Day 21 - Big Breakfast with fried pumpkin

This morning I had a couple of hunters out in the woods.  I knew they'd be hungry & cold when they came in so I made a good warm breakfast.  Biscuits, sausage, gravy & fried pumpkin.  They dug in as soon as they got home.

Tony thought the pumpkin was the best thing on his plate.  It's so simple & good, it really has become my favorite way to eat pumpkin.  I just take the roasted pumpkin, add a bit of sugar & some dashes of salt, pepper & cinnamon while warming it in an iron skillet.  I think I should can some this way.  It would be fabulous to open up & enjoy anytime.

Day 20 - Pumpkin Cookies for School

Our daughter had a "thanksgiving feast" in her sophomore english class so she ordered up some pumpkin cookies to take.  I used the same fabulous Pumpkin Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies recipe that I  had made last week.  Plus I added chocolate chips this time.  Here's the recipe again:
Pumpkin-peanut butter-oatmeal cookies!

Day 19 - Plain pumpkin for lunch

Today was a simple lunch prepared for a couple of guys whom I am blessed to be in ministry with.  We had ham, greens fresh from the garden & plain roasted pumpkin with just a few dashes of salt, pepper, cinnamon & a bit of sugar.  I also baked some biscuits.  My favorite thing on the plate was the pumpkin but my favorite part of the lunch was our laughter & conversation.  I love my time with them. They are definitely Philippians 1:3.
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."

Day 18 - Pumpkin Roll

I'm off a couple of days on my pumpkin count, simply because I haven't been home....it's hard to cook or bake while you're away.  And, while I was prepared to get back into creating with pumpkin again, my plans have changed because my mom actually made an amazing pumpkin roll that we have enjoyed today.  Here's how neat it looks:

She chose her recipe from www.verybestbaking.com

I'm glad she did it, because I'm not sure I would've ever been brave enough to give it a try.  Mine would've probably turned into a mess!!

Day 17 - Pumpkin & Biscuits

We eat sausage & biscuits almost every morning for breakfast.  This morning I "fried" up some pumpkin just like apples.  And, I have found a new love!  The pumpkin biscuit was even better than apples, to me.  I just added a small amount of sugar & some cinnamon.  Very simple, fresh & good for us!

Day 16 - Pumpkin on the plate

For supper we all ate in shifts tonight, but the offerings were cabbage, lima beans, pumpkin, ham & hoecakes that Tony had fried up for us! Simple, good, food.

Day 15 - Pumpkin Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies!!

The title says it all.  How could this recipe be bad??  The only change I made to this recipe was to add the chocolate chunks.  My original idea was to add chocolate chips, but when I went to the pantry & found none, I did find several semi-sweet chocolate squares.  Dara joined me in the kitchen to chunk up the chocolate.

All in all, it was a fabulous recipe that made fabulous cookies.  They are a hit with everyone in the house!
Click this to head to the cookie recipe page

Day 14 - Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes

Tonight our youngest daughter asked for pumpkin cupcakes so I went to a website that a friend had recommended (thanks Donna!) & found a super easy pumpkin recipe.  You start with a yellow cakemix & just add a few ingredients from there.  They are baking now & smell wonderful.

Click here for the Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes recipe from Justapinch.com

Day 13 - Pumpkin Soup (again!)

So, the pumpkin soup was such a hit the first time that we had it back for an encore!  This time it was even better because the chicken broth we used was home-made broth we had frozen from some of our own chickens.  We paired the soup with some ham, so we had protein, carbs & vegetable fiber for a well-rounded meal.

Click below for the recipe link:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-pumpkin-soup/detail.aspx

Day 12 - Sauteed Pumpkin Seeds

Butter & hot sauce coated pumpkin seeds? Yep...this great buffalo inspired snack is super easy.  Just add the three ingredients, saute the seeds until lightly browned & your ready to eat! Oh, and sprinkle with salt at the end if you wish.

Day 11 - Pie Pumpkin Cake for Kat

Today is a benefit for an amazing young lady in our community, Kadison Warren. She is important an important person to all three of our children & her mom was actually my college room-mate.  So, I have become a "old lady" and baked up a cake for the benefit.  Really?  Isn't that something that only women over 65 do??  But the truth is I've come to grips with my enjoyment of these things & I've taken GREAT joy in knowing it was for Kat.

Click here for the recipe

While the cake recipe is fabulous & I could talk about the amazing streusel that's inside or the great texture of the batter since the recipe maker included the sour cream...that's not the real story here.

