Let’s Celebrate Pi Day! 𝝅

The Military Mom Collective is joining people all across the U.S. to celebrate the number pi, also written 𝝅 or 3.14. Pi is the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. The digits of pi go on forever and don’t appear to have any repeating patterns.

Any excuse to bake up all kinds of delicious pies, we will take it here at MilMC. Our contributors have compiled six pie recipes to join the celebration. If you make one of these “pies”, reach out and let us know.

Breakfast Pie – Erin Stock

“I came across this recipe back when magazines used to be standard reading material in Dental office waiting rooms. I loathe the dentist, so I would pick up just about anything to keep my mind off of the already unnerving sounds of drills, metal tools being placed back on trays and suctioning of saliva that so many mouths are being subjected to. As I flipped through the pages, I came across this recipe and didn’t think twice before ripping it out (pre-cell phone days). I gingerly folded the page and tucked it away in fear of being questioned by the magazine police or a curious office assistant. While I am sure I would have never been convicted of a crime, this recipe was worth the risk. The best part of this recipe is that I have no idea what the original name of it is. I still have the original recipe tucked inside my recipe binder (yes, I still have one of those), but after my son ate this for the first time around the age of two, he began to refer to it as “Breakfast Pie.” Breakfast Pie is like a quiche. The flavors meld together as if they were always meant to be together. It is rich, but not too rich. It’s cheesy, but not too cheesy. It’s got bacon. It’s got mushrooms and it, of course, has cream! The second best part of this recipe is that neither my son nor my husband can stand Swiss cheese, but this is hands down their favorite breakfast! My daughter has never been into eggs, but as any typical 5-year-old does, she is the first one to the pan so she can pick off the edge of the crust – all the way around the pie.” 

Ingredients: 

1  10-inch pie shell, unbaked ***See Note***

1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, grated

1  2 1/2 jar mushrooms, drained and sliced (or canned/sliced)

12 slices bacon, fried crispy/crumbled ***See Note***

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Dash cayenne pepper

Instructions: 

1. Sprinkle the bottom of the pie shell with cheese.
2. Add mushrooms and top with bacon.
3. Combine remaining ingredients and pour into shell.
4. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until lightly brown and set.

Servings: 6-8 people

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

I buy a 2-pack of the 9-inch deep dish pie shells, double the mushrooms, add another 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup of cheese, divide the bacon in half (or add more strips), add another egg or two, add another 1/2 cup of cream and another 1/4 cup of milk. This is usually enough to make 2 pies. If you double all of the liquid ingredients it tends to end up being too much and the Pie shells get overfilled. I also find that this recipe cooks up way faster if you cook the bacon the night before. I then either toss one in the freezer for us or someone else later or we go ahead and devour it the next morning. 

Tip: This is my go-to meal train recipe! I am not great at coming up with dinner meals, so if the receiver is not allergic or has an aversion to mushrooms or dairy, I give myself the green light to serve them this. It has ALWAYS been a hit! I also think it is nice to mix things up for those receiving meals. When I had my first baby someone from the squadron brought us hot coffee and breakfast first thing in the morning. It was so nice to be able to have something ready to eat so early! I bake it ahead of time and then deliver it ready to reheat.

Cherry Chocolate Pie Smoothie – Rachel Pratt

“I love making smoothies for my kids and I as the weather warms up. They are a great way to sneak in some greens and enjoy a yummy cold treat. Want to boost the nutritional value? Add some ground flaxseeds, hemp seeds, or chia seeds for healthy fats and omega 3’s. Feel free to swap out almond milk and pea protein powder for preferred alternatives.”

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup frozen cherries

1 banana

1 bunch of spinach leaves

1 1/2 cups of almond milk

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 tablespoons of oats

1 scoop pea protein powder

Instructions: 

Add ingredients in the order listed. Blend and enjoy!

