Seed-Time & Harvest: Pear-Apple Pie for the Freezer

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8: 22

That time of year is here again.  Harvest.  I've been busy preserving and freezing: Peach Cups for the children's school lunches, Corn (54 quarts last Saturday!), Peach-Pluot Jam, Green Beans, and now today, Pear-Apple Pie filling.  And tomorrow it will be Pear Jam.  Then comes Applesauce, Pizza Sauce and Tomatoes.  And if I'm lucky, I'll hit the October Strawberry harvest and will get some Strawberry Jam froze, too.

Canning and freezing takes a lot of work but it is so rewarding to me just to go sit in the cellar and look at all the full jars.  Maybe that sounds kind of funny, but it gives me a content sort of feeling to know that my family is 'fed' for the winter.  God's blessings to us are so big and so great and this is just a small visual reminder of his great love for me! 

Here is how I've made my Pear-Apple Pie for the freezer:

For the Filling:
Mix together in a large bowl:
6  Cups  thinly sliced peeled Pears
6  Cups  thinly sliced peeled Apples
1 1/2  Cups  Sugar
1/2  Cup  Flour
1  teaspoon  Cinnamon
1/2  teaspoon  Salt
and place it in a 1-gallon zip-top freezer bag.

For the Crumb Topping:
In a small bowl mix together:
1  Cup  Brown Sugar
1/2  Cup  Flour
1/2  Cup  Butter
and blend into coarse crumbs.
Stir in:
1  Cup  finely chopped Nuts (Pecans preferred)
and place this mixture in quart-size zip-top freezer bag.  Place this smaller bag inside the 1-gallon bag and seal the large bag.  Label bag and freeze.

To use you will need 2 unbaked 9-inch pie shells, each in a pie plate -OR- 1 greased 9x13 to use for a deep-dish cobbler.

Thaw the Pear-Apple filling and Crumb Topping.  Evenly divide the fruit mixture between the two prepared pie shells -OR- place into the prepared 9x13 dish.  Evenly top the fruit mixture with the crumb topping and cover loosely with foil.  Bake at 425* for 40 minutes.  Remove foil and continue baking 20 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 2 9-inch pies or 1 9x13 deep-dish cobbler.