pie - Around My Family Table

Celebrate Pi Day {and Giveaway}

March 11, 2013 · by amft · 125 Comments

Yes, Pi Day…not pie day. That’s Pi as in 3.14 that math number we all had learn in the 7th grade. Ring a bell yet? Well, I thought it would be fun to celebrate Pi Day. This will be the 25th year of the celebration and it also happens to be Einstein’s birthday. Pi Day is, of course, celebrate on March 14th and I planned ahead this year to bring you some fun ideas.

So, my grand idea is EAT PIE! Get creative with breakfast and serve a breakfast pie, turkey pot pies for supper, and then follow up with a tasty dessert pie. Your kids and hubby will love this! When else can you have pie all day?

Marie Callender’s to the rescue! It’s really no surprise that I just absolutely love Marie Callender’s products and it really made the day fun and exciting for the family.

We each had an individual turkey pot pie for supper. They are so good and everyone just loves the flaky crust and the huge chunks of turkey.

What the kids didn’t realize is that the Peanut Butter Pie was defrosting in the fridge for dessert. I figured it would be perfect for Pi Day and then leftovers for Easter. I have also been partial to peanut butter and chocolate for Easter (might be all those pb chocolate eggs around this time of year). The pie was creamy with tons of PB flavor and comes to serving temperature in about 30 minutes.

Head over and grab a $1.50 off coupon to celebrate Pi Day! While your at it, make sure to check out the MC blog and/or leave a review for your favorite pies!

{Enter to Win 5 Coupons for FREE Marie Callender’s Pies!}

Leave a comment telling me what your favorite Marie Callender’s pie is and for a second entry, sign up for my weekly email newsletter! (US Only, 18+, Ends 3/25).

Disclaimer: This post is part of my partnership with The Motherhood and Marie Callendar’s. I am being compensated for my honest review and participation.

Filed Under: foods, review, spon · Tagged: Pi Day, pie, review

Easy Coconut Cream Mini Pies (& a Giveaway)

January 23, 2013 · by amft · 276 Comments

It’s time to celebrate! Today is National Pie Day and I have some easy Coconut Cream Mini Pies ready for the party tonight!

Okay, okay…I’m totally cheating! I picked up some Marie Callendar’s Coconut Cream Mini Pies at the store to surprise my family tonight after supper. I hosted three parties in three days last week and I’m still trying to recover, so I took this wonderful short cut so that I could relax with my family. I just love Marie Callendar’s pies so I wanted to share this great find with you. I tried the Peppermint Pie and the Lattice Apple Pie last year. YUM!

I will take any excuse to celebrate, even if it is something like National Pie Day. My kids get so excited when there is dessert or something out of the ordinary happening.

Coconut Cream Mini Pies

I love these Coconut Cream Mini Pies. They are the perfect size for a quick dessert. Perfect individual size and they are ready instantly! No need to let them defrost for an hour in the fridge. Tons of coconut flavor in a creamy filing with a graham cracker crumb crust. There is even a whipped cream and toasted coconut topping these beautiful individual pies! The best part…if you do eat the whole pie, it’s only 310 calories.

My family tried Coconut Cream Mini Pies … Have you had them? You can leave a review and rating at MarieCallendersMeals.com for this or any other Marie Callender’s products you’ve tried. And when you head over there, visit their blog to share which pie you are celebrating with today.

$25 Visa Gift Card Giveaway

But before you head over there, leave me a comment telling me what you think of Marie Callendar’s pies and you will be entered into a giveaway for a $25 Visa gift card so that you can stock up on your favorites! (If you decide to follow AMFT on social media facebook, twitter, pinterest, or instagram, leave one other comment telling me all the ways you follow so that you can have extra entries for each.)

Disclaimer: This post is part of my partnership with The Motherhood and Marie Callendar’s. I am being compensated for my honest review and participation.

