Pumpkin Pie: With a real Pumpkin!

My son really wanted a pumpkin pie, made from a real pumpkin. I wanted to just open a can. Easy right!
I decided to acquiesce, and we picked out a smallish pumpkin at our local stand.

The entire exercise turned out to be quite fun. We cut off the top and the kids helped me scoop out all the seeds. Then I carefully, while sitting on the floor, cut off big slices of the pumpkin. I pared off the outer skin and put all the cut chunks into a crock pot.

I let the pumpkin cook about 4 hours on low. It was very soft, and I mashed it by hand. The color was so light. I thought- why is pumpkin so dark in the can? Maybe the preservatives.

The rest was very easy! I like to make my own version of recipes, so the one below is adapted from one I found. Also, I am an 'eyeball' cook. So I may approximate some of the measurements. If you are an exact cook, you'll find my recipes a little frustrating. Sorry!

PIE CRUST:
Melt 1/2 a stick of butter in a saucepan. Add a pinch of salt, and 2 pinches of raw sugar. To make things easy, I added the flour right to the saucepan. I used about 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, and about 1/2 cup of cold water. Stir the mixture. Mine was a little wet, so I added some more flour, until it became the correct consistency. (Don't stir too long). Immediately I moved the dough to a pie plate.
I don't even roll out my crust half the time. I use a fork and press the dough all around, and then finish with my fingers, trying to make it even as possible.

This is a quick and easy way to make a pie crust. You can spray the pan, but I found the butter keeps the crust from sticking.

SET ASIDE.

PUMPKIN PIE:

Ingredients:
2 cups of the masked pumpkin
3/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup apple butter
Pinch of clove
2 pinches of ginger
1/2 cup milk (Now if your pumpkin seems too wet, use less milk)
2 egg yolks
2 stiffly beaten egg whites

Mix all the ingredients together. Then beat your egg whites until stiff. Once stiff, add to the rest of the mixture. Stir well. Pour onto the pie dough. Cook in a preheated oven (425) for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 and cook approximately 45 more minutes. This second time varies, depending on how thick your mixture was. You should check your pie around 30-35 and keep an eye on it until it seems set.

Remove from oven, and cool. Serve with homemade whipped cream! OH Yeah- bake the Pumpkin Seeds you saved. That recipe will be in the next blog.

Young Living's Super B Formula

www.youngliving.org/essenceofoil

For quite a while I was sort of a vegetarian. I didn't eat dairy, and tried to focus on Fruits, Vegetables, Whole grains, Nuts, Seeds and Legumes. I would eat meat sparingly. So, I couldn't call myself a vegetarian, but I tried to eat as much live food as possible. One supplement I really tried to stay on top of was my B' vitamins. I use to use the herb Catnip, which has a good array of the needed B vitamins. I found the herb to be especially relaxing for my nervous system. Later on, I found Young Living and their Super B formula. This is a more complete supplement and has the full spectrum of B vitamins. The difference with this, over catnip- is that Super B helps increase engergy, and supports mood. So if I need to fall asleep- I'll drink my tea with Catnip, but if I'm feeling really low on energy- like when I'm pregnant :)- I'll take my Super B that day.