Servings: 1

Prep Time: 4 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute

Total Time: 5 minutes

Notes: Dairy Free, Plantbased

Choose Your Own Adventure Pizza Pie – Rebecca Lane

“My kids absolutely love and enjoy making their own pizza, and they almost always eat their whole dinner (happily!) when they have been involved in the cooking process. We usually use broccoli as our side dish for this meal, but a salad or veggie of choice would make a great pairing. This dinner is low stress and fun for the whole family. It’s one of my favorite “can’t even” meals that requires very little prep or clean up.”

Ingredients: 

Kitchen supplies:

• Tin foil
• Cooking spray

Cooking supplies:

Canned Biscuits (your choice of brand) – Choose the right biscuit count for your family. On average, the choice in store bought biscuits is 5 or 8 biscuits per can. I typically buy the 8-count can.

Sauce – My toddlers have hit or miss feelings about sauces and so they create their pizzas without sauce. My husband uses BBQ sauce instead of pizza sauce. You could use pizza sauce, BBQ sauce, alfredo sauce, or even go sans sauce.

Toppings – We use a variety of shredded cheeses, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, pineapple, and chicken. The kids love pepperoni pizza, while my husband and I usually for more of a BBQ Hawaiian chicken pizza theme. 

Instructions: 

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Tear/cut tin foil in squares big enough to hold a squished-out biscuit and spray cooking spray on the tin foil to prevent sticking.
• Place a biscuit on tin foil and allow each family member to squish out their biscuit to whatever size and thickness they desire.
• Add sauce, toppings, and cheeses to your heart’s desire.
• Place everyone’s tin foil with their biscuit pizza on a cooking pan and place in the oven. My pans weren’t all that big, so I put two biscuit pizzas per pan.
• Cook on the middle rack of the oven for 13 to 15 mins, or until the crust is golden brown.
• Enjoy!

Servings: An adult will likely consume two biscuit pizzas, whereas a small child or toddler will only eat one.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 13-15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Instant Pot Shepherd’s Pie – Nicki Hart

Ingredients: 

4 Large Potatoes, Cubed (peeled if you prefer)

1.5 pounds ground beef 

1 packet Onion Soup Mix

12 oz mixed veggies

2 cups water

1 cup sour cream

1 Packet brown gravy mix

Milk, Butter and Salt to taste

1 cup shredded cheddar

Instructions: 

Place your pot on saute.

Add ground beef and onion packet.

Cook until slightly brown and crumble. 

Add water and veggies.

Place Potatoes in your steamer on top.

Place your Pot on Manual High pressure for 15 minutes.

Do a quick release.

Place Instant Pot on saute.

Remove Potatoes in a separate bowl. Mash potatoes with butter and milk until creamy and smooth.

Pour in the packet of gravy mix and stir while keeping the pot on saute.

Stir in sour cream.

Pour mixture into a baking pan and top with mashed potatoes.

Top the potatoes with cheese and place under the broiler for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Servings: 4-6

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes (approx. 30 with Instant Pot warming time)

Total Time: 30-45 minutes

Peach Pie from The Roost – Jenn 

“Yes this NYer turned Okie can make a mean peach pie, the kicker is it is store bought crust…We LOVE that busy Mom’s”

Ingredients: 

1 Premade store bought pie crust with two crusts in the box

5-6 C of peeled, sliced peaches (* Tip below for easy peeling )

2 Tbsp lemon juice and a little zest

1/4 C brown sugar

1/4 C maple syrup or white sugar 

Dash of salt, cinnamon and or nutmeg

4-5 Tbsp of all purpose flour ( more depending on how juicy the peaches are )

3 Tbsp of butter cut into small pieces

1 egg wash (one egg scrambled with a bit of water )

Turbinado sugar for garnish if you like

Instructions: 

Preheat your oven to 350.

Unroll your pie crust; one crust place into you pie pan, the other on a lightly floured cutting board.

Cut your one crust into strips with a pizza cutter, 1-1 1/4″  strips keep it flat. You will come back to that during the assembly of your pie.

Combine all the ingredients: peaches , lemon juice and zest, brown sugar and maple syrup, spices into a large bowl. 

