It all began one Sunday evening when Andre walked into Hope with the biggest, most delicious piece of peanut butter pie I had ever tasted.  He walked into the kitchen to make fresh brewed coffee to accompany his pie, and the smell of the pie and the coffee permeated the air and stimulated my culinary senses.   “Trish you look like you’d like a bite of my pie.”  He turned away, and I swooped in for a slice of pie so fast he never even saw me.  News of my enjoyment reached the master chef at home, so the next Sunday Todd arrived home after youth group with a peanut butter cookie pie just for our family made with love by Andre’s lovely wife Adelene.   We thoroughly enjoyed the pie, and not since  Village Inn many years before had we enjoyed such a delicious peanut butter pie.  You may have your own favorite pie stopover you would have compared it with. 

Adelene was born in LA and Andre in Venice, Italy but grew up in San Francisco.  How they met I’m not quite sure, but the Ceshin’s, married forty-two years, have the great gift and capacity to love God and to love others unconditionally, with grace and mercy.  With this gift they are blessing others while serving with the children’s ministry and other oversight care areas of Hope.  Andre plants beautiful flowers and greenery all around the church. 

My most common cooking mistake has been forgetting the sugar and presenting a dish to find out it was tasteless.  A couple years ago I made a birthday cake for my friend Mary Wambach.  The first child to take a full bite ran outside into my back yard and spit loudly into the bushes.  That’s how I learned of my error.     Sometimes when we speak to others we fail to properly season our words, and despite the depth of our love and concern, our words are received like that piece of cake, only we don’t have the benefit of the feedback and go on making the same mistakes over and over again.  Sugar is as Todd pointed out in his message Sunday as important to pie as opening your bible and pursuing righteousness through a relationship with Christ.    

 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.  Matthew 5:6 HCSB   

 Nothing will fill you or sate you like the Word.  Todd explained, righteousness is pursuing a life in conformity to God’s will.  That is in every single area of our life.  Ann Kroeker and I were discussing this today and she pointed out like the sugarless pie, nothing will be joy-filled about you that would enable others to see the love of Christ in you.    

Peanut Butter Cookie Pie   

Press your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe into the bottom of a glass pie dish.  Spray with Pam thoroughly before pressing cookie batter into dish.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 15 minutes.   

Filling ~ Mix 1/2 c of peanut butter and 1 pkg. of cream cheese and 2 cups of whipped cream sweetened with at least a 1/4 c of sugar of more to taste.   

Let chill a couple hours and drizzle caramel sauce all over the pie.   

Chill another hour and coat the top of the pie with crushed almond kisses.   

The title came from a joke between Adelene and I after Todd used his illustration of eating two pieces of sugar-free pie and still having the sense he needed another because the lack of sugar took away any satisfaction the senses would normally enjoy. The pie lacked taste, smelled different, visually it didn’t have luster to it.   

Feeling loved on,   

Trish