Filed Under: foods, review · Tagged: dessert, pie, review

Marie Callendar’s Peppermint Pie

December 6, 2012 · by amft · 2 Comments

Marie Callendar’s Peppermint Pie! Oh yes…it’s part of my peppermint week of posts! YUM!

With the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season in full swing, I try to make sure I actually stop and savor all the wonderful moments I can with my kids and husband. It’s hard to slow down, I get it…everyone is having a party, needs a present, wants you do make cookies for school, etc, etc, etc.

Why not make your family’s favorite meal TONIGHT (I have a pot roast with all the fixin’s going right now in my slow cooker) and serve up this tasty Peppermint Pie from Marie Callendar’s. Sit down together as a family, with no interruptions, and just enjoy the time together with some wonderful food. Make the time to do it…NO EXCUSES! Whatever you decide to make for supper, make it easy on yourself so that you can really enjoy the evening.

Having Marie Callendar’s Peppermint Pie is a wonderful way to get a flavor of the season without a lot of work and it’s really good! No baking required! Served chilled, it’s sort of cross between an ice cream cake/pie and a cool whip pie. It’s creamy, peppermint-y, and chocolate-y! And oh.so.devine! It’s the perfect balance of flavors and textures!

Just put the frozen pie in your fridge for about an hour before serving and it will be perfect! I don’t think dessert can get any easier than that! Need more ideas for helping to make your holiday supper easier when hosting a group? Head over to my Easy Entertaining Ideas for the Holidays for some great tips!

Click the above photo (or HERE) for a $1 coupon on ANY Marie Callender’s frozen pie, not just the Peppermint Pie. Perfect for your holiday table this year or to have a family night treat!

Disclaimer: I received a product sample and was compensated for my review. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: foods, review · Tagged: Chirstmas, peppermint, pie, review

Slow Down and Savor the Holidays

November 20, 2012 · by amft · 24 Comments

So, for pretty much as long as I can remember my Mother-in-Law, bless her heart, has hosted every single holiday meal. It’s always potluck style, but still…all that preparation and cleaning and being hostess is a lot of work. I think in 15 years of marriage plus 6 years of dating, I’ve hosted 2 meals. So this year, when she called and asked me to host because she didn’t have the time to pull it off this year…of course I said YES!

Secretly, I was a little nervous to host about 20 people for supper on Thanksgiving. My house is small, I don’t have enough seating, and I have two little kids running around. EEK!

So, we decided to keep it potluck style since everyone already has their standard dishes they bring. But we still have a TON to do before the big day and I decided this year, I would take a short cut with dessert so that I would have more time to spend getting things ready and spending time with the kids. I want to actually enjoy the holidays and not stress about making everything from scratch (even though that’s what I prefer to do).

Really, I do. Nothing beats homemade…but this year I decided to give Marie Calendars frozen apple pie a try (we love’d their restaurant and pies, but they are all closed here now). There were a couple to pick from…Dutch Apple Pie, Lattice Apple Pie, Traditional Apple Pie, and an Apple Crumb Cobbler. The kids picked out the Lattice Apple Pie. They thought it looked fancy!

Besides picking up some tasty pies for dessert, I decided to rent to a bouncy house, tables, and chairs. Heck…the company will set it all up and take it all down. That solves my seating problems and an easy activity for all the little ones. (It was a great price too, I just couldn’t pass it up.)

We are frying up a turkey again this year and that’s about all I’ve committed besides the dessert. Let’s get back to the pies, shall we. We cooked one up last weekend and loved it! Full of perfectly cooked fuji apples, topped with a flaky buttery crust, and sugar sprinkles on top! Oh yeah…I can’t wait to cook up another one for Thursday! Since I’ve figured how to streamline this massive meal, I’m really excited to have my house full of family. It will be a piece of ~~cake~~ pie.

I have a coupon to share with you, if you want to take advantage of the Marie Calendar pies and slow down and just enjoy the holidays!

