Early Thanksgiving Cooking and "Emmie" the food processor

I know, I'm a bit attached to my little "Emmie" food processor. Teresa and I both got one for Christmas many, many, many years ago. I mean, like 25 yrs ago and they're both still going strong. It's not a large or complicated machine - it's just right for most recipes.

I was getting ready to make the fresh cranberry/jello salad for tomorrow when I realized one of the parts to Emmie was missing. Teresa will know exactly what part I'm talking about. It's the post that actually holds the blade. It's small and I've caught myself several times over the years scooping it up with a bunch of potato peelings (or what ever scraps or "cooking trash" is in the sink). So, it's almost ended up in the trash a few times. Unfortunately, I think sometime recently, that's just what happened.


Fortunately, we had the solution! There is a component for "Emmie" that I don't use very much and could be sacrificed. Duane took it and used the bandsaw to remove the disc......


And this is what it looks like all trimmed....exactly like the part I threw away.


OK, on to the pie now that Emmie is functional. Remember Lindy gave me a bunch of pumpkin? I roasted it in the oven a few months ago. A good portion of it got frozen for just this occasion. I thawed it - but it was still in chunks. Emmie to the rescue.....a few minutes later and the chunks were a velvety smooth puree.


So silky and fresh tasting!! And sooooo much better than the canned pumpkin the recipes call out.


I used the Paula Dean Pumpkin Pie Recipe.....wow is all I can say. Cream cheese and butter as ingredients - very rich!



Viola! Finished pie - hope it's good! We're flying up to Asheville tomorrow morning for dinner at my brother's. Then it's down to Greenville for Duane's family get-together on Saturday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!