Hello hello!  It’s been a while hasn’t it?
Where have I been?  Well, that’s a bit of a long story and it has to do with Cancer.
I’ll save you all the gory details to say that after surgery and several weeks of radiation follow-ups… I’m happy to report that it looks like we beat the sucker in to submission.

The whole ordeal sort of took the wind out of my sails and caused me to, once again, shift focus in my life.  One of the things I try to focus on more each day is appreciating the beauty in life.  Because even when the times are tough there is beauty to be found, be it a bittersweet lesson, a smile from a passerby, hearing a child’s laugh bubbling up from the bottom of their tummy, the sweet sound of birdsong, the teeny peeks of neon green buds on the ends of Winter bare branches, the smell of coffee, the purr of a cat nestled in your lap, hugs, the kindness and love from those who love you.
The simple fact that every single day that we are “here” is in and of itself one of the most beautiful and underrated things on Earth.

So today I wanted to share with you a little trick, it’s not a recipe, it’s a technique.  And it will bring beauty to something ordinary.

I’m speaking about Pie Crusts.
I love a pretty pie, in fact my love of pretty pies goes way way way back to when my Mom used to make her Pumpkin or Apple pies and she would hand cut pie dough ornaments in the shapes of an Apple or a Turkey or a Pumpkin or even Fall Leaves.  She would use a little paring knife with a fine tip while we watched her deftly cut the dough, then she would wet the backside of the cut out with a little water and ask us kids where on the pie she should put it.  We always settled on the center – that way everyone who had a piece of pie would get a little piece of the special cut out.

I followed my Mom’s method when I made my Vineyard Pie several years ago, by hand cutting the dough, forming small balls to make clusters and rolling out thin ropes to make vines, like you see here:

Anyone can do this.  It works the best with any pie that requires a Lattice style top crust.
You can even do this with your kids.
You can make the shapes on your pie crust any shapes you want.  Polka Dots, Hexagons, Triangles, Flowers, Hearts, Leaves, Dog Bones… literally whatever tickles your fancy.

What you will need:
– Cookie Cutters, in the desired shapes you want (or a paring knife if you are the artistic type)
-Parchment Paper (this helps keep the dough from sticking to your work surface)
-1 Cup of Water
-1 rolled out Pie Crust, just use your favorite shortcut recipe (flour & butter base or flour & butter/shortening base  OR you can totally use store bought if you want to and no one is going to judge you)
-Patience
-Egg Wash (optional)

What you do:
Get your pie dough rolled out on your parchment paper, then start cutting out your shapes with your knife or cookie cutter.  Once you have enough cut outs to cover your pie top, you will dip them one by one very quickly in to the water.  Just a quick dip and right back out.
Then you will start to place the cut outs on the pie filling, starting with the outside rim first closest to the crust.
Work your way in, overlapping as you go.
Use any extra cut outs to layer on top for more dimension if you want.
Bake it as you normally would.

Please note:  Juices will bubble up through the cracks, which is OK.  The juices will add a fruity lacquer to your cutout shapes, which just adds to the beauty of the pie.

The pie in the header image is the pie that I made last night to take to my Mother’s house.  She is recovering from surgery right now, and she was craving peaches.  So I made a Cinnamon Peach Pie for her adorned with flowers to lift her spirits.  I transported it unbaked and baked it at her house so that she could enjoy the wonderful smells in her house.
Here is a little cellphone snap of how it looked after it was finished baking:

She’s still talking about the pie today :)

Ever since I started doing these pies, they have generated a lot of Oohs & Ahhs!
I even got some love from Food & Wine Magazine on Instagram & Facebook!

So I thought I would show you some of the other Pretty Pies I have done recently.

For Halloween I did a Pumpkin Pie from scratch, I scattered leaf shapes with tinted egg wash on top to create this pretty little Fall bite, kinda makes you want to dive right in to that pile of leaves:

Then we come to my personal favorite – this pretty little Summer Blackberry Pie, festooned with little flowers.  I love how the juices seeped up on the dough because after the bake it really makes them POP!

And here is that Blackberry Pie after the bake!  A field of deliciousness just waiting for you!

Click here for: Winner Announcement

I have this friend… he’s a bit of a renaissance man when it comes to all things edible.  What I mean by that is… he actually goes out to hunt, to forage and to fish for his own food on a regular basis.  He even grows his own food.  Over the years he has shared his adventures via his well read blog Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook.

His name is Hank Shaw, and with the pictorial help of his lovely lady Holly Heyser,  he has produced an amazing book.  Now folks, this is not just another cookbook.  This book is a wealth of knowledge that will not just feed the mind, but the belly as well.  Hank walks you through the edible offerings of the seasons and the various places throughout the nation where he has travelled over the years and put it all in to this book.  This really is a must-read for any one who fancies themselves a forager, an angler or a hunter… or any one who just fancies the idea of living off the land.

The thing that I love about the recipes in his book is that they are adaptable.  In some instances, such as his chapter on Beach Peas, he talks about the simplest ways to prepare these short seasoned wild delicacies that easily translate as a useful recipe for something more domestic like an English Pea.  This is the kind of book that I challenge anyone to pick up and say “Yeah I already knew all of that” because the shear breadth of knowledge shared provides an educational and mouth wateringly entertaining read for the novice to the expert.

I like this book so much that I want to give one autographed copy to one of my lucky readers!

GIVE AWAY DETAILS: (1) One lucky reader will win an autographed copy of Hank Shaw’s new book: Hunt, Gather, Cook – Finding the Forgotten Feast, brought to you solely by NommyNom.

HOW TO ENTER: Go to the syndicated version of NommyNom and simply leave a comment and tell us about your favorite food that you either hunted for, fished for or foraged for.  One entry per person, duplicate entries will not be counted.  You must provide a valid name and email address with your entry.

WHEN IS THE CONTEST: Entries will be taken starting now July 27, 2011 and will end Midnight PST on August 4, 2011.  Winner will be drawn at random and announced at 9:00am August 5, 2011.

WHO WILL WIN: The winner will be chosen by random drawing on August 5th and announced at 9:00am PST on August 5th, 2011.  You must provide a valid name and email address with your entry. Winners will have 24 hours to claim their prize, if left unclaimed the prize will go to a runner-up determined by random drawing.

Best of luck to everyone, looking forward to hearing your responses!

More Hank Shaw in person for Seattle Folks:
–Tune in to Q13 FOX Morning News at 9:20am on July 28th, 2011 to see Hank Shaw demonstrate a recipe from his book, live in person with yours truly.

–You can also check out Hank in person at Wine World Seattle July 28th, 2011 at 6pm – Bites inspired by some of Hank’s recipes to be prepared and served by my wonderfully talented friend Chef Robin Leventhal

–And there will be a dinner at the restaurant on nearly every foodies bucket list –  The Herbfarm.  They will be hosting a dinner party called “Finding the Forgotten Feast” on Sunday July 31st, 2011. Seating is limited, please call for reservations.

Full Disclosure:  This giveaway is made possible by NommyNom

RESTRICTIONS: Contest is open only to residents of the United States.  Prize is non-transferrable, non-refundable and may not be exchanged for cash.  PugetHound nor Nommynom shall be held responsible for any content, damages, or loss as a result of this contest.