A Few Days In Pictures

 Watching

The sky as it was on Sunday morning just after 7 a.m.
It was nice to capture a morning without an overcast sky and rain.

Baking

Saturday I decided to make  a simple Chili Con Carne in the Instant Pot.

It looks a bit greasy but there is no added oil and the beef was lean.

That gave me a craving for freshly baked bread. I started making it very late but was able to enjoy it fresh before bed time. It was so delicious.

~~~~~~~~~

Reading

New books I'm reading

Book #54

  

The description of The Couple Next Door makes me think it's based on Madeline McCann's story.

I've read the first few chapters and it seems very likely the books is based on Madeline McCann's disappearance but the details are probably creative imaginings.

If you are unfamiliar with the Madeline McCann story you can click here to read.

Book #55

I haven't actually started this book (#55) yet but it involves a young girl of 10 who lives with her mother in Vancouver.  A relative from China who was involved in the Tienanmen Square demonstration arrives to seek refuge with them.  You can read more about the book here.

 ~~~~~~~~~~

Eating 

When I am out and about on errands I usually have to have one meal out and most often it is a late dinner. 

Here are two recent dishes both from Vietnamese restaurants.  Both very delicious though in the 2nd dish the vegetables were almost raw. That didn't bother me because I've read that raw or very lightly cooked is much healthier.

Hot and sour chicken soup and a shrimp salad roll with peanut sauce.

Crispy noodle seafood and vegetables.

 Christmas

After decluttering two weeks ago and getting rid of my 4.5 foot Christmas tree I managed to purchase a more suitable one for my living space.  I'd used it for about 15 years, possibly longer so I got my money's worth.

I wanted a new one because I found it difficult to put the Christmas lights on and it is increasingly difficult each year to find floor space to accommodate it.

I gifted my old tree  to a lady who is receiving visitors from Ireland for Christmas and wants to make the house nice and cosy.

I wanted to buy a  table top tree but when I was out shopping I couldn't find a small white one. This week I finally saw the kind I'm looking for in a flyer but the only colour choices were pink and blue. 

In the meantime I've purchased a 4 foot tree. It is pre-lit and about half the circumference of the one I gave away.  

Now I'm searching for a star to put on top. The one I purchased from Michael's was far too heavy so I'll keep on looking.

I also managed to buy a few Christmas gifts. 

I still have to purchase something for my niece but I've spotted something that might be suitable to add to the puzzle I already purchased. She loves puzzles and is very good at them.

I purchased  a few more balls of yarn for the granny square afghan I'm making
I'm not sure what happened but on my way home the balls of yarn went astray.
I called the two places I stopped on the way home and they don't have my yarn.
I'm not happy because of the loss of funds and the loss of time in going to buy them.

I will need to return tomorrow to buy more yarn as I've run out today.
Thankfully I didn't lose something much bigger.

Home Improvements

I finally purchased a long curtain rod for my front room.  In early Fall I purchased and installed a rod and my curtains but it didn't work out. Within 2 hours the whole thing sagged. I took it down and have been looking for a longer one ever since.

I'm going to try and put the new one up and see if it sags.
I wanted to buy additional supports due to the problem I had last time.  But the female sales representative said she used to work in draperies and the rod I was buying was strong enough without additional supports. I doubted her but decided to try it out. I sure hope she is right and that I won't need more brackets otherwise I will have to return to the store and order what I need before the curtains can finally go up.

I also bought some weather strips to put around doors and will get some bubble wrap to put on the large windows to cut down on drafts.  I learned this latter tip from a woman on You Tube called Alaskan Granny.
I've gone years without weather proofing though one year I did put plastic on the lower half of my windows.  That really helped a lot.  This winter I don't want drafts. My feet get too cold.

Making

I'm beavering away on the granny squares and think I will have enough soon. At least I can now envision the final

product.
I'm liking how it looks and the colours seem very popular with the women.
I will show a photo soon. I'll wait until I get to a point where you can see how the final product is shaping up.

I'm not sure yet if I will gift it or try to sell it. It seems there is always someone who can use an afghan for those chilly nights.  As for the three extra afghans I've made, I gave one to a friend for her birthday (berry and pink colours) and I will give one to a friend and one to my brother for Christmas. Both of these are in shades of beige, grey and mustard colours. I haven't yet started on the grey, black and white afghan.

