Pumpkin Pie 101

Anyone can bake a pie, and if you’re just starting out, a pumpkin pie is a perfect place to start! The ingredients are simple and little tweaks can make it better than the store bought version!

Here’s how I make mine: firstly, I make things easy on myself by using pre-rolled refrigerated pie crust. None of my friends can tell the difference between it and my from scratch version (but if you want to do it, here’s a great recipe). I also don’t bother with fresh pumpkin - the canned stuff has a good texture and is so much less hassle. Some people used evaporated milk instead of condensed, but I like the latter better. Here’s my full shopping list:

• 1 Pre-Rolled Pie Crust
  
• 1 Can of Pumpkin Puree (not filling)
  
• 1 Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
  
• 2 Eggs
  
• 1 T of Pumpkin Pie Spice
  
• Dash of Freshly Ground Nutmeg
  
• Heavy Whipping Cream
  
• ¼ C Powdered Sugar
  

Set your over to 425 F and take your chilled dough out of the fridge. I like to grease my pie plate but if you forget your pie will still come out nicely (there’s fat in the crust). Now crimp your edges and put the pie crust back in the fridge.

Now mix together your pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk, egg and spices until smooth. It’s my personal pie making philosophy that you can taste fresh nutmeg and I put it in almost all of my pies. Just a dash will do and it’ll make all the difference!

Next pour your mixture into your chilled crust and pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Lower your temp to 350 and cook for another 45. I usually put on a pie shield on my crust now (you can also just use aluminum foil!). When cooked, the center should still be slightly jiggly (technical term). Now turn the oven off and let the pie cool slowly. This will help any cracks from forming on the top. 

Once your pie has completely cooled, you can top with freshly made whipped cream. That’s just heavy whipping cream and a little powdered sugar beat on high until stiff. If it starts clumping together you’ve gone too far and made butter, so keep an eye on it! In these pictures I was low on time so I just used store bought whipped cream, which is fine too! 

I also like to top with candied pecans which are just melted butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans. 

See! You can make a pie! And it’ll be delicious! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Whole 30 | Week I Recap & Shopping List

Hey hey! We are 25% of the way into our Whole 30 (see my prep post here & results post here). In short - it’s going great! Adam and I feel good and are enjoying our meals. Last week I was a meticulous record keeper and documented what I ate so that I could share a meal plan and grocery list! So… here we go!

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Day One

• Brunch (got a late start!) | Three eggs cooked in ghee, sauteed spinach and peppers, blueberries
  
• Snack | Green apple with sunbutter and almond flakes
  
• Dinner | Turkey Meatballs in homemade tomato sauce with zucchini noodles
  

Day Two

• Breakfast | Chia Bowl (chia seeds + almond milk, topped with strawberries, blueberries, almonds, pecans and unsweetened coconut flakes
  
• Lunch | Turkey Meatball leftovers (3) with hot sauce, 3 eggs, sauteed spinach, ½ avocado
  
• Dinner | Cowboy Skillet (shredded green plantains, onions, chorizo) with egg on top and tomatoes, pickled jalepenos and avocado
  

Day Three

• Breakfast | Scrambled Eggs, Chorizo, Sautéed spinach, ½ avocato
  
• Lunch | Turkey Meatballs (4), Roasted sweet potato
  
• Dinner | Grilled Chicken Breast and Grilled Peppers and Zucchini
  

Day Four

• Breakfast | Deli Smoked Turkey Breast, Scrambled Eggs, ½ Avocado
  
• Lunch | Left over Cowboy Skillet, Two Eggs, Grapes
  
• Dinner | Cuban Burgers (Pork patties, pickles, mustard, deli turkey on Plaintain “bun”), Sweet potato wedges with spicy mayo (hot sauce mixed with mayo), Sauteed Spinach
  

Day Five

• Breakfast | Chia Bowl (same as above)
  
• Lunch | Three Eggs, Sauteed Spinach
  
• Snack | Banana with Sunbutter and Almonds
  
• Dinner | Steak with Potato Wedges
  

Day Six

• Breakfast | Scramble with kale, peppers, onion and left over steak, homefries (from left over potatoes)
  
