Our house has been busy lately. We’ve had people in and out for the past month and a half. Every guest needs to leave with a full belly. The only exception was my husband’s brother’s family and that was because they were headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. (It is their natural habitat, you know.)
All of these guests give me good excuses to try out “new” recipes. And the house really likes having visitors. It just seems happy when it’s full of people.
When my in-laws were here, I broke out the leftover Raspberry Pastel Party Pie. It needed to get eaten up. After I served the creamy pink creation (without the whipped cream that it should have), I was in the kitchen putting away the other leftovers. My father-in-law entered the kitchen and pointed at the pie plate with his empty plate. “You know, you could give us this recipe.” “Oh! You like this one? I’ll make sure you get it.”
Things being what they were on that occasion, I didn’t end up giving it to him, so I thought I would quickly post it so I can still look like the perfect daughter-in-law.
I used raspberry Jell-O to make this super easy pie. Since it was my first time, I made it very plain, but it’s easy to make more exciting. Adding raspberries would make it divine. I can also imagine it with sliced bananas, strawberry Jell-O, and strawberry ice cream. Or maybe a gingersnap crust with orange jello, and pineapple sherbet? Chocolate cookies with strawberry Jell-O for Valentine’s Day? I bet there is even an option for layering it. Really, you are only limited by your imagination. You could even use unflavored gelatin and personalize it further. I’m wondering how something like wine or beer would be in this concoction.
If you try this, please let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear what combinations you come up with.
The Recipe:
For other recipes I’ve served to my parents-in-law, check out Blueberry Salad Mold, Oven Stew, and Extra Special Biscuits (but I put some figs and green onions in the ones I served them).
There was the Thanksgiving where my brother-in-law’s friend discovered the song “Alice’s Restaurant.” I think every time he opened his mouth for that visit, the first word that came out was “Kid…”. If you know the song, you’ll know how this was said. If you don’t, I suggest looking it up.
For me, Thanksgiving has always been a pie holiday. Sure, there may be other desserts, but they don’t count the same way pie does. March 14th seems like less of a pie holiday than Thanksgiving. It’s tradition to leave the table, stomach groaning only to be lured back by someone bringing out the pie.
It took a me a long time to appreciate pumpkin pie. It always smelled so good and I loved all the flavors (despite my rant against pumpkin pie spice when it was apple season), but the texture was never my thing. It was too soft, too slimy, too spongy, something. I knew that I was bucking tradition by not eating it, but my mom made such wonderful other pies. I have fond memories of a black bottomed pecan pie.
This recipe for pumpkin pie is my go to. I found it in my great-grandma’s box of recipes and included it in the book I made for my grandma. It makes a heavily spiced thin pie filling.
I think I compare myself to my mom. She always makes beautiful pie crusts.
It’s that moment that made this more of a champion apple pie than the fact that I was able to solve my pie crust issues.
Atypically, this pie does not call for any pie spices. Not a drop of cinnamon in the whole thing. It is still delicious. Maybe it’s because I picked the apples myself and froze them. Maybe because the recipe won some award or other. But I’m guessing it has a lot to do with those sweet little fingers poking through mine to create the gorgeous crust.
The cherry meringue pie is the one on the top. It is one of the best pies I’ve ever put into my mouth. I feel like there should be some sort of fanfare before I give you the recipe for this fantastic thing.
I just made this pie crust in my food processor. I didn’t feel like getting my hands in it. Not that it really mattered because by the time I got everything kneaded and in the fridge, my hands were covered in dough anyway.
To make this pie I used a pie crust leftover from when I made 
This pie was incredible. It had all of the richness of pecan pie with a slightly oozy texture. The tartness of the apples cut through it just enough. My good-hearted boy wanted to share a slice with his dad or I would’ve gobbled them all up. I don’t exactly understand how the mix-up happened, but his dad ended up with close to half a pie which he declared to be fantastic.