I wish all of you a great weekend ahead.
Prayers for those suffering right now as a result of Malibu fires and other tragedies around the world.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving if you are celebrating in the USA.
Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays besides Christmas and Easter.
In Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving in October.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday today.

Cocooning

It snowed two nights ago and it also got very cold.  After running errands on Sunday I didn't venture too far today.

In fact I feel very tired and quite cold.  I've got  the heat turned up high and am just taking things easy.
I even cancelled a hair appointment for tomorrow but hope to run a few errands later this week and possibly  take in a workshop on Friday. It really depends on  how much snow we get because more snow is forecast for a few more times this week.  It's highly unusual for us at this time of the year.

 In the meantime, I'm cocooning by reading cosy books, making slow dinners, watching small apartment decor videos and organizing videos, watching movies and once again making some bread.  I seldom really learn anything from the You Tube videos where everyone seems to want to show how they have decorated and show you ever single thing they own and where they put it. I do love to see how others live in their spaces but I do not like hearing the word "random" over and over again in the same video or hearing about every single area or item in one's home.  A nice overview will do and then perhaps draw audience attention to a few specific highlights or design ideas. 
But that's just me. I'm sure others like all the detail and additional information

~~~~~~

Have any of you see the old movie called "Black Narcissus" with Deborah Kerr?
It's a psychological drama about the emotional tensions of jealousy and longing within a convent of nuns in an isolated valley in the Himalayas.

I saw it once or twice before and I enjoyed watching it again on the weekend. 
Somehow the ill wind in the Himalayas seemed apropos for the weather and feelings it brought over the past few days. I'm talking literal weather now, not psychological.  Thank heavens.
~~~~ 

Speaking of movies, my brother and I went to see the Black Panther movie on Friday which was opening night.  We went early to avoid dealing with the sell out crowds.

It was a terrific movie and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. It will be an especially important movie for young black (not just North Americans but also in other countries) kids and youth.  It enables them to see a good movie with their own kind playing the leading roles.  The plot was decent for a movie based on comic book characters and  the special effects were great.

