My first Thanksgiving

I made it through cooking my first Thanksgiving. I burnt the bottom of the stuffing a little bit and totally forgot about the rolls. I put dad in charge of gravy duty and he kinda screwed it up - but it worked out ok. (apparently he didn't understand the difference between simmering and boiling... what was supposed to be about a cup of liquid ended up being about two tablespoons of severely concentrated "stuff" - don't know what else to call it...)

But next year - don't ask me to make a pie.

I had decided to make two pies. One was a caramel apple pie (and yes, I used pre-made pie dough) and the other was a pumpkin chiffon pie - now affectionately called the "third time's a charm pie".

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie:
First you make a crust out of gingersnaps and butter, bake. Check

Then you mix milk, gelatin and pumpkin and a million spices on the stove.
* First attempt - accidentally misread recipe and added whole can of pumpkin - not just the one cup required. Threw it out, started over.
* Second attempt - check.

Next step is to put pumpkin mixture in fridge to start to set while you whip whipping cream to fold in.
* First attempt - whipping cream not whipping. I'm cursing at the $350 kitchen aid stand mixer as though it's all its fault. (because it's not me!!!)
* Second attempt - not really an attempt - more like a change in action plan. I sent David to the store to get cool whip. I'm not above cheating. Not until David got back did I remember that cool whip comes frozen and my pumpkin mixture was ready to fold in whipped cream now. Since there's no good way to defrost cool whip I decided I would set it in the fridge and fold the two together first thing in the morning. (thank god I started the day before....)

Next morning - pull out pumpkin mixture and try to give it a stir before adding cool whip. It's like I coated the inside of my glass bowl with vulcanized rubber. I swear I could have made a tire out of it. I TOTALLY forgot that there is gelatin in it and since I had left it all night the gelatin in the pumpkin totally set.

Ok - last try. I had to go to the store to replenish all my supplies. I had used all my gelatin and I decided to get extra pumpkin in case this became a "fourth time's a charm" pie.

FINALLY -
gingersnap crust - check
pumpkin mixture on stove top, done correctly - check, check
cool whip folded into pumpkin mixture - check, check, check
mixture into pie and in the fridge to complete setting up - check, check, check, check.

If it hadn't worked that last time we just weren't going to have a pumkin pie.