Counting down to Halloween with a delicious vintage pumpkin pie recipe

With precisely one week to go until Halloween arrives, many of us are busy surrounding ourselves (and our homes) with all manner of pumpkins - from the real deal to jack-o-lantern decorations and pumpkin shaped sweet treats.

Naturally, this time of the year calls for pumpkin based foods, be they stews, cakes, lattes, muffins, pancakes, or one of the most beloved desserts of all time: pumpkin pie.

Typically an after dinner staple at Thanksgiving and Christmas, there's no reason why you can't bake a festive pumpkin pie or two this week to celebrate Halloween and the beautiful spirit of the rich harvest season.

I adore pumpkin pie (especially if it's been generously seasoned with oodles of cinnamon and other sublimely scented spices), and am always game for trying a new recipe (especially if I can easily make it gluten-free so that I can have a slice, too).

Today's vintage pumpkin pie recipe calls on Carnation Evaporated milk to help add moisture and silkiness to finished dish, and is a cinch to throw together if you use a pre-made (store bought or homemade) pie crust.




{As the writing size is quite small on this lovely autumn time recipe, be sure to click here for a somewhat larger - easier to read - version. Image via vieilles_annonces on Flickr.}


For an especially festive touch, you could use a mini pumpkin shaped cookie cutter (Wilton makes a darling 12 piece mini Halloween cookie cutter set that would be perfect) to cut out tiny pumpkins of dough and place them on top of your pie.

You could also serve this with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, pudding or custard that you'd tinted black, green or purple for an extra spooky touch that kids (and the young at heart) will definitely enjoy.

Another idea would be to turn this pie into individual sized pies or tarts and dust some Halloween sprinkles (again - and I swear this is not product placement, they just make awesome holiday themed items - such as those from Wilton) over each one.

If you're going for a more elegant take on pumpkin pie, I'm quite fond of it dished up with gently warmed dulce de leche drizzled all over each slice, the creamy sauce combining with the sweetly spiced filling for forkful after forkful of caramel apple meets pumpkin pie taste bud heaven.

Whether you bust out the pie plate today or hold off until Thanksgiving to whip up this scrumptious favourite, I hope you'll join me in creating at least one of these beautiful, seasonal treats this year, as - in my opinion - autumn just isn't the same without a slice or two of classic pumpkin pie!

Savouring autumn at the creek

Outfit details

1940s/50s flower adorned straw hat: etsy seller Bettes Bargains
Prescription eyeglasses: (frames) Venus Eye Design V-12
1940s inspired autumn leaf necklace: Handmade by me
White vintage slip: eBay
Dark orange cardigan: eBay
1950s yellow pencil skirt: eBay
1950s beaded gloves: eBay
1950s corduroy bucket purse: etsy seller Rue 23 Vintage Clothing
Nude seamed stockings: eBay
Straw hued heels: Anne Klein
Lip colour: MAC Diva   

Photography by Antonio Cangiano  




     




   


♥ ♥ ♥

Earlier this year as summer was just beginning its beautiful reign, I wrote about my feeling regarding the unspoiled beauty and peacefulness of the area in which we now live, and how I could not help but marvel at the resplendence of once again knowing tranquility.

A few months on and I still feel my as though my soul is enveloped by these same thoughts when I step outside of my house, especially in the early morning or late afternoon into dusk hours. The purity of the unspoiled air, the rustle of the leaves as the trees whisper secrets to one another, the thousands of stars like dangling like diamonds over head, are all gifts that humble and astound, especially after being away from such a setting for so many years.

Where once we lived in the hectic, exceedingly noisy, sometimes dangerous, generally polluted realm of an area just north of downtown Toronto, we now open our front door and stair at some sublimely pretty woods that back onto a dusty camel and sage hued hill, that looks much like something plucked straight out of an old Western film.

There are no houses blocking our view, and traffic on the small two lane street that runs past us often comes to a complete stop for minutes on end during the later part of the evening and early morning. Nestled between the road and picturesque hill, one finds Penticton Creek, a body of water that runs down from the mountains that back our little town all the way to the sandy shores of Okanagan Lake.

I know it well, this beautiful little creek, having spent a great many childhood hours playing along (but never in - I heeded your warnings, mom, I promise) its banks and rocky edges. Yet despite our proximity, I hadn't yet had a chance to really get down to the water's edge and say hello to it again until very recently. I'd been going through a rough spell health wise and the day these shots were taken was the first time I'd been out of the house in nearly a month, which made filling my lungs with as much crystal clear fresh air an especially happy event.

After carefully (heels + loose earth are never the best combination) making our way down to the creek, Tony began snapping and neither of us could seem to bring ourselves to stop (posing or pressing the shutter). The air was warm and crisp and the golden leaves that were starting to form on the tall trees around us, the light had a magical quality to it that beckoned the soul and made you want to lay down and take a nap in the great outdoors like a pixie resting under a toadstool.