I always like to see a good, clean movie with no gratuitous sex scenes.  In fact, there were no sex scenes at all in this movie though it wasn't devoid of romantic relationships which are a normal part of life.

~~~~

On the home making front, the cushions I am remaking are not all done.  New stuffing has been added to the 3 cushions I remade (and the outer liners taken apart and washed 3 times).  Then they've been stuffed into the newly purchased, newly washed store bought cushion covers.  All except for the very large cushion (in ivory muslin) for which I'll probably have to sew up a cover.  I think I need to make 2 more cushions from scratch so I can use all my new cushion covers.
I'm sharing a hurriedly shot photo of one decor option featuring one of the recently made afghans and some of the new cushions.  My apologies for the poor lighting but it is difficult to get enough light at this time of year.
I also can't take a full on photo so it is a bit of a weird angle to view things but it will have to do.
I've moved one of my large photos from above the sofa and replaced it with the floral one to coordinate with the gold cushions. The floral photo used to be above my fire place so I've simply switched out photos for now rather than buy completely new wall art.
If I had to buy a new piece I'd have to store all my other ones because they won't coordinate.
I don't want to spend the additional money. Nor do I want to add things to my dusty storage area.

Here is one decor option with my new cushions and one of the afghans.

This is my cosy read of the moment. It's lovely to see all the cottages.

In the bread making department I'm sharing the recipe I used I've made this one several times.  It always turns out good.  It's from the Robin Hood  website and I doubled the recipe so I could make some buns and some cinnamon rolls. I'm all out of raisins so this time it will just be cinnamon and brown sugar in the buns. 

The cinnamon buns are super small after forming and shaping a dozen medium sized buns.  I didn't put any cream cheese frosting on them. I usually prefer them without frosting.

Ingredients:

1 tsp (5 mL) sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) water, warm
1 envelope (8 g) active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp/11 mL)
1 cup (250 mL) milk
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter or margarine
2 tbsp (30 mL) sugar
1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) water, warm
5 1/2 cups (1375 mL) white flour

 

 

Directions:

1. DISSOLVE 1 teaspoon (5 mL) sugar in 1/2 cup (125 mL) warm water in large bowl. Sprinkle in yeast. Let stand 10 minutes, then stir well.
2. HEAT milk to lukewarm. Stir in butter, 2 tablespoons (30 mL) sugar, salt and 1/2 cup (125 mL) warm water. Add milk mixture and 2 cups (500 mL) white flour to dissolved yeast mixture. Beat with wooden spoon or electric mixer until smooth and elastic.
3. STIR IN 2 1/2 cups (625 mL) of remaining flour gradually. If necessary, add more flour to make a soft dough which leaves sides of bowl. Turn out on floured board. Round up into a ball.
4. KNEAD dough, adding more flour as necessary, until dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky (about 10 minutes).
5. PLACE in lightly greased bowl. Turn dough to greased top. Cover with greased waxed paper and tea towel.
6. LET RISE in warm place (75°-85°F/24°-29°C) until doubled (45-60 minutes).
7. PUNCH DOWN. Turn out onto lightly floured board and divide into 2 equal portions. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
8. SHAPE each portion into a loaf. Place seam side down in 2 greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 2 3/4" (1.5 L) loaf pans. Cover with tea towel.
9. LET RISE in warm place until dough rises 1 1/2" (3 cm) above top of pan in centre and corners are filled (45 to 60 minutes).
10. BAKE at 400°F (200°C) on lower oven rack for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately. Brush top crust with butter if a soft crust is desired. Cool on wire racks.
11. QUICK NOTE: This recipe makes 2 loaves.

I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer to mix up all the dough but once it is mixed I knead it by hand for a few minutes. 

I don't knead it for 10 minutes like recipes usually recommend due to arthritis.  

I've only really made bread in this fashion after trying a bread machine many years ago but not liking it much. 

There are many people who do use a bread machine and they like it just fine. 

Home made bread, whichever method you use to make it is a real treat.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday this week. 

Have an awesome week ahead.

Two Loaves

I was surprised to discover I hadn't made any basic white bread for quite some time. Years in fact. I more or less know how long because I inevitably post the bread images and recipes here.  This bread I've made before and you can find it by using "bread" in the blog search box (upper left corner).  My last few bread baking sessions have focussed on making healthier breads but on Wednesday I felt like some good white bread.

I didn't think to take photos until the baking was done.  I could hardly wait to taste the bread but it needed to cool first. When I finally had a taste the bread was very moist inside and crunchy on the outside. Just perfect. Is there anything better than warm bread with butter or jam or both on a cool day? Next time I go shopping I will see if there is any multigrain flour in the shop. I haven't looked for it since the grocery store changed hands. If there is none I can purchase some whole wheat flour and perhaps a small bag of white flour too. In thinking about the title for this post it reminded me of the miraculous story of the five loaves and two fish, except instead of two fish I have two loaves *wink.  Many of you will know the story very well. Others of you may not have heard how Jesus fed a multitude of people (5000 people) on five loaves of bread and two fish that a young boy in the crowd had with him.   

