Celebrating Thanksgiving Week with Gluten-Free Goodness #PieRecipe #Product Review

The arrival of the Glutino box for this month  was perfect for the Thansgiving week.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank Glutino for continuously providing us with  gluten-free products.  They are a great resource company  especially for people who  watches their  gluten  intake.  They have  everything you need from  baking mixes to  snacks and other  stuff.  Gone are the days when gluten gree products  taste so bland, now, gluten-free products  are as delicious as regular products but  without the gluten. 

These are the goodies that Glutino sent us this month.  Vanila Creme and Choclate Vanilla cream cookies, chocolate cake mix, pie crust mix, blueberry and strawberry  frosted toaster pantries, chocolate covered wafer bites, and  salted caramel  covered pretzels.

The cookies  don't last  very long as the kids love to snack on it  when they get off from school.  My son finally tried the  the strawberry filled  pastry and he loves it.  Now, my husband  has a rival for this goodies lol.

The vanilla creme is my  mys on's favorite  dessert to take  for hos school lunch.  He love to have  a little sweet after  eating his packed lunch so I   put this on his lunch.

My daughter love thes mini butes  chocolate covered wafers.  I don't blame her because I love it too.

This reminds me of the wafer that I used to buy when I was in highschool.  So every time I bite into it, a lot of high school memories  are flooding in my mind.  

Our Thanksgiving week celebration was ffilled with gluten gree goodies including the pizza we baked two days before Thanksgiving. and the pie. You can check out the recipe for those through the link provided.

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Squash #Pie #Recipe and a Gluten-Free Pie Crust

Last week, I got the courage to  bake a pie.  My daughter love pumpkin pie  so I thought of surprising her with a pie when she comes home from school. This is not a traditional pumpkin pie but a squash pie.  I still have many acorn squash  from our garden last summer  and after  cooking sevral dishes using  the squash, my  family are getting tired of it so I thought  why not try to use it  for making a pie.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups  baked acorn squash
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:

For  Acorn Squash Puree

•  Wash  the squash and  cut them into halves.  Scrape the  seeds and  the stringy part out.  Once you  scraped the inside, placed the into a foil lined  baking  sheets (as shown below) for 40 minutes on a 350 F.  
• Wash the seeds and  roast it for 30 minutes.  It's a great snack while you are watching TV or  while preparing the pie.

• Once the squash are baked, let it cool and scrape the meat out.  Put it ion a bowl and set aside.

For Pie Crust:

•  Combine an entire bag of Glutino pie crust mix with 3/4 cup (12 tbsp) cold butter and mix it until it's crumbly.
•  Whisk 2 eggs and 4 tbsp vinegar together until it's foamy.  Mix  this into the dry ingredients. Stir until the mixture holds together.
•  Divide dough in half.  Refrigerate or freeze one for later use.  Chill the other half for  about an hour.  Allow the dough to rest  at a room temperature for 20 minutes  before rolling.

For the Pie:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 
• Whisk squash, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust and sprinkle the brown sugar  in top.  

• Bake 15 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick  inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. 

My lovelies can't even tell that I used squash instead of pumpkin.  I was very surprised actually that it turned out delicious, lol.  

It was a nice pie, perfect  for our Thanksgiving dinner!

Fresh Strawberry Pie for Dad on Father's Day and a Recipe

Instead of buying Dad a gift that he can't use or don't need, we  got him a starwberry pie instead.  I asked  Dad if he want a slice  of the pie when he arrived and he said yes, so I cut him one.  I can tell that he enjoyed it because he didn't stop until he was done with it.  

  just wish that  the strawberries are cut up into  quarters because they are too big to fit in a kisser lol.

 We originally planned onbuying him a coconut pie but sadly, there's none.

My father-in-law has a sweet tooth so he enjoys this kind of treat.  I think he would live on dessert if he could lol.

I think I can make this one as  it looks very simple to make.  I found this recipe at tasteofhome.com (thanks Sue Jurack for posting the recipe):

Ingredients

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)

3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
Fresh mint, optional

Directions

• Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 450° for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack.
• In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and water until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in gelatin until dissolved.
• Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes or until slightly cooled
• Meanwhile, arrange strawberries in the crust. Pour gelatin mixture over berries. Refrigerate until set. Garnish with mint if desired.Yield: 6-8 servings.

Upside Down Apple Pie

My husband and  our daughter baked an Upside Down Apple Pie last Thanksgiving.  Hubby saw this on TV and he wanted to try it out.  I am not fond of apple pie but with the addition of  pecans in it, I loved it!

