Tag: pie

Spaghetti Frittata Pie

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I have a family of four, two of the four happen to be toddlers.  So, when we make spaghetti in our house inevitably there are left overs.  None of us are terribly big fans of re-heating left over spaghetti, so I decided to come up with a recipe to use up that left over spaghetti in a whole new way.  Hense, I give you the Spaghetti Fritatta Pie!

This simple pasta and egg dish is the perfect solution to my left over dilemma and the funny thing is, we like the pie left over too!  I made some angel hair pasta (my kid’s favorite) with some homemade sauce and some Italian sausage (my husband’s favorite).  I hate to waste food, especially a home-made sauce, so I put it in the fridge in a Tupperware container.  8 eggs, a pie plate, a block of cheese, and just a few more staples later and wala, a brand new meal.

This may seem odd to you and to be honest, I wasn’t sure about it when I started out.  But, I love Pasta Carbonara and this has a lot of the same element, so I gave it a try.  You don’t know until you try right?

Start with a pad of salted butter in a pie plate, this one is 9″.

Use a paper towel to spread your butter.

Your pie plate should be well buttered.

This is my left over Angel Hair with Sweet Italian Sausage and tomatoes with some basil.

Add into buttered pie plate.

Fill your pie plate up with spaghetti. This is about 2 full cups of cooked and prepared left-over Angel Hair pasta.

In this shot I have 6 eggs, but for my 9″ pie plate, I actually ended up adding in two more for a total of 8 eggs.

Beat them well.

Add in a good pinch of Italian Seasoning blend. this is about 1/2 tsp.

Beat the seasoning into the eggs.

Add in a good pinch of kosher salt, again this is about 1/2 tsp.

Beat into the eggs.

Pour the egg mixture right over your spaghetti or in my case Angel Hair.

This is what you should have.

Slice up some grape tomatoes.

Dart the top of your pie with grape tomatoes.

Add on some Fontina cheese, I am using about 4 oz.

Hand shredding is the way to go, although I’m not sure you can find pre-shredded Fontina anyway.

Add on some shredded parmesan cheese. This one is pre-shredded.

Just add cheese right up on top.  Pop this in the oven for about 45 minutest until the middle has almost set.  Then take it out, tent with foil and let rest for about 10 minutes. The center should set right up for you and the rest will settle nicely.

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Spaghetti Frittata Pie

Serves 4-6Ingredients:

2 cups left over Angel Hair pasta and sausage (or whatever pasta you have)

8 eggs, beaten

8 oz. Fontina cheese, shredded

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shaved

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning mix

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

6-8 cracks black pepper

1 cup left over sauce for topping

1 tsp butter

Directions:

Butter pie plate.  Place pasta and sausage in buttered dish.  Beat eggs and add in Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper.  Add in shredded Fontina cheese.  Pour evenly over pasta and sausage.  Dot with tomatoes and sprinkle with parmesan.  Bake in oven for 40-50 minutes until set.  Remove from oven and tent with foil for 10 minutes before serving.  Cut and drizzle with warmed left over sauce. Enjoy!

Roasted Pumpkin Pie Tarts

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No dessert says the holidays like Pumpkin Pie… For years I made my pumpkin pies like most everyone else in America, with a can stuffed with pureed pumpkin.  Until I started wondering why I was tossing out all my Halloween pumpkins and going to the grocery store to buy what I just threw out!  I had to stop the madness!  So, I started roasting my own pumpkin and mashing it up myself.  What I discovered was that the taste of a roasted pumpkin simply does not come in a can! Who would have thought???

It did take a little trial and error at first, this was before the days of Pinterest after all.  So what I learned was that you don’t want water-logged pumpkin pie, pumpkin requires a little draining, no biggie.  A pumpkin, even a small one is more than enough for one or even two pumpkin pies, so freezing the remaining pulp is a great idea.  And low and behold, one does not need condensed milk to make pumpkin pie! Go figure!

This is a super flavorful and healthy pumpkin pie recipe that can be made into single serving size tarts like I show here, or into a full size pie! Just use your favorite pie crust, either one you are making yourself or right out of the box, either way, this filling is amazing!  Just two simple extra steps and you get to utilize those Halloween pumpkins for more than Roasted Pumpkin Seeds and forget about using bland canned pie filling forever!

This pumpkin pie starts with a pumpkin… crazy I know!

Cut your small pumpkin in half.

Scoop out the pumpkin seeds and set aside for roasting!

Once your pumpkin is hallowed out, it’s time to roast it.

Spray a parchment lined cookie sheet with some non-stick cooking spray.

Roast for about 1 1/2 -2 hours until the skin buckles when touched.

This is what it looks like when roasted.

Scoop the flesh out from the skin.

Discard the skin. (this is great for your compost pile if you have one)

Place the flesh directly into a strainer set over a bowl. You want to drain any excess liquid.

