Happy Thanksgiving and a Beaver Up-date

One of the things I love about Thanksgiving dinner is the pumpkin pie.  I forgot to take a photo of the pie before dinner - I mean, really, who can concentrate on taking photos at a time like that - so this is what was left of the second pie.  There were 8 of us for dinner so we consumed a lot of pie.

Pumpkin pies can vary a lot, but this is the recipe we have made for years and is definitely tried and true (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens).

Ingredients:

3 cups (796 ml tin) pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

6 eggs

2 1/2 cups skim milk

12 oz (385 ml tin) evaporated low-fat milk

Method:

1.  Blend all ingredients together 

2.  Pour into unbaked pie shells (makes 2 pies) and bake at 400F for 50 minutes 

3.  Pies are done when a knife comes out clean and when the centre is not liquid when gently shaken

4.  Let cool and serve with whipped cream

If there is any leftover filling we make pumpkin pudding, which is just as yummy as the pumpkin pie and, in actual fact, better for you since there is no fattening crust.  Apart from sugar, pumpkin pudding is chock full of good things like milk, eggs, and beta-carotene laden pumpkin.

My mom put together a centerpiece for Thanksgiving weekend with mini gourds on two mats she made a few years ago using pine needles and rushes.  

I'm sure you are all waiting with baited breath for an up-date on the beaver situation.  On Saturday, I was helping my mother get dinner ready and she said I had better get my camera as the beaver always come by at this time of night.  Apparently, every evening at 6:40-6:45 they swim from their lodge in the marsh to the south of our cottage to the bay just north of us.  I grabbed my camera and just as I stepped outside there they were.   

Here is Beaver #1

Then I noticed Beaver #2

Yep, the cheeky little chap was sitting on our rocks (the blue in the foreground is our canoe) chewing on sticks.  Here's a close-up (although the photo isn't the best with the low light conditions).

And finally after a few minutes, Beaver #3 swam by:

I'm not sure why 3 beavers are living together, but far be it from me to ask.  Couldn't you almost hear them singing - Heigh Ho!  Heigh Ho! It's off to work we go!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadian readers.  Did you all enjoy a big turkey dinner? 

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Just a reminder to put your name in for my giveaway to win two Anthropologie mugs.  See details here.