Kitchen wizardry

I was a kitchen wizard today.
I guess I should call myself a witch, as I'm sure many people have thought over the years.
Ahem.
However, no magic was involved.
With just a smidgen of organization and a little advanced planning you too can do zero to pie in under 60 minutes!
The first element is to decide you're going to do the dinner dash.
For greatest impact, I recommend waiting until barely two hours before dinner is to be served. Procrastination can be your best friend if you work well under pressure.
And zero to pie takes more focus than leisurely dessert baking.
First, zip to the basement to retrieve a bag of frozen peaches.
Ah, but not merely plain frozen peaches.
No sir, these peaches were purchased last summer at the height of the season at a fabulously low price, peeled, sliced and - now here's the advanced planning part - *mixed with flour, sugar and cinnamon before freezing in single pie amounts.
And there you have frozen pie filling in a bag.
This process can be done with apples, berries, virtually any kind of pie fruit.
I prefer freezing to canning peaches. They retain much more of their "fresh" texture and flavor.
Put the frozen peaches in the microwave to thaw. They don't need to thaw completely; I just like to be able to break them apart.
While the peaches are thawing, grab a food processor (making the crust by hand will add a few extra minutes) and throw in the makings of this super easy, tried and true, no fail pie crust.

Pastry for Two Crust Pie
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp of salt
2/3 cup shortening (I have used lard, Crisco, margarine and butter and have had good results with all. My favorite is butter-flavored Crisco. I know, I know... but come on, it's pie crust)
6-7 Tablespoons ice water

Pulse first 3 ingredients until well-mixed. Add water and pulse again. I usually have to add a titch more flour to get exactly the right dough consistency.

Roll out the crust to fit a 9-inch pie plate. Position bottom crust, add peach filling (if you have a lot of extra liquid from thawing you may need to add a bit more flour) and top with second crust.
Prick with sharp knife to allow steam to escape and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

From start to finish, this pie can be cooling on your window ledge in under an hour.
I recommend serving it warm with real vanilla ice cream.
Yum.

*Per bag: four cups peeled and sliced ripe peaches tossed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.