Here is the liquid that came out of my pumpkin after a few hours of draining. I likely would have gotten a bit more had i done this over night.

Now mash the pumpkin and scoop out two cups full.

Place your two measured cups of roasted mashed pumpkin in a mixing bowl and store the rest for another pie or soup… this freezes well.

Add in 1/2 cup of half and half.

Some raw honey.

Cinnamon

Ground ginger.

Add in some fresh nutmeg… please do not replace the fresh nutmeg with the jarred stuff, it is not the same at all and will significantly change the flavor of your pie. If you do not have fresh nutmeg, simply omit the ingredient.

Add in two eggs.

Salt.

Mix.

Add in sugar.

Mix again.

This is the Pampered Chef Brownie Pan, it’s great for making small tarts and single portion foods.

Roll out your favorite pie crust.

Cut into square pieces to match the tart tray.

Spray with non-stick cooking spray and start forming your shells.

Once they are all formed you are ready to start filling.

I am using the large Pampered Chef Cookie scoop here.

Fill each shell.

Once they are all filled, they are ready for the oven.

Once they are all filled, they are ready for the oven.

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Roasted Pumpkin Pie Tarts

Serves 18

Ingredients:

1 small (3-4lb.) pumpkin

1/2 cup half and half

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 heaping Tbs. raw honey

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

8-10 grates of nutmeg

2 pie crusts

cooking spray

Directions:

To prepare Roasted Pumpkin:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.  Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds and place both halves cut side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Roast for 1 1/2 – 2 hours until tender.  Allow to cool.  Remove flesh from skin and place in a strainer set over a bowl to drain for a few hours.

To make tarts:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

Mash drained pumpkin.  Measure 2 cups of mashed pumpkin and place in a mixing bowl.  Add in all ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Cut and fit crust into pie plates or tart pans.  Fill with mixture and Bake for about 40-45 minutes until golden brown on top.

Allow to cool, enjoy!

*Gluten-free when using a gluten free pie crust.

Semi-Homemade Cherry Cheesecake Pie

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Each and every winter holiday HAS to include my Cherry Cheesecake Pie! It’s a must.  My dad and uncles ask for it each and every year and would be terribly disappointed if it didn’t make it’s way onto the dessert table! My mom used to make this growing up for every winter occasion and over time the responsibility got transferred to me, gladly.  This recipe is so easy.  It’s so easy in fact that it wasn’t until very recently that I ever really made a real actual cheese cake!

This pie hits all the flavor notes you look for in a cheesecake and it’s creamy and velvety to boot.  This could quite possibly be the easiest cheesecake recipe you will ever find! Half the ingredients are ready-made, which makes it a piece of cake, or pie as it were.  And the filling itself is a grand total of 4 ingredients!  With the pre-made pie crust and pre-made topping, that’s 6 ingredients!  So, if you have been asked to bring desert and you are looking for something quick and easy that will please a crowd, I highly suggest giving this recipe a try!

On this specific night, I made a cheesecake pie for dessert at my book club.  Normally, I make two of these babies and put topping on one and leave the other plain.  But, my book club is made up of a small group of ladies and so one was just fine.  The only issue was that neither of my sisters like cherry topping, they prefer their cheesecake pie plain.  So, I solved the issue by leaving the pie naked and serving the topping in a bowl on the side.  Which worked out great because I got to have extra topping! Haha!

Let me show you how I do it!

Start by adding two bars of room temperature cream cheese to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Mix for about 2 minutes on high.

Add in one egg and scrape down the sides. Beat on high another minute until egg is fully combined.

Add in sugar.

And vanilla.

Unwrap a pre-made graham cracker pie crust.

Add mixture to the crust.

Smooth it out. Pop it in the oven for about 40 minutes or so at 350°F.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes until you start to see golden brown spots on top. When it comes out of the oven, it will be a bit puffy and have some cracks in it. This is normal.

The puff will fall, the cracks will remain.

Grab a can of pre-made pie filling, if you don’t like cherry, you could use blueberry or strawberry, heck even peach if you like.

Cover the top of the pie with the filling or dish it out individually like this. Place the pie slice on a plate and keep the filling in a bowl for people to help themselves.

Then each person can put as much or as little as they like.

Then each person can put as much or as little as they like.

Semi-Homemade Cherry Cheesecake Pie

 Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 bars cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. real vanilla extract

1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust

1 can cherry pie filling

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add in 2 bars of cream cheese and beat on high for about 2 minutes until it is completely smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in egg and beat on high for another minute until completely incorporated.  Scrape down the sides again and add in sugar and vanilla and beat again until completely incorporated.

Pour mixture into the pre-made pie crust and smooth out.  Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown spots start to form on top.  Allow to cool and add topping as desired.

*When using a gluten-free cookie base, this recipe is easily made into a gluten-free recipe.  The filling is gluten-free. Check can ingredients for the topping.