Beyond the Book: Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Yes, I know it isn't Thanksgiving yet, but I've already started thinking about my menu so this seemed like a good time to share recipes.

My menu doesn’t vary too much from year to year. We always have turkey with all the trimmings, including some homemade gravy and cranberry sauce. I have a broccoli casserole that I always make for my grandson, an orange pineapple salad that people love, green beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and anything else someone might request. The star of the whole show as far as I’m concerned is the pumpkin pie.

I’ve been making this recipe for thirty-five years, and everyone always goes back for seconds. I got the recipe from a little cookbook that came in our local newspaper. The paper ran a cooking contest one year, and this pie was in that cookbook.  It would be my pleasure to share this recipe with you. If you don’t have a special recipe yourself, you might want to try it.  I promise people will love it.

Praline Pumpkin Pie

1 16 oz. can pumpkin

1 1/3 cups evaporated milk, undiluted

1/3 cup honey

½ cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (may substitute allspice if you wish)

In a large bowl mix pumpkin, milk, honey, sugar, eggs and pumpkin pie spice with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour into unbaked 10 inch pie shell. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake pie 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Bake 35 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on rack and chill

Praline Topping:

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp allspice

¼ cup pecans

2 T. water

In a small saucepan cook all the ingredients until golden brown. Pour onto greased foil. Cool. Chop.

Spread Cool Whip over the pie and top with the chopped pralines.

Notes:

I always double the praline recipe. 

If you like you can go a step further and make a real whipped cream topping. Here’s the recipe for that.

Whipped Cream Topping

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

½ cup dark rum or praline liqueur

1 cup whipping cream

¼ cup confectioner’s sugar

In a small saucepan sprinkle 1 tsp. gelatin over the rum. Heat to dissolve gelatin. Cool. In another bowl combine 1 cup cream, ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar, and rum mixture. Beat until stiff peaks form. Chill. Before using stir until fluffy. Spoon onto center of chilled pie and sprinkle with praline topping. 

What about all of you? Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving recipe?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours.

We’re Thankful For...

We’re thankful for the basics:
food, clothing and comfortable shelter;
the rest is a bountiful bonus.
We’re thankful for work, play,
and the treasured people
who make these experiences
richer and more meaningful.
We’re most thankful
for family and friends,
especially the dear friends
who are reading this poem!

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Joanna Fuchs

http://www.poemsource.com/thanksgiving-poems.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. How much do you really know about Thanksgiving? Take this quick quiz to find out. The answers are listed below.

1. How many people were at the first Thanksgiving?

2. What magazine editor lobbied for a national day of Thanksgiving in the 19th century? Of course we know she was successful.

3. How did pumpkin pie achieve political significance in the 19th century?

4. When was the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

5. How many turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving?








1. 50 Pilgrims, 90 native Americans

2. Sarah Josepha Hale

3. New England writers made pumpkin pie a regional delicacy, and when President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday, the South saw it as an attempt to thrust Northern values onto the South.

4. 1924

5. About 46 million which is more than at Christmas or Easter.

Books make great gifts. May I recommend The Captain and the Cheerleader? http://amzn.to/1iyLjRB

Beyond the Book: Pumpkin PIe

Hi, there, readers. My name is Dr. Kathryn Sinclair, and I'm Elaine's heroine in her upcoming release Blue 52. I have to complain about that Prince Alan from The Enchanted. He's hosted so often that he thinks he owns Beyond the Book!  I had to argue like crazy with him before he'd let me share a recipe with you. LOL. Here I am, though.

One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is pumpkin pie. We have it every year, and there's never any left over. Would you like to see my recipe? I have a simple secret that elevates this pie from just good to sublime.  Here you are, and I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

 Pumpkin Pie

Pie:

1 16 oz can pumpkin

1 1/3 cups evaporated milk undiluted

1/3 cup honey

½ cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

In large bowl mix all ingredients with a wire whisk. Pour into unbaked 10 inch pie shell. Preheat over to 425. Bake pie 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350. Bake 35 minutes or more until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on rack and chill.


Topping:

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp allspice

¼ cup pecans chopped

2 TBSP water

In a small pan cook all ingredients until golden brown. Pour onto greased foil. Chill and chop. Put cool whip on top of the pie and sprinkle the topping on the cool whip. I always doubled the topping recipe.

SAVE A TURKEY: GOBBLE A BOOK BLOG HOP TOUR (NOV 14-21)

Blog Hop Rules

1)     HAVE FUN!!!                                                                                                                                                                               

2) INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!!