Disclaimer: I received a product sample and was compensated for my review. All opinions are my own. {There was a giveaway associated with the post; however, it has ended. Check the Winner’s Page for winner info.}

Filed Under: christmas, desserts, foods, holidays and activities, pie, review, thanksgiving · Tagged: dessert, pie, review

Amazing Key Lime Pie

March 6, 2012 · by amft · 12 Comments

Key Lime Pie is probably my all time favorite pie. I have very distinct memories growing up thinking I hated Key Lime Pie. I remember a quote from a tv show or movie where the actor says it’s an acquired taste. So, I just figured I would never like it.

Fast forward several years…we love to go for Mexican food and there are often mints as we leave the restaurant. I loved the little green and white ones. I mean, I LOVED them…dare I admit that I would beg the kids to grab a few more for Mommy as we’d leave. I was oblivious to the fact that they were key lime mints. Once I made this discovery two things happened…I felt like a total dork for not realizing what flavor they were and the quest for the perfect key lime pie began. Never once did it cross my mind to make it until we got a bag of key limes in our co-op basket.

Hands down, I make a better pie at home than I can get at any restaurant! The only problem with key lime pie is that it takes about a bazillion little key limes…and NO regular limes do not taste the same. Sure you could use regular limes, but it won’t taste anything like key lime pie.

The problem with most key lime pies is the super thin crust. I wanted mine a little more hearty to support the wonderful thick key lime filling. It’s a little sweet a little tangy and absolutely perfect! If you ever meet me, a sure fire way to make instant friends is the give me key lime pie (or one of those little mints). We will be instant BFFs.

I once even made key lime pie ice cream. All the best parts of key lime pie made into a simple fresh frozen treat! You have to try it!!!1

Amazing Key Lime Pie

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 1 1/2 pkgs)

1/3 cup sugar

8 tbls butter (1 stick)

2 cups sweetened condensed milk

6 egg yolks

2/3 cup key lime juice (~20-30 key limes)

Prepare a 9x9 inch baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl. Stir well to combine and until the mixture is evenly moist. Press mixture evenly into prepared pan. Bake for about 7 mins until set and golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Meanwhile, combine the key lime juice with egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk. Stir well to combine, making sure yolks are well incorporated. Gently pour mixture into cooled pie crust. Bake for 20 minutes or until center is mostly set. Remove from oven to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours.

http://www.aroundmyfamilytable.com/2012/03/amazing-key-lime-pie/

Filed Under: desserts, pie · Tagged: dessert, lime, pie

Butternut Brownie Pie

January 6, 2012 · by amft · 8 Comments

Growing up, we had a Luby’s Cafeteria near our house and my family loved going. Lucky for me, my boyfriend and his family also loved going…so I got to go quite a bit. It was a sad day when all the Luby’s near us shut down, but my boyfriend’s mother (now my mother-in-law) bought their cookbook. YEAH!

To this day, I haven’t made anything from the book, but I beg my mother-in-law to make one of my very favorite pies…Butternut Brownie Pie. I have no idea where it got it’s name because there is no brownie in it. It’s more of a crunchy meringue (like meringue cookies) with lots of pecans and whipped cream. I begged her to make it for our new year’s celebration and she agreed. This time, she brought me the recipe. I think that was my hint to start making it myself.

Butternut Brownie Pie

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp cream of tarter

1 1/4 cups sugar

14 graham cracker squares, broken into 1/2 in pieces

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

addition chopped pecans for topping

Heat oven to 300F. Lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and baking powder until soft peaks form. Add cream of tartar, beating constantly. Add 1 cup of sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until stiff peaks form. Using a rubber scraper, fold in graham crackers and pecan pieces. Spoon into pie plate.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a small, chilled bowl and using chilled beaters, beat cream just until it begins to thicken. Add remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and vanilla and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat. Top pie with whipped cream. Sprinkle with additional pecans and refrigerate until served.

http://www.aroundmyfamilytable.com/2012/01/butternut-brownie-pie/

Filed Under: desserts, pie · Tagged: baking, dessert, pie