Made my First Pumpkin Pie!

[digitS']

I made my first pumpkin pie yesterday. Actually, I made 6 of them!

Well, it was my first pie made out of pumpkin. I've been making "pumpkin" pies for over 50 years! There was a nice big pumpkin that didn't get carved up for Halloween - so, I took a chance on it. What I've made in the past were not from Jack o'Lantern pumpkins, they were from squash!

Yep. Wonderful Pink Banana squash when I was living in southern Oregon and Buttercup for more years than I can think of since I moved north! Follow the recipe on the Libby can. Oh yeah, I've used what was in the can for pumpkin pie, and I could be wrong, but I've read that it is the pulp from "neck pumpkins" that Libby uses. So, it is something related to Butternut squash that gets called "pumpkin" on Thanksgiving tables throughout the nation.

I was thinking I could have made EIGHT pies from that pumpkin but there were only 6 cans of Carnation evaporated milk. You can find that Libby recipe on some cans of Carnation milk or online. BTW, 1 Libby can = 1 1/3 cups of cooked squash/pumpkin.

DW made the crusts as she always does. If I do it, they are like shoe leather .

The pies turned out okay (C. maxima squash is better ). They really don't taste any different than what would have come out of a Libby can -- I think I did good!

Steve

 

[vfem]

I did a few pumpkin pies last night too!

They sold the last of their pumpkins at the farm stand on halloween for dirt cheap so my mom grabbed up a bunch. I got enough pumpkin puree out of one to do 3 pies last night, and saved a couple cups of puree in the fridge to make pumpkin bread tonight. 2 pies for Thanksgiving and 1 pie for after dinners this weekend.

I still have a pumpkin that is 32 lbs on the front porch I haven't had the time to jump into getting done. I was planning for after thanksgiving for that one so I could freeze the puree. (I have 4 loaves of my Thanksgiving stuffing bread in the freezer & a 20lb turkey I need to get out to make room.)

Anyways.... I so love pumpkin this time of year, I hope people post more recipes. I hope I have enough pumpkin to try a bunch when all is said and done!

 

[digitS']

I bet this would be real good as an ingredient for pumpkin bread or muffins, V!

The realization how these TEG folks are with pictures hit me a little late:

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

One of my goals is to serve a Thanksgiving dinner with everything on the table grown or raised on my property. I'm a long way? from raising turkey just yet, but much of the rest of the meal is getting closer.

While I've made pumpkin pie before, I remember the first year I tried making it with a pumpkin I had grown. The pumpkin was too watery once I'd cooked it. After draining it through cheesecloth, and following the directions (saved from a can) it made one of the best pumpkin pies I'd ever tasted. I'm sure pride had something to do with its great taste, huh?

That was the year we got a Thanksgiving morning call from the hospital in Madison that we needed to pick up my BIL. I put the turkey in one oven and the pie in another and prayed during the 50 mile one way trip, getting home about an hour and a half later.

Everything was done perfectly and on time. GRINS!

Love, Smart Red

 

[digitS']

Oh Gosh, Linn!

I'd never trust my Thanksgiving meal to a hospital!! I've much too much experience with them: "Oh, we will be discharging her tomorrow morning." . . . "Well, you may as well have lunch it doesn't look like you will be going anywhere soon." . . . "Are you still here!?"

Sometime long after dark . . .

S'

 

[journey11]

Steve, your pie looks great.

I've not made a pumpkin pie with pumpkin ever again since I tried them with other kinds of squash which usually have a finer texture and some are much sweeter too. I get requests from family each year to make butternut squash pie. My favorite so far has been the jumbo pink banana squash though. They are so sweet!

I am making a pie tonight for our Thanksgiving celebration at church tomorrow and for it I am trying out a Lakota squash that my DD picked out from the pumpkin patch when we went. She was a little bummed out that I was cooking "her pumpkin", but it was starting to soften at the stem, so I figured I better make good use of it now. From tasting the puree, it is not so sugary sweet as some of the others, but has a very nice nutty flavor to it and is fine textured. The baby really liked it as part of her dinner too. I also have a Galeux D' Eysines ("peanut pumpkin") I'll use for pie and soup once it has served its decorative purposes. There is such a wide world of beautiful winter squash out there just waiting to be made into wonderful pies and bisques!

Smart Red--that is one of my goals too! Minus the cranberries which I can't grow myself. We no longer have a feed store around here that will sell turkey poults and the cost of buying 15 and having them shipped has put me off for awhile now (besides, I don't think I need 15 anyway...couldn't eat that many in a year!) I think I may put an ad out on Craigslist or the Tradersguide looking for someone hatching them locally.

 

[thistlebloom]

Pretty pies Steve.
I was wondering how you were able to make a half of one?

 

[digitS']

As I say, the realization that I should take a picture hit me rather late . . .

There are several in the freezer already. It seems like we've done that before but I don't remember having ever made 6 pies at once. I hope the frozen ones stay good for a week or longer.

Yes, I could have made pumpkin bisque - need to use the right terms, they help me think more clearly about opportunities. Instead of making better use of the several cups left from that 1 Jack o'Lantern pumpkin, the chickens got it. Of course, they like something from a vine . . . it seems like any vine! (I broke up a fight the other day with raisins.)

There's some nice Tillamook cheese as an ingredient but I wish it was smoked cheddar . There are still plenty of Buttercups on basement shelves and less need for them for the holidays!

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Smart Red--that is one of my goals too! Minus the cranberries which I can't grow myself.

I do have a small spot that is bog-gy and acidic. I'm thinking that a few should do well there. I am in the process of filling that area - my first pond - with oak leaves, pine needles, and peat. Once that degrades, I should have a splendid spot for cranberries, no?

I hear stories about chickens and turkeys sharing diseases and I'd not want just one lonely turkey all spring and summer. I suspect I can get a pair nearby once I'm ready for the challenge. Until then, there's lots to work on until my dinner is totally home grown.

Steve, the youngest grandchild, Gypsy, (age 9) is determined to make this year's pumpkin pie. Any tips?

I remember Mom baking and freezing half a dozen fruit pies at a time. Didn't do that a second time. Anyone else know how delicious pie pops are? She went to the freezer to get a pie for Sunday dinner to find them all eaten by "Gnomes" and "Goblins". From then on she froze the pies uncooked. Sigh!

Love, Smart Red

 

[catjac1975]

Your pictures are challenging my "diet."