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Happy Thanksgiving! In the USA especially there has been a fall frenzy over all things pumpkin and pumpkin spice. Soon the feast preparations begin. How about a blue pumpkin pie? I first learned about those beauties here in Africa. Ready to try some From Scratch recipes this year?
Traditionally there are those e pie pumpkins which I grew quite successfully in my garden stateside. I was thrilled to have my own harvest of pumpkins and set out to make an entire from scratch, totally organic Thanksgiving feast.
And I did. Complete with a locally pasture raised Turkey which I brined by following one of my favorite bloggers recipes; Jill Winger from the https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/ and her pasture raised turkey recipe.
Having brined the turkey, I set out to make the from scratch pumpkin pie crust and puree for my pumpkin pie filling. * SEE RECIPES BELOW * It’s simply not as difficult as one thinks, slightly more time consuming than the canned variety, worth every bit of effort in terms of flavor and homespun satisfaction.
There was also home made green bean casserole with steamed fresh beans, a rue based cream sauce from butter, unbleached flour and raw cream and fresh mushrooms topped off with my own French fried onions. I sliced up some onions, soaked them in milk, dredged them in unbleached flour seasoned with REAL salt and pepper, and pan fried them in coconut oil. Crispy and delicious !
Here’s the final result – home made scrumptious ! The basic recipe:
- Steam green beans
- Make rue sauce with 1Tbsp melted butter, add mushrooms to stire fry, add 1 cup flour and then cream or milk to thicken
- Add rue to the steamed green beans in a casserole dish, season and top with home made french fried onions
- Bake at 350 to heat through until bubbly~ yummy
We had a the tastiest, most wonderfully home made Thanksgiving feast that year and I strive for it every year.
Even our chickens got to take part in the feast of scraps.
Oh, and we had the freshest and zingiest tasting cranberry relish too. F
- Frozen cranberries, lime zest and lime juice, some cane sugar and mint leaves then whir it into a relish with your food processor. SO GOOD!
This year I plan to add more fresh herbs from my garden as well some essential oils to enhance the deep flavors of these traditional dishes. Here are some DIY recipes using essential oils:
Sweet Potato Casserole with cinnamon oil
Immune boosting Pumpkin Smoothie
Hot Cocoa with peppermint oil
Ginger bread cookies with ginger, clove and cinnamon oils
This year we find ourselves back in Africa once again. It’s good to be here. And even though Thanksgiving as we know it isn’t celebrated here, we always gather round with our Mission family and each brings their own classic dish and there simply are no cans of pumpkin, in fact pumpkins aren’t even in season just now. We are still waiting for the rains to come and the pumpkins to grow. They aren’t orange and seem more like squash. Pumpkins are harvested in February and March. So I’ve learned to harvest or buy them at that time, bake them up and freeze the puree. Then remember to save just enough when the holidays come around months later.
Now that we have been here just about a year I am preparing my garden to plant my own squash and butternut which work as well OR I can head to a local grocery store where these blue pumpkins are available for a pretty price ~and they are the ones with the gorgeous orange flesh.
Either way I am thankful that while worlds apart we always set aside a few hours to honor my home culture and no matter where we live to Give Thanks for the many blessings we have been generously given by God and get on that Skype or What’s App call to friends and family back home.
For all our homestead favorites ~ check out our Must Have Market !
Looking for essential oils for the recipes above? Order here: Essential Oil’s
Let me know what your favorite From Scratch recipe is for Thanksgiving and leave a comment below!
**Happy Thanksgiving **
Perfect Pie Crust
Light and flaky, the secret is the vinegar
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cold butter or lard
- 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 pasture raised egg
- 5 Tbsp ice cold water
- 1 Tbsp raw applecider vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
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Find your pastry cutter (a favorite baking tool of mine that makes me feel all from scratch happy) then cut cold butter or lard into chunks and add to the flour and salt. Use favorite pastry cutter to work cold butter or lard into flour until it resembles course crumbs.
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Whisk whole pasture raised egg and add to flour mixture along with vinegar and ice cold water. Gentle work together until dough forms.
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Divide dough into 3 evenly sized balls , place in freezer for future use. If using straight away, cool in freezer for 15 minutes then remove and roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Place into pie pan and rick with fork, then crimp edges to make it look pretty and festive
Honey sweetened pumpkin pie
This is the bestest pumpkin pie sweetened with honey and baked with home grown pumpkin puree.
Ingredients
- 2 cups home baked pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp real vanilla
- 1/2 tsp REAL salt
- 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 3/4 cup fresh cream
- 2 pasture raised eggs
- 1 unbaked pie shell
Instructions
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Mix puree, honey, vanilla, salt and pie spice together with mixer or wooden spoon.
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Gently beat the eggs with a fork and add to mixture along with the fresh cream. Pour into the unbaked pie shell.
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Bake at 375 F for 20-30 minutes, add foil to pie crust edges if too brown, return to oven and bake another 20 minutes until set in the middle or a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
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Serve with whipped fresh cream and a smile. ENJOY !