Taking the "Punk" out of Punkin Pie

Food! What a topic to write about. I hope this doesn't cause anyone to lose their appetite. It's that time of year again and as I rock back on my porch and reminisce, it makes me think of the many pumpkin pies I have known, and how they have affected my life. Lets take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?

My earliest clear memory of actually making a pumpkin pie, was at my mother's. She had some of those really nifty, decorative pie plates with the nice picture and the recipe written right on the bottom, as part of the ceramic glaze. You know the ones I am talking about.

Mom happily went about making her picture perfect crust, whistling and humming and being all 'homey' as we were going to do this together. She took extra special care to make the edges especially beautiful, as this was Thanksgiving and therefore it deserved special effort. The next 15 minutes found her fussing back and forth, no longer humming OR whistling...but muttering to herself, and clearly frustrated. I could no longer stand the suspense and asked her what was wrong. She responded,

"I CANNOT find that darn recipe!!!Where ON EARTH did i put it???"

She was not happy with my obvious response and I inherited the pie plate. We had store bought pie that year.

Fast forward and you will see me in my own kitchen, cooking with my two young boys. 

"We are going to have a great time cooking Thanksgiving dinner together this year. What fun! What togetherness! What memories!"
I multi-task around the kitchen handling everything else, as I talk them thru how to make dessert. I am pretty sure it was Cody's job to put the sugar in the pie. His older brother Matt, agrees with me on this. What Cody did instead, is beyond me, but suffice it to say, that neither dogs, nor chickens will eat a pumpkin pie with no sugar...and your family sure as heck won't either!!

A year goes by. Another pumpkin pie sits on the table, center stage. We are pressuring Cody to eat his vegetables. He doesn't like vegetables, so we inform him that yes, indeed, he DOES like vegetables, because pumpkin is in fact, a squash!! Cody stops eating pumpkin pie for several years.

Time flies by, the boys have grown up and moved out on their own, but are coming for dinner. Cody sends me a recipe and asks me to PLEASE make this "2 layer, No-bake Pumpkin Pie" made with cream cheese and jello pudding....it has to be good cuz Bill Cosby is on the ad with it! He is willing to give squash another try, so out of great affection for my son, and concern for his health and well being, I assemble the pie and set it in the fridge overnite.

Dinner goes off without a hitch, and I happily bring out the two pies I have made. My own favorite homemade Dutch Apple, and Cody's choice, Bill Cosby's No-bake Pumpkin Pie.
Cody graciously volunteers to cut and serve, as I go about getting the whipping cream. I hear him proclaim

"MOM! You could make a fortune selling this pie!"

I beam happily, and with my best Betty Crocker-Marie Callendar-Martha Stewart toothy grin, I ask him

"It's that good?"

I step around the corner to see the entire family huddled over the pie plate...as I look on in horror, the uncut portion of the pie oozes forward and fills in the space recently vacated by the piece that Cody just removed.

"No, its not! But you'd never have to make another one, because it grows back!"

And that, boys and girls, is how we began the tradition of having Cheesecake at our holiday table.