Pie Anyone? . . . It’s Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is without question my favorite holiday of the year.   

But because of our war against the bugs we are still living out of boxes for the most part and decided to simplify dinner. We went out for Thanksgiving dinner.

However we still made pie!

It all began innocently enough. . .

The daughter and her hubby, the businessman were going to contribute by making pie to bring.  The daughter wanted to make an apple pie and a pecan pie.  Perfect, those are great choices. The daughters first Apple Pie without one-on-one tutoring. . . very impressive for a first time pie creation!  She was a little distressed about it but we made her bring it anyway. . . it looks okay, but the flavor was good. . . . and let’s be honest that’s the most important part!

Then I received a call from the musician even though we were eating out, he still wanted to make HIS pie. . .

His choice. . .

. . . Apple

okay, we can do that.  He also wanted apple.  Apple pie is good we’ll just have two of them.

Then the genius wanted to make a pie. . . .

. . .Banana Cream

Yummy!

my favorite pie is cherry. . .

. . . so we made a Cherry Pie too

the businessman announced he didn’t want to make pie . . .

. . . He wanted to BUY his pie! 

. . . . WHAT you ask. . .  he DOESN’T want to make pie?????

ouch. . . 

 

absolutely tragic. . . 

it hurts to even type that sentence, I can’t imagine what you are feeling while reading it!

okay, this year we’ll be  nice. . .  

and get you your favorite pie

. . . Peanut Butter-Cup Pie

. . . come to find out. . . the businessman doesn’t care much for pie!  This keeps getting worse. . . I don’t know if I can handle this or not. . . This should be a deal breaker. . .

not like pie????  

Okay genius and musician. . . cute girl, nice girl, and no weddings in Nov, Dec, Jan ~ ~ ~
or. . . the first two weeks of September. . . AND likes pie kind of girl. . .

make sure to take notes on these VERY Important instructions. . . .

Peanut Butter Cup Pie from Village Inn. . .  for the rest of you, we were nice to the businessman, and by the weekend’s end, he admitted that Cherry Pie was pretty good too. . .

ahhh, progress. . . 

I’m feeling better already

I have to admit his pie does look pretty good, and in the end it tasted good too

ooohhhh. . . . What about our famous Pumpkin Cream Pie?

I have been working on perfecting this pie for a couple of years now and

I can honestly say. . . 

I believe we have arrived!  

. . . Perfect results every time

This quest actually began as Grandma’s pie.  My memories are of Thanksgiving dinner and the endless talk about how amazingly wonderful Grandma’s Pumpkin Cream Pie is, none of that pasty baked custard stuff people are used to.  No  No  No. . . this is creamy goodness with no oven required



except for the crust which is baked in advance. . .  anyway every year the main topic of conversation centered around this pie. . . then every year they would complain about how it wouldn’t "set up this time”, but it’s good. . . just, well. . . runny,

well, let’s just call it. . . .

. . .temperamental

cook over double boiler
perhaps more thickener

forget the double boiler

don’t cook too long

cooked too long. . . 

the list of reasons for failure seemed to endlessly evolve around these same points each Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. . . as a child. . .

                                                             teen. . .

                                                                    pre-adult. . .

                                      adult. . . . 

so following the tradition for Pumpkin Cream Pie

a couple of years ago I set out to figure out what was wrong and fix it.

I have studied the science of thickeners

what they do, why some work, and some don’t

I have tested

run trials

researched

read

studied

and tried various methods and have finally come to the final product. . . 

Perfect Pumpkin Cream Pie. . . Consistently!

That's why we had to make Pumpkin Cream Pie! to make sure I have conquered my quest

In the end what began as a simple 1 or 2 pies ended up being a ridiculous

grand total of 7. . . yup ~ ~ ~ we got a little carried away ~ ~ ~

seven pies for Thanksgiving. . . 

that’s more than one pie per person in these parts

Don’t ask me how we plan to eat all of these pies. . . I haven’t figured that part out yet.

we are going to be eating pie for a while.  Just for the record the pecan was the first to go, then the Peanut Butter Cup followed by the Cherry.  We are still working on the rest after sending pie home with anyone who would take pie.

I think I will give pie away. . . 

take it to work. . . 

give it to the neighbors. . .

No pie for Oscar Dog. . .

it makes him sick, 

I don't like cleaning up after sick dogs!

It’s all good pie, but a person can only eat so much pie.  The best news is that in addition to perfecting our pumpkin cream pie. . . I have also created a pretty great crust for our other pies too!  To me that’s success and I’m a happy camper today!

For us here at our house Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pie!  

But Let’s get back to dinner for just a minute. . . 

My great regret of the day is that I forgot to take my camera to dinner.

the restaurant of choice was The Elements.  

As they escorted us to our table I was thinking you are kidding me. . . 

they took us to this wonderful round table decked out in linens and crystal. . . right in front of the fireplace!  Which was in front of a large picture window looking out over the patio which was graced by a River.  While it’s a tad bit chilly for an outdoor meal,  it was beautiful nonetheless, and let’s be honest, I was in heaven in front of that fireplace. . . . I couldn’t have asked for any better.

Initially I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough food, but couldn’t have been more wrong in my musings.  Turkey, the most incredible moist turkey breast I have ever had the pleasure of eating. . . stuffing. . . sweet potatoes. . . mashed potatoes, salad. . . fresh, perfectly cooked, green beans. . . amazing gravy. . .  then. . . .

. . . . Deseret!

We had our choice of pumpkin cheese cake 

or this apple galette with the most amazing ice-cream in the center. . . 

. . . oops, I already ate that part. . .

there’s ALWAYS room for ice-cream!

We were all sooooo full from dinner that we ended up taking our desert home with us to eat later, the plate presentation was delicious, but trust me we didn’t have any problem eating until we couldn't eat anymore!

While the food looked beautiful, it tasted as amazing as it looked.
However, I'm still feeling a little nostalgic for leftovers of turkey and stuffing, and. . . . well everything that goes with Thanksgiving leftovers. . . we'll try for new years. 

We had a busy, productive, fun weekend that I will share with you in future posts but for today~ ~ ~

. . . would you care for some pie?

.