#19: Macaroni And Cheese Pie With A Bacon Lattice

So this week I asked my son to suggest a pie for this week. ''Pick your favorite food and we'll make it into a pie.'' To which he responded, '' Macaroni!''

Yes, he's 8.

But I accepted his challenge and found this recipe for Macaroni And Cheese Pie With A Bacon Lattice.

So this recipe is full of cooking techniques that I've never done before and found a tad stressful.  (Dairy on a stove always makes me nervous.)  But I had all my ingredients lined up so...aside from burning my first attempt at roux...things went fine.  I mean, everything on this pie is pretty much pre-cooked so baking is really just cooking the bacon in the oven.

Each slice is pretty much a meal in itself.  (Really, you're look about 600-700 calories per slice.)  I served it with a salad but that was just to make feel less guilty about the meal.

Actually, if the calories don't bother you then I would suggest serving this with some Marinara or Bolognese Sauce.  For me, the tomato sauce paired well with all that cheese.

#12: Spinach and Ham Pie

Believe it or not, after about 3 months of pies...I'm starting to crave something different. So yes, this week, I have a savory pie for you -- Spinach and Ham Pie.

I began my search by googling "ham pie".  (How could anyone go wrong with a search like that?)  This lead me to a recipe from Martha Stewart and figured it would solve two problems -- satiate my savory pie craving and work as my contribution to our family Easter dinner.

The first time I did this recipe, I followed it exactly (sort of), which included using the food processor to make the crust.  <GASP!>  I know.  However, I was very careful to not over-process the dough.  So even though they said to process until a dough ball formed, I stopped short of that and brought it all together in a separate bowl.

The dough came out fine, I could still see chunks of butter/cheese it the dough disks that I wrapped to chill.  But I think, if you're not paying attention, it's probably really easy to let this go too far.  So the second time I made this pie (for Easter), I did it by hand...no problemo.


Another thing I liked about this recipe is that it uses spinach, which is in season right now.  However, with all the washing and de-stemming and cooking and chopping and squeezing...it soon became quick clear.  I should have used frozen, chopped spinach to cut the process in half.  Comparing my first (fresh spinach) and second pies (frozen), you can't taste the difference.

No matter what kind of spinach you use, though, you have to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.  Yes, you end up with something that looks like a road apple.  But if you skip on this step..even in the slightest, you will have a soggy bottom crust.  Period.  (Worried about squeezing out all the nutrients?  Save it and put it in a smoothie or something.  Just don't leave it in your pie.)

The end result?  Wonderful.  The original recipe says it makes 8 servings but when I served it for Easter, I doubled it so for those who (like me) were happy to combine a bit of pie and ham to make the perfect bite.  Plus, where were extra slices for those who (like my husband) could easily just eat the pie all on its own.