Prepare for Thanksgiving and Advent

Thanksgiving is in three days, and our plans are pretty much set. We will go to the home of our dear friends for a traditional turkey dinner. This year both my children are bringing their partners for the first time, and we are each preparing our favorite component of the meal. We will bring:

• pumpkin pie
• lemon meringue pie
• sweet potatoes
• homemade rolls
• cranberry sauce
• collard greens
• and extra stuffing!

Agenda:
1. Make a thank-you card and hand it out
2. Cook the pumpkins
3. Collect greens
4. Make pies

1. Make a thank you card and hand it out:
I am continuing the tradition I started two years ago of making a thanksgiving card to give my friends. 

This year I used a detail from a large abstract I painted in September, then uploaded it to Pixlr- a free on-line program- to add words and borders. I printed a few to hand out, and I plan to send some by email as well.



2. Cook the pumpkins:
The secret to good pumpkin pie is to use fresh pumpkin. We harvested five small pie pumpkins from our garden this year, and I have some in the freezer from last year, so I can make several pies. 

Tomorrow I will cook the pumpkins- chop them each in half, clean out the centers, and bake them at 250ºF until they were soft. Then I will scoop them out of the skins and put the pumpkin in containers in the refrigerator.

3. Collect greens:
This week I am also thinking ahead to advent, which starts on the next Sunday. Each year I collect greens from the neighborhood to make an advent wreath. Today I picked up these branches on my walk down the allies!

4. Make the pies:

This recipe card is very old!

On Wednesday I will make pies-- several, because we need one for breakfast on Friday! My pumpkin pie recipe-

Ingredients:

• 4 c. pumpkin
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. each ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg

Makes one large pie-

1- Make the pastry and line the pie plate. Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

2- Put half of the pumpkin and half of the milk in the blender with one egg and blend until pureed.

3- Pour into a mixer bowl, and repeat with the second batch.

This is a double batch- enough for two pies.

4- Add sugar, salt, and spices to the mixer bowl and mix on low, then pour into pie shell.

5- Bake at 450ºF for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 375ºF and bake for 45 minutes.