Sunday, May 23, 2010

From scratch, with love

Tonight with a big television event occurring (all you Lost fans out there know what I am talking about....!) I decided to whip up a special dinner and dessert. My son has been begging me to make lasagna so I agreed to make lasagna but then also decided to make an apricot pie, my very favorite.

As I was rolling out the pie dough in my kitchen my mind wandered to all the pies I have seen my mother and grandmother make in my lifetime. My mom's mom has been gone now for eleven years but I cannot make a pie without thinking of her. Whenever I would go visit my grandmother she would have special treats waiting for me that she made from scratch. In an age where we all buy premade or dump a box of mix into a bowl, I really appreciate the love and time my grandmother put into her food.

My grandmother, the original pie master. One of my favorite treats she would make me was 'cozy pie.' It was basically left over pie dough that she rolled out, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and then cut into strips. I would sit in her kitchen eating cozy pie and talk with her while she cooked additional pies or dinner. My mom now carries on the tradition of making cozy pie for my kids and today I made sure to make some too.

Now, I am a bit anal retentive in my kitchen. Ask any of my family or hubby who cook with me. I hate messes and can never go to bed with a dirty kitchen. I get this from my father. However, when you make pie you just have to get messy. Flour is everywhere and pieces of pie dough manage to get all over the counter and floor. Oddly this doesn't bother me at all, it is all too familiar of a scene from my mother and grandmother's kitchen and it is just the way to make pie.

The pie dough ready to be rolled out....

In the pie plate....

Full of yummy apricot filling and ready for the oven after some more pie dough on top.

The cozy pie after baking...

The pie cooling, almost ready to be enjoyed.

I love that my grandma taught my mom to cook, who taught me to cook and at the age of 4 my son is already learning the ropes of the kitchen and my daughter isn't far behind. It has become rare people make anything from scratch and I am going to do my part to not let this die out, at least in my family. As my grandmother used to say, "if you can read, you can cook," so no excuse - go bake something!

My kids (the future bakers) enjoying their cozy pie.

1 comment:

~cHaNnOne~ said...

SO funny because I am baking a chocolate-banana pie because we had bananas that were going bad and banana bread just sounded boring! And yes, it is from scratch! =) Cute story about the cozy pie! They look like they are enjoying it! Yummy pictures too!