Autumn Harvest Pie

I have been working on this pie for a while, and have hesitated to share it. The crust on this recipe can easily get over done around the edges, but I personally don't mind it. The edges could be covered with foil or you could use a traditional pie crust recipe. To to me, though, a traditional crust would just take away the essence of what the pie is and represents. I want to enjoy all the harvest goodness!!

Autumn Harvest Pie

Crust ingredients:

One sleeve graham crackers
3 T butter, melted
1/4 c shredded coconut
1/4 c dried cranberries
1/4 c pecan pieces
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 t maple maple flavoring

Pie Filling Ingredients:

1 can pumpkin puree
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 c dark brown sugar
1/2 c can milk
1/2 c apple cider
2 large eggs
1 T corn starch
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t ground ginger powder
1/2 t salt
1 pinch fine black pepper

Directions:
Melt butter.

Place the graham crackers in a food processor. Crumble them as you add them or pulse a couple times to break them up.

Add all the other crust ingredients except the melted butter to the processor. Pulse until ingredients form fine crumbs.

Set processor to mix, and slowly pour in the melted butter.

Press the crust ingredients into a pie plate. Use a deep dish, save part of the mixture in the freezer for a future pie, or place some in a ramekin. I chose the latter, but I snapped the photo before I made up my mind. I forgot to take another photo before I poured the filling. Oops! Please forgive me. 😁

Set the crust aside, and add the cream cheese to a large bowl. Beat the cream cheese until it is fluffy.

Gradually beat in the milk and cider until smooth.

Mix in the cornstarch.

Add the remaining ingredients, and mix well.

Once the ingredients are mixed well, pour the pie filling into the crust.

Bake the pie at 425° for 15 minutes. Turn the oven to 350° and continue to bake for another 35-45 minutes until the filling appears nearly set when shaken. Cool 1 hour.

This crust is dark to begin with. Because of the ingredients, it will get a lot darker during baking. Though the color was dark in nature, the only part of my crust that got a little too done were the very top edges that peeked out of the filling. You could tent the edges with foil or use crust shields, but I'm no professional baker. I rather like the rustic look. 

When the pie has cooled top it with some whip cream and enjoy! I couldn't wait for mine to cool completely!

Happy fall! I hope you like it!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Salsa

Edited to add: The writing of this blog post was originally begun in 2015. I didn't realize the post had not been completed or posted until today when another friend was asking about the recipe.

Oh sweet friends! What a joy it is to visit with you again finally! God has been so good to me! He has so richly blessed me and has been teaching me and keeping me in awe of His mighty love and grace through my garden!

I have been so busy with life and taking care of the garden and canning that I haven't had much free time lately to write full blog posts! The most I have been able to do until now is quickly post pictures and short descriptions or status updates on Facebook of my gardening adventures. I have just had the greatest joy watching God at work there! I invite you to take a look at my album there titled "In the Garden" if you are able!

My first garden, a Back To Eden Garden, has not disappointed in the least! Until we had really high temperatures and lack of rain recently, the garden was so big and lush and beautiful! I have had some weeds, but they haven't been overwhelming, and they have been very easy to remove. I even left it to tend itself for a couple weeks! :)

When I did the bulk of my planting, what I wanted most was enough tomatoes to make salsa and marinara/pizza/spaghetti sauce (We use the same sauce for all three. :) ) and my pumpkins, the sugar pumpkins and PA Dutch Crookneck. The tomatoes were the most important, though! Well, as it turned out, there were very few things I planted that were not successful! Praise God! He did it, not me! I have a terrible brown thumb! The only things I planted that didn't produce were a few herbs! I can't wait to plant my fall crops!

As I stated before, tomatoes were the most important, and God blessed them! There were a couple times I just knew I was going to lose my plants, but God kept them going! I had enough tomatoes to make my salsa and sauce and still have tomatoes left! I think I may end up doing another batch of spaghetti sauce and can the rest of the tomatoes if there are any left over.

Today, though, I will share the salsa recipe since I have had some ask for it. A couple years ago, my dear friend, Barbara Ann and her daughter-in-love, Lisa, who has also now become a dear friend, came over to my house to help me can my tomatoes. I was still very new to canning then. I was quite overwhelmed with all that went on in such a short period of time. You can read about that experience here. When we were all done, I had lots of jars of food and no clue how any of it got done! :D I didn't even have recipes! Fast forward to this week! Boy did I miss their help! For some reason, making salsa and sauce completely intimidated me! I guess it was because I didn't have a flow of procedures to rely on. I didn't know the most efficient way to get it all done. Well, the tomatoes wouldn't wait, and I just had to jump in head first! I felt like I was slow as molasses on a cold winter morning, but everything is finally done! This is what I did.

First I gathered all the ingredients so that I wasn't constantly stopping to pull something out.

No, I didn't put dehydrated chicken in it. It just happened to be sitting there
since they are the dogs treats I made the other day. :)

Next, I chopped up all the vegetable except the tomatoes in the food processor trying to be careful not to chop too finely.

I have several friends who do not peel their tomatoes before making their salsa, so I decided to give it a try. I just remove some of the core and any rough or bad spots. Then I ran them through the processor moved them to the strainer perched over a dishpan to let them drain like this.

You don't need to drain your peppers and onions and garlic! I just wasn't thinking. I dumped this and the juice into the pot before I started on the tomatoes, and added a little Tony's Seasoning on top of it. For some reason, I didn't take a picture of that! Gasp! :) This is just to give you an idea of one way to drain your tomatoes. Just remember not to dump the juice from the tomatoes!! I worked in small batches for the tomatoes and measured as I went to avoid cutting up too many tomatoes. Once they were chopped and measured out, they were added to the pan with the other vegetables.

Once I had all the tomatoes in, the other spices and ingredients were added and stirred together.

Ahhh! Doesn't that look amazing and delicious?

I got my jars into another large pot to heat them up. Once my jars started boiling to sterilize, I turned up the heat under the salsa, mixed the clear jel with some of the reserved tomato juice, poured it into the salsa, and let the salsa cook until it was thickened to my liking.

Once it was thick enough, I filled the jars to 1/2 inch headspace, wiped the rim, sealed with lids and rings, and processed for 15 minutes in a water bath. Make sure the jars are covered with at least an inch of water, and start timing only after the water reaches a boil.

Canned Salsa Recipe
22 c tomatoes, chopped fine and drained: reserve 2 c juice
12 cloves garlic, minced
6 lg bell peppers
4-6 jalapenos
7 medium to large onions
3 ribs celery
3/4 c vinegar
Scant 1/4 c salt
1 T dried oregano
1 t cumin
1 pack Mrs. Wages salsa packet
1 T black pepper
1 c sugar
3/4 c clear jel
Tobacco sauce and Tony's Cajun seasoning to taste

Chop all the vegetables except the tomatoes in a food processor. Place them in a large stock pot. Core the tomatoes and chop them. Place them in a strainer over a large bowl or other container to drain. Dump the drained tomatoes in the pot with the other vegetables. Reserve 2 c of the juice. Add the vinegar, spices, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Make sure to taste and adjust the Tabasco and Tony's seasoning. Add the reserved juice to the 3/4 c clear jel. Add the mixture to the salsa and continue cooking until the salsa reaches desired consistency. Fill hot jars to 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air pockets, wipe rims clean, and seal jars. Water bath jars for 15 minutes.

Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy the recipe!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!
*To insure the safety of your canned goods, make sure to follow all safety guidelines issued by the USDA.