 ~~~~~

John 6:10-14

¹⁰ And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

¹¹ And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

¹² When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

¹³ Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

¹⁴ Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

~~~~~~

What an awesome miracle.
 I have an equally awesome miracle to share with you. A miracle that occurred over Christmas.  For sure, Jesus is still in the miracle working business. If you've ever been a part of a miracle you know how exciting it is.  I will share the story here on the blog so please visit again soon.
Deb and her readers at Friday Foto Friends might be interested in this story.

This week I was also reminiscing about the beautiful walks along the waterfront that I took in late Fall. We had a spectacular Fall season. I always enjoy Fall. I have a few photos of dogs and birds which I want to share with Eileen and participants in Saturday Critters.

Can you spot the dog and the geese?  There's also a seagull in the background on the rocks.

Last but not least, I'm sharing a fabulous sky from the first day of this year, 2018.

 It was a real delight to have such a fabulous sky greet me on the very first day of the year. 

It is very unusual because it is generally rainy season. Having said that the weather has now warmed up several degrees and so we are back to some rain.  The weather can change very quickly on the coast.

The first photo was what it looked like here on New Year's Eve Day and on New Year's Day.

The last photo was taken at twilight on January 1, 2018.

I am blessed to see the beautiful mountains whenever the sky is clear.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing a piece of your day with me.

Joining in with

Skywatch Friday

 Friday Foto Friends

&

Saturday's Critters

No Knead Bread

I've made No Knead Bread only once before but it was the kind that sits overnight in the fridge. It was a different recipe that I seem to have lost and it was a lot stickier than the new recipe I've found. I see the photos that came with the recipe and they show a lot stickier dough than mine though I followed the recipe to the letter (not my usual style, lol).

Anyway, these are photos of the bread. I only let the dough sit for 2 hours, formed them into loaves and let them rise for another 30 minutes before baking. 

Click here for a link to the recipe and all the instructions. I didn't let mine get quite as brown on top for the smoke was starting just as I checked the bread at 30 minute mark. I deemed them done!

The bread is very hot so needs to be cooled off before biting into a slice or two.

They turned out very crusty and that is how I like it!

Have you tried making No Knead Bread before? 

Do you like it?

Gluten Free

Hello friends,

As I was cleaning out and organizing my kitchen cabinets the other day, I took stock of the various specialty flours I've purchased over time and never used. I decided they must be used soon. This will not only free up more kitchen cabinet space but also allow me to test how they affect my blood glucose levels. Right now I have: millet flour, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, maize flour, dark rye flour, coconut flour and some kind of gluten free all purpose flour made by Red Mills.

I decided to try the All Purpose Baking Flour first as I need a bit of bread. This flour contains a blend of gluten free flours from potatoes, sorghum, tapioca, garbanzo and fava beans and is designed for those sensitive to wheat and gluten. This mix can be used for homemade cakes, cookies, breads, muffins, pancakes and waffles.

After mixing the flour was quite lumpy.  The directions said to flatten or smooth out the top with a wet spatula. I did do that.  I see that the bread dough did not bake and smooth out but that is fine by me. The shininess comes from the butter I spread on after baking.

It came to a nice golden colour all around except in the very center of the loaf. The instructions are to bake the loaf for an hour but after ten minutes you put a layer of tin foil over top to prevent it from getting too brown. As you can see the edges of the loaf are much darker because I didn't tightly close the foil over the edges.

The profile of the bread makes the loaf look flat. It isn't quite flat but neither is it nice and round like most loaves made with wheat flour. I am sure that is because this is a gluten free loaf. Read the role of gluten in bread here.

Taste test: After baking the bread which I found to be light and moist, I gave it a taste test.  While it wasn't my absolute favourite, there really was nothing wrong with it. I usually prefer a heavier texture than these slices of  bread but overall I think this bread will serve nicely when toasted or butter with bread (and/or jam.

The bread recipe was taken from the package on the flour.

 I read several online reviews of people who also used the flour. It seems that people either love it or hate it. If you don't mind the taste and you have gluten sensitivities this flour would be a good all purpose flour for you to try. I found it didn't have a huge spike on my blood glucose levels after I ate some.  I may try it again for making cookies or cakes in future.  For now, I will use up the flours I already have.

A Craving Fulfilled

Hello friends,

I've been very sick this past week. I contracted food poisoning and I think it was from some boxed fish purchased at the supermarket. I ate it a week ago and by the next evening I was suffering. By Thursday noon I was suffering even more. I finally went to the doctor on Saturday.  I'm happy to report that I'm doing better and am finally getting back to normal.

Just yesterday it started to rain here. It didn't rain a lot but the sky is gray and the earth is a bit wet. have to say we have had a LONG run of sunny, hot or very warm weather. I guess Fall has now caught up with us.

As I was taking a shot toward the mountains, a plane flew overhead. It looks lonely up there against a dismal sky.

