pumpkin flavored everything.. not quite

I have tomorrow off and it is already planned with pumpkin and other activities...

I really do like canned pumpkin, which the news pointed out yesterday is really a type of winter squash canned up and labelled 'pumpkin.'  I've known that for years.  I used to buy 'winter squash' in cans in the vegetable aisle in Minnesota.  It was one of my staples.  I could not find it here in the South at all.  Then I stumbled upon canned pumpkin in the pastry shell section.  And I knew it for what it was.  And it was good.

So I have several cans of this in my cupboard at all times.  Mark even has presented me with several cans for Christmas and anniversaries and birthdays.. along with various other canned vegetables.  It's a thing in our household and it does work out well.

I put pumpkin and rice and cottage cheese together in a container for work today, and pumpkin and avocado and rice yesterday.  There is still a pint jar's worth left from the one can that I opened.  I also saw that it is a decent thing to feed to dogs who are having digestive issues - like our Columbus.  So, tomorrow I'm going to make another big pot of rice and then look toward saving him out some of the pumpkin and chicken broth that I will be using for the pumpkin and black bean soup recipe I found.  There are lots of recipes in this vein.  Some require coconut milk, others heavy cream.  But I was looking for something that was much more simple...preferably with chicken broth in it instead of vegetable broth (we keep chicken broth as a staple in the cupboard)  .This Recipe by The Pearl Team Room in Johnson City, TX fit the bill.  I think I'll make up some tomorrow if we have time.

On the weight loss front I'm finding that the 'feel full' part of the pumpkin is working.   Yesterday I did not eat the pudding I brought with until 8 o clock at night (lunch at 5).  And today I didn't eat the other half of my lunch itself until several hours after lunch.  I stared at the vending machine and remembered those two tablespoons full of pumpkin and cottage cheese left in my container.  And it was good.

Tuesday macaroni and Columbus

 We kept Columbus

He is settling in nicely to the dog crew.

Homeschool log:

She had thought up some actual projects she wanted to do today.

8a    - Blimp Jet project (from the Design crew on PBS)  Had her read a bit of the instructions then we took a stab at it.. wasn't that great of a result...
9.15a    - cleanup and reorganization of desk area -- so much grump during this!
9.30a    - break

10.30a    - macaroni necklaces - painting and stringing

First I had her take Daddy's macaroni out of the macaroni and cheese box, and put it in a ziploc bag.  Then we emptied the Fiori noodles into another bag.  Then we found two clean containers and made sure the balance scale was balanced and even.  I had her weigh out the same amount of Fiori as there had been macaroni for Daddy's cheese packet - so he could make it later, and then we could use the macaroni (which isn't as good) for projects and a few of the leftover Fiori for necklace making.  She liked the balance scale, as usual.  She chose nice colors and didn't get frustrated when things were hard.. which was good considering earlier.
11.30a    - break

12.15p    - copywork
1p    - planet earth ep 9 - seasonal forests
2p    - done

macaroni necklaces, hers is on the right hand side

 stringing macaroni

Then I had to go to work..and Daddy continued with more copywork and science docs.

Esme told me about the zombie ants she saw in the episode, and also how the copywork is rotting her brain, no - it's not pratctice, she insists.. it is full of the boring.  I insisted it has all the letters and we did it as kids.  She said, yes, that is what Daddy said.  And then she harrumphed at me and brushed her teeth for bed.  She did highly reccommend the planet earth episode, and told me I should get it from Daddy and watch it before I went to bed.  She also said the spaghetti she and Daddy made for dinner was very good.

Pumpkin cat and her mother Minion enjoying a morning sunbeam in my chair

They say it has been too cold lately, too...

A Pumpkin for Halloween

 One Pumpkin and a Plan

This is the pumpkin we bought at the flea market yesterday.  We have all this week off from school and I close at the store - so I told her we would have to wait until today to do the cutting.  She came up first thing this morning and said she would like to make the jack o lantern... so I crawled out of bed.  I had her draw the plan out in her notebook and she decided on the one in the top right corner for the face.  Then she made a few attempts to draw it.  We talked about all the things and wrote out the words so she could see them on paper.  

