Pie…

Thanksgiving was drawing near and I had agreed to make one of the pies my mother usually made for our family gathering. My beloved grandmother had recently moved back to town after living in the Ozarks for several years. This was a special event for me since she would join us, and I was excited! The matriarch of our family would be with us this happy season—truly an occasion to give thanks.

The only problem was I had never actually made a pie of any sort in my entire life. I felt up to the challenge though and decided to create as my debut into the pie making world of the women in my family, the very pie my grandmother had always been the one to make for past gatherings—Minced Meat Pie.

I had absolutely no idea what minced meat pie even was, or even tasted like, since I’d never had a piece before (my favorite holiday pie is good ‘ol pumpkin with whipped cream of course).

I decided to scour the internet for a trusted recipe, and sadly learned that the entire process of mincing meat for a pie took a grueling seven days… Thanksgiving was the next day.

So, I changed my plan and decided to create something more unassuming. While standing in the grocery isle searching the shelves for the ingredients for my new pie project I noticed there on the shelf behind me a beautiful jar of “Minced Meat Pie filling”. Who knew?! I felt like I’d died and gone to Heaven. I wondered if this jar of goodies was really any good, or if I’d be sorry for trying it.

I was also elated at the thought that I could now bring a slightly different version of my grandmother’s famous pie, and hopefully impress her.

The next evening after everyone had eaten slices of the various pies, I shared with my grandmother the journey I’d traveled in constructing this very special pie. When I was done, she looked at me and said; “Oh, I’ve always only used the jarred pie filling, it’s so much easier.”

I almost fell over—I had just assumed my grandmother made her pie from scratch… the old fashioned way.

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