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Around this time last year we were still the new kids on the block here in Kansas, and I was struggling to find my community of people to do life with. Fast forward a whole year, and now I find myself continually counting my blessings in the form of each girlfriend that’s been put in my life to encourage us, love us, and do life with us.
When I’m searching for the perks of a deployment – there obviously aren’t many – one of the biggest perks is getting two or three times the amount of “girlfriend time” than I usually do. Since none of us have our guys coming home to us at the end of the day, we’re frequently texting and getting together out of the blue to lounge at someone’s house, eat dinner, and/or let our children play together. The natural extrovert in me loves this sweet spontaneous time.
Recently my girlfriends and I were hanging out discussing our holiday plans, and we quickly realized that we were going to see very little of each other between now and Christmas due to busy travel agendas. A few days later I decided to throw one last “hoorah” for all of us before we go our separate ways and decided to make it a pie party just so that we could have something to munch on while we hung around in our sweats. 😉
The morning before everyone came over I swung by Walmart to pick up what I needed: several Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies, a can of Reddi-Wip®, a few drinks, and then finally a dozen mason jars. I had an idea for a craft we could do together to “pie-cycle” a couple of the pies for our hubbies!
I picked two pies to cook ahead of time for my friends and me to munch on – a Razzleberry pie and a Pumpkin Pecan Streusel.
There were seven of us girls plus a few kids, so I knew we’d have no problem going through two pies! Of course I had a can of Reddi-Wip® available too because who doesn’t love it on a piece of dessert pie?!
I also picked up two pies to “pie-cycle” for our loves – a Dutch Apple Pie and a Cherry Crunch Pie. Yum!
While everyone ate, I prepared both of the above pies to go in the oven so that we could makes pies in a jar to send overseas. Here’s how we did it in case you’d like to create your own pies in a jar to gift your loved ones.
- I followed the instruction on the back of the Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies packaging for prep, plus I covered each pie with aluminum foil to keep the edges from burning. About 55 minutes later they were ready to come out.
2. While the pies were piping hot, my friends and I each took a couple mason jars and layered them with the cooked pie and the pie crumble that’s normally baked on top of the pies.
You may notice the heat from the apple pie in the picture above! The heat is helping the jar fully seal.
3. Once full, we sealed the jars. If you cover the jar when the pie is right out of the oven the heat will help seal the jars fully. We also put the outer rim of the jar on it to help it seal, but we would take off that outer rim later!
4. Next we cut out squares from thin decorative burlap. Once the jars were totally cool, we took off the outer rim of the jar, covered the jar with the burlap, and then screwed the outer rim back on.
5. Our final step was to label the jars so that our guys will know exactly what they’re getting. 🙂
We had some extra cherry crunch pie left over after we ran out of jars, so one of my girlfriends suggested we make homemake milkshakes out of it! I dug through the refrigerator and we came up with the most delicious recipe!
Homemade Cherry Pie Milkshake (No Ice Cream Needed!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1/8 cup sugar
- splash of vanilla extract
- 12 ice cubes
- half cup of baked Marie Callender’s® Cherry Crunch pie
Directions
- Blend well, top with generous amount of Reddi-Wip®, and (immensely) enjoy!
We hung around and relaxed until around 7:30 when some of the kids (mine included) started showing signs of being ready for bed, so my friends grabbed their pies in a jar, we hugged goodbye for a few weeks, and they were out the door. The clean up on my end was minimal and I was in bed within a couple hours. I love nights like this that are inexpensive and easy, relaxed and memorable.
Click here for more ideas for how to #PieItForward this holiday season.
You can find the Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies in the frozen section of Walmart and the Reddi-wip® in the back of the store near the milk. I found the mason jars near the craft section. 🙂
Table decor: Pier1
Let’s chat!
1.) What are your favorite activities to do with your girlfriends?
2.) Who could you see yourself creating these pies in a jar for this holiday season?