The real story today is that there are people everywhere, everyday that are facing some pretty tough things. If you aren't one of those people right now, be an encouragement to those who are.  Pray for them in their valleys.  If you are facing a giant in your own life, take comfort in the voice of truth from God's word. "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." from Psalms 34.

Day 10 - Pumpkin Bread for Veterans!

Today is Veteran's Day here in America & our local high school has a program to honor those men & women who have served.  Before the program they offer them a nice breakfast and our daughters took some home-made pumpkin bread for them that I had baked last night.  It's something that I'm thankful they do.  You can never thank veteran's enough for the time they have served our country.

Here's the recipe I used.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, dream butter and sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Combine dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Stir in pumpkin. Pour into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until bread tests done.

After I finished slicing & plating all the bread for the veteran's our son asked if he could take some for one of his teachers who is currently on maternity leave.  We sacked up some pieces & ran it by her house before school.  I love it that he is thoughtful.  And, I love it that we live in a small town where things like that are possible. It's a pretty good life!

Day 9 - Pumpkin Pie (the classic)

This morning I was blessed with time to bake & cook.  I chose "Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie Recipe" from the allrecipes website.  And, this recipe has certainly lived up to it's fame!  Plus it's a very healthy recipe in comparison to most.  Less than a cup of sugar & two eggs in this two pie recipe.  Well, I made two pies, I guess you could just make one.

Click here for Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Classic pumpkin pie is one of Tony's favorite things...these before & after pics say it all. Don't you love how guys have no "need" to cut neatly into something??

Day 8 - Repeat of sauteed pumpkin

Today I sauteed more pumpkin - just a little butter, salt & pepper.
Can't tell you how simple & good it is!  Of course I'm just sauteeing pumpkin that's already been roasted so the flavor is incredible on it's own.  We finished up the ham & greens today too.
And, to those of you who have expressed concern, my kids are not tinted yet....of course we still have a couple of weeks to go!!

Day 7 - Sauteed Pumpkin with Ham & Greens

I'm not completely done with our supper for tonight, but I'm blogging now because tonight promises to be one of those late nights that are full of great things!

I have just put a city ham in the crock pot, it's on low for the rest of the afternoon.  I'm pairing the ham with fresh greens I just picked from the garden & sauteed pumpkin that I'm going to just give a quick warm up when I get home tonight. Since the pumpkin is already roasted, I'll just add it to a skillet with some melted butter & give it a good sauteeing until I see some brown on it.  I read Mr. Food's recipe for sauteed pumpkin just a minute ago & am attaching it to this entry just because I've always enjoyed watching him cook.  I may even add a little maple syrup to the pumpkin to give it a try like he suggests. If I have more time than I think I'll whip up some home-made hoecakes to go with the meal, if not I have some Sister Schubert's rolls in the freezer to add. To me this is a perfect meal....a strong green, a great yellow & a protein!  This is fall cooking at it's best.

Here's Mr. Food's link:
http://www.mrfood.com/Vegetables/Sauteed-Pumpkin#

Day 6 - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!

This afternoon I have baked some Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  How could those ever be anything but good??  The recipe is great.  Here's a pic of the product & a link to the recipe.

Click here for cookie recipe.

Day 5 - Fabulous Pumpkin Lasagna

Tonight I have used pumpkin to make Vegetarian Four Cheese Lasagna, you can view the recipe by clicking the link below.   It's in the oven now & should be fabulous!!  I'm guessing it will be much like the ratatouille that we have come to love making with all our fresh summer vegetables. I'm really enjoying this pumpkin challenge, I never knew pumpkin was so versatile.  Our pile of pumpkins is dwindling & we are thankful!

Click here for Vegetarian Four Cheese Lasagna Recipe

Day Four - Pumpkin Swirled Brownies

My intentions tonight were to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, but when I went to gather all the ingredients, I was out of butter.  I came up with an alternate plan that merged two recipes.  The end result was some pretty great Pumpkin Swirled Brownies. 

Basic Brownie Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pumpkin Swirl ingredients:

1/4 cup pureed pumpkin

3 ounces cream cheese

I mixed the oil, sugar & vanilla, then beat in the eggs one at a time.  In a separate bowl I mixed the flour & cocoa & then slowly added them to the wet mixture.  I poured half of this into a 9x9 greased pan.  Next I mixed the two pumpkin swirl ingredients together & dropped that mixture by spoonfuls on top & then the remaining brownie batter over that.  I baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.  I refrigerated them after baking.

Day 3 - Pumpkin Cheesecake!!

