Pumpkin Pasta and Pilgrim Pie

I finally made a fall themed -meal!

I found a pumpkin pasta recipe on Rachel Ray's page on foodnetwork.com. The recipe was easy to prepare and took about 15 minutes (just like the recipe stated) Super flavorful and savory. It was accompanied by a spinach salad with apples, walnuts, and my cousin's awesome salad dressing.

One of my fondest childhood memories is making pies with my grandma the night before Thanksgiving. All of the ladies and girls would gather in my grandparent's small but functional country kitchen to make at least a dozen pies for the big feast the next day. One of my favorite pies is grandma's pilgrim pie; it's a pecan pie with coconut and rolled oats--SOOOOO GOOD! When I was preparing it this evening the memories of my childhood easily resurfaced. I could smell her kitchen, I pictured the mess of baking supplies splattered on countertops, walls, and the floor, I remembered sticking my tiny fingers in the pie filliing to sneak a taste, and I could recall the laughter that filled that tiny kitchen. What a wonderful thing! I hope you enjoy making the pie as much as I do.

Pilgrim Pie:

2 eggs, beaten,

1 cup sugar

1 cup karo syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 oz. butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup coconut

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup chopped pecans

Pie shell -- I just used an already made one

Beat together eggs, sugar, syrup, vanilla, butter, and salt. Stir in coconut, rolled oats, and pecans to mixture. Put into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and 30 minutes at 350 degrees ( I have no idea why she does the heat change, but she always has done it that way).

Grandma's words of wisdom to me at the bottom of the pilgrim pie recipe card:

"To Jenny: Spoil your husband, but don't spoil your children." Grandma raised 6 wonderful children while working full time as a teacher and farmer.