Who has trick-or-treaters come to their house and comment on how good the food smells that’s cooking inside? Apparently I do. :)
After spending the entire day on a mini cooking marathon we closed out the night enjoying this Paleo pumpkin pie while watching Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.
After tackling the mountain-o-dishes that’ve been building all week I started cooking and just didn’t stop.
I began the day baking a whole chicken then prepared a pork shoulder for the crockpot. Next I made some beef stew. When the chicken was done I lowered the heat on the oven, removed the seeds from a couple sugar pumpkins, cut them in half and baked them.
Around the time I was baking the pumpkins the first round of kids came a knockin. With my hands full in the kitchen Jeff answered the door. I didn’t hear anyone say “trick-or-treat” but apparently two of them said it quietly and the third said “boy, what smells good?”. Jeff handed them their HFCS filled mini Snickers and the kids went on their way.
The next group showed up while I was elbows deep in pumpkin puree. I rinsed off my hands and gave the kids handfulls of Hershey’s dark chocolate kisses, dark chocolate Reese’s peanut butter cups and mini Snickers but as I was handing the last little dude his candy the mom asked “What’cha got cooking? Must be good, it smells delicious”. I just had to laugh.
We only had a few more kids come after that. Being as our “front door” is on the side of the house, walking up the driveway tends to scare the majority of the kids away. Too bad too because we have quite a large bowl full of candy left that’s just sitting on the counter and will probably get fed to the garbage can. Come save it while you can, garbage day is tomorrow!
While the pumpkins were baking in the oven I made deviled eggs. Next I tried recreating a strawberry granola bar recipe (more on this soon). After baking the pumpkin seeds I turned two sugar pumpkins into pumpkin puree and used some of it to make this pumpkin pie. Making your own pumpkin puree is really quite simple, actually it’s as easy as pie. ;)
Pumpkin Puree
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the sugar pumpkin in half. Remove the seeds and set them aside to salt and bake separately. Place cut sides down on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and let cool to the touch. Scrape out the flesh by separating the insides from the outer skin. Transfer the flesh to a blender and blend, blend, blend until fully pureed. Store your pumpkin puree in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for around six months.
We enjoyed this Paleo pumpkin pie with the movie while we worked and I absolutely loved both! Have you seen Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter? It was so true to life! ;)
Paleo Pumpkin Pie Adapted from Against All Grain
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup almond meal
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 3 organic eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
Directions Serves 4-8
- Preheat the oven to 325°F
- Combine the following ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl to make the crust: almond meal, coconut oil, raw honey, vanilla extract, sea salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
- Push the mixture evenly into a pie pan, making sure to push up the sides.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes, remove and cool completely.
- Add the remaining ingredients to another medium size mixing bowl and add to the pie crust once cooled.
- Bake pie at 350°F for 25-35 minutes or until the center is set.
- Serve warm or refrigerate until chilled. If you plan ahead, serve with coconut whipped cream.
- Enjoy! :)
Hello my inspiring friend!
Two things …
1. I am beyond gleeful to have just discovered you, after being first put on a paleo-like diet by a well-meaning doctor, then having lotsa success with it (yaay!) and *then* falling offa the wagon this week due to feeling deprived and annoyed-about-being-so-deprived. (Boo!) You are making me feel inspired to crawl back up on the wagon again! (Yaay!)
2. Is there anything I can substitute for the wonderful almond portion of this little soirée? Alas, I am sadly allergic to almonds. (NOT that that’s YOUR problem ;)
Hugs and thanks,
Col
Hey Col! I think we’ve all had our ups and downs about the deprivation bit, glad that I could help. :)
You can substitute almond meal with hazelnut meal or a combination of pecan/hazelnut/walnut meal. (Before you go buy any of that I’d make my own. Just throw the raw nuts of your choice into a food processor and let it go till it becomes fine meal.) It may effect the bake time of the crust so you’ll wanna watch that to make sure it doesn’t burn and cover the crust with foil if the pie’s not set and the crust starts to burn. You could probably even use coconut flour but that will give a completely different taste to the crust and I’m not sure I would recommend that much of a change without testing it out myself, so maybe just ignore that one.
Let me know how it works out for you and of course if I can help with anything. :)
I love pumpkin pie!! Looks like a winner of a recipe!