 Most of it is my writing and some of her drawing.  She disagreed on how to spell knife...

A happy pumpkin for Halloween!

Now she is drawing EXIT and ENTER signs on her spaceship with chalk and trying to get me to come to a party... It is a rainy rainy morning outside and she is too full of energy and ideas!

sewing project for Esme

 I was sewing the little blue deer and Esme got talked into trying to sew herself a toy.  I made the knot and cut out the felt and she took great care in sewing (for a nearly six year old).. and actually did a good job with the weird bits of thread not wanting to go your way, when you accidentally catch the thread inside the loop etc.. I told her she was a natural.. barely cried when she poked her finger several times.  And she finished the project and was very proud of it!

Esme's pumpkin pillow

I was six when my Grandfather taught me to sew - a candytwist type pillow with stuffing in it.. and many after it until I finally got good at making seams that stayed... we're on our way :)

bits of pumpkin info

Hair washing last night was not quite the usual trial.  Esme is getting ready for school and is very happy about it this morning.  I found a 'Sweet Dumpling' squash at the market last night and was very surprised - I had to buy it, at least for the seed!  I baked it at 350 for about an hour - maybe should have put some water on top of it halfway through.  It was very good, sweet but a little dry because of that.  The best way to cut them is to cut out the stem first, jack o' lantern style,  then saw them in half.  I did save some seed for planting. 

I truly have become a squash fanatic.  I tell Mark it is because of the seeds - the nutty taste really tunes into some natural craving I have.  I'm not sure what oil or mineral it is in the pumpkin seeds, but it is something I need in my diet.  In the garden this year there will be two or three types of zucchini, two other summer squashes, common pumpkins, Jarrahdale pumpkins, Red hubbard squash, Table Queen acorn squash, green cushaw, butternut squashes and perhaps this new Dumpling squash as well.  That is a lot of squash!  I am hoping the butternut and perhaps another one will have better resistance to the squash bugs.  Butternut Squash is a 'moschata' type, and the cushaw is a 'mixta' type.  Both of those are supposed to be more insect resistant than the maxima and pepo types.  The common pumpkin is a pepo variety in most cases, as is zucchini - which means they can interbreed if saved for seeds and produce new varieties!

Pumpkin Seeds:
To use the seeds I rinse them really well with water, boil them in a pot with some salt for 10 minutes or more, dry them off, then mix them with a very small amount of olive oil and roast them at 250 for about 10 minutes or less while stirring.  When they have become drier and white on the surface, but not burnt - they are ready for cooling and then for cracking and eating.  Find a small space at the top or bottom of the seed and crack the two outer layers of the seed apart - then pull out the 'meat' in the middle and eat it.  Some seeds will be 'sweet' while others will be nutty or oily.  Different varieties of squash and pumpkins have different seeds.  Some pumpkins are bred to have no hard outer later at all on their seeds - these varieties, like Kakai, are called stygian or naked seed pumpkins.  I have not yet grown this variety, because it is not as strong against the squash bugs which ate my plants last year!

It is a laborious task for whatever that small amount of green oily pumpkin seed oil is giving to me - but it has become well worth the work for me.  I tend to be drawn to 'tedious' things sometimes, anyway -- remember I hand bound that quilt last year and it didn't bother me one bit.  I am not bored easily by repetitive tasks I find productive - which perhaps is the mark of a good gardener and a good seamstress.

Pumpkin chili

I love pumpkin seeds, even the tiny ones that I have to nearly pick apart with a tweezer... well that might be a bit much! I cooked one of my small pumpkins last night that was from August - and it was still very good. I roasted the seeds and they are tiny, but have that delectable green oily stuff in them that is the reason I keep picking at them.

With the flesh, which was a little stringy, I made pumpkin chili.

