Our Thanksgiving - And a better-late-than-never Bake of the Week!

Well, there you have it everyone: our 50th post! I feel like we should celebrate with a cake or something. No? How about with some zucchini-apple pie then:

It didn't last long at all!

I am sure I've mentioned it before, but this is my favourite time of year...

As you can tell, this is just one of the three posts I started, then never finished. This one was dedicated to the wonderful Thanksgiving we shared, and was also going to feature a new creation of ours; zucchini-apple pie. (I can only take partial credit for the pie; though I baked it, the whole idea was Chris'. I think I looked at him like he had two heads when he suggested using zucchini in an apple pie, but as always, he was right. It was delicious!)

Our Thanksgiving was amazing. Everything; from the food, to the conversation, to the warmth and love of being surrounded by our family and friend (you know who you are; and I use the term "friend" loosely; we consider you more family than friend!). Our house was packed; and at final count, ourselves included, there were 19 people present. It was a blast! I kept looking at the food, and beautiful new dishes (we didn't have nearly enough place settings and so I had to purchase more - and was very fortunate to find plates and bowls at $1 a piece, and the flatware was also on sale!), and couldn't believe how lucky we are. That with so many people going hungry in the world, with so much hurt and devastation, we were able to feed that many people a great meal, and not break the bank. Mind you, all the vegetables came from the garden (we had 6 different side dishes), and the desert and dinner rolls were home-made, but still. We are blessed.

And even though our kitchen was packed, it was not uncomfortably so. It kept the house warm, and our rooms were never without the sound of laughter. And then the next day, we went over to Chris' parents for another dinner - what a wonderful weekend! (My stomach is still recovering!)

But back to the pie...

I took the basic apple pie recipe I use, and just substitute peeled and cored zucchini slices for some of the apples. The ratio depends entirely on your own preference, and does nothing to the way it is cooked. In fact, I would go as far as to say it does nothing to the taste, either. It is preferable to use zucchinis that grew large (at least 1 1/2 feet in length) as the texture is then more like apples, but as far as taste goes, the zucchini just absorbs the spices, sugar, lemon, and apple flavour. None of our guest knew what was really in the pie until we told them (after it was consumed, mind you!), and even then, some didn't believe us!

Apple-Zucchini Pie

Take 6-8 cups of a combination of:

apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick and

zucchini, peeled, cored and sliced thinly

Mix fruit together in a large bowl with:

3/4 cups sugar

2-3 tbsp flour

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

Let the mixture stand at room temperature for 15 minutes, or use the time to prepare your favourite dough recipe. You'll need enough to make a bottom and top crust for at least a 9 inch pie pan. Once you've filled the pan with the bottom crust, pour in the fruit mixture, and dot the top with 2 tbsp of butter. Cover with the top crust (don't forget to put vents in the top), place a baking sheet undernieth to catch any overflow, and bake at 425 F for half an hour. Then reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake for another 30-45 minutes, until the crust is golden and juices come bubbling out.

I like to serve the pie warm with vanilla ice cream, but it is still good at room temperature (and actually cuts better when it's cooler).

So yummy!