By Mary Pannabecker Steiner

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Pieman was back at it again yesterday....he was in the kitchen at least half of the day - first making a pie, then meatloaf, bread and rolls. Lest you think we wish to pack on the pounds, think again. This is all HIS stuff and it has to last him a week.

Well, that's not quite the truth. I do eat the bread and sometimes the meatloaf, which he tells me I will love this time because he added some "good" stuff (i.e. veggies and herbs) to it.

But, I digress. Let's go back to the pie. I walked into the kitchen and found him covered in flour. The dog was on the floor, waiting for the first crumb to drop his way.

Of course, I bit. "Whatcha making?" To which he answered, "Bread crumb pie number 2." I kid you not. This is the truth. I think I scowled. He pointed at his pie cookbook (a Christmas gift courtesy of daughter number 2 who shares his love of pie).

My husband is a champion at skirting the issue and answering a question with a non-answer, so I figured this was not the entire truth. Sigh. Here we go. Okay, here's how the conversation went:

M: What's in it?
F: Bread crumbs.
M: That's it? Just bread crumbs?
F: Yep.
M: Liar. No one - not even you - would eat a pie made solely of bread crumbs.
F. Welllll...okay, it has some brown sugar and eggs. And some other stuff.

Of course. "Some other stuff" is always part of the equation, but hey, who am I to argue? He bakes pie like I bake cookies. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, and pretty soon you have a completely different product than that appearing in the cookbook.

I watched for awhile, then left the room, returning when he asked me to open the oven so he could pop in his pie. Later, when it came out of the oven, I peered at it. Yep. It was a pie. Kind of resembled a shoofly pie.

Later on, as we rode the tandem around town, he expounded on his latest pie creation. Turns out he added pecans and chocolate. The sinking dog part? Take a look...look very closely because the dogs sunk.

And now, for those of you who want to try baking your very own "Sinking Dog Pie", here's the recipe from the master. Keep in mind you may have to change the name if you don't own dog-shaped cookie cutters. (Just for the record, I did not buy them. Dog, after all, is MAN"S best friend.)

Happy baking!

Sinking Dog Pie

This pie is so simple it makes me sick. Wait until you have some dried up bread. Instead of tossing it, make a pie from it. After all add sugar to anything and it tastes good.

2 c. (ball park figure) bread crumbs
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 egg whites
2 cups of milk
Toss in some cocoa
Toss in some pecan pieces

Add bread crumbs, cocoa and pecan pieces to the pie crust

Cover the crumbs with the brown sugar

Beat the egg whites and add milk.

Pour the egg-milk mixture over the crumbs and brown sugar

Then, add cinnamon and whatever spices you enjoy.

For a real kick, place a drop of almond flavoring to the mix.

*Concerning the sinking dog, I had too much crust remaining. So, I grabbed a cookie cutter that happened to be in the shape of a dog and placed four on the top of the pie. As the pie baked, the shapes sunk into the pie.

Bake for 35 minutes at 350.