Stir together gently and gradually add the flour, sprinkle and stir and add until it is a bit thick and lightly coated.

To Assemble:

Pour into your pie pan and add your butter pieces.

You can either place the top crust on your pie, use your fingers to pinch and seal and cut slits in the top or you can weave it lattice style.

How to weave your lattice:

Take every other strip of pie dough and lay it across your pie with a little space in between each one. Peel back every other strip that is on your pie, all the way to the edge.

Lay an edge piece of dough perpendicular to the others, tucked up right against the edge.  Replace the peeled back strips of dough to lay flat on top of the pie.

 Take the strips that are underneath, and peel them back. Lay down your next strip of dough. Replace the peeled back strips.

Continue until your pie is covered with your weave. Pinch the edges together with the bottom crust. 

With a pastry brush, bush on your egg wash all over crust to include edges and sprinkle it with Turbinado sugar.

Cover your pie crust edges with foil or a silicone pie crust shield to prevent “burnt edges”

Let your pie cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing. Serve with vanilla ice cream 

Leftovers need to be covered and put in the fridge for up to 3 days. 

Whole pie can be wrapped in plastic wrap then foil and frozen. Let it thaw and put in a preheated 350 oven for 10-15 minutes.

Servings: 6-8 depending on the size of the slice

Prep Time: about 20 minutes

Cook Time: 35-40 minutes; until you see the filling start to bubble

Total Time: about 1 hour or more depending on your prep time and oven.

Tip: For a quick peel of peaches, cut an “X” at the bottom of each peach.  Drop in a stock pot of boiling water for 30 seconds. Carefully remove with a slotted spoon and drop in an ice bath for another 30 seconds. Peels will slide off easily with a little help of the side of a pari knife.

Apple Pie –  Carrie Ring

“It’s National Pi Day so I wanted to share my husband’s apple pie recipe with you all! 

Apple Pie from a guy?! I know, right? My husband!? The manly protector of our country and family. The hunter of deer and elk to stock our freezer. The certified teacher of firearms safety and accurate shooting to hundreds. Yes, my husband. I honestly think he loves this recipe because it’s the one time his garage power tools are allowed in my kitchen!

To save time, and it’s actually super fun, we use his cordless drill (obviously we sanitize the spade bit) and shove the apple core through. Using two people, one holds the drill, and one holds the apple peeler. Check out this video on my TikTok to see it in action.”

Ingredients:

2 – 9” double crust pie pastry

FILLING

9 cups (about 8 small) granny smith green apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup water

Instructions: 

Step 1

Peel and core apples. Then thinly slice. Set aside. 

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Step 3

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir to form a paste. Cook until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add both sugars and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Step 4

Press one pastry into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Roll out the remaining pastry so it will overhang the pie by about 1/2 inch. Cut pastry into eight 1-inch strips.

Step 5

Place sliced apples in the bottom crust, forming a slight mound.

Step 6

Lay four strips vertically and evenly spaced over top of the filled pie, using longer strips in the center and shorter strips at the edges.

Step 7

Fold the first and third strips all the way back so they’re almost falling off the pie. Lay one of the unused strips perpendicular over the second and fourth strips, then unfold the first and third strips back into their original position.

Step 8

Fold the second and fourth vertical strips back. Lay one of the three unused strips perpendicular over top. Unfold the first and third strips back into their original position.

Step 9

Repeat Steps 7 and 8 to weave in the last two strips of pastry. Fold and trim excess dough at the edges as necessary and pinch to secure.

Step 9

Slowly and gently pour the sugar-butter mixture over the crust, making sure it seeps down through the lattice and over the sliced apples. Brush some over the top of the lattice, but make sure it doesn’t run off the sides.

Step 10

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking until apples are soft, 35 to 45 minutes.

Servings: 6-8 depending on the size of the slice

Prep Time: 20-30 minutes

Cook Time: 50-60  minutes

Total Time: about 90 minutes or more depending on your prep time

My husband likes to serve this pie warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Enjoy!