Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

Okay, so fall is over...but that doesn't mean the pumpkin has to go away! I still have lots of cans of pumpkin in my pantry and had some eggnog to use up also, so I whipped this pie up and it is scrumptious and as most of the recipes I use, easy to make! The pie was devoured to fast for me to take my own picture of it!

Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons shortening
• 3 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
• 3 to 4 tablespoons cold water
• 
  FILLING:
• 2 eggs
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 cup eggnog
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 
  TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

• In a food processor, combine flour and salt; cover and pulse to blend. Add shortening and butter; cover and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. While processing, gradually add water until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until easy to handle.
• Roll out pastry to fit a 9-in. pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate. Trim pastry to 1/2 in. beyond edge of plate; flute edges.
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, eggnog, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg and cloves until blended. Pour into crust.
• In a small bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Stir in pecans; sprinkle over filling.
• Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 8 servings.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Taste of Home

Creamy Pumpkin Smoothie

During this wonderful fall season, I have been baking with pumpkin alot and I find that I have little amounts of pumpkin leftover.  This is a great way to use it all up!

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens:
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
milk, thin to desired consistency

Add all ingredients into the blender and voila - delicious smoothie ready to go!
Recipe serves 2

Pumpkin-Apple Breakfast Cake

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the cake, since I gave the last slice away before I could snap a picture of it! This is a delightful fall treat, best served warm with maple syrup drizzled over it. Yum!

Pumpkin-Apple Breakfast Cake

2 small shredded apples

1/2 c applesauce (unsweetened)

1/2 c pumpkin puree

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 c brown sugar

4 beaten eggs

1 c white flour

1 c whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices.  In a separate large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, applesauce, pumpkin puree, oil and apples.  Add the dry ingredients to the apple mixture.  Stir until just mixed.  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Linked up at: Tasty Tuesdays and Tuesdays at the Table

A Few Fun Fall Foodies...

Photo Courtesy of Taste of Home

Whew. That was a tongue twister!  Well, we've started our fall baking and here are a few of the things we've made recently.

Pumpkin and Apple Lollipops - oh boy, did the kids ever think this was neat! They are so incredibly easy to make. Click here for instructions on how to make them.

Pumpkin Apple Butter - I've never made pumpkin butter before, so I thought I would give it a try this year.  I went with Libby's recipe on their website for starters. It wasn't quite as gooey/sticky as I was hoping it would be, so I'll keep looking for more recipes.

Rice Krispies Leaves Treats - Another kid-friendly recipe, which I found on Rice-Krispies' website. I used my leaf cookie cutters and shaped them and then decorated with gel and sprinkles.

And today, I will be trying out this recipe for Apple Cinnamon Turnovers.  A very quick and easy recipe that my toddler can help me with.

Linked up at Tuesdays-at-the-Table

There's Nothing Quite Like...

There's nothing quite like...the crisp fresh air that only belongs to autumn.

There's nothing quite like...the golden afternoon sun hitting low on the changing trees.

There's nothing quite like...the smell of burning leaves.

There's nothing quite like...jumping in a pile of leaves.

There's nothing quite like...the delightful taste of pumpkin.

There's nothing quite like...FALL!!!!!



Welcome to Fall Week!! I'll be sharing with you how we welcome this season into our home through cooking and crafts.  I started out the week so far by bringing out my fall decorations and by making pumpkin-apple butter, which is great on a variety of foods.  I discovered it tastes great on cream-of-wheat yesterday. I have several fall toddler crafts planned too, which I will post pictures of as we complete them.

A Taste of Fall

I love the fall season. You will probably hear me say it about 50 times over on my blog that I LOVE FALL! We've been enjoying some cooler, fall-ish type weather here so the other night I decided to bring out the pumpkin puree and make a fall dinner. On Fridays, I generally like to make an easier, breakfast-type dinner, so this past Friday I made pumpkin pancakes with turkey sausage, sliced bananas and maple syrup drizzled over.  It probably sounds like a strange combination, but it is really tasty! I modified the pancake recipe to include a little bit of whole wheat.  If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I'd be glad to share it.