happy foodsgiving

Fancy Pumpkin Pie (back) and Drew's Mom's Chocolate Pie (front)

So for Thanksgiving this year I made pie. I am not a huge fruit pie fan, so when bringing a pie to an event I like to bring an extra pie of the chocolate variety for me. Well not just for me, I do share. Begrudgingly. For those traditional pumpkin pie eaters, aka: every person in the world besides me, I tried a new recipe this year. I thought if I threw enough stuff in with the pumpkin, I might like it.

Delicious ... if you like pumpkin pie.

This beautiful creation is a recipe from Bakerella (recipe here). It was so pretty that I could not help but make it. The bottom later is a cheesecake type later, middle is a pumpkin pie layer, and the top is a pecan pie type topping (with mini chocolate chips). Looks like a winner right? People tell me it was. Apparently I just do not like pumpkin pie; it's a texture thing.

picture form The Pioneer Woman's blog

To go along with the ham I was going to make some sort of cheesy potato but Joe suggested that mac & cheese was in vogue this year. Besides the blue box, I had never made any variety of mac and & so I turned to the trusted recipes of The Pioneer Woman (recipe here). This one is a winner. I used 2 parts sharp cheddar to 1 part monterey jack cheese. I can now confidently say that I make a killer mac & cheese. This coupled with spirals of room temperature ham were the highlight of my day.