Cut and scrape out all the stringy stuff and seeds on the inside. Set this aside in a bowl of water for preparing another treat (look at the end). Cook the pumpkin face down in the water for about an hour, or less - if the pumpkin is very small, at 350 degrees.

Pull the pumpkin out, cut into quarters and set to cool. Scrape the outer skin off with a fork and butter knife. Put the pulp into a pan with as much water and boil it for a few minutes, add precooked beans and let it cook some more. Then you have time for additions:
some leafy greens (spinach or kale, I used beet greens because they were in the fridge)
a little starch (A small piece of cooked potato or rutabaga cut up small)
a little cornmeal, sprinkled and stirred in
cut vegetables (frozen zucchini for mine)
diced canned tomatoes (or fresh if you have it)
spices (salt, pepper, onion powder, celery seed, mexican chili powder, basil)

Cook it all together and use your senses to see if there is anything else it is 'missing' for you.

Pumpkin seeds:
wash the seeds and sort out the pulp strings
put the seeds in a pan with a good amount of water
add salt, just a bit
boil for ten minutes
strain out the seeds
prepare a flat bottom pan for the oven with a thin coat of olive oil
dry the seeds a little with a paper towel, just lightly pressed on them
pour them into the pan and stir them a little to coat with oil
add just a little salt to the mix
roast at 350 for about ten minutes, not too long - or the insides will turn to powder inside the shells.

I cook mine short, then dry them off with a towel. I really like the meat inside to be green and oily. Still, even with a short cooking time, sometimes the insides just fall apart and there is nothing good inside some of the seeds :(

I like this recipe, too and his science+cat graphic at the top of the page. It seems others had the same 'spinach should go with this' urge that I had... and turkey came to mind, too - but I went without it.

Jarrahdale blue pumpkin

Tonight was the night, the blue pumpkin was cut into.





The flesh smells slightly of watermelon. My first thought was cucumber, and then Mark said 'watermelon' and he was right. It tastes like a watermelon that had all of the sweet sucked out of it and just the fiber left. The flesh is thicker and harder than the Connecticut Field Pumpkins, and the seeds have to be dug out of the corners. The seeds are plump and seem to be full of meat (they are boiling and will bake later) and are a beautiful golden yellow color. All of these seeds came out of this one compact pumpkin. The cut in the surface and the slight 'mold' look to one spot on it had not affected the inside at all. Total it sat in the storage room for over a week between pulling it out of the garden and cutting it open.

After: The flesh was VERY dry.. may be good for processing into baked goods, but was not good at all for eating. The seeds seemed like they should have a lot of nut in them, and it can be very good, but it is smaller than it appears inside the husk and very hard to get out. I would need a nutcracker to get them out without tearing my fingernails up. I'm thinking this variety is not the one I need to grow next year, even though there was plenty of seed left to save some.

The Day after that: I'm a firm believer in trying something a few times. The cooked squash pieces improved greatly with being in the fridge for the night. I could eat one the next day for lunch with no trouble. I think the pairing of it with a plate of purple hulled peas (boiled, then salted) was part of making it so good, as well. The seeds are not an entire loss, either. The last pumpkin seeds peeled from top point down, and that method was NOT working on these seeds at all. I think I finally found a way that, although still slow, gets the entire meat out of this seed. It needs to be cracked at the bottom of the round, on the side, then peeled up towards the point. It sounds pitifully painstaking making this point at all - but if I had gotten the idea that the seeds may 'peel' differently I would not have tried to give up on them so quickly.

