thanks & giving & PIE!

Ah, Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. It's such a low key holiday for me. I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (mostly because it's so nostalgic for me; we used to watch it while my mom was cooking in the kitchen), I love watching football, and I love love love eating good food with family. Curt & I hosted Thanksgiving this year and we had the first annual Armstrong Pie Contest. The competition was fierce. And the pies, delicious. But, unfortunately, there can only be one victor. Judging consisted of three categories: (1) Overall Appearance, (2) Crust, and (3) Taste. Each of us had to rate all seven pies in each category on a scale of 1-5. We then added up the totals and the pie with the highest number was the champion. Let the games begin!

Here are the contestants! (Prior to the pie carnage.)

Here we have an amazing chocolate cream pie provided by Jess.

Next is Carol's delicious apple pie.

And this masterpiece is brought to you by Craig. His famous pumpkin pie. (Notice the image of a turkey? Yeah, he got some extra Overall Appearance points for that.)

This is a sugar cream pie and it's handler is Megan.

This amazing masterpiece is Nate's Oreo mint pie.

This fluffy dream boat is brought to you by Curtis. His yummy lime cream pie.

And this delectable beauty is Staci's banana cream pie.

The winner not only gets bragging rights, but also has the prestigious opportunity of displaying this magnificent trophy until next year when the title is up for grabs again.

And the winner is........

Megan! With the sugar cream pie!

It was a close race and every pie was amazingly delicious! Thanks to all of you who participated and made the first annual pie contest a success. What a great Thanksgiving! I love you all!

For any of you interested, here's the sugar cream pie recipe. After all, it is award-winning. It's so easy and sooo yummy!

Sugar Cream Pie

1 9 inch pie crust, baked

4 Tblsp. cornstarch

3/4 cup sugar

4 Tblsp. butter, melted

2 1/4 cup Half & Half

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tblsp. butter, melted

cinnamon

Mix cornstarch and sugar in pan. Add 4 Tblsp. butter and Half & Half. Cook on medium high heat, stirring constantly, until thick and creamy. About 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Preheat oven broiler to high. Pour mixture into baked pie crust. Drizzle 2 Tblsp. butter over top and sprinkle with cinnamon. Put under broiler until butter bubbles- watch carefully, it doesn't take long. Refrigerate. Enjoy!