Mmmmm boy

If you ever get the choice between heaven and pie-heaven, choose pie-heaven. It may be a trick, but if it's not....mmmmm boy! - Jack Handy

Sometimes it's hard to find motivation to really put effort into knowing where my food comes from. It's so much easier and faster to just not think about it.

Thank goodness I have some good friends to help motivate me.

Last week Dana had the brilliant idea of making a pumpkin pie from a pumpkin.

Our first stop was Peter's Pumpkin Patch.



Pete didn't have any pie pumpkins (thumbs down).

No worries, on to Jay Hill farm, who had a large selection of pie pumpkins. Even better, as we were buying our pumpkins, the woman informed us that their greenhouses are open all winter for online orders to be picked up. It's about a five minute bike away, so I'll have local, fresh vegetable options all winter long.

Back home, we halved the pumpkins, scooped out the seeds for roasting, and steamed the halves.



After they were done steaming (the second or third time we checked), we scooped out the pulp and blended it into what our recipe affectionately called "pumpkin glop."

From there, it was just a crust made by Dana, a basic pumpkin pie recipe, and a long time whipping cream to two delicious pies.



It took awhile, but it wasn't that hard. We have plenty of filling and glop stored in the freezer for two more pies and pumpkin bread.

We only had one minor catastrophe where we forgot one of the halves when it was steaming and started a small fire in the pot (sorry Tony). Other than a smoke filled kitchen, no harm was done.

And the pies were delicious.

Below is the recipe we used (for the crust, filling, and whipped cream), but I'm sure you all have your own family favorites and I'll only be slightly offended if you don't use these.

Happy pie season. It's the most delicious time of the year.

Crust (makes 2):

2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Crisco

1/4 cup water (ice water works best!)

Combine flour and salt. With a pastry blender, (or two

knives) cut in Crisco until uniform. Mixture should be course.

Sprinkle with water. Work dough into a firm ball with your

hands.

Divide the dough into two parts; press into flat circles with

smooth edges on a lightly floured surface. Roll bottom crust

into a circle about 11/2 inches larger than the pie plate.

Ease dough into the plate, trim edges, add filling and top

crust. Pinch edges of top and bottom crust between thumbs

and first fingers!

Pie (makes 2):

1 cup sugar

1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

4 large eggs

3 cups pumpkin glop

1 can evaporated milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix well, and pour into pie crust, leaving about 1/4" from the top

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Whipped Cream:

Pour the cream in a bowl. You're going to want at least a pint. Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and powdered sugar to taste.

Now whip it. Into shape.

Shape it up. Get it straight.

It's not to late.

To whip it.

Whip it good.

I recommend watching this while you do.

Seriously though, whip the hell out of it until you can pull your whipping utensil (electric beaters are for wussies - use a whisk) out of the bowl and have the cream form peaks that stay standing. Don't go too far or you'll get butter. Make sure it's the right consistency by dipping your finger in several times and licking it off. If you are serving your pie to mysophobes, you may want to switch fingers during the repetition of this step.

You cannot see the top of a good piece of pie, just the whipped cream covering it.

Let the pie cool a bit before applying the whipped cream, or it will mostly just melt.