I LOVE to bake

With that in mind...I can't bake a pie to save my life. You don't believe me? My first attempt was a few years ago. I made a pumpkin pie (it was for Thanksgiving or Christmas - I don't remember which now. That's how long it's been). When it came out of the oven, it was GREEN! How the hell does a pie with nothing but white and orange ingredients turn green? Maybe my spices were old? I have no clue. I used those same spices for my pumpkin bread and it turned out fine.

As I said, that was a few years ago. I thought I'd try again this week with a can of "easy" pumpkin pie filling. They lied. I dumped the can into the 9-inch pan then realized that I had to add 2 eggs and evaporated milk. So, I pulled the pie out of the oven (it had only been in for a few seconds) and dumped the pie stuff into a bowl and added the missing ingredients. Not a problem. Grant it, I should have read the label completely before I just dumped it in anyway - that's my fault for being impatient. As I'm pouring the pie mixture into the pie pan, I realize that I've got quite a bit left in the bowl and not much room left in the shell. It doesn't all fit, but I tried to get as much in as I could. YES! I made a slight mess. I was surprised to find that my mess was only one or two small drops. I really thought I made a much bigger mess. I was lucky. So...I cook the pie for 15 minutes at 425, then switch the oven to 350 for 60-70 minutes. What happened to easy? Anyway, after the 70 minutes, the pie was not done. There was goo coming out on the knife that should have been clean. I put it back in for another 10 minutes with the same result. I tried it one more time for another 10 minutes to which again, the knife is NOT clean. So much for an easy pie. By this time, the crust edges are burnt and the pie itself is starting to burn in spots. Forget it!

So, yesterday, I went to Kroger and bought a Marie Callendar's Pumpkin Pie that I just have to bake for an hour. It is done, out of the oven, and looking GREAT! Now that's an easy pie and the ONLY kind of pie I will be making from now on.

Earlier this week, I made a dozen muffins. Half of these muffins were strawberry while the other half were blueberry cheesecake. They were fantastic. I think I'll be making muffins on a more regular basis.

Currently, I have two loaves of pumpkin bread in the oven. Boy do they smell good. I have a fruit salad I want to make a little later as well. I might have to put both recipes in my blog since they are both family recipes. I haven't decided yet. Would you like the recipe for my pumpkin bread and fruit salad? Both are easy. Let me know.