Cheeseburger Pie

Shhhh! Don't tell Randy, but sometimes having a guest for dinner motivates me to find something new to try. I just may get stuck in a rut from time to time. I have a "go-to" list of quick and easy meals that I can put together quickly, usually without pulling a cookbook from the shelf.

Now that I think about it, it's kind of counter-intuitive to make a guinea pig of your guest. But this Cheeseburger Pie didn't disappoint Randy or Jake, who ate with us at noon during wheat planting time as a time-saving measure. I used this recipe on a day when they came to the house to eat, but I think it could be transported to the field, too.

The recipe came from my Journey Toward Excellence: Skyline Schools 40th Anniversary 1967-2007 cookbook. Skyline is updating that cookbook with a new supplement with even more recipes. I'm looking forward to it because my alma mater has a bunch of good cooks. Thanks to Brenda Piester and her son, Andrew, for this yummy meal idea. Randy commented several times about how much he liked it. I think he'd like it added to the rotation! You will, too.

Crescent Cheeseburger Pie

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion (opt.)
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 4-oz. can chopped mushrooms, drained (opt.)
1/4 cup chopped parsley (or substitute dried parsley to taste)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 pkgs. (8 rolls each) refrigerated crescent rolls
3 eggs
6 slices American cheese
1 tbsp. water

Brown the ground beef with onion until onion is transparent. Drain well. Stir in tomato sauce, mushrooms (if desired) and seasonings; set aside.

Unroll 1 package of rolls and separate dough into triangles. In lightly greased 9-inch pie plate, arrange triangles with pointed ends to the center and press edges together to fom a pie shell.

Separate 1 egg; beat together 2 whole eggs plus 1 white and pour half of the beaten egg mixture over pie shell. Spoon meat mixture into shell, and arrange cheese slices on top. Spread with remaining beaten egg.

Mix reserved egg yolk with water and set aside. Unroll second package of rolls. Take triangles and put points together. Press edges and perforations to form a circle to cover pie. (I put the dough between two sheets of waxed paper and used my rolling pin to get the dough to stick together. It wasn't perfect, but it helped.)

Place dough on top of filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut slits in top crust.

 Brush top with egg yolk/water mixture.

Loosely cover edge with foil strips to prevent overbrowning. (I used pie shields.) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then cover the center of the pie loosely with foil and bake 20 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Yield: 6 servings.

Notes:

•  I did not use the mushrooms. 
• You can substitute the sheets of crescent dough instead of putting together the crescent rolls to further simplify this recipe, but my small grocery store doesn't have that, so I used the crescent rolls and put them together as the original recipe indicated.