Feeding Friendship: Better Late Than Never

As my title implies, I am running late on posting this past week's feeding friendship recipe. Sometimes you go to the Renaissance festival, a drag race and work late all in the same week, and sometimes the first two stores you go to don't have any pumpkin yet and you give up. Oh yes, our secret ingredient is: pumpkin! Now there are many lovely things you can do with actual whole pumpkins you buy at the store. If I had time and was slightly more adventurous, I would have made this recipe for a whole baked pumpkin, which I found when it was tweeted by lovely songstress Ingrid Michaelson. In a pinch though, I stuck with what I know:

And in fact, my Pumpkin Pie recipe comes straight from Libby's, with a small twist. This recipe is very easy, particularly if you buy your crust instead of making it by hand.

Start by beating 2 eggs in a large bowl (or dump 1/2 a cup of egg beaters into your bowl). Now is also a good time to preheat the oven to 425. Add one 15oz can of pumpkin to the eggs and stir to combine. This isn't a recipe you'll need your electric beaters to mix- just use a spatula.

combining the egg and pumpkin with my festive spoontula 

In a separate medium bowl, combine your dry ingredients: 3/4 cup white sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, and (my addition) 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Also, make sure your spices are in date, especially ones you may only use a few times a year (I'm talking to you, cloves).

mmm spicy

kind of pretty, no? 

Now stir all your spices to combine with the sugar and stir it into your pumpkin/egg mixture. 

Your filling should take on a fairly brown tone at this point, or at least be noticeably darker than the pumpkin alone. Next, you add your 12 oz of evaporated milk and stir to combine. 

Now your filling is done! Get a baking sheet and put your crust on it. Pour the filling carefully into your pie crust.  I find it much easier to balance a full pie on a cookie sheet, plus if something bad happens during baking, you won't have to clean the bottom of your oven. In another case of "do as I say, not as I do," remember to buy the "deep dish" pie crust, and don't overfill your crust with filling. I didn't have a deep dish, so I went ahead and made the "overflow" pie.

pie on your cookie sheet- or, in my case, a half sheet

"overflow" pie in a casserole dish

Cook your pie at 425 for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 and bake 40-50 more minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. I let mine cook for most of the time and then brought in one of my favorite kitchen doodads- the pie crust shield. Behold: 

Once your crust is sufficiently brown, just slide that baby on and it will prevent over-browning and burning of your crust- sure beats trying to make your own out of tin foil (believe me, I've done that too).  And voila: pumpkin pie:

For me, you have to have whipped cream/whipped topping of offset the spice of the pie, but I'm sure everyone has their own preferences and traditions here. Here's how I eat it.

Tastes like the holidays to me!