Cherish the Pie Time

At Thanksgiving around here, the turkey is not the focus of the entire event like it is for most people. Thanks to my mother’s obsession with creating pies in absolutely obscene numbers (something we are trying to cure her of), the focus on pie is something I grew up with. And it has carried over into my own family just a little bit. It’s not that we don’t love the turkey, it’s just that we really, really love the pie! But while we really, really love the pie, we definitely like it in smaller amounts than those created at my mother’s house. 

As the years have gone by, there are favorite flavors of pie that have become staples at our Thanksgiving feast. Pumpkin, of course, is always on the menu. Nathan’s favorite is cranberry orange custard, of which I’m also a huge fan. Cherry is Malia’s pie of choice and while she has helped make the cherry pie the past few years, she was disinclined this year, so Nathan took over and learned how to make a lattice top pie. It turned out beautiful and he was very proud of his accomplishment.

The only other pie we made this year was what we all refer to as bean juice pie. In reality it is a Matthew friendly lemon meringue pie, but calling it bean juice is more fun. 😁 Of all our allergen free pies, it is the one that gets talked about the most. Because let’s face it, making meringue without eggs is pretty interesting. And the name of the pie is an attention grabber as well. This year’s bean juice ended up being less voluminous than usual and I’m not sure why. But I have been doing some research on the aquafaba meringue and picked up several tips that kept the meringue fluffy for days rather than turning sticky as it is prone to do. It is always a work in progress, I guess. 

When it was time to eat all the delicious pie, there was much frivolity like normal. When my kids all get together, they just can’t help themselves and jokes, puns, wise cracks, and laughter are plentiful. The three boys kind of ganged up on Malia in terms of jokes. It seems like their whole goal was to get her laughing and keep her laughing. And they succeeded. Honestly, with all of them working together, she didn’t stand a chance! And like usual, there were no pictures where all four of them looked normal. 😉

Now that covered all the aspects of our pies, let’s return to the turkey. My new skill for the year was trussing a turkey. It really isn’t all that hard, but it is something that I just never bothered to learn. But YouTube was a big help, and the bird ended up looking as good as it tasted. Unfortunately, the back of the bird was not cooked all the way through. The exact same thing has happened for about three years now, ever since I got my nice roasting pan. I have done a bunch of reading, have tweaked bake times and temperatures, lowered the rack in the oven, even started roasting the turkey back side up and then flipping it part way through the bake time. But still, the back is not cooking. I never had issues when I used one of those $2 disposable foil pans from the Walmart, so next year I’m going to go back to the cheap pan and see if it solves the problem. But I’m kind of bugged because I spent $60 on a roasting pan that was highly rated and raved about and now I can’t get my turkey roasted correctly. It is highly annoying. 😠

Turkey roasting woes aside, it was good to be together. I love these times. And the pie. And the kids eating the pie. And the laughter that happens as the kids eat the pie. I guess what I’m saying is that I cherish these moments with my kids.