November is my absolute favourite month for food. Not only because of the abundance of apples and winter squash and the like but because of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is all about the feast! Oh, and football and parades. There are many family photos of me sitting on the floor in front of the TV watching Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade waiting for Santa on the last float. To me, this meant Christmas was nearly here!

I have so many fond memories of Thanksgiving days filled with food, family, and guests. My father was in the military, so we moved around a lot. Sometimes we’d be living in the US, other times overseas for the holidays, but never in proper cold weather areas. We lived in deserts, and on tropical islands, and occasionally we’d be home in southern Georgia. If we were in the States we would try and spend the holiday with family. If we were overseas, we would invariably have a gaggle of very young single airmen (my dad was their First Sergeant) to spend time with our family. Once we all had dinner at the chow hall on base – nice to have no cleaning up, but typically no leftovers!

If you remember from last month’s article, my mother was from the south and my father from the north. In homage to my parents, I’ve made a pie for each of them: pumpkin for Dad and sweet potato for my Mom. I love most pies, but for me, sweet potato is the best. Actually, I prefer just about any pie over pumpkin. Pumpkin to me has no taste whereas sweet potatoes are loaded with yum and the ingredients are much cheaper to buy. Butternut squash makes a very good pie as well. Pumpkin and butternut are both winter squashes so if you use butternut squash follow the same recipe I used for pumpkin.

I combine my own spices in a small jar to use whenever I want that autumn taste. Of course, you can adjust this to your liking.

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

=1 tsp mixed spice

Pumpkin Pie

1 uncooked 9-inch pastry shell

1 1/2 cups of cooked pureed pumpkin (360g). Quarter the pumpkin and scrape out the seeds. Roast in the oven at 180c for 45 minutes or until fork tender. Once you cook the pumpkin and puree it with a food processor try and get as much water out as you can. I put the pureed pumpkin in a fine sieve and mush it with a spoon. The denser the pumpkin puree the better the taste and colour. *For a shortcut you can buy a tin of pumpkin puree from some supermarkets.

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups of evaporated milk (360g)

2 eggs

3/4 cup of white sugar (150g)

2 1/2 tsp of spice - see my recipe or your variation

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine pumpkin, salt, evaporated milk and eggs and mix well. Add sugar, spices and vanilla. Pour into the pie shell and bake at 200c for 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 180c for 35 to 40 minutes until the centre is set. Serve with cream, whipped or pouring. Creme fraiche is nice too.

Sweet Potato Pie

1 9-inch uncooked pie shell

1 pound of sweet potato flesh. Roast the potatoes at 200c for 30 to 45 minutes. It depends on how big the potatoes are. Just keep an eye on them. Once cooked, cool and peel. Mash or whizz in a food processor. 1/2 cup (113g) melted butter or margarine.

1 cup white sugar (128g)

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

2 1/2 tsp spice mixture

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine sweet potato and butter and mix well with a mixer. Add sugar, milk, eggs, spices and vanilla. Pour into the pie shell and cook at 175c for 55 to 60 minutes until a knife comes out clean.