This pumpkin cheesecake destroyed my little hand mixer - but I think it was probably worth it!!  This is a great recipe!!

You can tell by the little white pieces of cream cheese that my mixer bit the dust...but it didn't effect the taste at all.  This was also the first time I had ever baked a real cheesecake of any kind.  I loved it!!  Recipe is below.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-cheesecake/detail.aspx

Day 2 of Pumpkinmania - Pumpkin Frittata

Today I used four cups of cooked pumpkin to make a pumpkin frittata for supper.  Here's a pic of the four cups - I do think pumpkin is a very pretty food.

The recipe also called for fresh spinach, which we still have growing in our garden.  It is absolutely beautiful at this time of year & it's such a great power food.  

The recipe that I used is posted below.  All in all, it was okay.  If I used this recipe again, I would add alot more flavor...probably with some freshly chopped basil.  I didn't get a frittata pic tonight, but might try to take some pics tomorrow of the leftovers. 

I really am enjoying this pumpkin marathon & the fact that we are using what we have & trying to be thankful for it - but a funny scriptural thought just hit me.  In the New Testament there is a story of a man who was faithful with a few things & because of that faithfulness he was given much more....I sure do hope God doesn't given us more pumpkins!!!  Of course, that would be funny.

The story is from Matthew 25 - and the summary verse for me is this - "Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share you master's happiness!"  

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-spinach-and-feta-frittata/detail.aspx

24 Days of Pumpkin Begins Now!

We have lots of pumpkins left over from this year's farmer's market. So, in  an effort to be truly thankful for all we have - we are embarking on a 24 day pumpkin eating marathon!!

We began today with pumpkin soup.  

I baked the pumpkins whole in the oven - six pie pumpkins at a time fit into my oven. 

They finished baking after about an hour & a half at 350 degrees. Next I sliced them down the center & started dividing out the pumpkin.  I scooped out the seeds & center pulp for the chickens.  Then I scooped out all the great pumpkin meat into a large mixing bowl.  I froze part of the pumpkin, cooked with some tonight and saved some for use later this week.  We even fed the leftover pumpkin shells to the cattle so nothing was wasted.

Creamy pumpkin soup was what I made tonight.

Here's the recipe I followed.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-pumpkin-soup/detail.aspx

As always I didn't follow the recipe fully, I left out the nutmeg simply because I didn't have any here.  But I added garlic during the simmering process and added a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream cheese at the end to the entire pot instead of everyone adding sour cream on their own.  It was such a hit that we didn't have enough for everyone to have all they wanted.  Next time I will make two batches of this at once.

Baked Cabbage!

Baked cabbage has become one of our family's favorite summer dishes. If you've tried grilled cabbage or cooked cabbage & don't like it then baked cabbage might be exactly the thing for you.  It tastes totally different with much more of a roasted flavor. There's actually some in our oven right now.

Here's what we do.  Coarsely chop up one large head of cabbage & one onion.  Toss with half stick melted butter & enough season salt to your taste.  Dump it all in a 9x13 cake pan, cover with aluminum foil & bake at 350 for an hour.   You can actually bake it longer if you like, the longer you bake it the more of a "browned" or roasted flavor that it takes on.  You can also chop up any other vegetable that you'd like to include - sometimes I include green pepper, banana pepper, summer squash, etc.

Our family will eat as much of this as I can bake....they love it.  Customers at the farmer's market often ask if I add bacon too.  I don't, simply because the flavor is amazing enough to stand on it's own without it.  But a friend adds polish sausage to hers & that is fabulous too.

Let me know if you try it!

Jamilyn's Birthday Dinner...out under the stars.

For Jamilyn's 17th birthday Tony came up with the great idea of having a four-course meal outdoors. It was not any cheaper than going out to eat & it took alot of planning to make sure I had dishes for everything, which made for a fun, eclectic table.

At the end of the night Jamilyn said that it had been her favorite birthday so far so it made it all worth it. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

For our appetizer we had portobello mushrooms stuffed with feta & spinach.  It was the first time I had ever made these & I wondered why?  They are easy to put together & I really should do it more often. Here's the recipe link:
http://www.rd.com/food/spinach-stuffed-portobello-mushrooms-recipe/

Next came mixed green salads with home-made strawberry vinaigrette dressing.  I also crumbled some goat cheese on top with some toasted pecans.  This was probably my favorite course.

