Deep into fall - pumpkins & pork

I have been the happiest of happy this afternoon in the kitchen.

I have worked on making my first-ever batch of homemade yogurt, baked herb bread & roasted pumpkins.

I roast my pie pumpkins whole.  Just like they look sitting on our windowsill.

I place them on a baking sheet for a little over an hour.  You can smell when they are done.  After slicing them in two, I scoop out the seeds in the center & then scoop out the roasted pumpkin. Here's a small bowl of it straight out of the shells. I've reserved this small amount for some biscuits in the morning.  I will add a little sugar & cinnamon to it when it's warmed up in a skillet.

I've used most of it to make pumpkin soup.  Following the recipe at this website.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Party-Hit-Creamy-Pumpkin-Soup/Detail.aspx?prop24=RD_RelatedRecipes

Bacon makes the perfect final addition to the soup with a small scoop of sour cream.  Here's some of our fresh bacon from the three pigs we raised this year.

The herb bread that I made this afternoon is my favorite bread recipe of all time & this will be the first time that I have posted it.  I use the bread machine to knead the dough, then I take it out, let it rise & bake it in the oven.  You can either make one large loaf or two smaller loaves.  Today I divided the dough up for two.

So here's the recipe:

10 to 12 ounces water
1.5 teaspoons salt
1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil (today I used olive)
3.5 cups of bread flour
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons dried onion (today I chopped up some green onions out of the garden instead)
.5 teaspoon dried basil (today I chopped up fresh basil from the deck)
.5 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

I load all the wet ingredients into my breadmaker first, then mix the flour & all dry ingredients (except yeast) together well before placing them on top.  Then I create a little well in the top of the flour mixture for the yeast & get it started.

The yogurt I'm in the process of making is from the recipe on this blog:
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/04/crockpot-greek-yogurt.html

Right now I've got it all wrapped up & am waiting patiently.  I'll try to blog about my results tomorrow.