Should I do it again? This could be chapter 1

 Or have you seen the Pumpkin Man? 

Newborn Billy aka Pumpkin Man

That was one of our nicknames for Bill when he was a baby because the ginger in his hair really showed up then. He did take his time getting here, labor started 2 days after he was due, and went on too long according to the doctors, not that I had enough energy left to argue with them by then, so he was delivered by C-section at 8pm on Oct. 8, 1988. I had argued with them ahead of time during the blistering hot summer (1988 set some records, a preview of the climate emergency) ; we health care professionals are the worst patients! Luckily, breastfeeding went much better, almost without a hitch, despite my mother's skepticism.  I had my best friend Patty for support, and she had also introduced me to the local La Leche League, though I knew of their good work from college nutrition classes. My then spouse, Mark, was also on board as his mother had breastfed him,  a rare thing in the 1950s. My own mother was told formula was the way, and like most others, did what the doctor said. 

It was kind of nice that my parents were there to help when Bill was born, except they were so excited they couldn't wait until he was actually born and travelled from Chicagoland to St. Peter  MN anyway, and ended up arriving when I was in the early stages of labor. So my cats, Chandra and Anoush, had someone to look after them. Since I'd had the C-section, my mom stayed for  a whole week though my dad had to get back to home to their cat and work.  It was great to have someone to cook for us while we got settled in, even if she did rearrange all my kitchen drawers. I remember she roasted a chicken one day, and the cats were VERY attentive. 

Grandma Donna, Chandra & the chicken

Billy was a fairly easy baby, a bit colicky, resulting in some extra vacuuming sessions. Car rides were also a good way to get him to sleep, but of course taking him out of the car would wake him. Luckily we had an attached garage, so I admit a couple times, if he was really short on sleep and the garage was a reasonable temperature, we left him in the car seat with the baby monitor in place! Most of the time we just did good old fashioned rocking. Chandra helped with that, too. 

    

Billy & me napping, Chandra on alert

It was a fall & holiday season of joyous family gatherings as everyone came to see him and take way too many photos- he was the first grandchild on both sides. We started solid food slowly at 4 1/2 months,, and I was determined to breastfeed at least a year so there was no hurry. He was not fussy about food at first, I could puree just about anything and he'd eat it, including Grandma Doris' pork, dumplings and sauerkraut! The pork roast part is not included, but the rest of the dish was published in a family cookbook.

Sauerkraut and Dumplings 

Recipe by Doris Otteson

1 beaten egg

1/2 c. milk

1/2 to 1 tsp. salt

1 c. flour

1 Tbsp, baking powder

2 Tbsp.  cornstarch

16-20 oz. can of sauerkraut 

.Combine egg and milk.  Combine dry ingredients, and sift together and mix well with egg-milk  In wide kettle, empty can of kraut and heat to boiling. Then drop dumplings by spoonfuls onto hot kraut. Cover and cook over medium to low heat for 15-20 min, Don't peek! Excellent served with a pork roast and flavorful gravy; serve kraut in separate bowl. The dumplings are a potato substitute. 

However, it doesn't seem fair to end this chapter with something Bill would not eat now; sauerkraut is not really his thing. In keeping with his first nickname, he does like pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Pie

Crust based on recipe in Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook\

Filling from recipe in Joy of Cooking

Pie dough for 2- 9" crusts:

2 cups flour, may use half whole wheat pastry flour\

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c + 2 T. ice cold butter

5 T. ice water

Mix flour and salt in large bowl. Cut butter into flour until lumps are the size of small peas. Sprinkle water on mixture 1 T. at a time until dough holds together. Pat into a ball and refrigerate at least 20 min. 

Cut dough in half. Roll out each half between sheets of waxed paper, it helps if you moisten the surface underneath with a damp cloth, then it won't slide.  Roll to 1 "  bigger around than your pie pan.  Keeping dough between wax paper, pop in the freezer for a few minutes, the paper will peel right off once the dough is stiff.  After removing paper, set gently on pie plate, but allow to warm up and soften before fitting it to the plate. Trim edges and flute or decorate the edge if desired. 

Pie filling for 2 pies:

2 cans  pumpkin

2 cans evaporated milk

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

1 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. ginger

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/4. t. cloves

4 beaten eggs

Preheat oven to 425 or 420 for glass pie plates, which I prefer. 

Mix filling ingredients until well blended. Pour into prepared crusts. Depending on how deep they are, you may have a bit of extra filling. I pour this into a greased custard cup or small pyrex pan .   Bake pies for 15 min.  then lower temperature to 350. Bake about 35-45 min. more for a full pie, test by inserting a knife, if it comes out clean the filling is baked. Small cups and pans will get done faster. 

Allow to cool, serve with sweetened whipped cream. We like this pie all the way chilled before serving. Keep in refrigerator.