Recipe for 22 Pumpkin Pies

PHOTO BY: Dennis.Vu Using Flickr-Creative Commons Agreement

If you know anything about me, you know me and food go way back.

I'm a lunch lady.

I was a restaurant chief-ie before that.

I'm going to continue to be a lunch lady for the foreseeable future. Go me. It's the economy, stupid. Or really, it's the stupid economy. I recently got my MBA. I'm kind of sort of looking for a new job, but in the interim I'm going to continue to be the best damn lunch lady there ever was.

So I give you PUMPKIN PIE for 176 people.
Double the recipe for a crowd.

Preheat the oven 325. It's convection-we're in an institutional kitchen, or 350 if you're at home and you just have a plain old regular oven. (If you're at home there will be a two pie recipe to follow.)

22 frozen pie shells
40 eggs
3-#10 cans pumpkin
8 cups granulated sugar
7 cups brown sugar
6 T. cinnamon
3 T. ginger
1.5 T. cloves
20-12 oz. cans evaporated milk

Lay out your pie shells on parchment lined bun pans.
In a giant ass mixer mix all the rest of everything together.

Pour the mixture into the pie pans, bake for about 40 minutes. It will take closer to an hour if you're at home with that conventional oven discussed above.

Serve with all the other Thanksgiving fixin's to the happy kids who come through your lunch line. You don't know what they might not be getting at home, this might be their only pie.

Aerosol cans of whip cream are optional, you decide if they can handle the responsibility.

For Home
2 pie shells
1 28 oz can pumpkin
8 eggs
1.5 c. sugar
1.25 c. brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon
.5 T. ginger
1 tsp. cloves
3-12 oz. cans evaporated milk

I’ve made this pie at my school for the last 10 years.

I’ll continue to make so long as they’ll have me. It makes me happier than about nearly anything else I do in November.

What work related Thanksgiving traditions do you all do?

Home Made Marshmallows and All that is Good In the Universe

November Egg Day has come and gone.

This one was fantastic. I don't know just how many people came in and out through the doors but there were at least 14 new faces who hadn't made it before.

There were many delicious things to eat and interesting conversations. The people come from all over my life, old friends, co-workers, social groups, family and neighbors. I'm feeling particularly blessed.

But on to the food: Well not all the food, but the marshmallows. I've been talking about making them for months. I finally got to it. Shall I proceed?

Marshmallows are confections, soft little pieces of creamy melt in your mouth sticky candy.

1 cup water, divided

3 ¼ oz. envelopes gelatin

1 cup corn syrup

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar


In a bowl that fits a stand mixer sprinkle the gelatin over ½ cup of water. Let sit 10 minutes while you cook the sugar.

In a pot bring to a boil the other half cup of water, corn syrup, sugar, salt. Stir to dissolve, wash down the sides of the pot with brush dipped in water or cover with a lid and let boil 2 minutes, (the steam will collect on the sides and wash down the sugar. Attach a candy thermometer. Bring to soft ball stage-240 degrees. About 10 minutes.

With the ball attachment on and the mixer on low add the sugar slowly to the gelatin, by pouring it down the side of the bowl. Turn the mixer to high. Whip 10 minutes.

It will become all white and marshmallowy looking, like fluff or ice-cream topping.

Add the vanilla and whip 30 more seconds.
Prepare a 9x13 inch pan by spraying with oil, a layer of parchment paper, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Pour the marshmallow into the pan. Spread with wet off set spatula or wet fingers. Top with more powder sugar. Cover and let cure 12 hours.

Turn out onto powdered sugar covered surface, cut with pizza cutter and roll in more powdered sugar so that all cut surfaces are covered. These babies are sticky and the sugar makes them manageable.

Why marshmallows?

They are my go to comfort food. I will poke them with a fork and toast them over the stove and eat four in row when something is a  miss in my life. I use that as an indicator I'm troubled. What do you do when you are troubled? Do you eat? Do you exercise? Do you lay face down on your bed and throw a fit?

Do share.