Pumpkin Pie with Vanilla Whipped Cream

I just love the holidays! Especially this year I feel like I have so much to be thankful for!

I made this pumpkin pie for my grad school class' friendsgiving and it was a HUGE hit! I had never made pumpkin pie before so I was really nervous but everyone loved it. I also made some vanilla whipped cream.


Pumpkin Pie Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of (ice cold) water

Filling:
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree (I used Libby's)
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of evaporated milk
1 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 eggs

Pumpkin Spice Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of cloves

** Note: I mix all of the pumpkin spice ingredients together and then took the 2 teaspoons from the combined mixture.

Vanilla Whipped Cream:
1 cup of chilled heavy cream
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

To make the crust: 
To start, make sure you are using ice cold water.

I also melted my butter.

Combine these ingredients together and it will become a doughy consistency.

Then roll out the dough on a cutting board. Make sure to add flour to the cutting board and rolling pin. You want the dough to be rolled to about a centimeter thick. If it is too thick then it won't cook all the way through.

I like to use the 9" pyrex glass pie pans. Apply pam to the pie pan and then add the dough to the pan.

To make the filling: 
I started by separating the eggs yolks from the egg whites. I like to whip the egg whites separately. I use a whisk or a mixer to whip the egg whites until the egg whites appear to be foamy or peaky.



Next, I add the pumpkin puree, sugar, heavy cream, evaporated milk, pumpkin spice, egg yolks, and salt into a bowl together. When it comes to adding the pumpkin spice - I sort of just eye balled how much I thought was enough so I think I ended up adding more than the recipe called for.




After mixing in all of the ingredients together, I slowly fold in the egg whites. You want to make sure NOT to overmix them.

Once all of the ingredients are mixed together, pour them into the dough.























Cooking: 
Set oven to 400 degrees

I cooked the pie for about 30 minutes. It is important to keep an eye on the pie.

The pie should be firm and the fork should come out clean when placing a fork in it.

If it is overcooked then the pie will crack.






To make the vanilla whipped cream:
To start, I put my mixing bowl in the freezer. This helps create stiff peaks.

I put all of the ingredients (heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar) in the mixing bowl and ran the mixer on low speed for 30 seconds before bumping the mixer up to high speed. I only need to run the mixer for about 1 minute. You do not want to over mix it.
It doesn't hurt to stop and check the consistency of the whipped cream and then whip it some more if necessary.
When looking for consistency, you want to make sure the whipped cream can stand on its own. So when you stick your spoon in it, the whipped cream holds its shape.



Any comments or questions - please feel free to post them below!

Peace Love and Pass the Shrimp

I love seafood, which is weird since both of my siblings don't particularly enjoy seafood. Oh well, more for me!

This dish was inspired by a dish that my boyfriend and I used to make in college. It is a ketchup-sweet-soy saucey thick sauce that goes on top of shrimp, roasted asparagus and white or brown rice. I like to be somewhat healthy so we always use brown rice.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger
1/4 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of white sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
3/4 tablespoon of lemon
1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon of red chili pepper flakes (I viewed them as optional)
Shrimp
Green Beans
Brown rice



First, put the rice cooker on. My rice cooker takes over an hour to make brown rice.

Next, I started by cutting the ends off the green beans. I usually dress them with some garlic and olive oil and throw them in the oven for about 10 minutes on 475 degrees.

Then, in a small bowl, I made the sauce. Add everything on the list EXCEPT: ginger, honey, water, and sugar.



After making the sauce, I put the ginger in the pan with some olive oil to brown slightly. Keep the heat on medium or low or else the ginger will get too hot and spray everywhere. I just browned the ginger for about 3-5 minutes.




Once the ginger is browned or fragrant, turn the heat to low and add the sauce mixture. After a few minutes, incorporate the honey, sugar and water to the pan. As the sauce is on the heat, you will notice that the sauce will start to thicken.
















In a separate pan, saute the shrimp in a pan with olive oil and some garlic. Cook the shrimp until they turn pink, which should take about 5 minutes. If you over cook shrimp, it will get chewy.  (ALTERNATIVELY: put the shrimp on skewers and throw them on the grill).















 To assemble the plate, start by placing the rice on the bottom. Then add the asparagus and put the shrimp atop both of them. I then drizzled the sauce on top of the shrimp.



This dish is a lot of effort but honestly worth it.