3.14

(My daughter's design, pretty cool)

*update my daughter, Angela,  won best T-shirt design and she said her pie rocked! There was a competition on T-shirt design~

 Today is Pie day have you heard?  My daughter's school  is having fun with this date, 3/14. Her projects were to make a pie for school(we made Brownie Fudge), make a T-shirt  and learn the pie song for Chorus. I'm embarrassed to share the recipe, but I will. Here is the story behind the Brownie Fudge Pie.  My husband n' I are newly married; it is Thanksgiving. We both have different holiday traditions .My family follows a more traditional path, except for these facts. My Mom cooks a huge turkey and a pork roast, both white n' sweet potato, applesauce a must for the roast and endless sides. This doesn't include the 12-13 pies she would make. My family wasn't into the pudding type pies. It was Apple, Cherry, Lemon, at least 2-3 of those, Pumpkin, Strawberry rhubarb, Squash(it's a New England thang) and Blueberry, etc. My aunts would bring the pudding type pies with whip cream. I would have to fight for the Lemon  Meringue pie. My brother and Mom's favorite, both Virgos is there a connection? Between you n' me, I think so, my son is a Virgo, too and his favorite pie is yes, Lemon.

My husband's family isn't Italian, but my husband's grandmother remarried an Italian gentleman. One year he made Lasagna for Thanksgiving, at their home. It was a huge hit, this became their new tradition. I have never seen anything like it.. I swear the pan is the bottom of a turkey roasting pan, filled with 6 different types of cheese,a secret homemade red gravy, layered to the moon, with homemade walnut sized meatballs. The top has sweet Italian sauce with ooey, gooey cheese and they serve it with a huge salad, ( think Olive Garden style) and homemade garlic bread. (Sorry, if I'm making you hungry)

Thanksgiving it is just us, newlyweds on a limited income. We can't have all of our favs and how do we decide, so I said, "when in Rome, why don't we have a Southern Thanksgiving".We don't know what this will include, but we have some ideas. Hubby is stationed in Pensacola, Florida; I am thinking collards, some kind of peas, beans, corn bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, Key Lime pie.

Hubby still wants to do our own thing; we are torn. I know I can't compete with his families' secret red gravy, I don't even own enough dishes, to do a smaller version of my Mom's dinner.  Thanksgiving morning and hubby says, "Let's just go for a ride to the beach, we will grab something to eat, something will be open!"

If we had made a decision, a phone call for a reservation would have tipped us off. Restaurants were not open in our area ; It has changed since then. We just couldn't make up our minds; we struggled with making a new tradition. Our drive along the Emerald coast line was breathtaking, sunny day, breezy and bright. I was so happy to be near the water, again. I couldn't breath, the 3months, we had been in Orlando. We stopped and found a spot and walked on the sandy, white beach running into the waves. It was beautiful; we both are from, New England and use to it's rocky coastline. It was heaven to play in the sand, it resembled granulated light brown sugar. We made a sandcastle, ran around, a few people were flying kites. We were getting hungry and decided to find a place to eat.  There wasn't anything open, we drove around and finally  found a Burger King. Husband stopped it was noon; They closed the door in our face, "Sorry, we are closed"; they had their own families, to get home to. I didn't even know Burger King did breakfast; They didn't where we were from, not yet.  We ended up at  SAFEWAY(grocery store) we bought hamburger, frozen fries, stuff for a salad and stuff to make a pie. He wanted something, with chocolate n' so did I.  I wanted ooey, gooey, not pudding. This is how Brownie Pie became our tradition; It is my daughter's favorite and what she wanted to take to school today:

Make your favorite pie crust or buy premade, line a 9" pie plate with dough. I pre bake the crust 425 F degree oven for 9 minutes. Take a fork and press holes in the bottom, so the dough won't bubble up.  Now make the filling: Take your favorite brownie recipe or a  mix and make it, as directions say. Now pour into cooled pie shell. If there is extra batter, chill it. You can bake the remaining dough in muffin tins, after the pie is done.  I light the oven to 350 F and bake, 30 min, you may want to check it sooner. It usually takes a bit longer, but everyone's oven heats different. If the crust starts to brown too much, then gently spread tinfoil over it, leaving it loose in the center so it won't stick to top.  Let cool and serve with a dollop of whipped cream. My daughter decorated this one with a Pie symbol.  Soooo what is your favorite pie and memory?