Pumpkin Pie

It's been awhile since I have written a blog. I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and write about all the yummy things I bake, the crafts we do, or the trips we take. I missed writing about our trip to Oktoberfest, although it wasn't that fabulous and would have been quite a boring blog. Well anyways on to the Pumpkin Pie.

The weather the last few days has put me in the baking mood and seeing as how I purchased a massive pumpkin a couple of weeks ago I decided to make a pumpkin pie. I absolutely love making everything from scratch rather than just dumping the pumpkin pie mix out of the can. Last year we found a Cinderella pumpkin, but it was so small it only made two pies. Since that experience I refuse to use anything but a real pumpkin. This year we bought a massive pumpkin already made two pies with it, have about 5 lbs left, and I threw half of it away (we just don't have the room to store it).

Sorry for not being very organized with the blog but I prepared the pumpkin while cooking dinner so instead of getting to take pictures of the ingredients and every step I will just be explaining them. Oh and I did cheat a little bit; I got a pre-made crust to save on time.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin
• 1 can evaporated milk - 12 fl. oz.
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

P.S. I never use the salt nor do I ever measure the other ingredients. Also 2 cups of cooked pumpkin is about 1 1/2 lbs.

How to prepare whole pumpkin:

Step 1 - Cut 1 1/2  lbs of skin-on raw pumpkin. The way I do this is to cut each bump and then simply pull it away from the middle.
Step 2 - Make sure to remove all the seeds and string portion (don't forget to save the seeds and bake them! yum)
Step 3 - Cut pumpkin into chunks
Step 4 - Bring 1 inch of water to a boil, add the pumpkin, and bring that to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes or until tender.
Step 5 - Drain and cool. The peel should now just fall off. Mash the pumpkin with a potato masher of if you don't have a potato masher because you live in a small apartment (like us) a spoon works just as well.

Now for the yummy part!


Step 1 - Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Step 2 - In a large bowl beat pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinammon, ginger, and nutmbeg.
Step 3 - Pour in crust and bake 40 mins

Oops! I took a bit before I snapped the picture...

The type of pumpkin you buy will depict the consistency of the pumpkin. You should try as many different kinds as possible, as they all have different and unique flavors! OHH and don't forget the cool whip!

Happy Fall y'all!!!