Day One Hundred and Ninety Seven - Pumpkin Pie

Dear all,

We are on the brink of October and it's Pumpkin season. Pumpkins are everywhere!!

I decided that I would take one step further to becoming a true Canadian and today, I made Pumpkin Pie! I can hear all the Brits in the audience gasping 'wowwww' (you would struggle to find a pumpkin pie in the UK, much like trying to hunt down a bowl of 3-pepper chicken wings. Its a sad loss for the country)

I bought a can of 'pumpkin' from the store and noticed on the can, they directed you to a website where I would apparently find 'the recipe'. When I got home, I adhered to their advice and this is what I found:

http://www.edsmith.com

E.D.SMITH’s Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS:

1 egg
1 can (19 oz/540 mL) E.D.SMITH® PUMPKIN PIE FILLING
1/3 cup (75 mL) evaporated milk
1 9-inch (23 cm) unbaked home-mad or frozen pie shell

PREPARATION:
1. Beat one egg lightly in medium bow. Add the pumpkin pie fill and the evaporated milk. Blend everything together. Pour filling into pie shell.
2. Bake at 425ºF (220ºC) for 15 minutes.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 375ºF (190ºC) and continue baking 35 to 45 minutes longer or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool.
4. Prep Time: 35 minutes, Cooking Time: 50 to 60 minutes, Yield: 8 servings

So, I got to work. I had bought some 'ready-made' pie crusts from the store [so civilised] and started to mix the ingredients. I looked at some other recipes online that included, brown sugar and a number of herbs including cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and vanilla essence.

I started to get a little 'herb-happy' throwing in a little of this and a little of that and within a blink of an eye and whilst Darren was merrily playing 'Civilisation' in the corner, I had prepared two pies and had popped them in the oven. After about 5 minutes of feeling content with my pie-making, a sudden fear came over me: I had forgot to put in the sugar! As I had bought pure pumpkin, rather than the 'pumpkin mix', it needed sugar or would taste like foam. I quickly retrieved the pies and chucked in some sugar to the mix (very uncool, I know, but you live and learn).

Anyway, the pies survived and they were actually quite delicious! hurray!

And in other news:

1. More fall colours: The Canadian landscape is truly magnificent