My, oh my, Pumpkin Pie!

I made homemade pumpkin pie yesterday. Yummm! It's my favorite.

I bought some pumpkins for decorating in front of the house in October (my seeds didn't sprout this year in the garden). I put them with squash and corn stalks from the garden for a fall display. When the cold temps and snow came around this past week, I figured it was time to move into holiday decorating mode and bring in the pumpkins before they froze solid.

I planned to feed them to the sheep before breeding. The sheep just love them! Well, the older girls love them, the ewe lambs need to learn that pumpkin is a special treat. :-)

BUT, we all love pumpkin pie in this house. And since I paid for those pumpkins, I figured we were entitled to claim one for ourselves.

SO, yesterday I cut one up and cooked it...the chickens got the insides, they love it too.
And scooped it out...And mashed it up...
And made two pumpkin pies...
You can see it's only one and half pies now. This is definitely not good for my weight reduction goals!

Here's my favorite pie crust recipe, I got it over 30 years ago and it works well every time:

X-tra Good Pie Crust

1. Mix together in a small bowl with a fork: 1 1/2 Cups flour, 3/4 tsp salt.
   
2. Cut in 1/2 Cup shortening (or lard) and 1 Tbsp. butter.
   
3. Sprinkle over this 4 or 5 Tbsp milk.
   
4. Mix into a ball with fork.
   
5. Divide in half.
   
6. Roll out, and place in pan, crimp edges. This is enough for a two crust pie, you can freeze half for later use if desired.
   

And here's my Homemade Pumpkin pie recipe. I don't care for nutmeg, so I skip it and go a little heavy on the cinnamon. I always double this recipe and make two pies:

1. Prepare a 9" pie shell
2. Combine in a large bowl and beat well: 3 slightly beaten eggs, 1 Cup sugar (1/2 white, 1/2 brown), 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/3 to 1/2 tsp Allspice.
3. Add 1 1/2 to 2 Cups mashed pumpkin, 1 Cup Milk (or evaporated milk). Beat well.
4. Pour into pie shell and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees and bake another 45-60 minutes. Pie is done when knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!