sunday sweets. (a day late)

a while ago my mom gave me this pie crust mix (along with this mix):

and i really wasnt sure what to do with it. i mean, i like pie as much as the next person, but ive never been a big fan of making pies because ive always heard that pie crust is a huge pain in the butt. also, upon closer inspection of the directions on the box, this mix made dough for FOUR crusts. i mean, i know the dough is freezable, but given that i usually make somewhere around two pies a year, i was going to have to stretch myself a bit if i was going to try this out anytime soon. 

i decided on making a quiche and a pie for dinner on sunday, that way there would only be two balls of pie crust in my freezer making me feel guilty. also this goes along with my "making special desserts on sunday nights" thing i said i was going to do. 

so i spent the better part of sunday afternoon wrestling with pie crust, which turns out, is actually every bit as difficult as everyone makes it out to me, and this one being gluten free made it even worse. it was sticky, and weird, and i had to roll it out between two plastic bags (because i cant just flour the rolling pin like a normal person), and did i mention it used TWENTY tablespoons of butter? (ok, ten of butter, ten of margarine but i refuse to buy margarine for any reason). by the time i was done with the crusts alone i  was about ready to throw this whole dinner out the window, but i pushed through it and in the end came out with a spinach quiche:

(i used this recipe, with a few modifications: less mayonnaise, caramelized the onions, added some herbs de provence, an extra egg, and some more cheese on top)

AND a pumpkin pie:

(i know this is a totally weird thing to do in the middle of june but i love pumpkin and vons had tons of it on clearance, also i just used the recipe on the can wrapper but substituted regular milk for evaporated)

and they both came out great! this mix was totally worth the frustration because, get this: THIS GLUTEN FREE PIE CRUST TASTED EXACTLY LIKE REAL PIE CRUST, which is a heck of a lot more than i can say for any of the other gluten free things ive tried so far (also the same crust was equally delicious for both the sweet and savory recipes). 

i had planned on serving both of them last night, but due to the crust being exceptionally difficult, and some poor time management on my part (animal crossing new leaf was released yesterday, and i had some very important work to do as the new mayor), it took MUCH longer than i had planned (it never occurred to me that maybe i should check and see if the two things im making require COMPLETELY different temperatures for their entirely too long baking times), so by time the pie was out of the oven, it was past 9 pm and everyone was tired and over dessert, so we didnt get to eat it until tonight. 

but it was still totally worth it. and maybe if one of us gets an extra large paycheck sometime soon ill stop by fresh and easy to stock up on some mixes.