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It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and I’ve made this pie twice. As you may know, pumpkin pie has never been my first choice – but I’m starting to change my mind about it. I make at least one a year regardless for the pumpkin pie lovers in the family – and for the most part, since I’m not really the one eating it, I stick to the same recipe. But this year, since I adore coconut milk – and coconut cream pie – and since both Mike and my dad have recently developed an intolerance to lactose, I decided to give it a try in place of the cream or evaporated milk I typically use in pumpkin pie filling. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! For pie beginners, pumpkin is about the easiest kind to manage. Stir together the pumpkin, coconut milk, sugar – I’ve been experimenting with coconut sugar, which is kind of the New Big Thing – eggs, spices – yes, pumpkinContinue reading

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I love that Thanksgiving is a celebration of sameness, that it’s so deeply grounded in tradition that no one will let the turkey dinner menu they grew up with change – ever. There could be a jellied salad jiggling on the table for decades, one that everyone refused to actually eat, and yet they’d all likely freak out a little bit if it disappeared. There’s comfort in routine. At our house, as at many, there has to be turkey. We’re lucky to have Darrel Winter and Corrine Dahm raising turkeys out in Dalemead for the past forty years – a good bird is a great start. But the challenge for most is the managing of a large turkey – the thawing of it, the stuffing, and calculating the roasting time, getting it in and out of the oven – and how between all that to avoid getting up at the crack of dawn to get the bird in. In the past I’ve streamlined things byContinue reading

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I’ve never been particularly fond of pumpkin pie – and certainly not as overjoyed by it as most people seem to be – and so I’ve always had my usual I don’t bother to stray from. People like it, and so I make at least one a year to appease the pumpkin pie lovers, not really thinking to change it up a bit – inspired more by the apple pie I make for myself. But I think I might have a new usual – a deep-dish extravaganza courtesy of Blue Rodeo, towering higher than a cheesecake on a crust of – get this – maple sandwich cookies. This is a Very Good Idea.

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