Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

Oh man this was such a fail I don't even want to post it, but this recipe is so good I'll share it anyways. It all started with a crazy craving for banana cream pie and lo and behold I had a few brown bananas. It was looking good until I made the pastry cream. It looked thick enough in the pan, but it was just messing with me. It was a runny mess. I hoped it would firm up in the fridge - nope! And I made some whipped cream.... which un-whipped itself. And a fat layer of chocolate. But the crust was delicious.

So when I cut the first slice, the cream slid down and so did the whipped cream.... and then the chocolate sort of melted into it. The pie plate was a funky mess of brown, white and pie crust. It still tasted good, but it was the ugliest pie I have ever made/eaten.

Apple Pie, Apple Jam and Apple Tart

It's raining apples. Let me start from the beginning.... Ilya requested an apple tart for his birthday so I bought a few apples, which turned out to be too much. So I bought a few more apples to make miniature apple pies... and I STILL had some apples left over so I made some apple jam.

My first time making jam and despite boiling ALL the peels and leftover apple bits my jam would not thicken. A night in the fridge helped a little, but it was still a soupier jam than I would've liked. I have to work on this- Summer 2011 is going to be the summer of jam for me.

The pies were delicious and cute! The apple tart really was the simplest apple tart ever. There's very little sugar in the apples so it was rather tart, not sure if I like that or not... But if you find yourself with a lot of apples, give these recipes a try.

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe for chicken pot pie is a creamier, less chicken-y version of this chicken pot pie. I don't know which one I like better. I'm really stuck. Do I like a super chicken-y more soupy pot pie? Or do I like a creamy simple (as in there is only 1 or 2 herbs) flavor? AAHHH


It can't hurt to like more than one chicken pot pie. They are a very delicious comfort food.

Oven baked Ziti and Mini Mushroom Potato Pies

Just look at the buttery, flakey crust.

This recipe for mini savory pies is amazing. It comes from the Pie Truck (sadly no longer in existence) via a design blog. I've never tried the Pie Truck, but this recipe was ammmaaazzinnnngggg. The pastry dough is delicious and easy to make- I had to keep sticking mine in the fridge because it was hot that day and the butter was melting. I didn't have zucchini so I substituted potatoes- delicious! The pastry is buttery and flakey, the mushrooms and potatoes were creamy with a bit of tang from the sour cream. And dill! Who knew I liked dill??

My sad crimping.

The insides. Mmmm dill.

This was my first time making a true pie crust and also a pie. As in... I had no idea how to really pinch the seams so it looked good. And to make matters worse, it was hot in the kitchen so the dough was getting mushy as the butter melted. I just threw it in the oven and hoped it worked and it was magically delicious. TA-DA, butter fixes everything!

Not the most pleasant picture of cheesy pasta, but you get the idea.

I really love baked pastas with ricotta so an oven baked ziti was a no-brainer. This is a great make-ahead dish and it fit nicely in my 8x8 brownie pan. This will be a fun recipe to mess around with.

Banana Cream Pie and Rice Krispies

I don't normally like pies because cooked fruit rarely appeals to me, but banana cream pie is an exception. Especially if there is a graham cracker crust. This recipe was great and I knew it before I even made it because you need 6 bananas! Unfortunately, only one photo.... and that's of the pie chilling in the fridge. I used a whole vanilla bean instead of 1/2 and I definitely tasted the difference. Also you want to eat this within a few days- bananas turn grey after awhile ): even if hidden under delicious pastry cream.


I was really happy to find THE recipe for Rice Krispies. Yup, the original. They taste different from the packaged variety- probably because they add a bunch of other junk to it. I added an extra 1/2 cup of marshmallows (mini) because I like them. The trick is to melt everything over a very low heat so you don't burn the marshmallows. And when pressing the rice into the pan, spray a sheet of plastic wrap with pam and use it pam-side-down to press the rice into whatever shape you want.

so good- these disappeared in 2 days.