The other night I was up late with a 2nd burst of energy and realized I had 2 employees with birthdays the next day.  Whenever I can, I like to try and make something for them myself, so I decided on a pie.  But, it was 10:00pm and I had barely any fruit.  So I started paging through one of my favorite Sweet cookbooks (pillsbury – The Complete Book of Baking) and found a berry pie that used frozen berries!  I know, not my preference either, but I have to say – a heck of a lot easier and for this pie it worked great!  Here is the modified recipe, which I used my mother’s homemade crust which is amazing, but not the easiest to work with, so feel free to use a shell if you are not feeling ambitious:

Hollyberry’s Triple Berry Pie:

Heat oven to 425

Filling:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups frozen berries (I had some cranberries and strawberries in my freezer)
1 16 oz pkg frozen blueberries (could be substituted with black or raspberries)

Crust:
Pre-made or:
2 1/2 c flour
1 t salt
3/4 Crisco

Streusel topping:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter

In large saucepan, combine all filling ingredients.  Cook over medium-high heat until mixture boils, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat; simmer until mixture is very thick.  Cool 15 minutes.

While cooling, prepare crust mix by blending 1st 2 ingredients with pastry blender until crumbly.
Add 4 T COLD water, use blender to mix
Make dough into 1 ball, flour surface, and roll it our to fit your pie pan.  Use any extra dough to line the sides and pinch all around edges.  Pour in cooled filling.  Mix streusel topping and crumble on top.  Bake about 35-45 minutes or until slightly brown and bubbly.**Put cookie pan on oven rack below where you put pie in case of boiling over!

Optional final touch:
Whip real whipping cream (small container is fine) until it forms soft peaks.  Add sugar and vanilla to taste.  Add a dollup of sour cream and lemon or orange zest if you have it and blend well.  Serve over pie.

Enjoy!!