spaghetti pie

I remember my mom making this when I was a kid.  I loved the dry crunchy pasta crust edges.  Mmmm.  Nothing like taking decent Italian food and making it totally waspy.  I LOVE IT!

Here's my rendition of spaghetti pie.  It's super-easy and possibly less messy than traditional spaghetti.  Royall loved it because he said it had the great taste of spaghetti, but in a more convenient way to eat it.

Here's what you will need:

box of spaghetti
jar of spaghetti sauce
mozzarella cheese (just a sprinkle)
ricotta cheese (1/2 to 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
cooking spray
oregano

First things first:
Boil some water and cook a whole box of spaghetti.  Also, preheat the oven to 350.

Once the spaghetti has cooked, rinse it off with cool water and spray it lightly with cooking spray or olive oil.

In a bowl, combine the spaghetti, 2 well beaten eggs, a dollop of sauce (maybe more like a 1/2 cup), and some ricotta and mozzarella.  I didn't measure the cheese very well, just used what I thought looked good.  Sprinkle some oregano in there too!

Pour the spaghetti mixture into a pie pan.  Press it down so it is even and if you can, press some spaghetti up on the sides to form a pie crust.  Leave a shallow well in the middle and add more ricotta and mozzarella in the middle.

Pour spaghetti sauce on top and press/rub it into the pie.  Try and use the whole jar or else you risk a dry pie.  If you don't like dry crusty pasta on the edges, cover well with sauce.

Bake for 25 minutes and then add mozzarella on top.

Let it cool a little bit before cutting into the pie.


Here's the photo play-by-play:

YUM!!!

PS: You can spice this up by adding the following: veggies, ground beef, olives, or different cheeses!

Maple Pumpkin Pie

This pie has two great fall flavors- pumpkin and REAL maple syrup.  Plus, it is sugar-free!  (plain white granulated sugar-free, that is) Check it out.

Maple Pumpkin Pie:

pie crust
can of pumpkin (small)
1 1/4 cup half and half
2/3 cup of real maple syrup (none of that Aunt Jemima or Eggo BS)
3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
splash, big dash, or mini-bam of flour (I guess 1 teaspoon-ish)
all those spices that smell like Thanksgiving:
     1 tsp each of: cinnamon, nutmeg
     1/2 tsp each of: ginger, salt
     itsy-bitsy pinch of: cloves

Mix all the ingredients well.  I added cream cheese, just because I had it.  It was cold, fat-free cream cheese which did not dissolve into the batter and left chunks of white goo in the pie.  It wasn't bad, but it didn't look pretty.  RH asked if it was marshmallow pieces..... which has got me thinking about a follow up pie recipe.

Anyway, bake at 350 for an hour.  I did not pre-bake the pie crust or anything fancy.

Here's how it looked:

Piping hot outta the oven!

The maple syrup gave the top a sugar syrup sheen.

Got a piece on a plate while it was still hot (hence the melting whipped cream).  It smelled too good to wait.

And next thing I know, about 24 hours later there is a 1/2 inch slice left.

Not-Pumpkin Pie

I wish I had taken pictures of this while in progress, but it was an experiment.

This pie is made with butternut squash instead of pumpkin.  You first have to cook the squash.  I used a pressure cooker to make the squash for dinner the night before and had some leftovers.  After the squash is cooked, it needs to be pureed in a food processor.  Use enough to make 1 cup of puree.  This was about 2 small butternut squashes (probably 1 large). 

Make a pie crust or be lazy and use store bought, like I did.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For the pie filling: combine 1 cup of squash puree, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup evaporated milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and a pinch of salt in food processor.  Pour into pie shell and bake for 10 minutes or until crust is browned.  You may need to use a pie crust shield or some foil to protect the crust from burning.

After 10 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.  Bake for 50 minutes or until set.  Cool and serve.

This was much better the next day after it had cooled overnight in the fridge.  Very similar to pumpkin pie, very custardy and very delicious.  Enjoy!

Bonus picture of our new place:

Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

I took some inspiration from last week's poll. The summer food with the most votes was strawberry shortcake! YUM!

I had some strawberries on hand, but I wanted to do something different than a normal shortcake or strawberry pie. I finally settled on this recipe: Strawberry Cheesecake Pie.

Spare no expense! I like how this picture shows my usage of "Great Value" products from Walmart and "El Rosal" flour from the dollar store.


Ingredients for the cheesecake:

flour (1 tablespoon)
eggs (2)
sugar (1/2 cup)
graham cracker pie crust (I used store bought, but it is pretty easy to make from scratch)
evaporated milk (2/3 cup)
cream cheese (8 oz)
lemon juice (1 tablespoon)

Ingredients for the glaze:

strawberries (1/3 + cup smashed, plus some for decoration)
cornstarch (1 1/2 teaspoons)
sugar (2 tablespoons)
water (1/3 cup)

Time needed: a couple hours

HERE WE GO:

1. Start making the cheesecake batter. Mix two eggs. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix until well blended. Set aside.


2. Beat cream cheese with small amount of evaporated milk until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and continue mixing until smooth.


3. Pour egg mixture into cream cheese mixture. Mix briefly. Pour into pie shell.


4. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Yours may need more time than this, mine came out a little gooey in the center.

5. Cool on wire rack.


6. Once the cheese cake is cooled, decorate with berries. You could stop here, but I recommend making the strawberry glaze.


7. Start making strawberry glaze. Smash berries until they fill a 1/3 cup.


8. Boil in a pan with 1/3 cup of water for 2 minutes.


9. Strain into bowl. You'll need 1/2 cup of this "puree". I had to repeat numbers 7 and 8 in order to get 1/2 cup of liquid.


10. Once you have 1/2 cup of strawberry liquid, place it in a pan with 1 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk until it boils and thickens.

11. Pour over cheesecake and cool before serving.


I was so disappointed when my cheesecake wasn't firm in the middle! I put it in the freezer for a few minutes and it got a little more firm. It tastes great! Just doesn't look as good as it could. Oh well, it's no fun if every recipe comes out perfectly. Makes you better appreciate the ones that do.



Doesn't this piece look like a mouse face?! Blueberry eyes and strawberry ears!