Apple Blueberry (Pear) Crisp and Mashed Potato Sculpting

As I sat at my dining room table (ah, to be home) eating remnants of my Apple Blueberry (Pear) Crisp for breakfast, I realized I still had yet to post about Thanksgiving! I didn't do half as much cooking as I did for our RA Thanksgiving, but everything was there in full and oh-so-delicious. I made a crisp and after I realized my picture perfect dinner rolls were ruined (the shortening was from...well, I won't tell you when), I threw together an adapted version of Trader Joe's quick cornbread.

Upholding the single Thanksgiving tradition we have in our family, we also brought our annual mashed potato sculpting event from our house to the Pickels'. Read on...

Apple Blueberry (Pear) Crisp

Ingredients
•1 C flour
•1/2 t salt
•1 t baking powder
•1/2 C sugar
•1 1/2 t cinnamon
•1 egg
•1/3 C butter, melted
•5-6 C chopped fruit (I used apples, blueberries, and one pear)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Fill an 8x8 square pan with fruit until just barely below the rim. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large or medium mixing bowl, and then add egg, stirring until mixture is coarse. Spread dry/egg mixture evenly across the top of the fruit in the pan. Drizzle with melted butter as evenly as possible, and bake for 30 minutes, or until top is just browned.

This crisp is great, simply because it is SO easy to make and it turns out delicious! Definitely a nice alternative to pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, and also a great way to use up all of the frozen fruit that is hiding in your freezer.

5th annual mashed potato sculpting event!
Buy a large box of instant mashed potatoes. Make them using only water--adding butter and/or anything else is just a waste, and takes away from prime sculpting optimization! Divvy up the potatoes into 5 or 6 different bowls, leaving a large amount of white in the pot for a base color. Color the mashed potatoes in the bowls using food coloring to your liking, but remember, a little bit goes a long way. Make sure you pick up a cheap plastic WHITE table cloth to sculpt on, or get some large white paper plates. Then you're ready! 1, 2, 3...sculpt!

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner

On Tuesday night we had an incredible semi-potluck pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner with our wonderful staff of OTLH RAs. I made the mashed potatoes (of course, how could I not bring a carb?), two pumpkin pies, and Lilly and I collaborated on the sweet potato casserole. So delicious! The meal was completed by a green bean casserole, Eleanor's cranberry sauce, Clara's homemade bread, and a number of other delicacies that I won't go into detail about here. I'm just going to share my pumpkin pie recipe with you, which is the only one I really measured out at all, but I'll definitely post some tips/a semi-recipe on mashed-potato making after that.


Pumpkin Pie
(adapted from a combo of Libby's original pumpkin pie, Seattle Times' Traditional Pumpkin Pie, and the recipe off of the back of the organic pumpkin can)

Ingredients
•One 15-oz. can organic pumpkin puree
•One partially-baked pie crust*
•1/4 C white sugar
•1/2 C brown sugar
•1 t cinnamon
•1/2 t salt
•1/2 ground ginger
•2 eggs
•One 12-oz. can evaporated milk

Directions
For the partially baked pie crust: Preheat oven to 425˚F. Thaw frozen crust for 5-10 minutes, and place in oven for approximately 10 minutes. Cool before filling.
For the filling: Mix pumpkin, sugars, salt, and spices together in mixing bowl. Add in eggs and mix gently, but well. Slowly add in evaporated milk, while stirring. When blended, pour into pie crust and bake at 425˚ for 15 minutes. Turn oven to 350˚ and bake for 45-50 minutes, or when knife inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool, and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving to set. Serve with whipped cream.

*I used a pre-made frozen crust due to time constraints. You can find them in organic grocery stores!

Doesn't that look delicious? The green bowl has the mashed potatoes in it.

Mashed potatoes

Ingredients
•3 lbs. organic russet potatoes
•Half and half
•5 cloves garlic
•1/4 C butter (or more, to taste)
•1 1/2 T salt, to taste

Directions
Cut potatoes into small chunks. Boil in lightly salted water until knife inserts easily into potatoes. Mash potatoes with potato masher. Add in softened butter and half and half until potatoes have reached the consistency desired. Crush garlic and add, mixing well. Add salt, mix well.

Mashed potatoes, as my mom says, are like scrambled eggs. Everyone has their own way to make them, and everyone thinks their way is right. This is a very basic recipe--it can be changed to your liking! Also, I leave the skins on--more texture, and that's where all the nutrients are!