Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Thanksgiving dinner came a little early this year. I really can't complain. Now I get to go ahead and start listening to Christmas music. And decorate…although I still need to get a tree…Anyways, I made our pie. I did some Pinterest-ing and Google-ing, and somewhere I came along this Pumpkin Pecan Pie with, what I'm calling, an Egg Nog sauce. It's completely perfect. My most favorite holiday flavors all in one bite. Bonus: I physically cannot digest it, so the absurd amount of calories don't count. Perks of not having a gallbladder? 

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Filling:

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 TBSP granulated sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

1 TBSP vanilla 

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp all spice

Pecan Filling:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup corn syrup

2 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla

1 pinch salt

1 pinch cinnamon

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 325*F.
• Prepare your favorite pie crust or use a pre-made pie crust dough. Grease an 8-inch springform pan. Place the dough inside, pressing it up the sides. Place in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the pumpkin filling. Mix and set aside.
• In another medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the pecan filling. Mix and set aside.
• Pull your crust out of the fridge. Pour the pumpkin mixture in, spreading evenly across the bottom. Pour the pecan mixture over that. 
• Place in the oven and bake for about 2 hours or until set.

Egg Nog Sauce

4 TBSP unsalted butter

1 large egg

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 TBSP very hot water

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup bourbon or whiskey

Nutmeg & cinnamon to taste

Directions:

• Melt the butter in the top of a double broiler set over gently simmering water.
• Beat the sugar, egg and vanilla in a small bowl until blended. Add to the melted butter.
• Add the hot water and stir until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 7-8 minutes).
• Remove from double broiler and cool to room temperature.
• Mix in the cream, bourbon, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

If you want to avoid the alcohol, but like egg nog, I'd recommend serving this pie up with some egg nog ice cream. Yum! 

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

Happy (late) Thanksgiving! We celebrated on Friday this year because I worked Monday-Wednesday night…and slept all day Thursday. Fortunately, all I had to make was a pie. I decided on a Bourbon Pumpkin Pie from Serious Eats. I will admit that despite my love for all things pumpkin, I do not generally go for the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm very picky about the texture, and I feel like it's often lacking in excitement. This pumpkin pie, well, it's not boring.    

This is by far the most flavor-packed pumpkin pie I've ever had…and it's got a smooth, creamy texture. You can use bourbon or bourbon extract. The bourbon adds a nice depth of fall flavor with some vanilla, oak, and caramel notes. The ginger in the filling gives this pie another punch. If you're not big on ginger, I'd definitely cut the amount down…maybe add in some cinnamon. You've got another layer of flavor with the toasted chopped pecans. And then, the whipped bourbon maple mascarpone really tops it off. Delicious. 

You can snag the recipe by clicking here. I used Paula Deen's flaky pie crust recipe from her Southern Cooking Bible. If you do not have this, you are missing out. Mostly because she has written comments at the bottom of every recipe, which are very entertaining. It's like you can hear her saying what you're reading. The brother does a great impression. 

Fair warning: this pumpkin pie is quite rich. It's as rare for me to say that as it is for me to not be able to finish a piece of dessert. It's practically unheard of. Really all you need is like half a normal piece! 

Decorating for Thanksgiving

My work week begins tonight, so I spent last night doing crafty things and decorating for fall. Yes, fall. I guess really more like Thanksgiving, if you want to get technical. I have many friends who have already decorated for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas. But I feel like the time between asking strangers for candy and telling Santa about all the things you want is quite overlooked. 

And there's so much to be thankful for… Friends & family. Football is in full swing (although I wish my Sooners would play). NBA is revving up. Starbucks has red cups. I got to go to Zumba last night. And then tried out some Ballet Beautiful. Edy's has there slow churned egg nog ice cream out. It's appropriate to wear sweaters, boots & scarves. And I know there are many, many other things…but I've been awake since 11 AM yesterday… 

So, decorating for Thanksgiving. I obviously hit up Pinterest for some inspiration. I checked out Hobby Lobby, but they literally have like 1/2 an aisle for fall. The rest is Christmas. I knew I wanted to get a couple candlestick things to set little pumpkins on. There were a couple I liked at Hobby Lobby, but even 1/2 off, they were $15-$20/each. I found these at a thrift store for $2:

Ugly as all get out, but paint can do a lot of things.

