Happy Thanksgiving!

It's my favorite holiday, and it's already gone. Booo! I love Thanksgiving and I look forward to it all year. It's the one time where we as Americans can gorge ourselves, eat three pieces of pie, have second helpings of stuffing and not feel guilty. Well, at least I don't feel guilty. I enjoyed Thanksgiving even more this year for two reasons: My husband didn't work for the first time in six years, and because I didn't have to make pie crust.

You have to understand, every year, I bake at least one, if not two pies. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but I make the pie crust from scratch. My aunt and uncle always request an apple pie with homeade crust. Great. No problem. Except, my kitchen is the size of a postage stamp. There is no place to roll out a pie crust. In years past, I would go to my mom's and use her kitchen. My mom now lives in Maine, so forget that plan.

So, I proudly went to the grocery store on Tuesday and bought (GASP!) the refrigerated roll-out pie crust. And I didn't feel guilty. Well, maybe a little, but the moment was fleeting.

On Wednesday, my pie took me a grand total of 30 minutes to prepare and another 50 to bake. I enjoyed every minute of it considering I didn't have to slave over a pastry blender, cold butter, aching arms and the 100 pound rolling pin.. I am a cheater and use the Pampered Chef Apple Peeler Corer Slicer which turns whole apples into peeled wedges with ease.

In the end, nobody cared that I used a store bought crust. I hardly could tell the difference. So, I sat back, ate entirely too much and then after my turkey coma went away, went back for a turkey sandwich. I am a glutton, what can I say?

Apple Pie

from Betty Crocker with Pachey's variation

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1-2 teaspoons cinnamon

dash of salt

6 cups thinly sliced apples (I use Macintosh, and if they are not available, Braeburn with one Granny Smith thrown in)

2 tablespoons butter

Cinnamon sugar mixture (1 teaspoon of cinnamon with 1 tablespoon of sugar)

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt; mix with apples

2. Turn into pastry-lined pan. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Seal two crusts together.

3. Brush top of pie with melted butter (only a couple of tablespoons). Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar mixture.

4. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.