GRANDMA NONA

Knows!

Dear Nona:

I must have your pumpkin pie recipe again. I’m spending the holidays with the inlaws again, and your desserts are the only thing that get me through!

Harried in Hatfield Dear Harried:

Never fear, Nona is here to save your Thanksgiving Day. I know you’re going to have a whiz-bang of a day, especially if you try this pumpkin pie recipe. I concocted this beauty when I had to get through the day with my second husband’s family. I often refer to Lazy Larry as my second husband twice-removed. That’s because I kicked him out of the House two times.

The second time if finally stuck. He found another lady to freeload off of (thank goodness for Bouffant Betty), and I finally came to my senses and got the locks changed.

I used to dread the holiday season, back when we used to have to spend the long weekend with the Bickerkowskis, who lived over on the other side of Mankato. So, every year it was over the river and through the trailer park to my good-for-nothing in-laws house I’d go. Hey, that was kind of catchy, wasn’t it?

Somebody write that down.

Wait, I’m already writing it down. Geez, guess this egg nog recipe I’m testing today will do just fine, too!

Back to the Thanksgiving story! The Bickerkowskis were too cheap to buy a turkey, so they always had a chicken instead, but they’d make out like it was a turkey, and they’d sit and complain about the lousy birds they had at the Mankato Foodliner that week. They knew that I always brought enough side dishes, dinner rolls and desserts so everyone left the table stuffed, so they’d get away with it. There we’d be on Thanksgiving Day, and Grandpa Bickerkowski would make like he was carving the turkey. He’d make a few cracks about the selection being lousy again this year, then he’d put his knife to pieces of fried chicken pushed together on a platter that he got out of the day old cooler in the grocery store deli section.

One year I pointed out to grandpa that I never saw a bird with three breasts and four legs.

“This garbage they have in this store is something else,” he replied. The best part of the meal.

I’ll have to admit, was waiting for my desserts. Well, that and Lazy Larry’s grandma, who swore she was just off the boat from Finland, would quit muttering in her native tongue for at least a little while.

Fredrika the Terrible, I called her. After the Thanksgiving feast, she’d always cheat her way through the family Scrabble game, claiming that she only knew how to spell words in Finnish. So, she’d string together a bunch of consonants and walk away with the game.

Oh, those were the days. Lazy Larry would get so mad at me that he’d threaten to find a job if I wasn’t nicer to his family next year.

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, and just remember if you have inlaws like I did, the day gets a lot better when the pumpkin pie hits the table. Here’s my official recipe, and then a pecan pie just for the heck of it!

Nona’s Pumpkin Pie

To make it easier for you, I use a store-bought pie crust for this one. They’re pretty good now, not like the old times when it took longer to make that crust than it did to make the pie!

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 eggs 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 1 1/4 cups milk

• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, stir together white sugar, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. When these ingredients are well mixed, stir in the eggs followed by the pumpkin and milk. Transfer mixture to the pie crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1-1/2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the pie comes out clean. Cool before serving.

Great Pecan Pie Ingredients 3 eggs beaten 1 cup sugar 1 cup light or dark syrup (I use Karo) 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup (or more) broken pecan pieces 1 9-inch unbaked or frozen deep dish pie crust Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl stir eggs, sugar, com syrup, butter and vanilla until well blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust. Bake 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.