Calabaza ~ Calabeza

I hope everyone had a festive Thanksgiving with all the yummy trimmings. The holiday crept up on me and before I knew it I was scrambling in my head on how we were going to celebrate the day. Sister's school had a half day on Thursday and they celebrated with a few parent volunteers who came in with a Thanksgiving meal cooked for all the kids. No stuffing, sweat potatoes or green bean casserole; but turkey, corn on the cob and some mashed potatoes, which I guess were so goopey and runny Sister didn't even know what they were. She said they were really yellow too. Maybe it was yellow gravy? Or butter? Sister brought some leftover turkey home and it was good, but dry. I'm guessing the women who cooked it hadn't cooked a turkey before, though it is easy to dry a turkey out roasting. It was a cute attempt at an American tradition.

I, on the other hand decided I would cook chicken, tzimmes (which are a Jewish carrot/sweet potato dish), a can of green beans (creative -huh?) and mashed potatoes. Sister was begging for pumpkin pie and I thought she would enjoy this little idea I had (see below). I stopped at the grocery store on the way home thinking I'd be able to find a can of pumpkin.

I searched the canned goods aisle with no luck. It's not uncommon for them to put holiday items someplace other than the obvious, so at the checkout I asked if they had any "calabeza". Okay...let me stop here for a moment. I would say that my Spanish is equivalent to a two year old. I often say things wrong or put words in the wrong order and definitely have horrible conjugation of verbs. All this might be cute for a two year old. So what did I ask for??? Well, I guess that would maybe translate as "pumpkin head"? Ha ha ha!

Calabaza = pumpkin. (cal-ah-bah-sa)
Cabeza = head (ca-bay-sa).
So you put the two together and what have you got? A pumpkin head!! I told Papa when I got home and he had a good laugh on me. Doh! See? I told you I needed Spanish lessons.

On with the post. We never got our can of pumpkin that night and Sister ended up having a school program in the evening so we never even got to eat the Thanksgiving meal I made (that night anyway, though we had leftovers for a few days). By the time we left the school event we were starving so just stopped at KFC for kids meals. KFC popcorn chicken is pretty yummy here, by the way.

On Saturday, I needed to make a run for another grocery store here in San Pedro Sula that sells whole wheat flour. Guess what they had? Pumpkin! Yep, we bought a can and here is what we made. It is soo good! And lowfat! We used fat free vanilla yogurt and Cool Whip light. I also used fresh ginger instead of dried and used just a pinch of nutmeg instead of the 3/4 tsp. It didn't freeze completely by the time we ate it, but was stiff and a little icy. The next day it was frozen through and perfect! Maybe you'd like to try it? So here is the recipe I used.

Frozen Yogurt Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/4 Cup Margarine, melted

Or store bought crust!

Pie Filling
16 Ounces Pumpkin
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 Teaspoon Ginger
3/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
2 Cups Yogurt, Skim Milk
1 Cup Cool Whip Lite, thawed

Directions:
Heat oven to 350~. Mix ingredients for pie crust. Press firmly and evenly against bottom and sides of 9" pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes; cool. Mix pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in medium bowl. Stir in yogurt. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into prepared crust. Freeze 4-5 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer 45 minutes before serving. Freeze any remaining pie.