My Try at Festive Pie

Paula's pie was a success. It's just too bad my crust decorations weren't quite up to par... let me tell you what I'm talking about.

I got over-ambitious when preparing our pie and decided to add a little decor.

First, I decided to add a some festive holly:

So far, so good. I think I'll make a turkey. A pilgrim turkey!

Yikes. Is it obvious this started off as a baby bird? I decided that looked a little too Spring-ish, though, thus the turkey transformation.

All was (fairly) fine and well...

Until I popped it into the oven and realized: I should have baked the topping decorations separately. But it was just too late.

So it really could have been worse, but as you can see, many of my painstaking details were lost. As the pie expanded, the unbaked crust did not. It didn't get that nice golden crispness that the rest of the crust has. In a perfect world, I would've baked the hollies and turkey on a baking sheet and placed atop the pie once both were baked fully.

You can also notice some sinkage:

Anyway, I don't mean to undermine the deliciousness of Paula's Pumpkin Pie. It's a cross between cheesecake and pumpkin pie, which gives it a nice richness you pumpkin pie-phobes might desire, while adding a special savory element to the classic version. And, of course, the perfect pie crust worked like a charm.

We had a great time visiting our family, nonetheless! We had a beautiful and delicious meal prepared by my Aunt, and even celebrated three special birthdays. Good thing we didn't actually put 91 candles on the cake...

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving too! Dixie sure did and she's still recovering from our big touch-football game last Friday.

Rough life!


*Addendum* Please note my BFF Emily's masterpiece:

Now we're talking!

**Addendum 2** no fair using cookie-cutters/do we have the same Emile Henry Auberge Pie Dish?? LOVE! I am working my way to a complete set of the line :)

Giving Thanks

Be joyful and give thanks today! As Hubby and Dixie and I drive to Uncle Mikey's house for our East-Coast Thanksgiving, we are thinking of our families and friends back home and in other states and send our love to you all.

"Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." Ephesians 1: 3-4

Happy Thanksgiving Night!

I hope you've all enjoyed a lovely day full of family, friends and delicious food. Thanks mostly to this:

...we're putting up our feet to watch the big game -- we're pooped from a big day of running, eating and napping (!).

Now that Thanksgiving is officially (ok, almost) over, Christmas decorations will finally be going up this weekend... can't wait to share! Anyone braving the day-after-Thanksgiving sales? Yikes!

Wifey Wednesday

I went a little overboard during my most recent trip to the grocery and got inspired to cook a dish including every veggie color I could see... thankfully, I ended up with this nice little side dish. If you're looking to include something healthy, but not boring to your holiday spread, here's an easy and festive veggie side dish recipe for you.

*Ingredients:

brussel sprouts

zucchini

bell pepper

cherry tomatoes

red onion

carrots

broccoli

EVOO

salt

pepper

*the beauty of this recipe is that it's really more of a method... you can choose any veggies you like! Good alternatives/additions could be butternut squash, asparagus, or even sweet potatoes...

Tools:

mixing bowls

chop mat/chop knife

rectangular baker (well, whichever baker is the right size for your quantity! I used a 9 x 13 below)

Cooking Instructions:

preheat oven to 400

rinse and chop all veggies, making sure to keep sizes uniform (you'll get a more evenly cooked dish... not to mention, it looks prettier!)

place all prepped veggies in large prep bowl

coat with EVOO, coarse salt and pepper

coat baking dish with PAM, or other non-stick spray

pour veggies into baking dish

bake for 30 minutes, or just before veggies are fork tender (check on your hardest veggies first - carrots, brussel sprouts, potatoes, red onion - they'll take the longest to soften up)

remove from oven, sprinkle with parmesan cheese

pop back in oven until cheese is melted

serve immediately and enjoy!

(this dish can be prepared up to 1 day in advance... I would recommend doing the parmesan cheese addition immediately before serving, while you're reheating, and not 1 day ahead)

pre-bake

post-bake

And voila! You'll have a colorful medley of veggies, sure to add color and nutrition to any holiday meal.  I made this dish for a friends/family potluck dinner and it might re-appear on Thursday...! :)