Baking Day

I spent most of today in the kitchen, getting a head-start on Thanksgiving. I baked a pumpkie pie-- came out perfectly. I made a cute little maple leaf from the extra dough and I "floated" it in the middle of the pie after it was half baked. By the time the pie was ready to come out of the oven, the maple leaf was nicely browned and it puffed up a little bit. I did something different with the crust, too--- I had some very finely chopped pecans, so I pressed them into the bottom crust before I poured the filling in.

One of the cooks on the Food Channel was baking a pumpkin pie yesterday, and she added a bit of apple butter to the pumpkin mixture. I did the same thing today-- gives it a richer flavor and just adds a little surprise to the pie. For the last 20 years or so, every time I bake a pumpkin pie, I use an ovenware quiche pan that was a gift from my friend F up in NY. If my memory is correct, F gave me the quiche pan one year after we took a baking class together and both of us got on a "quiche kick," making quiche every week and inviting one another over for lunch to try out the latest ingredients. The edges of this quiche pan are crimped, so the bottom of the pan is perfectly flat, which means that the pumpkin pie lays flat on the plate after it's sliced. I still use this pretty pan for quiche, which even has a quiche recipe imprinted into the design of the pan. Whenever I make a pumpkin pie, however, I always reach for my quiche pan because it's just the perfect design and size, and it always makes a beautiful pie.

After the pumpkin, I baked a mincemeat pie. I've never made one of those, and I hadn't planned on it this year, but when my husband and I went to the supermarket, he found a large jar of gourmet mincemeat filling. All I had to do was pour the filling into the bottom crust and cover it with a top crust. Being that leaves seem to be the "theme" for our Thanksgiving table, I used a knife to carve some leaves and branches into the top of the crust. Much nicer than just poking slits into the crust to let the air out.

The pies are done, and so are the sweet potatoes. I cut those up and baked them in a mixture of crushed pineapple, brown sugar, peach preserves, maple syrup and chopped pecans. I cooked them till they were just nearly done, then took them out of the oven. When I put them back into the oven to finish baking on Thursday, I'll chop up an apple or two and stir those into the mixture.

My husband will make the stuffing tomorrow morning, and then tomorrow night he'll do the mashed potatoes. I have a large round casserole dish that holds the mashed potatoes--- you can make them the day before, then heat them up over a double-boiler and they taste freshly-made, without the last-minute mess when too much has to be done at once. While he's busy in the kitchen tomorrow, I'll put all the cats on the porch and clean the house and get the dining room all ready. The cats won't be seeing the inside of the house till company leaves on Thanksgiving night. The cats won't be too happy about that, but it's just easier to have them out of the house whenever we're having any kind of dinner party.

Mickey Kitty has decided to leave the silver Christmas tree alone.... I guess he really didn't like me slapping the floor with the rolled-up newspaper every time he got near that little tree. My cats are spoiled because they live in a super-quiet house.... about the only time there's noise here is when we have a party. So any little (or big) noise that's out of the ordinary doesn't meet with their little cat-approval. Which is why the newspaper-noise worked so quickly.

I called my aunt and uncle out in Arizona today, to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. They'll be having turkey-day at their son's (my cousin's) house, along with 25 other people. We went out to Arizona for Thanksgiving one year.... big group of family and friends out there who all get together for turkey-day and then a Charades game afterwards. Come to think of it, that's how my husband and I got started with our Charades parties here. I don't think I'd want to combine a Charades party with Thanksgiving, however-- that would mean a whole lot of turkey and trimming, and much more than two pies.