Whenever I have a bout of sickness, combined with overcast weather, I tend to want some home cooked "comfort" foods. I seldom make white bread any more but today I made both pizza dough (using Wolfgang Puck's recipe) and French Bread rolls (actually these recipes are almost identical
with the bread rolls requiring more flour).  Yesterday I made home made lentil and vegetable soup. I wish I had some today to go with the rolls but the rolls with butter will be nice!

The pizza dough will be use used today to make one vegetable pizza.  I think I will use cauliflower, peppers, eggplant and feta.  The other ball of dough will be used to make one meat pizza (pepperoni, salami, onions).

While my bread bun dough was rising, I roasted the vegetables for my pizza. It would have been nice to use some cherry tomatoes. Usually I have some on hand but none today.

A mix of garlic, yellow peppers, eggplant and cauliflower. I would have added cherry tomatos but I didn't have any on hand.

Before it goes in the oven.

After baking.

I almost left it in the oven too long.

Sorry about the shadows in the photo.

The buns are nice and crusty on both sides. I guess that's why they are called French bread rolls but I almost left them too long in the oven.

I'm off to eat. 

Tomorrow I will make some vegetable soup to go with the buns.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Afterwards: Taste test for the buns. These buns were absolutely delicious. So soft and fresh inside and slightly crunchy on the outside. The pizza was slighlty salty with the feta and the crust was nice and crunchy.   Just how I like it though I know I will love it more with the addition of cherry tomatoes.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday here. Happy weekend to you and your loved ones. xx

Millet & 5 Grain Cereal Loaf

Hello friends,

Life continues to move along at a quick clip here on the west coast of Canada. I've been catching up to a lot of things and enjoying as much as I can.

A friend and I recently went to the newly released movie "12 Years a Slave". It is a heartbreaking story about a man, Solomon Northrup, a free black man who was captured and sold into slavery for 12 long years.  After he was freed and reunited with his wife and children, he wrote the story of his capture and enslavement and the movie is based on this first hand account.  It is not a pretty movie in terms of it's content but well worth watching for a glimpse into our sordid past as North Americans.

Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

George Santayana 

The idealist in me hopes that when we learn from our past mistakes we are less likely to repeat them. I know this isn't always true but one can have positive hopes for the future.  Slavery still goes on today (sex slaves, child labourers and others) and it is something we must be alert to and try to stamp out.

On a lighter note, I've been busily crafting and making crocheted hexagons for an afghan I'm making for Christmas. I'm also thinking of several small gifts for different people which I can make in a short time since my 3 larger gifts are taking quite a while to make. I will be making some crocheted snowflake ornaments for a few people and also some dishcloths. I started on 2 of my quilts back in September but haven't finished them off yet. I hope to do that after I've got my hexagons finished.

I haven't been baking for a long while, partly for health reasons and partly because I usually bake in the winter months when we have cool temperatures.  Well the cooler weather has definitely arrived so I've been getting the urge to bake.  I have had a bag of millet flour (Bob's Red Mill brand) that I purchased awhile back and wanted to use.  I have been experimenting with it.

Click here to learn more about millet flour. I know a number of people who eat gluten-free but so far none of them have mentioned millet flour. Instead they tend to use rice flour. When I've travelled to Kenya, I've eaten millet porridge which is rather tasty. Millet is high in antioxidants and can be helpful in controlling diabetes and inflammation. I think we will be hearing about and seeing a lot more millet flour on the North American grocery shelves in the not too distant future. Hopefully that means the price of it will also come down.  One of my pet peeves is how expensive everything is in Canada when it is "new" on the shelves and it then becomes a trendy or "yuppie" product which is not so accessible to the masses.

I baked a couple of items based on the ingredients I had on hand. I will post the results for the next 3 Sundays (including today).  I don't think this recipe is gluten free because the 5 grain cereals sometimes have wheat in them. I've long thrown out my bag so I can't be precise on the ingredients so please adapt as you need to if you are gluten intolerant.

This isn't like a regular loaf of bread. This is more like a corn meal bread type of consistency but isn't sweet. Sorry for the blurred photo but the night lighting isn't good in my home.

Ingredients

1 cup millet flour

1 1/4 cups of 5 grain cereal (use food processor to grind medium fine)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt 

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons oil

1 cup milk

Directions

 
Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit.

Oil a loaf pan.
Sift all dry ingredients together. 

Beat eggs and add oil and milk.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Do not over mix. Bake until golden brown.  

In my oven which is a little slow, it took 35 minutes to bake this loaf. You'll need to experiment with your oven.  I'd recommend starting with 20 minutes and increase the time as needed.

This loaf is a bit like corn bread without the sweetener.  Feel free to add a bit of sweetener if you prefer.

I had a slice with butter after cooling.  Yum!

I had better sign out now and carry on with my crafting. I've got so much to do to be ready in time for Christmas.  For that reason I'm always so thankful that we celebrate Thanksgiving in October where I live.

I'll be around to visit your blogs when I have a few moments in between crocheting.

