I love the color (notice Yankee Belle's background). Well, I must love the form too because I even love white pumpkins. I love decorating with pumpkins inside and out .
I even love little punkins like this one and his daddy before him. It's a tradition in our house to take pictures in the pumpkin patch:
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| My grandson back in the day |
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| My son back in the day |
My grandson has already started begging for pumpkin pie. He takes after Grandma Juju. Any recipe I can get my hands on, I'll try. Oh, but then there are those allergies again. I've learned ways to modify all things pumpkin, dress them up and make them just as luscious as the pins on my Pinterest boards.
I miss a good pie crust but haven't been a fan of fake ones. So I make a nut crust for my "baked pumpkin." It's simple as...well, PIE.
Nut crust:
Put 1/2 cup pecans and pulse til ground. Add one cup almond meal or enough almonds ground in a food processor to make a cup. Pulse again. Add two tablespoons cold butter and pulse til mixed thoroughly. Place in pie plate or glass dish and place a piece of waxed paper over it, spreading over the bottom of the plate.
If you are fixing a refrigerated pie, you can bake the crust at 350 for 10-15 minutes until toasted. Do NOT over brown. Cool before adding other ingredients.
If you are going to bake your pie ingredients, just pour the filling over the top of the crust and bake as directed.
Healthier Pumpkin filling:
I used a recipe for the filling off the Libby's can for guidance, but I make it healthier. I use the egg whites instead of whole eggs, a half cup skim milk rather than a whole can of evaporated milk, and most importantly, I've reduced the amount of sugar. I have gotten it down to half a cup but it takes time to get used to eating pie that almost tastes like a vegetable rather than solid sugar. Adding vanilla can also help.
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup skim milk
1 can pumpkin
1 T pumpkin pie spice or more to taste
1 dash salt
Beat eggs. Add sugar and spices and beat again til well mixed. Add pumpkin and milk and beat until blended.
Pour into crust and back for 15 minutes at 425 and then lower to 350 for 40 minutes. You don't want the crust to burn.
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| To make it really pumpkiny, top with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) |
So are you a pumpkin fan? A Pinterest fan, especially with ? Feel free to look my boards up on Pinterest and share your feelings about pumpkin! A great fall vegetable or greatest?
