I cheated........

I had fully planned on making pies from scratch. Until I looked at the price of organic blueberries and the pathetic baking apples in the grocery store. I know, face it Tami, you live dead center of the USA where we won't be producing good, edible produce for another 6 months. Ugh. So, I turned to canned fruit to bake pies. I have to say, they were brought to work last night and all were gone by 1 AM. Lots of compliments, so not a terrible idea I guess. Of course, maybe these people never get actual 'from scratch' desserts other than what I bring in. Yeah, I run with that idea.

My hubby's favorite pie, probably, is blueberry. When we went to visit his grandparents, Grandma Baker always had a blueberry pie waiting for the Dude. He would scarf that baby down like no body's business. Of course, when we met he weighed about 135 pounds and is about 5'10". Hee hee hee, after almost 20 years of marriage, I have put about 35 more pounds on him-which he needed. He looked awfully bony when I got him. I digress. Blueberry. I think it conjures up happy memories for him, so I make it a lot for him. Since I was disappointed with the lemon meringue and banana cream pies I brought in last week, I felt I had to redeem myself.

I do zhuzz (how do you even spell that sound?) the canned fruit up with other ingredients.

Blueberry Pie

2 cans blueberry pie mix

fresh lemon zest

water

sugar

Apple Pie

2 cans apple pie mix

fresh ground nutmeg

cinnamon

water

sugar

Roll out dough for 2-2 crust pies. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar in pie plate. Lay bottom crust over sugar and press down into pan. Pour in two cans of the blueberries.

Zest the lemon over filling

Cut decorative top (I have two different designs-I'm not very artistic)

Lay on top of filling

Spritz with water

Sprinkle with another tablespoon or two of sugar

Apple Pie

Assemble crust like above, with sugar in pie plate

Pour in two cans of apple pie filling

Run the nutmeg over a microplane all over the pie-don't use too much

Sprinkle with full strength cinnamon

Top with second crust

Spritz and sprinkle with sugar.

Cover edges of pies with crust protectors. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes, then remove crust protectors and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Normally with the apple pie, I sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over the top, but my jar was empty and I didn't want to stop to make more, so I just did regular sugar on this one.

I had to cut a piece for Hermit Crab so she wouldn't get mad


Oh so juicy

Smelled incredible, but no pie for me. I will have to make my pecan one to post. Of course, I will have to make it when I have to work or I'll eat that sucker all by myself (my hubby and kids don't like pecan). Then I'll gain 35 pounds!