Auds & Allie: First Pumpkin Pie of the Season

07 September 2010

First Pumpkin Pie of the Season

first pumpkin pie of 2010

I love fall. I love the tastes, the smells, the colors and a nice warm cardigan. I was once a farm girl and by farm girl I mean I grew up in a very old and drafty farm house on my Grandpa's farm. I never milked cows or fed the pigs. We didn't have them. I've never operated a combine although I have ridden in several. And although I've driven a tractor it was primarily for recreational purposes. But I lived right in the middle of harvest. There was no escaping the farm during the fall. Our house was surrounded on three sides by corn and bean fields and countless nights I fell asleep to the sound of the dryer on the grain bins. I can still smell the freshly harvested corn as I walked up the hill to our house everyday after school. The rumbling of the tractors and the roar of the combine all take me back to fall on the farm.

Fall: Harvest. Hot apple cider and caramel corn. Pumpkin bars. The spicy sweet aroma of pumpkin bread in the oven. crunchy leaves on the ground. a harvested field. chili. Hot apple crisp. wiener roasts. hay rack rides. football. pork chops. photo shoots. And of course, Pumpkin Pie.

Jeremy loves pumpkin pie. I never liked it growing up (pass the chocolate pie please!) so I made it a mission to make a better pumpkin pie. And yes, as of 2006, it's gluten free. I am still not a huge pumpkin pie fan, but i have to say mine is pretty yum-o! I substitute ice cream for the evaporated milk and add sweetened whipped cream (not cool whip). I've found if you add enough whipped cream to pumpkin pie, it's really not that bad! Jeremy prefers his plain, no cool whip or fancy maple whipped cream or candied pecans. Just pie.

I found out yesterday that there is a pumpkin shortage and we won't be getting any more pumpkin around here for three more weeks. So this is our first pumpkin pie of the season and our last for awhile.