Of Friends, Pie and Potty Training

Oh where does the time go?! THANKS to our dear friend Carol for posting photos and a summary of their wonderful visit to Nebraska last month. It was the trip that almost didn't happen...their kids were ill and Lillie had another trip to the ER for a sudden high fever (104), but fortunately, she did not have a seizure this time. She did, however, have strep throat and an ear infection. I must mooch off her blog for the photos (in fact, see her blog for the cute photos!!). Elaine and Natalie are super cute and growing up too fast!!
*** Here is a new photo of the kids from last month (Heaton was 2 months old) ***
I've been in a Betty Crocker mood lately...baked four homemade pumpkin pies (yes, I bake the pumpkin and scoop it out and save the seeds for Martin etc), 3 homemade apple cheesecakes (Lillie picked the apples from Great-Grandparent's tree on their farm), and two casseroles plus homemade bread...but now I'm tired :-)
Due to many requests, here are the recipes:

To cook the pumpkin:
Preheat oven 300-350. wash pumpkin and cut into halves or quarters. scrape out the seeds and strings. place on pan in oven with rind-side down (the inside of the pumpkin facing up). Bake until soft (a fork should easily pierce the flesh). may take 2-4 hours. remove from oven and scoop out pumpkin (scoop out to the rind...do not use the rind). Use immediately, store in refrigerator for a few days or freeze until you're ready to use!
My "Joy of Cooking" book says to bake a pumpkin like this: Cut into halves or quarters, remove seeds and strings, place cut side down (This is opposite how I do it) add 1/4" water to pan and cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake in 400 degree oven until tender. halfway thru baking, pieces can be turned over (now cut side up) and brushed with butter. may only take 30-45 minutes. I haven't tried this method, but sounds good!

Pumpkin Pie recipe:

1 1/2 cups pumpkin (I usually use 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups milk (2% works really well)
1/2 cup cream
1 Tbsp. butter, melted (I used unsalted)
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

(in lieu of buying all the spices, I usually use 1-2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice, plus some extra cinnamon.)
Preheat oven to 450.
Blend pumpkin with milk and cream in blender. Pour into pot. Add sugar, flour, butter, and spices. Cook over medium heat until thick.
Beat 2 eggs in separate bowl. SLOWLY add small amounts of pumpkin mixture to the eggs until the eggs are same temperature as pumpkin mixture (prevents 'cooking' the eggs). Pour eggs into pot and cook entire mixture about 10 more minutes and pour into (2) prepared pie shells. (Do not need to pre-cook the pie shells).

Bake 10 minutes at 450. Reduce heat to 325 and bake 50 more minutes (or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean). Cool completely on wire rack and refrigerate leftovers. Serve with Cool Whip!
Makes 2 pies.

Apple Cheesecake Pie: This is from my Apple Pie Perfect cookbook that Carol shared with me!
Crust (I used the Best Butter Pie Pastry):
1 3/4 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
about 3 Tbsp. cold water

Apple filling:
4 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced (I also added a handful of cut strawberries)
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
I add: 1-2 tsp. cinnamon
Mix together and pour into prepared deep dish pie crust (recipe says to freeze pie crust first, but I didn't do this...tasted fine). Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Cheesecake:
10 oz cream cheese (full fat)
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream (full fat)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon zest (I didn't have a lemon, so I omitted this, but my Dad thought it needed it even though he didn't know the recipe!)

Mix together (add eggs one at a time at the end and don't overbeat). Pour over baked apples and reduce oven to 325 degrees and bake cheesecake apple pie for 25-30 minutes (put pie on baking sheet). Transfer to cooling rack and let cool for 30 minutes.

Topping (heat together on stove top until warm and pour on cheesecake!):
1 cup sour cream (full fat)
2 Tbsp. sugar

Let pie cool thoroughly and cover and refrigerate. We thought it was delicious served warm as well as chilled, but it does need to sit and cool in order for it to slice nicely.
Note: might need to cover the pie edges so they don't burn...we covered our pie edges the entire baking time and they baked perfectly.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread:
1 1/8 cups water
3 cups whole wheat flour (I use 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup oatmeal)
3 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp. dry milk powder (optional)
1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil, margarine, butter or shortening (I've only tried olive oil)
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

Put in bread machine (ours is liquids first, dry ingredients and then yeast on top).
Select whole wheat program, 2 lbs, and crust preference (we use light crust). Takes about 4 1/2 hours from start to finish baking.
Fabulous!! Keeps for a few days (if it lasts that long!).

So, those are my recipes for the week :-)
And the potty training... Lillie decided to use the big girl potty on Monday and we are on day 3 of this new adventure. No more diapers!! yeah!! but she does use pull-ups at night...we'll work on that when we've mastered the day time :-)
Lillie said to me on Monday "Mom, I want to watch Cars"
I said "I want you to use the big girl potty"
And she said "okay" and she's been using it ever since! (its not all happy-land, but its working and she does NOT want to wear diapers, so we just take it one potty break at a time!)
Happy Bathroom breaks to all!