I'm joining up with the lovely Hannapat at the Weekly Bake (click on the photo above).

                                                                Have a wonderful week!

The Wonders of Yeast Dough

Hi friends,

I'm feeling very stressed at the moment with mom in hospital.  I've talked to her a few times and she insists that I visit her despite the fact my brother and nephew are there with her to take care of her needs. I'm torn because I usually am there for her but I am exhausted and for a variety of reasons including a flu bug, I cannot visit her.

All this has me thinking of days when I was a little girl and mom was there making me feel secure. She used to make yeast bread and when I would come home from school on a snowy, wintery day, my mouth would water to smell the yeast bread wafting through the house.  She would also use part of her yeast dough to make cinnamon buns.    It is funny how we associate scents and aromas with feelings but did you know that cinnamon has a multitude of benefits? Read more about that here.

I don't have the recipe mom used to use when I was a child but I found a good one on line. I doubled this recipe to have enough dough for cinnamon buns and two small loaves of bread.

So the wonder of the yeast bread for me is not just the wonderful taste but the memories and the feelings of home, comfort, security and love. Blessings to you all this weekend.

Yeast Bread Recipe

• 4 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 3 tablespoons honey or 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

1. Dissolve yeast in water, add honey and let stand until it bubbles, approx 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Add salt and oil to yeast mixture, then add flour a little at time until you have a stiff dough.
3.Turn dough out on a floured surface and mold into a ball shape. Place in pan and cover; let rise for about an hour.
4. Punch down the ball of dough and mold it into a loaf shape to fit you bread pan. Cover with a towel and let raise again until it doubled in size.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 45 minutes. Bread is done when it is golden brown and sounds hollow when thumped.

This recipe is from http://www.food.com

Two loaves of yeast bread, and....a pan of........

Cinnamon buns with raisins and walnuts fresh out of the oven. They aren't as brown as I would like but the syrup was running over and I didn't want to start a fire.

Cinnamon buns with glaze on them.

Baking for a Season

Welcome to my newest follower, Rachel. 
It's so nice to have you :-)

When I was browsing blogs the other day after making the loaves of bread from a fellow bloggers recipe, I also came across a blogger who made and froze chocolate chip cookies. I can't remember exactly where now but she didn't have the recipe on her blog, just a note about making Hershey's chocolate chip cookies. So on Saturday I decided to google the recipe and make them.  I also made pizza dough and pumpkin pie for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner.

I made 4 dozen cookies in 3 different sizes. The recipe says you can get 5 dozen cookies from this recipe but I tend to make mine a little larger.

Lots of cookies for the freezer!

Here everything is marked as to the contents of the bags and the dates of the packing though I hardly think they will last past due date in the freezer.

Another view of the goods all laid out for the freezer. I saw the steam was gathering on the bread so I let that out before closing up the bag and popping it in the freezer.

This is the recipe for Pumpkin Pie for Sunday's dinner.


Ingredients

* 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
* 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon mace (I skipped the mace because I don't generally have it on hand).
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 eggs
* 1 (398 ml) can 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1/2 cup cream or evaporated Milk
* 3/4 milk, scalded

# Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl and add cream or evaporated milk. Stir egg mixture into pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Add scalded milk and stir just until blended. Pour into chilled pie shell.
# Bake for 15 minutes in 425 degree F. oven. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately with mounds of whipped cream or refrigerate.

My pie crust is a little dark around the edges. I think the problem was I used a very deep plate and it isn't really a pie plate. it exposed too much of the pie dough to the heat. That is my guess but I could be wrong. The big mark in the middle is made by my testing whether the pie was done. Once I cut it you won't see that. I hope the pie crust takes okay. If not to my liking I will have to keep looking for a recipe that works for me.

Taste test:  The pie was actually quite good and the crust didn't taste burnt in any way. The crust was soft but it wasn't what I would consider flaky. Perhaps if I didn't have to roll it out so thin it would have been much flakier. The filling was very nice. It was not very sweet.  It was creamy and very subtle in it's flavours. It was perfect for me but others might prefer a sweeter, spicier pie filling. In that case, add a bit more sugar and another 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of the indicated spices. I tasted mine without the whipped cream and I think this would be my preferred way to eat it because it's texture is already nice and creamy.  You will probably want to have whipped cream on hand for those who love to eat pumpkin pie this way though.

On Sunday, I will be making turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and a side dish to go along with the pumpkin pie. This will be a smaller feast than usual. I am just happy to have the bird and will use the left overs for all sorts of wonderful dishes like turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and turkey casserole. Yum! This little bird will prepare a feast for a week.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

CANADIANS

:-))