Pies

Pie really is very easy to make and very versatile.

Though pie is usually made in a large pie plate, I like to make little pies in ceramic ramekins, which can be purchased in any cookware store. The 3" ramekin holds 1/2 cup and the 4" ramkin holds 1 cup. Since pies are basically a crust and a filling, it's easy to cut down recipes to these sizes and make only the number of servings you want. You can also make the whole recipe and then freeze the leftover servings for another day. Warm pie right out of the oven is a lot tastier than cold leftovers!

Another way to make small pies is in a muffin tin. Just line each cup with crust and pour in your filling.

You can also reduce the carbs and fat of pie by focusing on the filling and minimizing the crust. Making pies in one-serving ramekins is ideal for this because the ramekin acts as the bottom crust. Just pour in your filling and put the crust on top. Or make a cookie of the crust and stick it in the filling. Or sprinkle a crumb crust on the top.

Making a lattice crust instead of covering the entire top saves a few more carbs and looks very pretty. Also you can cut out pieces of crust in fanciful shapes--such as hearts, stars or leaves--bake them separately, and place them on top of the pie after it is baked.

If you are not concerned about carbs, you can make many pies into turnovers, and again, freeze the extras for future days instead of eating them all at once.