Overall: I give the pumpkin Jarrahdale a 7 out of 10, and may replant a plant of it next year.

bits and another haircut

self cut and dye, again

I have been cutting my own hair now for about a year - it seems to both solve the social nervousness I have of the salon 'waiting room' atmosphere and also serve a therapeutic effect putting all the crux on my own self to get it done adequately. I overcome the fear of failure, stretch my capabilities, and live with the consequences. There is a lot to that. I don't see how it is less stress than waiting, getting called and making chitchat while someone else cuts it. In fact, it is more stress, but a different kind, a kind that feels healed and joyous when the results come out good, instead of just still awkward, as the social stress feels even after it is gone. I think it is the end result of 'capability' and the fact I can do it at home at any time - not have to plan a trip in town or go before or after work. I had dyed my hair the night before that. I am going 'gray' in an odd way, white all up underneath the nape of my neck. Nobody else sees it unless I put my hair up and point it out - but, I see it... and I've been wearing my hair up a lot lately. Instead of matching the color I ended up a slight shade lighter, with the ends not getting as much of the dye -- so a cut seemed in order as well. I cut off about three inches into a 'Cleopatra' type bob, which is easy enough to do. Esme watched me do it this time and did not cry like she did last time. Last time (months ago) she cried that Mama was cutting her fingers and was going to die. She told me to 'put it back' about the hair in the trash. This time she told me I was doing a good job and wandered around the room playing Maggie Simpson and drug all of her downstairs blocks in and surrounded my feet with 'build towers, I am making.' I stopped her short of building a tower on the toilet seat. *roll eyes*

About 'capability'... I have gained a lot in that the past few years, of which I am proud to have accomplished. I can fix a faucet, grow a garden and eat the food from it, bake a pumpkin pie, cut my own hair and sew clothing (getting quite good at this now for Esme, need to work more on my own). Every little bit helps, on the inside, as well.

The blue pumpkin came out of the garden. It had a spot on either side where the fence had rubbed through the skin - and I hope it will save to be edible. I put salt into the cuts on Mark's reccommendation - I think that was a good idea. If it is not good inside I'll have learned a lesson.


the Jarrahdale and a few Connecticut Field pumpkins

I also tried to make blueberry muffins last night with some pumpkin thrown into them - and the recipe worked, but the imitation blueberry boxed stuff did not give a good flavor to the pumpkin... real blueberry might be different. Can you tell I got my pumpkin cookbook in the mail? "Pumpkin, a Superfood for All 12 Months of the Year" by DeeDee Stovel. It has a lot of interesting combinations, but some of the recipes only call for pumpkin in a glaze or a frosting... There are a LOT of recipes in the book, though, and it is inspiring even without pictures of every recipe. Also, to have a basic pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie recipe with other things in a handy book (not computer printouts) made it worth it. There are a lot more pumpkins coming out of the garden and four small ones to use in the storage room.


a little damage on the sides
will see what it looks like when cut open

notes

morning glories

Esme has been clean and dry for three days and two nights. That is no small feat. She has finally clicked with it. Last night and the night before she refused the diaper for bedtime, mostly because that MEANT bedtime, but she didn't wet the bed, either. I know it isn't 100%... won't tell myself it is, yet... but woohoo :)

Tiny notes on the garden. I would like to position the beans between the zucchini and pumpkins next year - so they get more bees. The bees LOVE the squash flowers with all their pollen and the beans are probably getting some 'love' but not as much. Keeping the zucchini and pumpkins further apart will help with that cross-pollination thing I learned about the other day. I did not know that zucchinis and pumpkins were still close enough to crossbreed, like dogs and wolves. They are! Since I am saving pumpkin seeds I don't want to end up with a squashkin .. or do I? I'd have to meet a squashkin to find out. Pumpkins ARE squash... so... Also, I saw the wasps going from flower to flower in the purple hulled peas, which the bees seem to be leaving largely alone. Those cowpeas are producing pods while the black eyed peas (also cowpeas, and planted earlier) are doing very little. I am wondering if the wasps are pollinating the purple hulled peas just enough (bees are better at it, according to the articles I've read) to help or if they are keeping the bees from coming near those plants out of territorialism? I've read some articles and forum posts about cowpeas secreting sweet nectars to attract wasps, in order to protect themselves from being eaten by certain other bugs that would be present if the wasps were not nearby.


