Pies, Pies and More Pies!!!

Saturday, November 8th was a great day in two ways.

Number 1, it was my first borns birthday!! He turned 24, I can't believe it. Some days I think I feel old enough to have a 24 year old, and then other days, I don't!! Great kid, most days!!!
He is working full-time in the field that he got his bachelors in, and is also working on his Masters.

Number 2, we put together a pie fundraiser for our Women's Ministry at church, and that is indeed what we were doing most of the day, making pies!!!

Catfishin and I went and purchased all the ingredients Friday night, or I guess I should say, most of the ingredients. Here's how my grocery list went:

50 lbs. of flour

24lbs. of sugar

4 lbs. of butter

24 lbs. of shortening

50 lbs. of Granny Smith and Jonagold Apples

18 lbs. of pecans

120 ea. aluminum pie pans

6 gallons evaporated milk

7 gallons clear karo syrup

15 dz. eggs

6 1/2 gallons pumpkin

60 lbs. of cherries

+ other varies spices

The internet is a wonderful thing for helping one to figure these mass quantities. Like, I wasn't sure how many cups of flour where in a 5lb. bag of flour, or the same thing with sugar, etc. So, I just Goggled all these questions and found my answers!!! I wasn't too far off on my calculations.

Those numbers sure can get you confused though. We did run out of flour and shortening, but I forgot to calculate the lattice tops. If I would have made single crust pies, we would have had enough flour and shortening to complete all the crusts on Saturday. Oh well, some people on Monday got to perfect what they had learned on Saturday!!!

We started at 9:30am and finished around 4:45pm, on the 8th. There were 13 ladies involved throughout the process, and two young ladies that were a great help as well!!!

We were able to make 87 pie shells, 26 of which had lattice tops. And we made a total of 52 full pies!!!

Tomorrow we will get together and make 33 more pie crusts, and 59 more full pies!!! Some of the same ladies, and then some new ones!!!

The pies we sold were: Pecan, Pumpkin, Apple, and Cherry. We took orders just one Sunday through the following Thursday and sold a total of 92 pies. Then for every 4 pies sold, we made a pie to give away. Twenty-five pies will be given away on the 15th of November with some 100 turkeys that are also being given away that day. There will also be a clothing drive that day at the church in which people from the area can come in and get FREE clothes.

We weren't sure what to expect with the pie fundraiser, and wished we could have spent more days making pies, I know it would have ended up with some 200 pies or more sold and made.

Not bad though for this idea being born by one of the ladies in our Women's Ministry on the 26th of October, letting people know on the 2nd of November, and having orders for 92 pies by the 6th of November!!!

These pies are totally homemade, from pie crust to filling!!! The ladies at the church wouldn't have had it any other way!!! I originally thought we were just going to buy pie shells already prepared, but they wouldn't have that!! God brought just the right people both days to help take care of all of the orders. He really is in every little detail, even like finding some more salt in the back of a cupboard, for just a few more pie crusts!!!

When I asked the ladies if they would like to tackle something like this again, most were totally for it!!! I was really amazed by their reply. They loved the time spent together with other women!!! Many came because they wanted to learn how to make pies, or how to make pie crust.

It was indeed a lot of work, but the fellowship and camaraderie was incredible!!!!