hot.  Turn off the oven get your  real man barbecue mits and pull the rack out. Make sure you have a clear space for a hot pan.  Take it out of the oven and leave it alone for an hour.

Got it? Blueberry pie on right

LadyTexan

I am going to try it. 

Pie therapy sounds like a win win....pie and therapy.

THANK YOU CRUSHED!

Jo C.

Very enticing looking pies, Crushed.  Being raised in the U.P. of Michigan, making blueberry pies from berries we actually picked in the woods, was something everyone seemed to do during berry season.  I remember berry picking in the woods with my own galvanized pail and eating about as many berries that got into my bucket.  Many women also "put up" blueberries in Mason jars to have on hand when berry season was over.  The mothers and grandmothers did one more step in their pie baking . . .

They always either used a ceramic, hollow "pie bird," to vent the top of the pie, or they cut several small vents in the top of the pie to let steam out. Depending on how big the pie, sometimes they did both.  Just about every house had pie birds.  This kept the juice from the fruit from seeping through the side/edges of the crust and kept the baking sheet from having slopped over baked on juices which was very hard to clean.  Some women swore never to use a baking sheet iunder their pie because they thought it did something negative to the bottom crust. Must have been a huge job cleaning their ovens if there were leaks.

Here is a picture and explanation of a pie bird in an article:

https://www.southernliving.com/desserts/pies/pie-bird

Pie birds; carpet beaters, what memories!  (I actually have an old-fashioned carpet beater, never use it, but like having it.  So many childhood memories of whacking carpets hanging on a line.  We were a bit behind the times in our tiny town so many years ago.  Why, I wonder, did they not just use their Hoovers.

Boy; I can almost smell those pies - bet the whole house smelled wonderful!  Have a piece for us.

J.

Donr

Looks great but being a Diabetic I would have to IV insulin.

Crushed

The blueberry pies goes to DW in memory care its not on my diet.   

One of the effects of using the commercial pie filling and crust is that much less venting is needed. but you can see the vents in the top of the pie.  

LadyTexan

I made a chicken pot pie using an online recipe. The recipe called for premade pie crusts from the refrigerator section of the grocery store.

Most of you know that I am not gifted in the kitchen, but I found the recipe easy to follow. The hardest part was trying to protect the pie crust edges with strips of foil during the last 15 minutes of baking. Oh and trying to serve it without a pie server was kind of messy.

LadyTexan

I needed some pie therapy today. I have a chicken pot pie in the oven as I write this. So far I have had two kitchen mishaps:

1. I sliced my finger on the foil roll cutter. Ouch!
2. I smoked up the house pretty well due to pizza remnants on the bottom of my oven. 

I hope that is the end of the pie therapy mishaps. I have another crust, blue berries and blue berry filling so I may attempt a blue berry pie too. I'll keep you posted.

Edited to share a pic of the finished chicken pot pie

Crushed

a tablespoon of cornstarch stabilized the pie and note for guys scrambling the egg does not involve cooking it,  only mixing it up  (a cook book would say "whisk" the egg. 

jfkoc

I do not remember ever baking a pie...think I will try the Blueberry and serve with Bryers natural vanilla ice cream.

ladyzetta

Thanks for the laugh Lady T. Your pie was beautiful but I got a laugh after you sliced into it.  I bet it tasted good.

Hal42

Crushed, your blueberry pie looks great! Think I’ll give it a try. As I no longer have any of the suggested utensils for trimming the crust edge, I’ll probably use my trusty P-38. I’ve had one with me since 1961. It worked well to open C-rats! 

As for putting foil on the crust the last 15 minutes, when I bake a frozen pie from the store (“store-boughten” as Mom used to say) I put the foil on just before putting the pie into the oven. I take the foil off after baking. The crust browns evenly. Maybe with ready made crusts the crust wouldn’t brown doing it this way? Frozen versus thawed? Just curious.

Beachfan

jfkoc,

I don’t bake pies either.  Where do you live?  Can I get there from PA in time for pie a la mode?  My mouth is watering.  

June45

LT, your chicken pot pie looks yummy...comfort food!!!

Stuck in the middle

I remember the first slice of blueberry pie I ever ate, when I was about 16.  It was wonderful, and I have loved it ever since.  DW doesn't like it, so I'd have to eat it all myself if I made one.  I'll have to continue to stir fresh blueberries and walnuts into plain nonfat yogurt.  Thanks for the recipe anyway.

I used to pick blackberries and gooseberries for pies.  They grow wild in southern Missouri, where I grew up.

Jo, I used to beat rugs with a beater.  My great grandparents were born shortly after their fathers returned from the Civil War, and were elderly by the time electricity was available in rural Missouri.  They thought electricity was dangerous and unnecessary, and never had it in the house.  No Hoovers.  The dust that flies off the rugs goes right into the face of the beater, and all over him, while he strikes the rug several hundred times.  A shower is needed afterward.