• Lunch | Turkey Burgers with Avocado, Spicy Mayo and Roasted Carrots
  
• Dinner | Smoked Pork Loin, Corn on the Cob, Spinach Salad (with tomatoes, avocado, almonds and spicy mayo)
  

Day Seven

• Breakfast | Hard boiled eggs, bacon and melon
  
• Lunch | Pulled Pork BBQ (paleo version), pickles, onions and Potato Wedges
  
• Dinner (at a friend’s house) | Zucchini Salad (onions, tomatoes, olive oil, ACV, salt), chicken kabob
  

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Phew! Let me back up a little and fess up a bit. We have not been super strict on a couple things like mayo, bacon or deli meat. Sure - we could be die hards, but we feel like this is a pretty big challenge as is and are cutting ourselves a bit of slack for trace amounts of noncompliant ingredients.  

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Speaking of ingredients, how about a shopping list! Drumroll please…

Grocery List

Meats:

• Chicken Breasts (8 total)
  
• Chorizo (1 pound)
  
• Ground Turkey (2 pounds light, 2 pounds dark)
  
• Smoked Deli Turkey Breast (½ pound)*
  
• Ground Pork (1 pound)
  
• Hoosier Strip Steaks (1 pound)
  
• Pulled Pork (1 pound)
  
• Bacon (1 pound)*
  

Fruits and Berries

• Green Apples (4)
  
• Banana (one bunch)
  
• Grapes (one package)
  
• Blueberries (two pints)
  
• Strawberries (two pints)
  
• Avocados (5)
  
• Melon (1)
  

Veggies:

• Sweet Potatoes (4)
  
• White Potatoes (4)
  
• Baby Spinach (1 pound)
  
• Green Plantains (3)
  
• Sweet Peppers (one package)
  
• Onions (1 pound)
  
• Carrots (1 pound)
  
• Kale (one bunch)
  
• Corn on the Cob (2 ears)
  
• Small Tomatoes (quart)
  
• Zucchini (homegrown)
  
• Basil (homegrown)
  

Pantry Items

• Light Olive Oil
  
• Sunbutter
  
• Sliced Almonds
  
• Pecans
  
• Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
  
• Apple Cider Vinegar
  
• Coconut Oil
  
• Pickled Jalepenos
  
• Diced Tomatoes (2 cans)
  
• Mayo*
  
• Hot Sauce
  
• Almond Milk*
  
• Chia Seeds
  
• Date Balls covered in almonds
• Le Croix (2 cases)

Other: 

• Ghee
  
• Eggs (3 dozen)
  

We did one big shopping trip at the start of the week, then again four days later, plus a stop at the farmer’s market on Saturday. In addition to the list above was kids’ stuff, but they aren’t doing the Whole 30 so I’ve omitted it. Our spending was up this week, but we won’t need to buy more expensive items (like ghee, coconut oil, olive oil) every week. Now our fridge is so beautifully organized and clean, which makes it easy to grab what we need and see all of our options! We’ve eaten a lot of leftovers and really been good about not wasting food! 

Meal wise we’re loving this! Kitchen time wise - ehh - I’m really glad I have a partner in cooking and cleaning up. Otherwise I don’t think I could handle the extra work of cooking three meals a day with two kids underfoot. It does help to prep ahead of time and leftovers are a Godsend. 

Onwards to Week Two! 

Jessica Bakes | Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I haven’t been in the kitchen nearly as much as I’d like lately, but for Father’s Day I cook Adam and homemade breakfast (biscuits and sausage gravy) and then we hosted my in laws for lunch. For dessert I made strawberry lemonade cupcakes and the best part - no artificial colors or flavors were used! Here’s how I did it…

For the cupcakes I used a lemon cupcake recipe I found online here. I minimized the batch to a dozen servings, but actually ended up only having enough batter for 10 cupcakes. No problem - we can’t eat that many anyway! The only recommendation I have is to bake slightly less than the 17 minutes suggested. My cake was a little on the dry side - but still delicious! 