3) THIS TOUR STARTS: Monday, November 14, at Midnight (Arizona Time)
THIS TOUR ENDS: Monday, November 21, at Midnight (Arizona Time)
Winners will be drawn and posted November 22nd! ***

4) MEET AND MINGLE WITH ALL THE AUTHORS & BOOK PAGES! EXPERIENCE A NEW DESTINATION AT EVERY STOP! PARTICIPATE IN EVERY BLOG CONTEST AND BE ENTERED FOR CHANCES TO WIN MULTIPLE PRIZES! EVERY BLOG VISITED IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!!

5) PARTICIPATION AT ALL BLOGS IS RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT REQUIRED. REMEMBER, THE MORE BLOGS YOU HOP, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES. EVERY AUTHOR & BOOK PAGE IS WAITING TO MEET AND INTERACT WITH YOU, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO SHOW THEM SOME LOVE!

6) DID I MENTION TO HAVE FUN? WHOO! HOO!! HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOO!***Authors & Book Pages have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first. Anyone who participates in this blog hop tour is subject to these rules***

Now for the good stuff...
                                                                             

Imagine that its Thanksgiving morning.  You’re in a good mood because for starters you aren’t working.  You’ve also gotten a head start on your Thanksgiving dinner by cooking a lot of stuff on Wednesday.  The good china even got washed because you ought to use it at least once a year.  The turkey’s in the oven, and it smells delicious. 

Dinner’s at one so the turkey comes out of the oven at eleven.  That should give you plenty of time to get it sliced.  (We don’t carve turkeys at the table.  We slice them beforehand.  Well, to tell the truth my husband slices them beforehand.) 

You give him the special platter that you use on Thanksgiving and Christmas and run upstairs to change your clothes.  It’s such a perfect day that you even like the way your hair turned out.

You run back downstairs and put the finishing touches on the table.  You add the spare leaf because you have close to twenty people coming for dinner.  Then, your husband joins you in the dining room.  “I finished the turkey,” he says, so you go into the kitchen to check on it. 

Gasp!  What horror!  The cat Elizabeth is sitting in the turkey eating her fill!  Oh, no!  Oh, no!  Now what? 

Readers, this really did happen to me.  When I announce my winners, I’ll tell you what I did.   To enter my contest, follow my blog and leave a comment telling me that you followed.  If you’re already a follower, tell me that too.  Now there’s only one thing left to do.  Tell me what you would have done if your cat was sitting in your turkey. 

Here are the prizes:

Prize 1 an ecopy of my new Christmas release The Table in the Window.  (available on Black Friday at http://www.astraeapress.com  The photo of the cover is only the proof, not the finished product.

Prize 2 a set of black and silver earrings by my favorite designer Lucy O.

Prize 3 a PDF copy of my novel A New Dream (available at http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662249&mode=product&product=2676585 )

Would you like to read an excerpt from The Table in the Window?  This is from Chapter One where my heroine's fiance breaks up with her right before Christmas

Robert offered them a menu, but Michael waved it away.  “I’m not having lunch.”

Marley’s eyebrows shot up.  As the waiter left the table, she said, “I thought you wanted to have lunch.”

“No, I said I wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay, talk.”  Marley reached for his hand, but he drew it away and put it in his lap.

“Uh, Marley, I have something to tell you.”  He cleared his throat, and this time he stared at some point right behind her left shoulder.

Marley’s heart thumped.  “What is it, Michael?  What’s wrong?”  Was he ill?  Had he lost his job? 

He stared at a burned spot on the rustic table as if it had come to life and was about to bite him.  “I..I’ve met someone.”

Marley cocked her head.  “Who did you meet?”

His voice was so low she had a hard time hearing him.  “Her name is Heather.”

Everything clicked.  He wouldn’t hold hands with her.  He wouldn’t look at her.  Cold more intense than anything outside settled into her veins and almost took her breath away, but she clung to the hope that she was wrong.  “I..I don’t understand.”

His eyes briefly met hers before they slid away.  “Yes, you do.  I’m sorry, Marley, but I can’t marry you after all.”
To return to the blog hop list click here.

On Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving Day I wish for you:

that your turkey is juicy and your cranberry sauce tart; your mashed potatoes are creamy without any lumps, and your dessert melts in your mouth without sticking on your hips; that you enjoy the Macy's parade, and when you read the paper you find great Black Friday sales. But most of all, I hope you make warm and beautiful memories that will fill your heart with joy every single year when the holidays roll around. Have a great Thanksgiving Day.