 He had a little trouble removing the  wax paper but other than that, it was delicious.

I will update this post for the recipe as soon as I get back from school.  I am baking one right now so I could show you the step by step process in making this delicious pie.  

As promised,  here is the recipe courtesy of Mr.Food.com:
Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted, divided
• 1/2 cup light brwn sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 package refrigerated rolled pie crusts
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 5 large Granny Smith or other firm apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 wedges

Procedure:

- Preheat he oven to 375 degrees F.  Coat a deep dish pie plate with cooking spray and line it with wax paper.  Coat wax paper with cooking spray.

- In a small bowl, combine 4 tablespoon butter, the brown sugar, and pecans.  Mix well and spread evenly over bottom of pie plate.  

- Unroll 1 pie crust and place it in a pie plate, pressing crust firmly against nut mixture and sides of pie plate; set aside.

 In a large bowl, combine granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, and remaining butter;  mix well.  Add apples and toss gently.  Spoon into pie crust.

 - Unroll second pie crust and place over apple mixture.  Trim and fold edges together to seal.  Using a knife, cut four 1 inch slits in top crust.

 I bought this pack of pie crust from the store.  It has to crust in it.

 - Bake to 1 to-  1 hour and 15 minutes or until crust is golden.  Carefully loosen wax paper around rim and invert pie into a serving plate while still hot.    Remove wax paper and allow to cool slightly;

Your pie pan should look like this when you removed the pan.  

 Slice into wedges and serve warm.

 This pie is really  a must try, so delicious!  The one I baked today  has three slices left lol.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

I decided to make  some pumpkin pie since I have a bunch of pumpkin puree at home.  I used the recipe that I found online.  The recipe is  courtesy of Nancy Fuller from the show Farmhouse Rules.  I modified some of the ingredients though.

Ingredients:
4 cups pumpkin puree
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup half and half
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs 

1 store bought pie crust

1/2 cup  sliced almonds

Direction:

•  Add the condensed milk, cream, cornstarch, molasses, canola oil, cinnamon, ginger, salt and eggs and combine thoroughly with the pumpkin puree.

• Pour the filling into the crust and bake until the filling is set in the center, about 1 hour.  I added some sliced almonds for some nutty flavor, it was a nice a touch!

 Transfer the pie to a rack and cool for 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

 We topped  the pumpkin with the redi whip.

It's my first time making a pumpkin pie amnd it turned out okay.  Hubby said it was delicious but I thought it was a bit egg-ish so I think that next time I would make again, I would reduce the egg.  Also, the  crust did not bake as I wanted it to so maybe, I will make the filling a little thin next time.  I mean,  just  use 3 cups of pumpkin puree instead of 4.

If you want to know how to make a pie crust, here is the recipe:

Easy Pie Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (11 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions
For the pumpkin: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove the stem from the pumpkin and scrape out the insides, discarding the seeds. Cut the pumpkin in half and lay the pieces cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Rub canola oil all over the skin and bake until fork-tender, about 1 hour. Let cool.

For the easy pie crust: While the pumpkin is cooking, make the crust. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add in the butter and work into the dough with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in just enough cold water (4 to 5 tablespoons) with a fork just until the flour is moistened. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a ball and flatten slightly. Wrap one ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for another use.

Roll out the remaining dough ball on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch round. Transfer to a 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold the overhangs under and crimp decoratively. Pierce the dough all over with a fork. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Line the crust with foil, fill with dried beans or pie weights and bake until the sides are set, about 12 minutes. Remove the foil and beans. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Homemade Coconut Creme Pie

It is sad to see my little baby  is  all grown up now but at the same time, it's exciting to see  her do things that she likes to do.  I am not a big  fan of baling so she definitely is a huge asset in our kitchen in terms of   making  desserts such as pie.  She has always been interested in the kitchen since she was three or so.  I have been letting her help me whenever I cook and  that interest in cooking is definitely coming alive.  

 She made  the pie crust by following an instruction from the video on youtube.   The  crust turned out a little  tough but it's okay as it was her first time making it.  Heck if I were to be forced in making pie, I will just buy the ready to bake crust from the store lol.  I would not dare try to make my own for sure.  

My favorite part of the pie is the creme filling.  She did a wonderful job on those.  

 ^This little pastry chef is  getting good in  baking.

 Look so good isn't it?  It definitely tasted soooo good!

This is  by far my favorite of the pies that she made.