Pie and Salad

Thanksgiving meal was such a blast!  Someone did end up buying a turkey for something like $83!!!! Everybody just pitched in a little over a dollar to help offset her costs.  It was delicious!   There was most of the regulars... turkey, potatoes and gravy, cranberry relish, stuffing, sweet potatoes.  I was surprised that nobody did green bean casserole though!  For dessert there was pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, apple pie, an apple crumb, cupcakes, and brownies.

I was sooo glad that someone else had the bright idea of making pumpkin pie.  I thought my recipe might make 2 but it only made one.  At that point I was a little worried there wouldn't be enough to get a decent piece.  The green eyed monster was coming out!  Luckily, my fears were soothed when there were two!

Just a recap of my pumpkin pie making extravaganza based off this recipe:

      I got my pumpkin (pretty sure it was a butternut squash) and steamed it in my pressure cooker for about 10 minutes and let it cool, picked off the skin, and left it in the fridge overnight

     The next morning I tried to drain the excess liquid off per the recipe, but there didn't seem to be much. Then I pureed it.

Then I got to work on my crust because I knew I needed to let it cool after I mixed it all together.  I froze the butter, and instead of Crisco I used coconut oil (yes they have that here!) which I froze as well.  I also put my flour in the freezer to cool.  John wanted me to use half and half whole wheat to white flour.  He worries about my healthiness affecting the taste.  Instead I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup white flour.  I really don't think there is a difference except possibly the color of the dough.

I don't have a pastry blender so I used a fork.  Here it is after I incorporated the fats.

Then I forked in 1/8 cup of cold water.  The recipe called for 1/4 cup but I just didn't need that much.

I put the dough in the fridge while I got to work on my filling.  I added the butternut puree, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, eggs, evaporated milk and sugar.  Next time I may try replacing the sugar with honey. 

Then I rolled out my dough.  I at first thought it would make 2 pies because my pans were smaller than the recommended deep dish 10" pie pans but it actually only fit one.

Then I put foil around the edges so it wouldn't burn, and poured the pumpkin mixture while it was in the oven.

Here it is out of the oven

It turned out really good!  It cracked a little because of the excess moisture of the butternut I believe.  That is my one critique... But the crust was great!  There is just something about those Costco pumpkin pies!


John, to my surprise and delight, requested that I make a 'Kaysie salad' to bring to the dinner.  Although he isn't as big of a salad eater as me, he did admit to missing that kind of fresh food here. He brought me home lots of lettuce.  I added cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots.  John also brought me some star fruit for some salad pizazz.  If you've never had start fruit it tastes remarkably similar to Spree candy.  Very tart and tasty!

Next up... a fun announcement!