This, That, and the Other Thing

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  Ours was pretty swell, my parents ditched us for New Zealand, so Shawn and I (team 1), with my sis and her man (team 2) decided to host Thanksgiving at my parents house.  Team 2 made the turkey, complete with stuffing, and the sweet potatoes.  Team 1 made the rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie (more on that later).  We had a total of 19 people at the house, most being other orphans like us who had no other plans for the big day.  Everyone ate until they couldn't breathe, and all was good.

There they are in their 350 degree sauna.

Now about that Pumpkin pie.  Oh my heck.  It was so delicious!  About a month ago, I took three of my sugar pumpkins and pureed them and froze them.  I don't know if it was the recipe or the pumpkins that made the pie so good, maybe a combo of both.  So, since they were so delicious, I decided to puree three more of the orange beauties that my garden grew this summer.

3 pumpkins = 8 cups puree = 4 pies!  YES!

The whole process does take a little bit of time and it can get messy, but it is totally worth it!  You can do it when you have the time and just freeze it until you find yourself in need of some pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, or any other delicious pumpkin-inspired recipe.

So for some reason, Shawn and I hit the jackpot for the absolute best pies ever.  Here is the recipe for one pie.  Of course, we doubled it because in my family, pumpkin pies always come in twos.

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Pour into prepared pie crust.  Place in oven and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Lower temp to 350 and bake another 40 minutes or until pie is firm.  Let cool, and enjoy!  Don't forget the whip cream!

So far, Abby wins.

In other news, we got egg #4 today.  We started a tally so we can keep track of how many we get from them.  So far, we're pretty sure all of them have been from Abby, since they are always 2 days apart and laid around noon.  (Except the one from today, it was earlier than noon.)  Let's see how long the tally lasts.

Lastly, since it is officially after Thanksgiving, we got to do this: ------>

Happy holiday homesteading my friends!