Thanksgiving Pie

We'll have a mincemeat pie and a pumpkin pie. 

Why mincemeat?  see this link - http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2010/09/grandma-streckers-old-fashioned-mince.html  Or because I want to.

Why pumpkin?  Because my darling step grand daughter wants it.  Not just pumpkin pie, but pumpkin pie with Cool Whip.  Not some fancy version that is being pushed on Food network.  Just basic pumpkin pie with Cool Whip.  And by golly, that's what she is getting.  I'll use the Libby's pumpkin recipe, not because it is fabulous, but because it is satisfying.   Actually, I make a pretty decent pumpkin cheese cake which I clipped out of Gourmet magazine some years ago, but we'll save that for another year.  

So I planned this out, really I did.  I'm good at planning things out.  It's one of the best things I do.  But really, we had so freaking much fun, that I didn't take any pictures.  Step grand daughter came over to help me make pie crust.  It is one of my greatest fantasies that SOMEONE WILL LET ME TEACH THEM HOW TO MAKE PIE CRUST.  I mean really!  If step grand daughter doesn't learn, there is a younger one.  Remember to teach what you know.

"What is shortening?" says my lovely girl.  "Well,  It's kind of like oil," I say.  "Oil?" says my brilliant girl.  "Uiooooooo!"

But make pie crust we did.   I measured and she mixed.  Well, she measured some.  I cleaned up the spills, some.  But that's okay.  I told her that a cook's best tool is her hands.  We then washed well and mixed the dough by hand.  We said it was like play-do but we will eat it.  Oh, yes.  We had fun.

Dad (step son) came by, for a bit.  Step grand daughter lost interest for a while.  Making pie is not an easy task.  But she came back and taught me a song which had the main lyric "I wouldn't want to be a turkey on Thanksgiving day,  Oh Yeah." 

My mother cut up left over pie crust and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, then baked.  We did that today and ate it like cookies.  And yes, that is just as disgusting as it sounds to the adult palate, but children just love it and we ate a ton of it at the Osbornes today. God help us.

Papa joined in. Girls, he is pretty darned good at changing diapers, finding binky, and filling sipper cups. But he is taken, sorry. The truth is that the children often prefer him, because he is so warm and open and just a really nice guy.

The pie crusts are packed away in their pie plates and wrapped in plastic.  We'll bake them tomorrow.

After carefully cleaning the sink, we unwrapped the Butterball that had been defrosting in my fridge the last 4 days.  We rinsed it and dried it and put in the roasting pan.  Step grand daughter and I had an extended discussion about it - mostly where it's boobs were and where it's butt was.  We looked inside it. She pointed out that she could see it's bones.  She wanted to see the giblets, which we simmered on the stove and will give to the dog tomorrow.  Mostly, everything about the turkey was icky and disgusting, but we will eat it tomorrow.

Remember to look eye ball to eye ball at your food and remember to involve others.  Oh, and remember to enjoy yourself.