if you go, say good pie

So how was your Thanksgiving? My actual Thanksgiving day was not nearly as stressful as usual, thanks to it being immediate family-only this year. I never realized how much of a distraction too many cooks in the kitchen can be. But the days before and after? Hectic and busy, as you can see by my just now sitting down to blog about it. I made two pies, which is really what this entry's for:

The first is Gingery Pear and Apple Pie which was not nearly as gingery as it could have been, as I'm sure I've mentioned recently about another recipe. Someday I will bake for people who appreciate fresh ginger. That being said, it was still delicious with only ground ginger. If you're hesitant about baking with pears this would be a good recipe to try. You really can't tell the difference between the pear and apple slices unless you're trying really hard to suss out the two textures (pears are softer).

The second is a Classic Pumpkin Pie with a key substitution: 1 cup of milk and 1 Tbs. of cornstarch for the evaporated milk. I haven't been able to handle evaporated milk for years; for some reason only now did I think to look up an alternative. I didn't do the whipped topping either but this pie is seriously good without it. Oh, and even though the recipe doesn't say to use a deep-dish pie plate I had no other choice--I only have one regular 9" pie plate and it was already occupied. That turned out to be a good idea; you can see how much filling went into that deep dish.

Hopefully later this week I can go back and fill you in on my birthday recipes--of course I made my own cake.

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In cereal news (because there's always cereal news), I've already spotted the new Cinnamon Frosted Flakes at Wal-Mart. I might buy their family-size box in a few weeks when more people are here to eat it.