Classic Pumpkin Pie

It has been an eventful year - and blogging has taken the back burner for sure. Food is always a huge part of the day though, so I knew eventually I'd come back around and want to get active again. I think maybe things are settled down enough that this is the time!

We moved 2 months ago - we only moved a mile down the road, but it was a big effort and change. We've known for pretty much the past 3 years that a move was inevitable. After Kent had his stroke the layout of the house we were in was just not going to be a good layout for him long term. There were too many stairs and a steep driveway and his mobility issues have not improved over the past couple years and we wanted to make things easier on him. My sister and I started working on prepping to move and looking at houses probably a year ago - ramping up our efforts as we got closer to actually going and viewing houses that could be possibilities that would fit our needs.

It was pretty challenging finding the "right" one. Our biggest challenge was finding a bedroom and full bath on a main floor on a level lot with a low maintenance yard, no steps into the house, and not needing anything major immediately. We did a lot of searching online and saw a handful in person before we walked through the "one". It was love at first sight. The layout is so much better for Kent. He got no steps into the house, his main floor bedroom and full bath so no more stairs for him and his room is right off the main living space so it's much easier for him to be part of the family even when he needs to rest in his room. He can still hear the conversations in the kitchen / living room, and is able to come out and sit on the couch more often since he doesn't have as far to go to get back to his bed.

It's been fun working on small projects to make the house "ours" as we settle in. Updating some fixtures, getting gas logs for the fireplace, etc. We haven't had to mow grass in quite awhile, so that's the biggest adjustment with this yard - though with it being fall and pretty cold out there hasn't been much need so far! We'll probably work more on the yard when it warms up again.

In the mean time here came and went Thanksgiving! We hosted at our house, my dad and stepmom, some of our friends and our little family enjoyed a huge feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade cranberry sauce, homemade rolls, roasted brussels with bacon, corn casserole, green bean casserole, collard greens, and sausage stuffing. We also had chocolate cream pie, apple blackberry pie, pumpkin pie, and a fruit tart! We cooked up a massive 23 pound turkey and will be eating on the leftovers for awhile. I've already used some of it in an amazing Thanksgiving Soup using some of the marinated mushrooms from our appetizers and collard greens along with zucchini, onion, and tomato in freshly homemade turkey stock with some orzo. Delicious! Turkey Tetrazzini is on the menu tonight.

I cannot seem to ever remake a recipe - no matter how much I like it. There are just so many variations of the same things out there, and I want to try them all! So knowing a classic pumpkin pie would be on the menu I did a quick search and found this lovely pie recipe on Spend with Pennies - it came out beautifully. I will be sharing the super easy pie crust recipe I discovered next which I used for this recipe. Pumpkin is my son's favorite. It kind of got ignored the day of - because of all the other dessert options there were to choose from, but about 2 days after our dinner it had completely disappeared. Delicious served room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream!

Pumpkin Pie from Spend with Pennies

Ingredients

Pie Crust
1 9 inch pie crust unbaked
2 teaspoons flour
2 teaspoons white sugar

Pie Filling
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
15 oz pumpkin puree
10 oz evaporated milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Line your pie pan with the pie dough, and sprinkle the flour and sugar over the bottom. Set aside. 

Pie Filling

1. Combine the sugars, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. 
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, add the pumpkin puree, and then the dry ingredients. Add in the evaporated milk, blending slowly until well combined.
3. Pour into the prepared pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake an additional 40-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and pie is set (it will have a slight jiggle in the middle still, but should be cooked through).
4. Cool at least 2 hours on a baking rack.