Welcome to the launch of PieRecipeCentral.com, the new website for the pie connoisseur.
 
Since Christmas time is all about giving, and we all agree that the best present of all is a fresh and tasty pie still warm from the oven, the P.R.C. staff have put their heads together to provide a collection of spectacular recipes to especially cater for this time of year.
 
The pie-recipe-central website boasts some neat and invaluable features that you will not find anywhere else on the internet. For example, each recipe has its own shopping list to save you the need to write out your own. Checkboxes have been provided for you to tick off as items are placed into your trolley as you shop. Also, when the recipe requires you to wait, there are timers for you to start and stop as you please. You can even choose to have multiple timers running simultaneously.
 
We're so confident that our visitors will have the most tremendous time discovering the many recipes and features that make up each issue for themselves, that I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise by revealing too much about them right now. We have put a lot of thought into making each and every recipe and feature of every issue as easy to follow as humanely possible. This is why the content of each issue has been kept purposefully linear.
 
Saying that though, no matter who you are, I recommend that you make a point of learning to cook the chicken pie recipe off by heart. It can be a real life saver.
 
We're an out-going lot at the PRC and always on the look-out for new ways to spend our time doing our favourite hobby. So, if there is a pie related festival or event going on in a town near you then please be sure to let us know. We'll do our best to appoint a team to attend the event with a view to covering it in its own feature on the site.
 
All there is to say now is to wish that you gain as much enjoyment using the Pie Recipe Central website as we did whilst creating it.
 
Happy pie making everyone.
 
Signed,
The PRC team

If you were a European crusader you'd be able to cast your mind back, way back to when it was the 13th century and recall the new Christmas treat on the block.
 
There were those spiced fruit and meat recipes that tantalised your nostrils and haunted your dreams during your Middle Eastern adventures. Do you remember returning home to Britain to bake them into large shortcrust pastry pie fillings? Of course you don't. For all of the crusaders are now dead and buried. Way down, down, deep into the earth. Never to be seen again. But how the pie lives on!
 
Some called it the Mutton pie and others called it the Shrid pie. Quite common was to call it the Christmas pie, but most people called it by the name we still use today, the mince pie.
 
During the English civil war, Puritan authorities frowned upon the Christmas pie, because of it's association with Catholic idolatry. However, this may have even helped to increase it's popularity amongst Anglicans. In the UK, they are just as popular today. Nearly as popular as Christmas itself, they sit immoveably in the warm comfy seat of Christmas tradition. Although, rarely are they appreciated outside the winter season.
 
However, they have changed a little since the fashion of baking one huge pie to share. The Victorians changed them to a more personal, smaller and easy-to-nibble-with-your-cup-of-tea size. It was during this time that the recipe was also sweetened. Those Victorians!
 
These days they populate shops and markets, stacked up high and twelve for an English pound.
 
As cheap as they are, it will forever be worth baking your own batch as a personalised treat for visitors, friends or pie tasting champions alike!
 
Mince pies are for keeps, yo.
 

With shops becoming more convenient by the day, why are more and more people choosing to raise their own chickens? Eggs and chicken meat are by no means cheap to buy, but neither are they expensive. Let's weigh up the pros and cons of raising chickens.
 
So, how many? A good number to buy are three hens. These will lay around 12 eggs a week between them and require a coop of 30 square feet (10 sq ft per hen). A coop of this size should cost £40 upwards for a decent one. As you might expect though, you can pay as much as you want.
 
A cockerel is not required for the hens to produce eggs, but you will need one if you want the eggs to hatch into new chicks that you might eventually use as meat for your pies.
 
Food will cost roughly £15 per month. However, bear in mind that chickens will happily eat the waste food from your kitchen, and on top of that they really do solve a lot of problems. They eat:
• Insects and similar pests
• Ticks and fleas
• Most weeds including; chickweed, clover and dandelions. (They don't tend to like stinging nettle).
 
Their droppings do not require any form of treatment. It can be used immediately as a high quality manure for your plants.
 
On top of providing manure, there are multiple functions they can provide to help you as a gardener breathe new life into your garden plot. For instance, if you scatter compost onto the ground, the hens with mix it into and aerate the soil with their scratching.
 
This does balance against an average of 20 minutes a day maintenance. However, scattering chicken feed is a lot easier on your back than aerating your lawn.
 
They are good for your stress levels too. Chickens are known to help reduce your stress levels in the same way as having social contact with other people or other animals can have.
 
You'll be doing the species a favour too. Farms prefer to employ the same breed of chicken that produce a large harvest of eggs or a large meat yield. By buying into an alternative species you will be doing your bit to preserve heritage chicken breeds.
 
Keeping chickens can attract a number of wild animals to your garden too e.g. foxes and cats. However, a strong coop will keep them safe from these predators.
 
I hope this gives you a great insight into the world of raising your own chickens, and made you aware of a few of the added benefits chickens can bring to a person's life.