Pre-Thanksgiving Bake-off!

Good evening everyone!!

Hope everyone has arrived safely at their destination if you’ve traveled or is geared up and ready for the big day tomorrow. I spent the day prepping (workout, haircut) and baking with my mom. I think the day before Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because its just a relaxing day spent in the kitchen with family 🙂

So let’s get to the goodies, first off, Pear Cranberry Pie with Oatmeal Streusel (from Cooking Light).

3 pears (d’anjou and bartlett) plus 2 cups of fresh cranberries.

Sweetened up with brown sugar

Poured into a pie shell

The final product, gorgeous if I do say so myself 🙂 The streusel on top consisted of oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, a dash of salt, and Earth Balance making it gold brown sugary heaven.

Next up was a quick batch of my mom’s favortie Spiced Cranberry Sauce

It starts off by combining 1 cup Pinot Noir, 1 cup sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a bay leaf. Once it comes to a boil you add 4 cups fresh cranberries. Once the pot returns to a boil you reduce the heat to a simmer and allow it to cook for 10-15 more minutes. It’s definitely not the cranberry sauce from the can but it’s tasty and worth a try!

The next baking project is my favorite of the holiday, homemade Pumpkin Pie. I consider it a labor of love because it all starts off with my homemade graham cracker crust:

The filling is a spin off of the Libby’s recipe. I make it dairy free and health it up a bit by exchanging the evaporated milk for 1 cup of soy milk and trading the 2 whole eggs for 3 egg whites. I use the tradition spices, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, that are on the can rather than pumpkin pie spice mix. It takes a little longer to bake and set up than the recipe says but it is oh-s0-worth-it:

And lastly a bit more pumpkin with my mom’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

So cute and bite-sized 🙂

After the baking was done I prepped my brussels sprouts and kale for tomorrow, more on that in my next post but I’m really excited for all of my dishes! Hope everyone has a fun Thanksgiving Eve! I am skipping the bars and calling it an early night in preparation for our Turkey Trot 5k tomorrow 🙂

Lots of love,

Em