Beth Howard, fresh from her stint as judge of 22 pie contests at the State Fair will be in town this Wednesday. We are very excited to have her as our "live" in-studio guest. She promised to come teach us how to make great piecrust and that's just what she is going to do. Founder of The World Needs More Pie, she's toting in all her pie-making equipment plus her special crust-rolling tablecloth. Kathy's got the flour, sugar and fruit. I'm bringing the butter and the toaster oven. We'll be making two pies--one apple and the other yet to be decided. This is definitely going to be a GREAT TASTE standout food moment. We're even going to try and stream video live so check us out at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/great-taste">http://www.ustream.tv/channel/great-taste. Come by and learn how to make a terrific piecrust from the "pie baker to the stars." It's Beth, Kathy, and Steve Boss in the KRUU studio at 7:00 PM CDT or catch us in cyberspace at kruufm.com.

To write that Beth Howard loves pie is not telling the true story.  As we see it, she is a pie fanatic and that's good because Beth views pie as a means to making the world a more peaceful place.  She says, "Pie represents comfort, purity and simplicity, it's the perfect antidote to today's highly stressed-out world."

Beth is an Iowa native coming back to the state to judge 22 categories of pie-making beginning August 13 at the Iowa State Fair.  Whether it's apple pie, French silk, savory or oh-my it's peach pie, Beth will eat her way through hundreds of entries during the Fair's 10-day run.

Born in Ottumwa, Beth got her start baking pies in a most unlikely fashion.  Also, her pie fixation has helped her through some trying times.  Join us on this week's episode of Great Taste to hear about Beth's pie journey and how it's lead her back to the state of her birth.