More Than Just a Pin. For Once.

Well, the entire months of September and October have sort of been lost on me.  I think I pretty much slept them away, and now that I feel almost back to my old self - it appears that Thanksgiving is now upon us, with Christmas just around the corner -- and I have absolutely nothing to show for it.

Ah well.  It is what it is.

I really do have pretty great pregnancies - right up until the very end when my kidneys sometimes don't cooperate - but I never get sick, and I'm rarely even nauseaus...so I am well aware that I have nothing to complain about.  I have friends who are literally green for most of their forty weeks.  Not sure if I would have ever dared attempt #4...or even #3 if I were in their shoes.  Them's some brave women.

I just feel like I got run over by a Mack truck for about eight weeks and nap my life away.  But, thankfully, the lethargy is leaving, and my get up and go has no longer got up and left me.  It is slowly returning.  So, last night, I decided to browse through all of the zillions of things that I half-heartedly pinned on Pinterest during my weeks of lounging, and thought that for the first time ever in my history of pinning things that I might just go ahead and do something with one of those many ideas.

Plus, the boys have been sick with wretched colds, and it was family day, and everyone had just been doping around all day doing nothing.  So, when Daddy called home and said he was bringing back pizza and a movie, I figured I'd try and step up my game a bit too, and not have him be the only hero of the day in this here home!

These are the mini - 4oz, chubby jars.  Chubby.  Like me.

And thus was birthed our individual mini mason jar pies for dessert.
Super, super, over the top adorable...and not too shabby for taste either - considering I used canned filling.
Plus, it was really easy for all of the Littles to make their very own - with fairly minimal mess.

Blueberry filling.  This brand had no high fructose corn syrup.

One could easily use pre-packaged pie crust, but here's a really easy and healthy homemade option:
I doubled it to make about 8 mini pies.  That's how much this jar of pie made...
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup unbleached white - (using ALL white is obviously flakier.  The spelt is just a bit more healthy)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup olive oil
8 tablespoons cold water

Roll out about half of your dough and use the top of your jar to make little pie toppers.

No need to roll out the rest.  Just take little pieces and mold onto the bottom and up the sides of the rest of the jars.  This part is super easy for the really little ones to help with.  I just gave Ransom a big blob and let him have a hey-day with it while Kaden and I made up the rest.

Jesse just watched....and coughed all over everything.  Awesome.
Poor kid.  He tries.  He just also forgets to try half of the time.
Blueberry Germ Pots.  Mmmmmnnnnn.

Okay.  Then you just take about a scant half cup of the filling and put it into your little pies.
Another time, I would make a really simple homemade filling with either apples or strawberries.
One of our favorites is to take a couple of bags of frozen strawberries that are thawed.  Don't drain the juice, but add to it a half cup of pure maple syrup and three tablespoons of minute tapioca as a thickener.  Stir is up, and you have a super healthy easy peasy pie filling.

And then!  If you have any mini mini cookie cutters, cut a little shape in the middle of your pie topper, and place them on top of your little pots of delish.  If you don't have any cutters, just make sure you poke a few holes in the top for venting.  Otherwise, you shall have a glorious explosion in thine oven of oozing, sticky pie filling.  I know this well.  I speak from experience.

Or you could make a cute little lattice.  Or a crumb topping.  The sky's the limit, Baby.

With any remaining crust, I just do what my Mama always did and make little mini cinnamon rolls.  Roll it out, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and bit of water, and roll 'em back up.  I had a bit of frosting left over in my fridge from Lord knows how long ago, so I just drizzled the glaze over the top when they came out.

Seriously....how adorable are these?
I'm thinking little individual pies at each person's place setting on Thanksgiving.
Sweet, sweet.

 Best served in the living room, during a family movie, whilst hanging out altogether.
And best also done whilst keeping eyes averted and choosing not to stress if crumbs and filling get all over your floor.  No big deal, right?

So, there you have it.  Easy and super cute.
I can now say that I have completed from start to finish - one and only one - pinning from Pinterest.
My life is now complete.