Penticton Creek, which includes a walking path directly above a good chunk of its length, is a popular spot for locals or all ages to enjoy an outing, and is particularly popular with dog owners, who can always be seen up and down its elegant length. On the day when we were there a very energetic, splendidly cute Husky came bounding into the water just a few feet away from where were standing and Tony instantly cast his lens on it.




The chipper dog was wearing a bright green collar which could be seen in all but one photo (pictured above), and I what I love about that shot is how, with its collar tucked into its long fur, it almost looks as though we were encountering a wolf in the woods, further adding to the fairy tale like quality of the whole sublimely lovely afternoon.

While we are being treated to a particularly (unseasonably) warm autumn this year, like a welcome home gift from the universe to celebrate our return to British Columbia, this is still Canada after all, and I know that in a few short weeks, it's very likely the creek - like the whole town itself - will be cloaked in a thick mantle of snow once more.

As such, I'm now trying to head over for a walk along the water's edge as often as possible, though I do usually slip on sandals or saddle shoes instead of heels, unless of course a photo shot such as this is in the cards that day.

In either case, just look for the the vintage wearing gal who's dividing her time between gathering bouquets of autumn leaves, petting the many adorable puppies that come bounding by, and counting her blessings that she’s able to live in such a breath-taking setting.

Just doing a little fall cleaning

Of the electronic version that is.

While by no means obsessive to an unhealthy point, I'm something of a compulsive cleaner. I detest mess and disorder and as a result don't mind housework and actually look forward to certain chores and seasonal cleanings. This week however, no elbow grease was involved, as what I've been tidying up is the pages upon pages that I keep in (neatly categorized) Word documents on my computer to links (sources) of online images and topics that I may want to post about in the future.

From day one back in 2009 when I began this blog, I started putting together such inspiration lists, as well as lists of ideas for future posts (other than deleting those ideas I've already written about, that list rarely gets touched and is a vital element, I find, to successful blogging). As a result, some of the entries are now well over three years old. Not all that aged if we were talking about a real world item perhaps, but in the realm of the interwebs, a lot can happen in that time.

About once a year or so, I like to take a few days and weed out certain links that I suspect or already know are no longer applicable or which are now long gone (e.g., etsy listings that have sold).

Sometimes Flickr users shut down their accounts and thus images there that I'd once hoped to use disappear as well. Other times people change their Flickr settings and cease to allow their images to be used by others, and again that potential image source dries up. The less of these kinds of links one has to hand, the speedier (and more enjoyable) it is to quickly find the type of image you're after for a given post.

While Pinterest has certainly opened up the image playing field - and is a marvelous place to store images that you may use in future posts - I still like the quick ease of use that comes from having these kinds of lists, where a simple "search and find" in Word will pull up the links I'm after, based on the descriptions and/or keywords I partnered them with.




{There’s nothing like a little housekeeping – be it on your computer or in the kitchen to make things feel fresh and tidy again. Image via fidgetrainbowtree}



Much as I literally get antsy if I know something is messy in my house, so too do I like to try and keep my archive of links and vintage inspiration neat and tidy, no matter how lengthy it has become after years of blogging.

Thus, throughout this lovely mid-October week, when not celebrating family birthdays (three in a two day period!) and our wedding anniversary, I've been devoting some of my time to (proverbially) sweeping, dusting, and sorting through my achieves documents and, while it's sad in a way to see any link cease to be useful or available, I'm happy about knowing that I'll now be able to head into the wildly hectic fall and winter holiday season with considerably fewer unusable entries kicking around.

If you keep similar lists (and/or use an online bookmarking service, which I do too, but only a minute fraction as much as I use my Word documents), I highly suggest you do an annual cleanup up, too. You can work at it here and there, when time permits, or intentionally devote a weekend or few days to sorting the "keep" from the "toss”, as they used to say on the TV show Clean Sweep.

One of the perks to this kind of tidying up spree is that it reminds you of some of things you found previously and thought were noteworthy/cute/cool/useful, but which in the ensuing months (or years), you forgot about.

Don't be surprised, as I often find is the case, if you go on a post writing spree in the aftermath of this type of housekeeping, especially if you're still left with oodles of great, totally useable sources of inspiration and images.

Cleaning, I find, is good for the mind, body and spirit, no matter what you're tidying up. There's a sense of satisfaction that comes when you wrap up and admire what you've just done and the order you've brought to the world around you.

So why not join me this month (feel free to don your favourite vintage apron just for fun while doing so) and engage in a little bit of autumn inspiration file straightening up -  it sure makes spring cleaning your house seem like a massive breeze by comparison!