Loveliness of Pies

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I am pleased to host the Loveliness of Pies Fair. I'm thinking that many people are so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving that they were just waiting to see what kind of entries they would see here to give them some ideas for their own menus. Well I had a few entries that I think would make a lovely addition to your Thanksgiving dinner or for anytime during the year. We span everything from sweet to savory, flaky crust to crustless, teenage entries to, well let's just say some of us are a smidge older than teenagers ;-)!

So without further ado - I present the pies!

For the past 13 years, my husband Chris has hosted a Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner on the weekend before Thanksgiving. He began this tradition for his friends before everyone headed their separate ways to spend the holiday with their own families. What started as a turkey breast and 4 friends morphed over the years into a full scale dinner for up to 18 people. One of the featured items on the menu is Chris' cherry pie.The key to Chris' cherry pie you ask, is using Pillsbury Pie Crust. It really is a wonderful product and takes much less time than rolling out a pie crust from scratch. And darn if it doesn't taste wonderful and flaky just like homemade! He also uses Comstock Cherry Pie filling - one cherry, one light cherry. Chris has found that using 2 cans of cherries really fills the pie out.

After meeting me and beginning to come to my parents' home for Thanksgiving, he has become the family pie maker. When there was talk of there not being a cherry pie this year at Thanksgiving, my dad actually got upset - no fear dad, cherry pie will be gracing your plate again this year.

Fe from Australia, wins the prize for sharing the most pie recipes! We have 3 yummy sounding pie entries from her blog, The Genial Hearth.

Having her own mulberry tree enabled Fe to make a Mulberry Pie. She had to work hard to keep her toddler from picking the mulberries so she would have enough for the pie - good job, because it looks delicious.

Next we have a Raspberry Cream Pie. Fe says that the "cream" part makes it sound a little strange, but it was really tasty. Now, I'm a big fan of the raspberry so I just can't wait to try this one out!

Finally, we have an Apple Pie that she can't even get a picture of because it smells so good it's gone before anyone can get the camera out! It contains sultanas, which I've never even heard of, but am looking forward to trying them.

And going along with the Apple Pie theme, Katherine over at The Organic Kitchen shares the recipe that her daughter Sophia used to make her Letter A Pie - she really took "A is for Apple" to a new level - just love the look of this pie. And it's educational to boot!

And let's not forget the cranberry at Thanksgiving - it's not just for sauce anymore! Devin offers us her Crustless Cranberry Pie. She even gives suggestions for how to make slight changes to the recipe and what works and doesn't for substitutions. This would also be great as a brunch item. I'm thinking about trying this out for my extended family this holiday week.

And finally, pie isn't just for dessert as Mary shares with us. Fall is a wonderful time to eat pie, steaming hot from the oven, and to have it for dinner, well that's all the better. Mary and her family made a darling Scarecrow Chicken Pot Pie. I can't even tell you how cute it came out, you will just have to check it out for yourselves.

So in a pie shell, that's our Fair. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm really looking forward to adding some new and tasty treats to our family's recipes. Thank you all for sharing your kitchens with us. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.