Friday, November 3, 2023

A Simple Pumpkin Pie Recipe for Thanksgiving

IRTE cast member Natalie (the Recipe) Hunter shares a very easy-to make and uncomplicated Thanksgiving Recipe she found in Stuart Marfa's Real Simple Woman's Healthy Day Magazine.

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

The air is crisp, the leaves are falling. Ah, yes, my friends. It’s that time of year again. Autumn.

This time of year always reminds me of when my husband went off to war. The day was November 10th. Thanksgiving was around the corner and his favorite dish I would prepare is my pumpkin pie.

So I cooked one up the night before he was meant to leave for the war after he had fallen asleep. Admittedly, I couldn’t remember what time his flight was but I knew it was in the wee hours of the morning. I didn’t want to wake him up so instead I would get up every hour on the hour to pop the pumpkin pie back in the oven to keep it warm and keep the pumpkin scent going.

With each hour that passed by, I grew wearier. So much so that I mistakenly put my cat sitting beside the delectable dessert into the oven. I had nodded off in front of the oven and woke up to the sound of my cat desperately yowling and clawing at the door.

I grabbed my oven mitts and pulled out my slightly singed cat, Reginald, out of the oven. Somehow my husband had slept through the commotion but my five children came stampeding down the stairs.

Once assuring everything was ok, Little Timmy noticed my frazzled state and suggested I have some of my special mommy juice. It was the smartest thing he had said all year. I popped the pie back in the oven, sent my little ones to bed and drank a few bottles of wine to calm my nerves.


I awoke on the couch to my husband coming down the stairs. I asked him what time it was and he informed me that it was 6:45 AM of the following day. He explained to me that I had been passed out on the couch all day but luckily, I had gotten the date wrong and he was actually leaving today. 

He also notified me that he had woken up to the smell of burning ambrosia and the sound of the fire alarm, which I had somehow slept through. I apologized profusely and offered to make him a new pumpkin pie. But he explained that he had eaten the burnt pie and that he had liked it better that way. He told me it was the best ambrosia I ever made.

Before he left for the war, I kissed him on the cheek as our five children ran to his feet and wrapped their little bodies around his legs. They begged him not to leave but he told them he had an important duty to fulfill.

Miraculously, he was only gone a fortnight and made it home for Thanksgiving. He said he completed his militaristic responsibilities but may be drafted again any day now. I was just relieved he found an opportunity to do something meaningful and wasn’t cheating on me again.

Anyway, here’s the new and improved recipe for my world-famous pumpkin pie.


Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk 

3 bottles of wine

1 resilient cat 

3 cups tears


Leave in oven for 28 hours. Ignore smoke alarm.


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Fridays and Saturdays. 
November 10, 11, 17 & 18,
December 1, 2, 8 & 9, 2023

8:00-9:30pm

The Producers Club, 358 West 44th Street
Between 9th & 10th Ave
New York, NY

Tickets: $20 on-line, $25 cash only at the door