The main course was a family favorite, a pasta dish that we affectionately call "Bowls of Heaven."  Here's the Pampered Chef link to that recipe:
http://www.pamperedchef.com/recipe_search/recipe.jsp?id=85206

Then for the final course, a very basic, easy sweet that Jamilyn loves!!  Butterfinger Dessert.  I made these in individual dessert dishes & they were adorable.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1813,155176-228198,00.html

I cooked 'til I couldn't cook anymore!

Today's farmer's market inspired me to the point that I came home & cooked until I was exhausted.  I started by marinating some deer for the grill & wrapping up some potatoes for baking.  While doing that I realized that I had some sweet potatoes left from a few months ago & I should bake one of those.  Then I looked at the huge candy onions sitting on my counter from today's market - with the sweet potatoes now beside them & remembered the "sassy sweet potato salad" that we fell in love with last fall.  

So, I started that process....chunking up the sweet potatoes & onions - opening up a can of pineapple tidbits & then tossing all of that with some balsamic vinegar & brown sugar.  Here's how that looked before roasting in the oven.

These never became "Sassy Sweet Potato Salad" because they were so wonderful just roasted straight out of the oven that we ate them up!  They were, in mine & Tony's opinion, the best thing on the plate.

I also took these eggs, from today's farmer's market:

And this basil, from a friend's garden (thanks Dana!):

...and made an amazing frittata.  I wasn't really planning on us eating that much of the frittata for supper, but I was thinking more about going ahead & baking it with the potatoes & then having it for breakfast in the morning, since we are all leaving early for the ballpark.  But, as they say about all best laid plans, they don't always work out - there's only about a quarter of the frittata left now.

Truth is, I loved every minute of cooking tonight.  Our son worked with me for quite awhile in the kitchen & that is always the greatest time!  I hope he grows up & cooks with his kids too...especially when the great summer vegetables start coming in.

Ky weather & turkey soup

The sudden drop in temperature here has made it a soup night at our house.  I had a Ziploc bag of leftover turkey & broth that I pulled out of the freezer & dropped straight into a soup kettle.  I got inspiration from Michael Chiarello's "next day turkey soup" recipe.  I loved the idea of adding the fresh sage to the soup - but since there isn't any available here now I used rosemary & thyme to substitute that missing depth of flavor.  Also, since this was the "next day" after Thanksgiving I didn't have leftover veggies, so I chopped up fresh mushrooms, carrots, celery & spinach to add.  I also added about a cup of uncooked rice.  And, of course the essential 2 bay leaves.  It was wonderful!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/next-day-turkey-soup-recipe/index.html

Doughnuts!!

Tonight we made doughnuts from scratch - Dara & I & even Tony took part in the production. This was a personal first for me - I have never made doughnuts. We followed the linked recipe below & they were marvelous.

There were a few personal scary moments for me while the doughnuts were actually frying.  Why?  Because I don't fry foods - people who are close to me know this.  Dealing with that much hot oil was honestly scary to me & I was glad when the process was complete.

Dara dusted the doughnuts with regular sugar which was our only departure from the actual recipe.  We were just using what we had.  Dara is actually the one who initiated this entire project tonight - she was on the search for something sweet & she really enjoys the cooking process when she has time.  I was totally in to whatever she wanted to do b/c I love spending time with her in the kitchen.  Really I enjoy spending time with her anywhere!!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Super-Easy-Doughnuts/Detail.aspx

Pepper Jelly Recipe

I used this blog last year for accountability, so there's technically no need to continue, but I've decided to keep it going to add interesting recipes from time to time - especially for Hart County's Farmer's Market customers. 

A friend of mine was recently given a jar of our green pepper jelly for Christmas & has used it all already so I'm sharing the recipe below for all who would like to make more!  It's a great way to use up some green peppers in the summertime and it's so wonderful to have in the winter for a quick appetizer or sauce for meatballs...below is the pepper jelly in the center with our tomatoe preserves, blackberry jam, pear honey & apple butter.  We sell our half pints for $4 each for anyone who doesn't want to make it.  It's the greatest thing ever poured over cream cheese and served with crackers!

Here's the recipe:

1.5 cups of chopped green bell pepper
1.5 cups of cider vinegar
6.5 cups of sugar
25 shakes of tabasco sauce
1 bottle of liquid pectin (Certo is what we use - the powdered doesn't work as well)

Take vinegar and pepper and blend in blender.  Add sugar and tabasco sauce and bring it to a full rolling boil.  Remove from heat and set aside for 20 minutes.  Return it heat and boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add liquid pectin and enough green food coloring to make it the color you want.  Add to jars and use hot water bath to seal jars.  Makes 8 to 10 half pints.