Kitchen disaster . . .

This lovely pumpkin pie was supposed to grace my dessert table on Thanksgiving . . . but we had a little problem. When I came home from work last Wednesday I had a headache, and took an unexpected nap. Well, I was now 4 hrs. behind schedule with my Thanksgiving preparations.

Fast forward to 10:00 p.m. I decided to make a double batch of pumpkin pie. I was finished by 10:15! Pop it in the oven, 15 minutes at 450 degrees, 50 minutes at 350 degrees! No problem, I'll be in bed by before midnight!

Fast forward to 15 minutes after midnight . . . OH NO, I dozed off with my pie in the oven at 450 degrees for 1 hr. 55 minutes!!!! I flew out to the kitchen and opened the oven door with a swift pull - then sadly put my charcoal pumpkin pie in the trash and promptly went to bed!

We went to Maine on Saturday and I made the second pie there - it was delicious! I hope you enjoyed my kitchen disaster!

Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients

1 can ONE-PIE Pumpkin 1 tbsp. Cornstarch 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon 1/2 tsp. Ginger 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg 1/2 tsp. Salt (Scant) 1/2 tbsp. Butter (Melted) 1 1/2 cups Milk or 1-12 oz. can Evaporated Milk 1 cup Sugar 1/8 cup Moasses 2 Eggs (beaten) Directions Sift Sugar, Cornstarch, Salt, Cinnamon, Ginger, & Nutmeg together. Mix this with contents of one can ONE-PIE Pumpkin. Add Eggs, beaten, Melted Butter, Molasses, & Milk. Add a dash of Lemon Juice (if desired). Line a 9-inch pie plate, pour in contents. Preheat oven & bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Then reduce temp. to 350 & continue to bake for 50 minutes.

Roasted Pumpkin, Cranberry, Sage, Brown Butter & Scallops

1 3-pound sugar pumpkin
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 shallots, halved
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
8 sage leaves, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Local sugar pumpkin from New Hampshire

Set the oven to 375 degrees. Halve the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and fibers. In a large roasting pan, pour about half inch of water, and add the garlic, shallots, cinnamon, and bay leaves. Place the pumpkin, cut sides down, in the pan and cover tightly with foil.

Bake until the pumpkin is tender when pricked with a fork, 50 to 60 minutes. When cool enough to handle, skin the pumpkin and cut into about 2-inch chunks. Place the pumpkin in a large bowl. Add the cranberries.

Sage from my garden

Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees. In a saucepan, stir the butter, brown sugar, and sage over moderate heat. Simmer gently for 1 minute or until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the butter mixture over the pumpkin and cranberries and toss gently. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.

Empty and wipe out the roasting pan, and brush with oil. Transfer the pumpkin mixture to the pan and bake until bubbling hot, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

local sea scallops from Maine

I served this dish with pan seared scallops, it was delicious! My husband loved it, I hope you enjoy it too!

I found this recipe here!

Cranberry Streusel Pie

Life has been a little insane around here since my last post.  If I go into detail some of you may become ill.  Suffice to say, our septic backed up . . . into our basement, I will spare your the details!

My little sister, at the tender age of 45 had knee replacement surgery.  She had a bad reaction to medication and she will have to go back into surgery this morning because of complications.

I know I promised to post as many recipes as I could this week, but I was unable to because that thing called life got in the way!  Despite all the hiccups this past week, I came across this recipe that sounded wonderful.  While I didn't bake it, I will, because it looks delicious and I love cranberries.  Who doesn't love those little ruby gems!  I also find it difficult to find wonderful cranberry recipes, so I was thrilled to find this one.  The photo and recipe are from Allrecipes, it's one of my favorite goto websites for recipes!

Finally, I apologize for all the whining . . .  but I can tell you that I am thankful for professional cleaners Service-Master and my nephew's girlfriend for helping me clean, because I'm hosting Thanksgiving!  Then I want to go to a tropical island for the rest of the year!  LOL!!!

I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh cranberries
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon shortening
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie

Directions

1. Smash berries. Stir in sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Pour filling into pie crust.
2. Smash walnuts into small pieces. Stir in brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and shortening with a pastry blender. The mixture should be crumbly. Sprinkle over pie.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until done.

Glaze
When everything has cooled, make a glaze and drizzle over the top for that beautiful streusel look!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

Mix everything together for a 1/2 cup of glaze!

Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving

photo*

I'm going to try to post as many tried and true recipes for Thanksgiving as I can until Thanksgiving eve.  Now, keep in mind that I work full-time so it's unlikely that you'll see a new recipe each day!  LOL!!!  But, I'll do the best I can.  

Most of you know I'm a bit of a "pie queen" - OK, so I'm self coronated!  But in my defense,  I do make a pretty good pie, especially blueberry, apple and strawberry rhubarb.  Here's a recipe for pecan pie, that I made tonight.  Enjoy!

What You'll Need - aka - Ingredients

1 9-inch pie shell, frozen or chilled for an hour if freshly made.

1 1/4 cups pecans, coarsely chopped (set some aside for decorating)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 - 2 tablespoons of burbon (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread pecans along the bottom of the pie shell. Mix the remaining ingredients by hand and pour over pecans. The pecans will rise to the surface of the pie.  Add some decorative pecans on top.  Be sure to bake on a cookie sheet to protect the oven from spillage.

Bake at 375°F for 40-45 minutes until the filling has set.   Remove from oven, let the pie cool and serve with vanilla ice cream!

Happy Baking!

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P.S. Came across this nice blog A Robert Brault Reader with lots of quotes, check it out when you have a moment.  This was my favorite. "Once you fix it in your mind that life itself is a gift, you begin to find happiness in just about everything." 


*Photo from Country Living, I'll post mine soon, it looks just like it though!  LOL!!!

My Heros

My family heros, Uncle William WWII sailor, Grandpa a WWI vet, Uncle Jimmy WWII army, and my dad, the baby!   Below is the 4th son, WWII Uncle Peter.  The three oldest sons all serveved during WWII, thankfully they all returned safely, and had full and happy lives.

Uncle Peter

 Thanking all those whose family members and friends who have served!

Dinner for One . . .

We tried local grass feed beef steak burgers for the first time, they were amazing!  We met Richard Piper of  Piper Ranch Beef at a Farmer's Market in Scarborough, Maine last week, bought the beef and took the steak burgers home to Massachusetts.  When you have a moment check out Richard's link.  I hear Richard is going to be at the Sunday farmers market in So. Portland, so we'll be able to splurge on delicious steak burgers throughout the winter!

So, I was "home alone" because my husband had to make a special trip to Maine to close the crawl space - we were supposed to be getting a snow storm - in October!  So to be safe he and Duke (our dog) made the trip.  I had to work, so I didn't go.

For dinner I grilled a steak burger, toasted an "everything" bagel, grilled sweet onion, and mushrooms, then topped it off with a slice of gorgonzola cheese and some ketchup.  It was probably the best burger I've ever tasted!

For my beverage, I had a glass of Cupcake Malbec.  If you enjoy red wine, you'll love this smooth Argentine red.  It's become my favorite!  It also goes well with burgers!

Happy Cooking!

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In case you're wondering, we did get that snow storm Thursday evening, it was minor.  Then this past Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning we were slammed with a Nor'Easter!  It dropped 6-8 inches of snow in my town, some areas received 24 inches of snow!  There was no Trick-O-Treating!  Our town looks like a war zone!  We were fortunate, we only went without power for 31 hrs.  All my siblings are running generators or wood stoves, except one, she has heat!  Most of my town is still without power - it's going to be at least another 3 days for them!