Pumpkin Pie and Family Favorites

Pumpkin pie is one of my favourite desserts, and the recipe from my “The Little House Cookbook” seemed like the perfect way to use the pumpkins we grew in our garden this year.

We picked our pumpkins when they were quite small and green to save them from frost, and placed them on our breakfast nook to ripen.  They became a beautiful orange and Little Chef who had spent all fall painting pumpkins at Kayben Farms was convinced they were perfect craft material.  He painted them at least once a week for all of October and November.  {3 cheers for washable paint, rinse and repeat!}  Last week I tried to convince him to do a Christmas craft with me, but all he wanted to do was paint pumpkins.   So, in the spirit of Christmas, I decided they needed to go.

Like the true chef and farm boy that he is, he had a blast cutting apart his play things with a large knife.  He was truly surprised to see seeds inside the pumpkin.  Apparently, I need to do more vegetable anatomy with him, he is falling behind!  {I jest, but really…}  Surprisingly he was very efficient and dedicated to the task of removing the seeds from the pumpkin guts and when I asked him what he wanted to flavour them with, he of course said garlic and bitter.  {That’s my boy}

We then roasted our pumpkins and let them cool off.  The next day we had our dear friend’s coming over and Jamie was planning an epic meal, so I decided it was time to make pumpkin pie.  I took out the “Little House Cookbook” that my Grandmother gave me.

For those of you who are not familiar with the “Little House” book series it is based on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder who was a settler on the frontier with her family.  As a child, my dad read me the entire series and then read them all to both of my sisters.  The Ingalls family had 3 girls and I felt a real connection to them.  Even the book titles neatly describe my life lately.  “Little House on the Prairie” describes our current living situation, and “The Long Winter” is fairly self explanatory.  When the cold blizzard winds are rattling our little house way out on the bald prairie I think of the stories in that book.  They illustrated hardship, love, creativity, and a lot of humour.  In one of the books Ma slaps a bear on the butt because she think’s it’s her milk cow.  That I have never done.  Life goals I guess.

Following the recipe, I pureed my roasted pumpkin, added large amounts of heavy cream and baked it in a flaky pie crust.  It turned out beautifully.  It has inspired me to start our pumpkin patch much earlier this year so many more pies can be made next year.  As I was cooking I was enjoying a “Farmer’s Daughter Pale Ale” from  Half Hitch Brewery. Jamie visited them last week and picked up some of the beer because he loves a little Framer’s daughter {wink wink, nudge nudge}.  I highly recommend it!

Little chef loved it, but the biggest fan was little Sous Chef.  She gobbled up an entire piece.  And smeared a good potion of it all over her highchair.  We are introducing her to solids by just letting her have a try of whatever the family is eating, in the parenting world it is called “Baby Led Weaning”.  It makes the most sense to me.  The thought of pureeing veggies and freezing them seems like a waste of my precious time.  Why eat pureed peas when you can have pumpkin pie instead.  Am I right?

Here is the recipe from “The Little House Cookbook” by Barbara M. Walker

Pumpkin Pie Recipe:

Stewed Pumpkin, 2 cups

Common Family Paste for Pies*

Eggs, 2

Brown Sugar, 2/3 cup

Rick milk or half and half, 1 ¼ cups

Salt, a pinch

Maple favoring, 1 teaspoon

Ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger – a pinch of whatever you have

Pie pan, 9 inch; bowl 3-quart

Prepare stewed pumpkin.  Prepare common family paste for pies and line buttered pie pan with it.  Preheat oven to 425.  In a bowl beat the eggs well, then beat in the brown sugar, milk, salt, maple flavoring, spices and pumpkin.  Pour this in to the pie shell and place in the center oven rack to bake at 425 for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake until the crust is brown and the pumpkin custard is firm.  Cool before serving.  *The ”Common family paste for pies” is a basic pie dough recipe.

 

Now in the spirit of treasured cookbooks, the Cultivating Foodies family has a little surprise planned for early next year.  We are currently writing and publishing our very first family cookbook!  We are very excited and will share more details and sneak peeks with you in the new year.  And of course we will do a few giveaways on our Facebook and Instagram pages so make sure you follow those!

 

-Stephanie