Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Kroger has a bin of pumpkins with the vegetables.  They are about medium size.  The sign said 2 for $5 so I picked out 2 cute looking guys and brought them home!  They sat around for a couple of days when Preston asked me what I was going to do with them.  "What do you mean?" I said, "They are decoration"  It was at this point that Preston pointed out to me that those were cooking pumpkins....like for pie.  Whaaaaaat?! I picked one of them up, rolled it around in my hand and saw the sticker that I had still not removed.  Clear as day, "Pie Pumpkin".  Well, well, well...if it isn't so.  Naturally I went straight to Pinterest to find a recipe.

It was a 2 day process, but I did it!  I baked my first pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin.  No canned stuff here.  Nope.  You first have to roast the pie then let it set over night THEN you can make it into the filling.  Here is my camera play by play.

Our pumpkins!  

I picked the larger one, removed the stem, and cut it in half.

Clean out all the "guts"

Save the seeds if you like, we roasted ours...yummy

Coat the inside NOT the outside, the inside of the pumpkin with vegetable oil.  The inside is the side that you carved all the guts out of.  I used a cooking brush.  Place them cut side down in a roasting pan.  Add 1 cup of water and cook!

This is what it looked like when finished. Ewwww

Place on a cooling rake until cool enough you are able to hold them for the scooping

Scoop out the guts and place in a sieve to drain over night with either a paper towel or coffee filter.  (Place saran wrap over the top)

Next day....you mix the pumpkin with some sugar, evaporated milk, eggs, and pumpkin pie spices.  Place in pie crust.....and.....

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

It was super easy and taste waaaay better than a can.  The complete recipe can be found here.  The recipe gives you 2 options for the filling.  You can either prepare it with heavy cream and spices or follow the recipe on the can of canned filling.  You see, the pumpkin that you roasted and sit over night is the exact same thing as in the can.  So all I did was just look that up and it worked perfectly.  I hope everyone tries to make their own pumpkin pie this season!  I will never do canned again. (unless I'm super busy and don't have time)

Χαρούμενα Γενέθλια

With a little help from Bing Translator, I know that Χαρούμενα Γενέθλια  is how you say Happy Birthday in Greek! At least I think that is what it means.  If it means something else or is offensive, opps.  I'm trusting the internet on this one.  Anyway, I celebrated the Birthday of 3 precious little Greek ladies.  My friend and co-worker has a 3 yr old and twin 1 yr olds and asked if I would come and take some photos!  But of course I would.

1. The girls are soooooo adorable.
2. She's my friend, duh
3. I have been to some previous events she has hosted and she does an AMAZING job.

So Saturday afternoon I headed over and the Greek Birthday party begin!  I won't post all of the pictures as they are her private photos.  But she has allowed me to share some. Just check out these little Άγγελοι.

E woke up from her nap and looked out into the back yard to see a Dora Bouncy House! Whaaaaaaaaaat?! Literally speechless. 

For the cake time with the twins is was very clear right away that one of them was all about the smash and eat while the other just wanted to try a little taste and then chill.  It was so fun!

I love this one.  Z is thinking, "ummm...cake? nah I'm good." and K is going at it!

The difference between the 2 cakes.  

Best. Cake. Ever. 

Birthday girl LOVED the bouncy house!

So that was my Saturday. My friend sent us home with tons of food so we have been eating well for the past couple of days. Tonight for dinner it was delicious chicken that we paired with some feta, rice, and dressing of olive oil & lemon juice. With all things Greek surrounding me the past couple of days it makes me want to go back there. Sigh. I will leave you with one of my favorite memory photos of my trip from 2008. (ok, so I couldn't pick just one)

Texas State Fair: Part II

Went to the fair again tonight.  This trip will go down in my memories as the night I learned about Fair Food.  I knew it existed.  I saw the news stories and read the Observer.  But I have never been to the fair with people that actually participate in the purchasing of the food.  WOW. I loved it!  I saw a totally different side of the fair.  Typically I go and walk around, people watch, get my Fletchers Corney Dog with Lemonade and call it a day.  Play a game maybe, but that's it.

Tonight....was awesome. I went with this fabulous group of people.

The night started with getting to drive right on into Fair Park with a parking pass and then appear on the Midway.  FREE.  Thaaaaaaaaaaaaanks Bill!  We made our way to our meeting spot.  Big Tex, duh.

Never gets old. We are in our 30's.

After our initial meeting and "Look at me! I'm with Big Tex!" moment....it was time to start the food.  Summer and I walked around numerous times and just couldn't make our minds up.  We finally went back to our first stop, Fried Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Just look at that! Perfect triangles of love.

The other option was the Fried King Ranch Chicken.  Bill got this little gem.  It was cool because it was in the shape of the state of Texas.  However it was murdered before I got a photo.  It's ok though, the flag is cool!

Back into the indoor food court we went.  Fried Spaghetti and Meatballs. 

Then it got crazy from there.  I don't remember everything that was ordered, but in no particular order you have the photos for the following:

Fried Oreo's

 Fried Cake Balls

 Fried Butter

 Fried Thanksgiving Dinner: aka The Best

 Red Velvet Funnel Cake

 Fried PB&J with Bananas

 And your classic, Turkey Leg

I would like to send a special thank you to Bill for allowing me to snap photos of him taking bites out of food.  You were a great model and I appreciate your service. 

Everyone was stuffed by the end of the night.  Coupons where bought and spent.  But besides all the food, I took some shots of the Midway itself. The Texas State Fair really is so much fun.  If you have never been to it, I recommend you go.  

 

 

Till next year.........