In 1976, my husband and I married and lived on a mountain in the middle of the desert  40 miles outside of Las Vegas; Mount Charleston.   As he was still paying off his student loan and I had not yet found work, we were crushingly poor.   Around the middle of the month, food became an issue.

Luckily, we discovered the Nation of Islam.   They had a store in Las Vegas that sold bags of frozen Whiting fish at a price we could afford.   Wearing out my Betty Crocker cookbook, I discovered numerous ways to prepare this bony but tasty fish.

In addition, the store sold bean pies for about $2.00 each.  The pie and 1 glass of wine each at the ski lodge was our weekly treat. (Sometimes the Mount Charleston sheriff, cool guy, bought us a second glass of wine).

In France, ready made pie crust comes in a package, prerolled.   You just take it out and put it in your pie pan, poke the bottom and sides with a fork, then pour your filling inside.

Note:   I’ve just learned that evaporated milk is “lait concentre non sucre (concentrated milk without sugar).

Bean Pie

1 unbaked pie shell

2 cups of cooked navy beans

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup of evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

Mix together the eggs, evaporated milk and the vanilla.  Add the beans, sugar and the spices and beat with a hand mixer until well blended.   Cook in a 350 oven for about 50 minutes.