Joe C.

A recent creation. Sometimes baking is what gets me through the day and I never baked anything before becoming a caregiver.

LadyTexan

Joe - is that a pineapple upside down cake or a pie?

Here's a question for debate.......If I make a chicken pot pie, am I 

a) cooking or 

b) baking? 

Maybe its a multifunction kitchen activity? comparable to aerobic weight training in the gym.

Joe C.

LT, Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

If it has a crust on it my vote is Baking, regardless of the filling.

Lorita

I used to make blueberry pies - used canned wild blueberries - not pie filling with a bit of lemon juice - really good.

 Blackberries are beginning to ripen.  We have tons of vines in the west pasture where I used to pick them.  At that time they were really big berries.  A few years ago a neighbor and his wife were going to pick some and he said they were smaller.  Haven't been down there in a long time.  I used to make what we called a quick cobber from berries or peaches.  And, Judith, everything's better with vanilla ice cream on top.

Crushed

If anyone wants to try the pot pie here it is.

Turkey or chicken  pot pie

Great for leftover turkey during the holidays.

Ingredients

    1 egg beaten  (for the crust

   ⅓ cup butter  (look at the stick)

    1 onion cut up small

    ⅓ cup flour

    ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning

    ½  teaspoon thyme

    1 cup chicken broth

    ⅔ cup milk I use evaporated milk which I dilute 1-1 with water    

    1 potato  cooked  diced

    1 ½ cups frozen vegetables defrosted (or use leftovers)

    2 cups leftover turkey or chicken cut up small

    1 double pie crust  i.e. a bottom and a top.    (deep dish)

Instructions

 Preheat oven to 400°F. Whisk egg with 1 tablespoon water. Set aside.

   

In a big frying pan or suitabele pot Cook the onion in butter over medium low heat for  about 5 minutes.
Mix up the flour, poultry seasoning, thyme, salt & pepper.
put it in and mix it up Cook 2 minutes more.

 put milk and chicken broth together and pour it in slowly  while mixing   keep heat medium
It will be a bit lumpy at first . Bring to a boil over medium heat, simmer 1 minute and remove from heat. Stir in the turkey and vegetables.

 Take the bottom crust  Fill with turkey filling. top with second crust.  You can use a bottom or a rolled top both work
 push edges to seal and cut a few slashes  to vent pie. Brush with egg mixture .

Put pie on cookie sheet in oven

Bake 40 minutes or until lightly browned and filling is bubbly.

    Cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting.

Notes

Potato can be cooked in the microwave.

It freezes well but I usually cut it into slices after chilling so I can microwave only one slice.

piozam13

I've got to give this a try.  thanks Crushed

Crushed

LadyTexan wrote:

Joe - is that a pineapple upside down cake or a pie?

Here's a question for debate.......If I make a chicken pot pie, am I 

a) cooking or 

b) baking? 

Maybe its a multifunction kitchen activity? comparable to aerobic weight training in the gym.

Well As a one time professor in home economics 
1) cooking is the application of heat in any form to change food.  In German you "cook" water to make tea.

The usual confusion is between baking and roasting no one can agree on a definition except that anything that rises (like bread) is BAKED   Fish or covered meat is also described as "baked"  Anything on a spit or a grill support in the oven is Roasted   Both are "oven cooking" with essentially convected heat  

Direct heat with CONDUCTION   is usually frying but pan grilling is also known. 

Pancakes and similar are not "baked" They are pan grilled 
 
 finally Pure grilling involves only radiant heat   so meat on a spit in the open is grilled
Smoking is something  else again


Does that help?  

LadyTexan

Yes Crushed that helps. I am remedial in the kitchen. My go to words to describe cooking are:

• preheat, heat and reheat,
• microwave, 
• boil, 
• bake,
• turn on the fan,
• shut off the smoke alarm and 
• order delivery.

Crushed

DW skipped right down to
 order delivery.

True stories

DW called me once in Europe and said "there is no food in the house
I said "the fridge is full of food" 
She said But it has to be cooked  !!

After that I left small rubbermaid boxes of Lunch and dinner that all could be warmed in the  microwave with exact time written on a label

I  was a better cook than my mother in law (who was in fairness a world famous scientist).

DW had a distinguished foreign guest couple visit   and they came to our house for a real thanksgiving dinner the Friday before Thanksgiving.  They ood and aad over the food and asked how she could do it since she was in the office all day. She soaked it up for a minute and then said "you didn't see my husband in the office all day did you?"   

When they installed our our new range and tried to tell DW how it worked she laughed and said "that's not my department!!" 

My daughters say that if I only have one "move" when it comes to women and it's through the kitchen