hindsight is 20/20

So for Thanksgiving, I made three pies: one apple, one apple-cranberry, and one pumpkin.

Freezing apple pie filling is something I'll have to try again. We tried to thaw out the filling on our drive from Virginia to Florida (yikes!) and it worked pretty well. However, when I went to bake the pies, there was a lot of water in the bag. In hindsight, I probably should have tried to get the water out and keep the pie filling in tact. Hindsight is always 20/20, though ;)

I started by mixing up the pumpkin pie. I always use Libby's pumpkin pie recipe. Maybe it's just a tradition? It never fails though. So yummy, and such comfort food!

The color was a bit different than I've seen and I think that's because I used real pumpkin puree. The taste was SO delicious though. AJ is constantly sneaking off to the fridge for more.

The pie that I was super excited about serving was the apple-cranberry. The one I got from Trader Joe's last year was beyond yummy and I was eager to see if I could recreate it. I had read a recipe online that called for mixing a cup of cranberries into the apple pie filling and baking... so I decided to try that.

Hindsight is 20/20 again. I had an inkling... let's call it woman's intuition... that I shouldn't have done that. I wanted to simmer the filling with the cranberries until the cranberries popped and could be infused with the sweet apple flavor. Well, my impatience won out again. I wanted to get it done quickly, so I just mixed them in with the filling.

Lattice crusts are probably the prettiest pie crusts, in my humble opinion. Here's how to do it: roll out a pie crust and then cut it into stripes (a butter knife works fine here). Lay the stripes across the pie filling one way. Then you pull back some of the stripes and start going the other way. It's like basket weaving.

When I finished, I brushed it with an egg wash (a whole egg mixed with some milk) to give it a shiny finish after baking.

This is the final result:

 It was a beautiful pie. Now if only the bottom crust didn't get soggy and I was grumpy all Thanksgiving because of it.

The other pie I made was plain apple with a pecan sandies topping. My mama loves pecan sandies so she was my inspiration. The crust didn't have as crisp as a texture as I would have liked, but I'll try again for Christmas :)

We have SO much to be thankful for! I love this season of the year when we spend so much of our time with our families :)

comfort food.

I love grocery stores. Love. Love. Love. It is strange how much I enjoy grocery shopping. I love looking at everything and seeing how things are set up. Of all of the grocery stores, Trader Joe's is probably my favorite. Trader Joe's is a new-found love; we've only known each other for about a year. People are nice in Trader Joe's. For example, a month ago when we went to Trader Joe's (we don't go very often... because it's about 45 minutes away in Richmond and because I spend way too much time and money), I was exploring their baking aisle. I was looking for an apple-cranberry pie filling they sold last year that was delicious.

I did not find the pie filling. That made me a little sad. I am planning on going to Trader Joe's sometime soon though (Don't tell AJ!) and I hope they have it in stock then. Anyways- while I was mesmerized by everything in the baking aisle, I caught eye of a pumpkin bread/muffin mix. My eyes are drawn to anything pumpkin... as you probably have gathered. An older lady (imagine a fairy godmother) came up beside me and told me to buy it. That was weird.

I must have given her a funny look, because she went on to elaborate on how amazing it was and that I should put golden raisins in and that it was so easy and so delicious. So I bought it. I figured... it certainly won't hurt me and it's pumpkin-flavored. Well, it's sat in our pantry for a month. I was trying to wait to use it until Thanksgiving or Christmas. It was not to be. My impatience wins out again.

Tonight, I opened that box and made it. Seriously, the only ingredients called for are eggs, oil, and water. EASY SMEASY. I added the golden raisins because the fairy godmother told me to. She's a smart lady.

My favorite recipes are simple but oh, so delicious. This one qualifies for both, definitely. It is so easy. Throw everything but the raisins in the KitchenAid and mix for two minutes. Stir in the raisins. Pour into a bread pan or muffin pan and BAKE. Hello! So easy.

Pre-baking. I have never been good at pouring batter into muffin tins neatly. Never. Actually, There's not much I do neatly. It all comes back to impatience. I'm working on it.

They bake for about fifteen minutes. While I was waiting, I distracted myself by setting up our new home office! So exciting .We have this funny 9' x 9' room that will Lord willing be a nursery at some point, but we decided to use it as an office for the time being. I have been doing my school work on the dining room table. AJ does not like that. I don't really like it either. Tonight, we bought a folding table to put up there and set everything up. It looks cute. I'll have to take a picture at some point.

By the time everything was set up, the muffins were done! I immediately sliced one and put butter and lingonberry jam on it. Also, I set off the fire alarm... you win some, you lose some. I opened the back door and continued to eat!

So yummy. Trader Joe's, you again do not disappoint. I still have not forgiven you for that horrific strawberry rhubard pie you sold me though.

more pumpkin love. ♥

so... after freezing some for pies at Thanksgiving, the rest of the pumpkin puree went to a few good causes:

1. I mixed some with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and put in the fridge to mix in with my usual oatmeal for breakfast.
2. I gave a spoonful to each of my cats, if we're going to be honest. Did you know that pumpkin is really good for kitties? They really like it, too.
3. I made these DELICIOUS pumpkin cookies. They're very soft and go amazing with a hot cup of coffee... trust me, I know. I tried it. Multiple times.

I used this recipe. I tweaked it a little bit... more vanilla and more nutmeg just because I love both of those things.

Anyways... the cookies were amazing. AJ and I have different tastes, so the things I love are often things he thinks are good, but not outstanding. It goes the other way as well. Point is: we both really liked them, so they must be to-die-for. ;)

He had a meeting with his staff at work today and took some for everyone. I was thankful for that, because I can eat a lot of cookies... especially if I have a lot of coffee :)


Hope you all had wonderful days! Today was an up-and-down day, all day long... those days make me so thankful that my God is stable, unmoving, and faithful. 

pumpkin love. ♥

There are some days when I am on a mission; I want to do something and think about it all day long. Today, I woke up desiring to cut open the pumpkin that's been on our front porch since early October. Weird.

Work was interesting today. I am truly thankful that I love my job and couldn't imagine doing anything besides teaching... but it is frazzling and emotionally draining. ANYWAYS- The stress of today only added to my will to cut the pumpkin apart.

I came home a little earlier than usual this afternoon and got right to work. I wanted to roast some pumpkin seeds so I cut my little pumpky in half and separated the goo from the seeds.

Hungry yet? Yummy pumpkin guts.

Well... I rinsed the seeds and then mixed them with two tablespoons of butter and sea salt.  I then baked them at 300 degrees for 25 minutes. I burned my mouth being impatient.

Well... then I felt bad wasting the rest of the pumpkin. I "researched" (aka looked at other blogs) what to do with the flesh part of the pumpkin. Almost every one said to make pureed pumpkin for pies. I was conveniently on the phone with my Mama and she said that it wasn't very hard. Must be true if Mama says it ;)

So... I cut apart my little pumpky into chunks, put in a big, glass bowl, added a few inches of water, covered with plastic wrap, and then microwaved for 20 (yes, twenty) minutes. I then poked it with a fork to see if it was soft but I had to put it back for 5 more minutes.

After the microwaving, I drained the water out and the pumpkin flesh peeled right off of the skin. BE CAREFUL. I am seriously the most impatient person I have ever known and I burned myself multiple times trying to peel the skin off. Ridiculous. When will I learn?

After all of the peeling, I used our trusty immersion blender to puree it.

                                      before & after....


I put two cups of the puree in a freezer bag and added that to our ever-expanding (or so I think) freezer. The rest... well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow :)