As many of you know already, I am doing Christmas Eve dinner at my house.  Now, last time I did this, I catered it.  This year we are making dinner.  I have never ever ever made a turkey in my life.  I have never made real mashed potatoes either (I am great at instant though!  LOL).  Needless to say, I am a tad worried about Christmas Eve dinner especially now that my husband has informed me that he didn’t take off (if looks could kill . . .).  However, in this insanity I call my life, there is one thing I can count on.  Dessert.

I have to thank Pillsbury for making dessert so much easier for me.  I’m all about easy cooking, and once again, they have come through for me.  Did you know that Pillsbury has pie crusts?  All you need to do is roll them out in your pie pans!  How much easier does it get than that?  Now, they also save you when you are looking for an easy pie to make for dessert too.  By checking out Pillsbury’s website, you can find a ton more pie recipes.  How does this one sound?

Candy Bar Pie

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Start to Finish: 3 Hours 40 Minutes

Crust
1 Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crust (from 15-oz box), softened as directed on box

Filling
5 bars (2.07 oz each) chocolate-covered peanut, caramel and nougat candy
4 packages (3 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Topping
3 tablespoons whipping cream
2/3 cup milk chocolate chips

Heat oven to 450°F. Place pie crust in 9-inch glass pie plate as directed on box for One-Crust Filled Pie. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until very light golden brown. Cool while preparing filling. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Cut candy bars in half lengthwise; cut into 1/4-inch pieces. Place candy bar pieces over bottom of partially baked crust. In small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in 1 egg at a time until well blended. Add sour cream and peanut butter, beating until mixture is smooth. Pour over candy bar pieces. Bake at 325°F for 30 to 40 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely on cooling rack, about 2 hours.

In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream until very warm. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Spread over top of pie. Refrigerate 2 to 3 hours before serving. Cover and refrigerate any remaining pie.

Do you have any tricks that you use for your pies?  Any time saving tips like using Pillsbury Pie Crusts?

Many of us have already seen the previews for the movie Blindness. If not, let me give you a short synopsis.  Blindness is based on a novel written by Jose Saramago. It is about how humanity acts when an epidemic happens. In this story, the epidemic is blindness. All those who are infected are quarantined into a mental asylum.  It is about how society can go a little wacky on itself in stressful times and how people truly do end up prevailing for the better of everyone.

There is a site dedicated to this film and its themes called i am blind.   It is all user generated content and has a very busy forum around the concepts discussed in this film.  They talk about what life would really be like if this happened.  However, they also have an excellent photostream of the last thing you would want to see if you would happen to go blind.  I am including this for my readers since the picture above is the only food picture on their photostream!

Image by chotda via Flickr

Now, there has to be a few more excellent food photos that definitely need to be included on there!  I’d like to see some cakes, ice cream, and even some chocolate.  Plus, if you think about, imagine how much better your food would taste.  There has been studies down about how if you lose one sense, they other ones get better.  I am sure the recipes on this blog would taste that much better!

What are some of the last things you would like to see if you were to go blind?