Category Archives: Pumpkin

Catching Up

Aloe Soap, Apple Pie, crochet, Making Soap, Pie, Pumpkin, Reflections, Sewing, Snow, Weather, Winter

Hello and welcome.

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my posting so today I’m going to be playing catch up.

From the Garden

Back in early October, my husband harvested our squash and pumpkins. Like nearly everything else, we had a nice crop this year. I put a lot of squash and pumpkin in the freezer, and we’ve been including squash in our meals once or twice a week.

We shared some with family and friends and still have some fresh in the storeroom.

I made five or six pumpkin pies in October. They are my husbands favorite.

By the end of the month, he had his fill of pumpkin pie, so we finished the month with apple pie.

But we still enjoyed some butternut squash with dinner.

Crochet

I dropped off the meandering paws afghan (can you see the paw prints in the crochet pattern?) that I made earlier this year at the Humane Society. A donation for them to raffle off at their upcoming pawzar fund raiser.

Soap Making

I also made a batch of soap in October. We liked the aloe soap that I made earlier this year so much that I decided to make that again. If you’d like you can find the recipe in this post.

Things to Celebrate

The holidays will be here before we know it – Thanksgiving in November followed by Christmas then the New Year. As usual I will be spending time making Christmas gifts for the kids and grandkids over the next several weeks.

But first we had (granddaughter) Addie’s birthday to celebrate last Saturday. I made her this hoodie and a pair of matching black leggings. I didn’t get a picture of her wearing it, but it was a perfect fit.

On Sunday we celebrated a Detroit Lions win over the Washington Commanders. Our Lions currently have 6 wins and 3 losses and are in first place in the NFC North division.

We are hoping to celebrate another win this coming Sunday when the Lions play the Philadelphia Eagles who are in first place in the NFC East division. It should be a good game. GO LIONS!

Winter Comes Early

Sunday, November 9, was our first snow of the season. Even though it snowed most of the day it didn’t really start to accumulate until it was getting dark. We only had about an inch of snow around 8:00 p.m. but when the dogs got me up to go outside around midnight this is what I saw.

We had about for inches of snow and it was still coming down. By the time we got up Monday morning the snow was finished, and we had between five and six inches on the ground (and everything else).

We do need all of the precipitation we can get because we had such a dry summer, and since it will melt away as the temperatures warm back up later this week this snow really was a blessing.

Thanks for visiting? Are you looking forward to the holidays?

Pumpkin Recipes

Pie, Pumpkin, Recipe, Reflections,

I finally made pumpkin pie for my husband. It was a nice birthday treat for him. 🎈🙂

Since we have had such a bountiful pie pumpkin harvest this year we have given some to family and friends, and in doing so I promised to pass along my pumpkin pie recipe to a couple of people. I had planned on just reblogging a post from a couple of years ago that included that and some other recipes for them but for some reason new editor would not allow me to do so. The feature that used to allow me to “copy a post” is now missing as well, so I have copied and pasted several of the recipes from that post into this. For long time readers recipes 2-6 are repeats from the previous post. Recipe #1 however is new to this post. I hope you enjoy.

Pumpkin Recipe # 1

Begin by measuring the circumference of the pumpkin. Write down that number. Then measure the diameter of the pumpkin and remember or write that number down. Lastly divide the circumference by the diameter. You now have pumpkin Pi. 😁

LOL! (You can thank my dad for that one.)

Pumpkin Recipe # 2 – Pumpkin Puree

If you have never cooked a pumpkin before it is very simple. Usually the small pumpkins are use for cooking, but larger ones are just as edible. While there are other ways to cook pumpkin, this is the way I do it. Cut the pumpkin in half,  scoop out all the seeds and gunk? goo? slimy stuff? You probably know what I’m talking about. Put the pumpkin halves in a baking dish with a small amount of water in the pan and cover it with foil. Bake at 350 degrees until it is soft probably 60-90 minutes. Allow it to cool, then scoop the pumpkin out of the shell. Your pumpkin is now ready to eat, or at this point you can put it in a food processor to puree it before using it in other recipes. Here are a few recipes you might try.

Pumpkin Recipe # 3 – Easy Pumpkin Pie

2  cups pumpkin puree

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 unbaked deep-dish pie shell (I usually buy these but you certainly can make your own)

Mix first 7 ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 35-40 minutes.

Pumpkin Recipe # 4 – Pumpkin Cake

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree

Preheat over to 350. Grease 9×13 pan. Mix together flour, baking powder. baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix together sugar and oil until well blended then add eggs and mix well. Mix in pumpkin. Add flour mixture and mix until thoroughly blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched.  I love this cake and it pares well with a cream cheese or vanilla frosting.

If you have baked more pumpkin than you need for a specific recipe this puree freezes well. I usually measure it out, (2 cups for pie) then put it in plastic freezer containers.

Pumpkin Recipe #5 – Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Now I hope you didn’t throw away those seeds that you scraped out of the pumpkin, because roasted pumpkin seeds are also a great snack. While I have only made the regular salted variety this link has several different ways to try them.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/pumpkin-seeds-recipe.html

Pumpkin Recipe #6 – Facial Mask

Lastly if you would like to try pumpkin on your skin you could make a pumpkin facial mask by blending together 1/4 to 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1 egg, 1 tsp. honey and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Apply to face and allow to sit and dry for 15 minutes before rinsing off with warm water. If you have any left over dispose of it. This product should be used immediately after it is prepared and it will not keep.

Thanks for visiting.