Wisdom From The Relief Society Kitchen

To: Abbottsville Fourth Ward Relief Society
From: Ruth Turley, Relief Society Enrichment Leader
Subject: Everybody said they loved my spaghetti pie last 


night at the Enrichment Meeting pot luck which surprised me cause it didn't turn out as good as it usually does. Anywho, here's the recipe.

Spaghetti Pie

Ingredients:

About 1/3 to 1/2 package of spaghetti, or as much as my Terry can hold in his fist. (Be aware he's big for a 3 year old.)

1 pound meat

1 egg

1/4 package Jell-O, any flavor other than lime, I think that's why last night's looked a little strange.

1/2 cup cottage cheese. Don't use fat-free, because it turns the whole thing into a watery mess that will gross everybody out, especially if combined with lime Jell-O.

1 jar spaghetti sauce. I use the store brand, but if you want to be fancy, you can buy the kind with what's-his-name's picture on the label. You know, the guy who made non-church approved movies with Robert Redford back in the 1920's or something.

1 cup cheese. I use Velveeta cause there's always some in the fridge. But you can also use American or Cheez Whiz or the powdered kind in the Mac and Cheese mix. -- Or Kraft if you want to be fancy.



Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown meat so that it's not red, not black, but not that putrid grey color either.

Cook the spaghetti until it's soft, you know, like regular spaghetti. Some cooks like to use the "throw the spaghetti against the wall to test doneness" method, only when I tried it, my entire household joined in and things got way out of hand.

I had to boil a whole new pot.





When the spaghetti is done, drain and put it back in the pot. Combine the coagulants -- the egg and the Jell-O (not lime!) -- then dump the mix into the spaghetti and smoosh everything together with your hands.

Dump the spaghetti into a standard size pie dish and push it against the bottom and up the sides. You know, like a pie crust.

Dump in the cottage cheese, dump in the meat, then dump the sauce on top of everything else. If the filling is getting too tall, smoosh it down with a spatula, or your elbow, or a Book of Mormon DVD -- whatever you have on hand. Remember what happens in your kitchen, stays in your kitchen.

Sprinkle on the cheese. I advise not getting the cheese on the spaghetti because it will get brown and ball up and your kids will compare it to boogers or something.

Carefully place the pie in the oven on a center rack. NOTE: if you use a regular pie pan you should be able to place the pie in the oven by itself. If you use one of those aluminum disposable thingies, DO NOT place it in there by itself because it's so heavy at this point that it will collapse and you will have a mess that children and cats and dogs will "help" you clean up. You might even swear, then be consumed with guilt, and start to bawl like an emotionally challenged child, while your own emotionally challenged children look on in horror. Put the aluminum dish on a baking sheet instead, it's safer.

Sorry honey, looks like take-out tonight

Here's the part where I feel a little dumb. I can never remember how long I bake it for. I know it's longer than 30 minutes but not sure if it's 45. It's a tough call since the battery on my smoke detector died. Sometime after the gunk encrusted on my oven walls starts to sizzle but before I have to run next door to borrow a fire extinguisher.

Carefully remove the finished pie from the oven. NOTE: Use two hands and oven mitts -- not one of those cheap thin towels from Costco, or you might be tempted to swear.

Anywho . . .   Bon Appetit!


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