For the frosting, I modified a recipe I saw a while back online. It’s a basic buttercream base (stick of butter, tablespoon of vanilla, tablespoon of lemon juice and 2-3 cups of powdered sugar). To get the strawberry flavor (this is nuts), I emptied out two boxes of Special K to get all of the freeze dried berries out. My grocery didn’t carry them separately so at 7am on a Sunday morning I had to be creative. And it worked! It ended up being about .02 oz which doesn’t seem like a lot, but was probably a half to ¾ cup. To make them into a powder, I ran them through my coffee grinder and then a fine mesh sieve. I admit I’m not super perfect with measuring - I like to taste and adjust as I go. This made for a pretty thick frosting - you could add a little milk or more lemon juice to thin it out to your desired piping consistency. 

I love this idea especially because of the lack of food coloring (which I’m not all together opposed to, but the more natural you can make something, the better in my opinion). The flavor is great too! Down the road I will experiment with other fruits too (I know Target carries freeze dried fruit for my own future reference). I think I might try adding powdered fruits to my favorite cream cheese frosting - maybe a swirl of plain and flavored? Mmmmmm. 

I topped my cupcakes with fresh farmer’s market berries. I find the smaller local berries to be much more flavorful than the jumbo kind available year round.  

These make for a perfect June treat! 

Jessica Bakes | Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

I have been on a roll with baking cupcakes lately! A few weeks ago I did four dozen using spirits from my husband’s distillery for a party they held (see photos with details here and here) and then I did red velvet cupcakes for the Super Bowl. 

Today I’m sharing a recipe I’ve been tweaking for the past couple of weeks - Mint Chocolate Cupcakes! I think the key is in the kind of mint you use and how much… read on for details!

Chocolate Mint Cakes 

Yields 16

• 3 T butter, softened
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 C, 2T sugar
  
• 1 C flour
  
• ½ C unsweetened cocoa
  
• 1 ½ t baking powder
  
• 1/8 t baking soda
  
• ¾ C milk
  
• ½ t vanilla extract
  
• 1 drop peppermint extract
  
• 1 drop spearmint oil
  

Preheat your over to 350 and line your cupcake tin with parchment liners.

Cream together soft butter and sugar in a mixer until combined.  Add one egg at a time and mix thoroughly.

In another bowl, sift together remaining dry ingredients.

Add vanilla, spearmint and peppermint to milk.

Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients to batter, making sure to fully combine. 

Give it a good whip on high. Fill liners about half way to ¾ full using an ice cream scoop (this was a tool that really upped my game!)

Bake 17 minutes and check with a toothpick to ensure center is baked through (a clean toothpick means they are ready to come out!)

While they are cooling, prep your icing!

Mint Cream Cheese Icing with Oreos

This is my favorite icing base and I use it for every kind of flavor I do! Be VERY careful adding the mint extract and oil… the smallest amount goes a very long way and gives a wonderful nuance to the flavor. Too much and it tastes like toothpaste!

Yields enough to frost 16-20 cupcakes

• 6 oz cream cheese, softed
  
• 6 oz butter, softened
  
• 2 C powdered sugar
  
• 2 drops green food coloring
  
• 1 drop blue food coloring
  
• 1 drop spearmint oil*
  
• 1 drop peppermint extract*
  
• 2 Oreo Cookies, smashed
  

Cream together softened cream cheese and butter until fully combined and fluffy. 

Slowly add powdered sugar in ½ C increments.

Add food coloring and mix until pigment is combined.

*Now for the mint. Using a spoon, drip one drop of each flavor and let it roll off the spoon. Stir the icing with that spoon and remix to incorporate flavor. Taste your icing and repeat if necessary. 

When flavor is to your liking, fold in crumbled Oreo cookies, leaving enough crumbs to garnish your frosted cupcakes.

Once cupcakes have completely cooled, use a large star tip (Wilton 1M shown here) to ice and top with crumbled cookies.