Pie Win & Pie Fail

Well, hello! I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing and filling Thanksgiving! I have relaxing myself ever since the Philly Half Marathon – so Thanksgiving came at a perfect time for me.

After the half, I took a couple days off and ran a couple easy “shake-out” runs. But I had one more “race” to top off the season – the Chester County Turkey Trot. I am determined to make this a family tradition, however it continues to be just me running it. Joe always comes along to cheer me on, which is good enough.  

This year I wanted to win me a damn pie. Based on the results from 2010, I knew I wouldn’t place for overall females (Finishing in 18:00 while racing against 17 year olds who are concluding their XC season was so not happening). But I thought I had a shot to place in my age group.

It was CHILLY at the start – high 30’s – definitely wasn’t used to that. I decided to wear my Altra Eve’s – which I normally love, however the one thing these shoes are not is warm! My feet were numb the whole race and I actually thought my shoes were going to slip off just because I couldn’t feel them. Which is strange.

Anyways, the course consisted of running around Joe’s former high school and parking lot a few times. I really only race a 5K once a year and one thing is for sure – I definitely have NO IDEA what I’m doing (haha). I feel like I’m sprinting the whole time and have no concept on what my pace is. So basically I was sprinting for 3 miles with numb feet. It kind of sucked – but it’s tradition, people!!

Somehow I finished in 18:59 (5K PR!) and got 2^nd place in my age group. Despite that PR, I definitely felt like a gomer. But, I won that damn pie so it was all worth it.

After I snagged my pie, we grabbed some Wawa Pumpkin Spice coffee (THE best) and started our relaxing low-key Thanksgiving with Joe’s family. We started the day with lox and bagels and fruit, and began the Thanksgiving feast preparations. While the turkey was in the oven, I took the most EPIC of Thanksgiving afternoon naps (another tradition).

Time to eat!

Don’t laugh, but my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal is the cranberry sauce. Canned or homemade, I love it.

This year I was challenged tasked with making the pumpkin pie. However, I was strictly directed NOT to “healthify” the recipe, which is a quite difficult task for me. I searched through traditional pumpkin pie recipes and settled on Bobby Flay’s Throw-Down Pumpkin Pie Recipe. I stuck to the recipe 100% except I used a deeper pumpkin pie dish. 

Looks pretty, right?

However, it did not taste pretty. The consistency was wrong – too mushy, and not creamy like pumpkin pie should be. My mother-in-law and I pondered over what could have happened, and decided it was likely because we used a deeper pie dish and it likely didn’t bake long enough. I’m guessing it needed another 30 to 45 minutes – but by the time we dug into it, it was too late.

FAIL.

One good thing, however, is that we scored big-time with Thanksgiving leftovers, since Joe and I essentially got ALL of them. So at least we have that.

Anyways. I just can’t seem to bake a decent pie - they are my nemesis. Good thing I can win them ;)

Q: Do you tend to “healthify” recipes?

Is there any food you just cannot master?