I made a REAL pumpkin pie!!

I'll be the first to tell you that I don't bake.  I don't do much in the kitchen except the dishes and make mac and cheese, chicken nuggets with tator tots or scrambled eggs for the boys.  However, last week when we did our pumpkins, Brendan decided that he wanted me to try and make pie with it.

Oh boy.....

So I searched the web to see what I could come up with.  Apparently, not many people recommend using a Jack 'O Lantern pumpkin to make pie.  Who knew there were "pie pumpkins" out there??  Certainly not me, for obvious reasons.  I came up with this site and opted to go with it.  She seemed to know what she was talking about.  After all, I'm clueless and she's the expert.

My filling prep turned out a little different since Brendan was carving the pumpkins and scraping out the guts for me to use.

I cooked everything for about 20 min on med heat until it looked like it was done.  The recipe lady was right....it does end up looking pretty watery. 

I blended it in the blender until it was smooth and followed the rest of her instructions pretty much to the "T", except I didn't feel like buying 4 different spices, so I got Pumpkin Pie Spice.  It had the cloves, all spice, ginger etc already in it, so why not??  I used about 1/2 tbsp in my pie.  I also used a Pillsbury pie crust from the refrigerated section of the store.  I'm attempting to make my first pie, there's no way I'm going to try and make the crust too.

Into the oven it went.....

and I was feel pretty good about it.  Luckily I had some test subjects over who braved a taste test, and everyone said it turned out really good.  I wasn't sure if they were being nice, or serious.  Brendan asked me if it was going to be safe to eat when it was in the oven.  I assumed he meant because we used a Jack 'O Lantern pumpkin.  A little while later I figured out he really meant because I had baked it.  hahahaaa! Oh ye of little faith.

Anyway, here's the final result.  My mom had some the following day, and she agreed that it was indeed delicious.  Her only advice was to pre-bake the crust (it got a little soggy the next day.  Okay, a lot soggy.) and to add more pumpkin pie spice.  Then she told me I really should have bought all the individual spices to use instead of cheating. 

Would I make this again?  Absolutely.  I have to, I have 2 more pies worth of pumpkin goop in my freezer.  :o) 1