I was scheduled to feed 12 Saturday afternoon for lunch. Luckily, I was off on Friday. I woke up early prepared to spend the day in the kitchen. The previous day, I created a list of what needed to be done Friday and what could be done Saturday right before the guests arrived. I had already thought up a menu earlier in the week based on what I had in the kitchen.

The first item on my list was to bake the pie crust to go with my strawberry pie. I hadn't made the crust in years and wasn't sure it would work, but it's my mom's recipe, and has been a favorite all my life. She even uses it to top her Vegetarian Chicken Pot Pie. I used my last small piece of parchment paper and the crust fell apart as I was laying it into the pan. This made the process take much longer because I had to lay each bit of dough into the plate and mold it back together with my fingers. Because I needed two pies, but was unsure of my measurements as it had been so long, I had to make everything twice--even the filling because I had not measured the berries before I put them in the Ziplock bag to freeze. Freezing isn't necessary for the recipe, but I had purchased berries two weeks prior that were not fit to serve fresh. I froze them planning to make a tart at some point. This luncheon came up, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to use the berries.

I also took the advice of one of the comments on the website to paint the inside of the crust with melted chocolate and cool the crust to harden. This adds an extra touch of sugar and also keeps the crust from getting soggy. It was a nice touch, but my silicone brush made more work for me because it also stuck to the crust. I was grateful the filling would cover all the holes! I would still paint the crust again because I did like the taste (Think chocolate covered strawberries.), but I would need to find another way to get the job done.

Oil Pie Crust Recipe

• 2 C all purpose flour
• 1 t salt
• ½ C oil
• ¼ C cold water

Mix flour and salt. Blend oil and cold water with fork (lots of bubbles). Add liquid mixture to flour and stir. Divide dough and roll between 2 pieces of waxed paper until desired thickness. Take one piece of wax paper off and turn the crust over the pie plate, gently peeling off the wax paper as the crust settles into position.