Jack o'Lanterns!

[digitS']

Well, I'm more confident of this one:

But, I've got the other on ice . Will begin whipping some cream soon!

Steve

 

[journey11]

Tasted of freezer.

Crust was soggy.

Pumpkin (squash) pies must be my favorite - & I like pies! The filling is great and I always like to eat pie crust. I'll eat it uncooked but that's not best! Sometimes, the bottom crust isn't so great on any type of pie but I'm always hopeful .

Steve

I freeze my pot pies in the pan, then pop them out and wrap tightly with plastic wrap and again with freezer paper. I've kept them up to 6 months that way. That's how I unload my leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

Soggy is no good, that's for sure. I'm wondering if pumpkin pies might need a little prebaking on the crust since the filling is moist to begin with. I thaw my pot pies for 24 hours prior to baking, but I don't know if that would work with the pumpkin pie. Pot pie filling is very thick. Pumpkin pie probably has a little more water in it from the squash. Maybe freeze the crust and the filling separately? I'll have to do a little researching and see how it might be done.

Anyway, pumpkin or other squash puree freezes great. So that might be your best bet. I freeze it for soup too.

Beautiful squash, Cat! They look a little like the Cinderella's, but different color.

 

[digitS']

. . . filling is a little moist:

'S, okay. I got the spices about right .

So Journey, you might bake after the freezing? I'd never thought about freezing the custard mix. Heck, all I can do to get it into the crust without spilling on the oven door! You know, I might be able to do this: forget the crust and just freeze the mixture. Pour into a crust before baking! Would that be likely to work?

Steve
who stirred a little of the whipped cream into his coffee

 

[journey11]

That's one good looking piece of pie, Steve. Oh, wish I had time to bake a pie... Cup o' black coffee on the side, big pile of whipped cream on top....I can just taste it now.

Eggs freeze well, especially when they have sugar (or salt) mixed in, so I think it would work. A quicker route to fresh baked pie? Count me in!

 

[thistlebloom]

Pretty squash Cat! Beautiful pie Steve! That is SO not fair, posting pictures of your pie to somebody in a pieless household.
Somebody who is also very hungry and waiting for her dough to rise to make pizza pie for dinner.

I just had an idea...what if you poured your custard into a pie plate and froze it, then popped it out and wrapped it properly for the freezer, and then when you wanted pie you could put it into your crust and bake? You don't have to thaw storebought frozen pies before you bake them.

 

[catjac1975]

I think pie making is such an investment, and I don't mean financial, that it would be a shame to do all that work and have it be less than up to your standards. But the prepared and then frozen, uncooked, seems to be the best idea to me. As I used to say to my kids when they were young and said "yuck" to dinner that I spent hours on, "EAT IT! IT STARTED WITH A SEED!" For some reason, now they love their Mother's cooking.

 

[Jared77]

Great photo Steve that looks perfect!

My MIL uses the vodka pie crust recipe (which makes a SUPER flakey crust like pie crust is supposed to taste in my book) and saves them in the freezer till it's time to make pie. She thaws them rolls them out and adds the filling of choice. Google the recipe it's gotten rave reviews. She's used pie crusts months later after sitting in the freezer and had them come out great. She'll make a batch of crusts ahead of time & save them in the freezer till it's pie time. I couldn't find a good link with the recipe to post here or I would have included it.

I'd go that route & freeze the filling separately like Journey suggested. That way there's no time for the crust to sit & soak up the filling in the freezer before it's frozen. It goes together then into a hot oven so you shouldn't have soggy crusts.

The other think of would be to can the squash of choice. It's cubed not pured since it won't come up to a safe canning temperature due to the density of the pure & has to be done with a pressure canner. Then when you want to make pie you could open the can add spices & other ingredients & pure it then. Then put that into a waiting crust & have pie again your keeping them separate.

I'm just brainstorming here don't shoot the messenger....

 

[digitS']

I went back and edited that first post so that I could change the Topic Title! It probably won't be best for you to be thinking pie when I share with you my most recent idea for what to do with these pumpkins! And yes, they still look good out there in the garage.

First of all, some ideas that go with dessert : The Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Bread has to be my best try ! And, why wouldn't it be . . ? Here is the recipe I used (LINK). It made 2 medium & 1 small loaf but only used up 25% of 1 pumpkin .

Pumpkin pancakes. I liked 'em! DW was kind of so-so. Just used the Bisquick pancake recipe and used the pear butter for a topping rather than syrup (LINK). I don't remember what fraction of a pumpkin it used up but, twren't much . . .

I've already mentioned this instant soup recipe that I tried. Gosh, it's quick!Linked on Jared's thread (LINK).

Here's the next idea: Pumpkin and Tuna Soup . . . Okay, okay - I am not too sure about this one but I've made some real good cream of squash soups and these jack o'lantern pumpkins just don't seem to have enuf flavor to substitute for a nice winter squash. Well, tuna fish has lots of flavor . . . . I hope it's okay. The recipe is from "1001 Delicious Soups And Stews" cookbook DD gave me as a present several years ago. She knows that these are usually the things I'm attempting when DW allows me in the kitchen.

I'm using it as a substitute for zucchini in their Zucchini and Tuna Soup. This seems to be the exact same recipe (with bacon )(LINK)

Steve

 

[digitS']

Hey!

I got a thumbs up and an "it's real good!"

The pumpkin was cooked - I have continued to bake the pumpkin before using it. I didn't use the bacon and added extra garlic and the pepper made a big difference, black & red. The cookbook said salmon is a good choice instead of tuna but I think the tuna, pumpkin and creamy spiciness all went together very well .

Steve

 

[so lucky]

I didn't eat squash as a kid--just wasn't served in my house, so it is difficult for me to find a good use for it...squash of any kind. Your pumpkin soup reminded me of some butternut squash soup I made this week. It sounded so good, and I know it is healthy, but it just wasn't very good, and much too sweet to eat as a soup for a meal. May have been better as a dessert? The recipe called for a half an apple, so that may have made it too sweet. Anyway, I tried to eat it, and I made my very reluctant DH to "at least try it, $%#&!" So he tried it. I ended up pouring about 3/4 of the batch down the drain. I guess serving that along with a salad that wasn't comprised of mostly iceberg lettuce was just too much for the poor guy. He ate a big bowl of cereal about an hour after supper that night.