Hungry Sunday: Pumpkin Pie

I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie. Never have been, and always assumed I never would be. Until I tasted a pumpkin pie that I, myself made, with fresh pumpkin. I won't say it's my new favorite, but it definitely opened my eyes to pumpkin pie. When we made our annual trip to Burt's Farm last month Zachary was insistent that I make a pumpkin pie. Having never done such a thing, I was delighted to see that they were selling little cookbooks filled with pumpkin recipes. There were several pie recipes, but this is the one I chose - I have to say, it wasn't bad. Pretty good, actually (coming from someone who doesn't like pumpkin pie). So for those of you planning to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, I urge you to quit buying that crap in a can, go get yourself a real pumpkin, and make that pie fresh, the way it ought to be made.

Prepping the Pumpkin (different options):
*Bake it in the oven: Place it cut side down in shallow baking dish with a small amount of water. Bake at 350 until tender (I did about 50 minutes, but it probably could have used a little bit longer)
*Microwave it: Cut it in sections & cover with plastic wrap. Cook on high for 10-12 minutes or until tender. Scoop out pumpkin from peeling and use as desired.
*Cook it on the stovetop: Peel pumpkin & cut into cubes. Place in a pot with a small amount of water. Cover with lid & cook on low to medium heat until tender. Drain in colander.

*For using pumpkin in pies or other recipes, put in food processor (or blender - but I found the food processor to be MUCH easier) until it has a smooth texture.

Burt's Farm Pumpkin Pie
1 cup cooked pumpkin
1 cup milk
3 tbsp flour
1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 pie shell (I used the deep dish frozen pastry kind - regular would have overflowed)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves (ground)

1. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves together & set aside.
2. Mix cooked pumpkin, milk, eggs, and melted butter together.
3. Pour pumpkin mixture into a pot.
4. Pour sugar mixture into pumpkin mixture, stir until completely blended.
5. Cook on the top of the stove on medium heat, stirring constantly to keep from sticking.
6. After mixture becomes thick, pour into pie shell.
7. Bake pie at 350 for 30 minutes, or until center of pie rises.
8. Cool before cutting.

(Now, given that I have never made a pumpkin pie before, I wasn't sure how high it was supposed to rise...I gave it probably 7 more minutes in the oven than it called for because I kept waiting for it to rise - which it never really did - but I probably should have cooked it on the stove for a little longer before pouring it into the crust, even though it seemed thick when I poured it into the pie crust. The pie held up relatively well, but the first servings were more like pumpkin pudding in a pie crust, but tasted good anyway!) And I took the leftover pumpkin puree that I had made, and put it into an ice cube tray in the freezer, for use in things like muffins or pancakes later on.