Applesauce Pie

A semi-healthy dessert featuring one of my very favorite fruits... Apples!

Start by making the Applesauce. (Note, this pie recipe will also work by buying a jar of your favorite brand.)

Applesauce

1. Peel and Core Apples (For today's recipe, I used six Granny Smith.)

2. Cube and put into pot with about one inch of water.

3. Add sweetner of choice and cinnamon to taste. (I like to use raw sugar.)

4. Boil apples until very soft.

5. Turn off heat, use wisk to turn apples into sauce.


6. Cool.

Applesauce Pie.

1. Start with a pre-fab grahmn cracker crust from the market. (You know, that dried out ol' thing in the pie tin you get in the baking section. Today's creation is a "Keebler" crust and everyone knows that it's the best. Not because it tastes any different than other pre-fab grahmn cracker crusts, but because it's made by elves who live in a hollow tree.)

2. Pour cooled applesauce into crust. Top with more cinnamon if you desire.

3. Refrigerate until liquid in applesauce permeates crust and apple portion is firm.

4. Serve.

Pi

3.141592653589793238462643383279

That would be Pi to the 30th decimal point. If you asked Ian to recite it, he could, and then he would explain to you that Pi is a calculation to determine the circumference of a circle and that it is equal to the area of the circle divided by the radius of the same, squared. Ian has understood both the concept and been able to recite it to the 30th point since he was 6 years old. He's currently 8.

Pie to me is something entirely different. Growing up in a household where cooking was considered something hateful and little that was presented at the table would actually resemble real food, when Grandma Ida would bake us a pie, it was an event to be celebrated. Even today as I cook my oft-desired meals, nothing quite equals a pie made in Grandma's style. Very few have been afforded the opportunity to try one, and I have not gotten any complaints from those who have tasted it.

Adele contacted me yesterday. She was looking for an old recipe of Grandma's for "Cottage Cheese Pie." She was hoping that I had a copy. I did, I scanned it, and forwarded to her immediately. She needed it in a timely manner, but the reason gave me a little pause. She wanted to bake a pie for "Pi Day."

"Pi Day?" I thought. "Huh." So I decided to look it up on line.

Apparently, Pi Day was invented in 1988 by the San Francisco Exploratorium. They celebrated it by marching in circles and then eating fruit pies. They later added Pizza Pies to the assortment on the buffet.

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 (3-14) and Pie Minute is noted as March 14th at 1:59 pm. (3-14 1:59) I suppose it could be celebrated at 1:59 am, but personally, I think it's a bad idea because most of us would be sleeping.

Coincidentally, Pi Day is also Albert Einstein's birthday.

The official Pi Day Website, as well as others, lists suggested activites to be engaged in on Pi Day including eating pie (of course), reading stories such as “Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi” by Cindy Neuschwander, or having a contest to see who can recite the most digits of Pi. I would suggest that in lieu of a trophy, the winner win the flavor pie of his or her choice.

I would opt for Grandma's Cheese Pie.