What do you mean we can't buy pumpkin in a can?

Mary Ellen and I had the bright idea of bringing Thanksgiving to our first graders who are learning about celebrations from around the world. What did we get ourselves into?!

Step 1: Buy Ingredients in Spanish from three different stores. Yes, those are whole pumpkins and fresh ginger. Do we know what we are doing? No! Will this taste good?  Still undetermined.

Step two: Carve pumpkins and remove all of the icky stringy pieces. I feel like I am five again.

Step Three: Lay pumpkin pieces on pan to bake for two hours. If you don’t have two cookie sheets, you can use a muffin pan covered with foil, Spain has taught me to be resourceful.

Our first attempt at making homemade pumpkin pie!

Step 4: Remove cooked pumpkin from the oven and let it cool before starting the mashing process. 

Step 5: Mash away. This would have been easier with a food processor, but we found that the potato masher works quite well. Yay! We finally had our very own pot of pumpkin goo! 

 

Step 6: Add the spices. HOW in the world do I grate fresh ginger?

Step 7: Mix all ingredients together. Hmmm… this doesn’t look quite the way mom makes it, but it tastes like pumpkin pie so far.

Step 8: Make homemade pie crust which consists mostly of flour, sugar, and butter--but mostly butter.

 Step 9: Marvel at our pumpkin pie, while enjoying the aroma and warmth that filled our apartment.


Although making pumpkin pie in Spain was quite the endeavor, our first graders, our teachers, and other student teachers loved our first homemade pumpkin pie. Maybe we should start our own business!

-Katie

s