Thanksgiving Review, About Two Weeks Late...

Was Thanksgiving really a week and a half ago?  Where have I been?  Well, I've been working a lot and have been busy, busy, busy, but that's just an excuse besides the point.

I was able to go home for Thanksgiving and brought Shaun along with me.   I love the holidays and being home is the perfect chance to reunite with friends and spend time with the family. 

On the cooking side of Thanksgiving, I contributed two dishes, brussels spouts and pumpkin cheese cake.  Apparently I have a thing for brussels sprouts because I made them last year too!  This year I made Cider-Cinnamon Brussel Sprouts using a recipe I found in Self magazine.  These were amazing; the apple, the pear, the cinnamon, the cider, all go perfectly with the brussels sprouts themselves and are the perfect side to any fall dinner.  I also made Paula Deen's pumpkin cheesecake.  I love pumpkin and I love cheesecake, so there was little not to like about this dish.  I'm pretty sure everyone agreed, because we demolished that dessert.

Cider-Cinnamon Brussels Sprouts

Pumpkin Cheesecake...devoured.

Thankgiving also happened to be my dad and Liz's last night in their house.  They were moving out the next day!  That made it quite a unique dinner itself, but it was nice to have everybody back in the house for one last night.

Family

Shaun and I

 

 

 

I mostly stayed away from major Black Friday shopping.  I bought a few cheap movies and the She & Him Christmas CD to get me in the spirit.  I've already been crafting and decorating away for Christmas, 'tis the season!

Mini Pumpkin Pies

I'm a believer that everything is better in its miniature form.  That may or may not hold true for everything, but it does for animals and, in this case, food.  And by miniature really means individual and I know that "sharing is caring" but when it comes to pumpkin and dessert, it was it ALL to myself.  Thankyouverymuch.  Plus, it's about time I made something with pumpkin because it is fall after-all.  These pies are de-lic-ous!  They taste just as great as their larger counter part, but are even better (according to my taste-testing boyfriend) because their crust to pie ratio has improved.  More crust, but still all that pumpkin-y goodness!

I tried out this recipe on a rainy Friday night.  There's something about cool, rainy fall weather that really gets me in the mood for baking...probably because I don't start sweating the minute my oven comes on.  I guess that's the price you pay to live in sunny southern California.  Given that the weather has finally cooperated, I was more than in the mood to get my bake on.

This recipe is made from real pumpkin and that's the only way to do it, in my opinion.  I got the recipe from a sticker on my pie pumpkin and only had to alter the baking time and temperature in order to adapt to the smaller pie sizes. 

Miniature Pumpkin Pies
(makes ~12 mini pies)

1 pie pumpkin
1 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 cup hot water
2 9-inch pie crusts, store bought, refrigerated

Directions:

• Cut pumpkin in half, removing stem area. 

• Scoop out seeds and strings
• Place pumpkin halves face-down on foil lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 F for ~1 1/2 hours, until tender.

• While pumpkin is baking, prepare dough for baking.  Use a 4-inch cookie cutter, a bowl, or cup rim to cut out 12 circles from the two doughs.  Press individual pie circles into prepared, pre-greased muffin pan, letting the edges crimp and fold. 

• When pumpkin is done, scoop out flesh and stir/mash/food-process until smooth

• In a bowl, add mashed pumpkin, condensed milk, egg, water, and seasonings and mix together.

•  Pour filling into each individual pie crust to the top.

 

• Bake at 425 F for first 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.
• Let cool, and let the filling set
• Top with whipped cream if desired, and dig in!

The hardest part is letting the pies cool when all you want to do is eat away!  But trust me, it's worth the wait! YUM!

I've Got that Fall Feeling

Can you believe that Halloween is in 1 week?!  I sure can't.  I also can't believe that I've already been living in San Diego for almost 1 month already.  Time sure does fly!  Things are coming along smoothly in the apartment, but we still have a long way to go, decor wise.  However, my mom has certainly made it easier to decorate for the holidays with her adorable gift packages she's sent me.  Items have included decorative dishtowels, place mats, napkins, and candy to boot!  Plus, Shaun and I finally bought two chairs for our dining table so at least we have a fun place to eat our meals now :)

 

What do you think? Fun, huh?  Those little "spiders" that are our wine glass holders are actually supposed to be cupcake holders from Crate and Barrel.  When my mom went into the store, she saw the them holding the wine glasses and I couldn't resist once she told me. 

Now we just need two more chairs so we can finally have people over to eat! ...Oh, and I guess I'll need to find a new place to put my bike that is currently hiding on the opposite side of the table.

I'm also so excited that ABC Family has started their 13 days of Halloween movie marathon, including showing my favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus! (Even though I own it on DVD)

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 Question:  What's your favorite movie to get you in the Halloween Spirit?