Meat and Potato Pie

Wow, has it really been over two weeks since my last post? It's not due to laziness in blogging...I promise! It's more like zero time to invest in securing ingredients unknown to the Wal-Marts in my town and only a fraction of my normal energy for such causes. Work has been demanding my whole existence for the last few weeks. At such times, I look to tried comforts, readily available and up for the task of satisfying the ravenous hunger of 10 working men or at least me and Aubrey for a couple days. That's right- Meat and Potatoes. This recipe is my mother's and it happens to be easy as pie... HA! I crack myself up. I like to have a vat of Louisiana Hot Sauce to go along with this and let me just say, I love any opportunity to use the stuff. Did you know my mom is the charter member of M.A.T.O.C ( Mothers Against The Overuse of Condiments)?? It's a one woman club but she's as active as a full force. Oh, mother... whatever will I do with you? I know, I'll make your flippin' amazing pie!

Meat and Potato Pie

(Serves 6 sorta hungry people and 4 really hungry people.)

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1 medium onion finely diced

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

Lawry's season salt ( the comforts are back!- this was the only seasoning I used through college.)

4 cups peeled and diced russet potatoes

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/4 to 1/2 cup milk ( for thinning and rubbing onto top crust)

1 pkg. prepared pie crust ( top and bottom- I like Pilsbury in the red box.)

1. Brown beef with onions, garlic, and season salt to taste in a large pot. Drain of excess fat.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Add potatoes, soup to the beef. Stir in milk as needed to thin out if you added more potatoes. Mix and season again to taste. Heat over medium high until bubbly. Reduce heat to low and cover for 30-40 minutes until potatoes are nearly soft. Stir occasionally and briefly.

4. While potatoes are getting all soft, prepare a 9" pie dish and get the crust out of the fridge so it will be near room temperature. Place the bottom crust in the pan.

5. When the meat and potatoes are done, add to pie dish and top with top crust. Feel free to get all fancy with crimping the edges to seal. I use the ol' fork method of pressing the tines into the dough around the edge to create a seal. Guess what? I totally just learned that the fork prong things are called tines. Yay for Google.

6. Cut slits into the top crust and rub a bit of milk on top to make a delicious golden crust.

7. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden and not burned ( important.) You may want to put a baking dish underneath in case you overfilled. Not that I've ever done this, of course.

Yay! Let's eat this muther!