This past September, I packed my bags for my first solo trip since all three of my children were born. This may surprise some people since my eldest is now 7 years old. I had left my children overnight with their Grammy and Grampy before but had never been farther than 40 minutes away from them.

My sister and I are very close and about a year ago she and her husband had to move to Missouri for jobs at the University of Missouri. They bought their first home and I hadn’t seen it yet. My husband could tell that I really missed her and so he encouraged me to go.

My sister and I planned a weekend when Columbia, Mo., (her new home) was going to host the first Race for the Cure 5K run and walk so that we could participate in the race together. On a sunny morning in late September, I boarded a plane in Portland with only one carry-on. It was amazing to be able to go through security without a stroller, sippy cups, a diaper bag and several carry-on bags full of toys, snacks and other emergency items for kids.

In Missouri, I was greeted by my sister and my adorable 2-year-old nephew, Marshall. I had never seen Missouri. On the two hour drive to her home, I was able to see the beautiful countryside. When I entered her new home, it was great to finally have a visual for all the phone conversations we had had and ones that we would have in the future.

At dinner that night, Karen brought out some leftover pie. We often have conversations about cooking and what we are cooking for dinner that night or what worked well for company, etc. I am always sad that I can’t taste test one of Karen’s creations. Where I am one to like to follow the recipe, my sister is the more creative one and is always willing to change a recipe or even create her own based on what ingredients she has on hand.

This leftover pie was a recipe from a friend and one that we had just talked about over the phone. I remembered her saying that it had a natural sweetener in it (you can use maple syrup or honey) so you could give it to the kids for dinner as their vegetable. And now I was sitting in her kitchen and able to actually taste something that we had just talked about a day or two prior. I remembered that my sister said when Marshall, who can be a picky eater, took a bite, he said “yummy.”

A month later and miles away from Missouri, I made this same recipe for my kids. I asked my daughter Emily is she could give me one word to describe the pie and she said “yummy.”

Squash Pie

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (or other squashes, like a small pumpkin, or 2 acorn squashes)

1/3 cup maple syrup (or honey)

1/4-1/2 cup milk (just enough to get blender going — I used 1/3 cup)

2/3 cup flour

2 eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice (or cloves)

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch pie dish.

2) Roast the squash — here’s how: Quarter and seed the squash. Brush a thin layer of olive oil on the outside skin, then place squash skin side up in a roasting pan. Roast for approximately 40 minutes at 350 degrees, or until it’s really soft (enough to blend).

3) Let squash cool a bit so you can handle it. Then peel the outer skin, and put the edible part in a blender.

4) Blend together until smooth: peeled cooked squash, maple syrup, milk (just enough to get blender going) and spices.

5) After you’ve blended, and before you add eggs, taste your mix, and adjust spices and sweetener to your taste.

6) Add eggs and flour to blender and blend until smooth.

7) Pour the whole mixture into your pie dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.