And, of course, there were no little pumpkins left at Hobby Lobby. I found these at home. Apples & pears are fall-ish fruits, right? I got some supplies to make a banner for the mantel. I already had paint & twine at home!

Ta-da! I would like to possibly add some colorful ribbon between the letters, but this will do for this year. I made a template in Pages and traced around it on the burlap. Cut out the pieces. Stenciled on the letters. Hot glued the twine on back. It's really handy having a reclaimed piano thingy as a mantel because it has these knobs that made it super easy to attach the banner. 

I don't really know how I feel about scarecrows, but this guy was another $2 thrift store find…so, why not?

Here's the whole picture. I'd like to add something to the wreath (next year). The milk can at the bottom is a family heirloom, filled with wheat from the family farm. Score. 

And then there's, Tom. I grabbed him for under $9 during Scentsy's Monster Monday Sale. You can grab yourself one by clicking here! 

Now, I should really go sleep before heading into work this evening. Hope everyone has a Happy Hump Day!

Cherry-Chipotle Turkey Street Tacos

Thanksgiving always brings massive quantities of leftover turkey.  I only roasted a 5.5 pound breast this year, and we still have plenty left.  Of course, the traditional thing would be to make a sandwich out of a dinner roll, mash potatoes, stuffing, gravy and turkey...however, our Thanksgiving meal didn't exactly qualify as traditional, so the mom got creative.  She decided that street tacos would be a great idea, and she was totally right!  She was kind enough to make homemade flour tortillas (you could definitely do homemade whole wheat to be even healthier), shred some of the cherry-chipotle turkey and an apple.  It was SO good!  The apple gives it a nice sweet crunch to offset some of the fire from the chipotle.  I also recommend some plain Greek-style yogurt.  Yum.  Just some Alexia sweet potato fries on the side.  Easy.  Simple.  Delicious. 

 

Turkey Day

This year's Turkey Day was somewhat (or a lot) more laid back and simple than last year's.  The brother skipped town to go to a football game, so it was just the mom and me.  Also, the mom had to work all day, so it really was Thanksgiving dinner versus lunch.  I'm still having stomach troubles, so I kept things pretty light.  And, there was no dessert.  It was all very delicious!  Here is my little plate (yes, that's a salad plate, and I was stuffed):

The Menu:
Cherry-Chipotle Turkey Breast (Rachael Ray)
Rustic Rosemary Bread Sticks (Eat 80/20)
Gingered Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup (Women's Health)
Sauteed Mushrooms with Green Beans & Garlic (you really shouldn't need a recipe for this)

Of course, the day wouldn't have been complete without me burning a chunk of my right ring finger off... I just grabbed the handle of my make-shift roasting pan.  Oops.  It's looking really lovely at this point.  

Usually, I would also spend Thanksgiving Day planning for Black Friday.  I'll admit it's ridiculous to spend a day being thankful and then go crazy shopping the next.  I just like the rush, the excitement.  However, since Black Friday is now apparently Black Thursday, I didn't really go shopping.  I take issue with having that on Thursday evening.  I think it should be for the committed, willing to stay up all night or wake up really early, people.  Not to mention, people really should be spending time with their families on Thanksgiving Day.  Just my opinion.  Kohl's literally had ALL their BF specials online with free shipping, so I hit that up.  Victoria's Secret also had their sale online with free shipping on Thanksgiving too.  Then, I'll confess, I'm an Amazon addict...so I had alarms set for "Lightening Deals" all day.  Those kind of give you a rush...for like 5 seconds.  Not quite the same, however it was super nice not waiting in lines.

Since we opted to skip Thursday evening shopping, the mom and I took a couple of movie passes to AMC and saw "Skyfall."  I actually really liked it.  Also, the Adele song is great.  We were pretty crazy and went to the 2110 showing, so it was really late (or early) by the time we got home and to bed (for a equivalent of a long nap).  I did get up a little early to hit up Express, Famous Footwear and Pet's Mart.  That's what happens when you need new jeans, cross training shoes, and have four dogs.  Ah well.  It was successful.

I hope everyone else was able to enjoy Thanksgiving and the related festivities!