Jarrahdale blue pumpkin

I am awaiting the Jarrahdale to see how it tastes. The stem on it is not hard, yet... so it stays out there. There is another baby pumpkin started, and one more small grapefruit sized one turning orange. I finally have a Butternut squash started - hoping it grows to maturity. I think the extra butternuts in the valley which are flowering, but not doing much else, have helped to pollinate the one that is in the garden. Butternuts and pumpkins/zucchini do not cross, and may need more of their own kind to pollinate well. I've been cracking and eating the seeds out of the big pumpkin and they have been wonderful. I'd like to try the Kakai or Lady Godiva breed of pumpkin next year as the seeds do not have that woody hull around them. I am geeking out a bit on this stuff.. because I can. I even ordered a used pumpkin cookbook from Alibris!


a morning Pollywog

Even bigger pumpkin!

The second pumpkin from the garden

This one is huge! There are also three or four more coming that are much smaller. This one was our 'hiding' pumpkin, all the way over in the middle of the zucchini!

Esme insisted on wearing this HOT long sleeved dress today after she came in from a brief attempt to sit outside in the heat advisory type weather. She brought it to Daddy and said she had to have this on. He thinks it is because after she came in from outside she was COLD in the air conditioning and wanted something warm. She has been inside since then, so it hasn't been a terrible choice.

She is still having a very good time with her computer, which has several thinking skill games loaded on it besides her Starfall. We have turned a corner with her in the imagination department, I feel - as I listen to her saying 'What you red one why you kill my bubble?' on one game, and saying 'no no kitty not that way you not supposed to go that way bad kitty ARGRGAH.. here kitty...' on the other. It is quite funny. I also heard her in the bathtub last night saying 'ICE. I got you now. You got ICE, so slippery! You fall down! HAHAHAHAHAAHA I got you in ICE.' She was pointing with her finger then saying 'that is ICE' and rubbing soap down the side of the tub wall and making her toys 'fall' on it. She has been watching The Incredibles and she loves the ice spraying character Frozone - and I could tell by her body language she was pretending she was him!


Simplicity 1936

I'm on the lookout for one of this pattern in size 4 or 5, at a not insane price. By the looks of the market at the moment I'll need to look a bit longer! I know the pattern is made up to size 6, and saw a few of both of the other sizes 'out there' but they were either combined with other patterns I don't need or had an insane price/shipping combination.

NOTES: I was down in the valley playing 'Jane of the Jungle' checking on all the seeds that were planted on my birthday and also on Esme's 'experiment' beans. The beans are starting to produce a bit, and it will be nice if they produce some mature seeds to save to plant next year - make Esme and I a 'wild bean' package ;) I also collected some of the marigold and zinnia seeds to save for next year. It felt like I was a kid myself to running around the valley looking at semi-hidden plants and watering them bit by bit.

Tips to myself on the next pumpkin pie

Three pumpkin pies just came out of the oven, and they are better than I thought they would be. I had two slices! It was all from the one pumpkin from our garden, and it was more than six hours from pumpkin to plate. When it went into the oven it was an uncertain soup of spiced glop. The pumpkin pie was so soupy that I thought it could never firm up at all. And some sort of miracle happened.

Tips to myself on the next try... sieve the puree MORE. I spooned off all of the extra juice I could, but there was so much more in the puree sieving it would have done a wonder. Also, it was supposed to be two cans of evaporated milk. I did not have two cans of evaporated milk but had MUCH more than 2 cups of puree... so I mixed another can of whole milk into the evaporated milk. It worked, but probably only because I put the soupy mess in a pan on the stove and cooked it on VERY LOW for about a half hour stirring it every minute. And only then did it look like something that was less than water to put into the shortbread crust.

The shortbread crust was also a very good idea - it works so very well with the pie filling, which is already sweet in itself and did not need a sweet graham cracker crust on top of it.

Grandma and Grandpa will get their promised pie tomorrow! Having never done it in my thirty-plus years, and having a newfound interest in growing pumpkins, it was about time to try. Mark said just think of what thirty years of experience would do to the recipe ;) Eeep!


This was the pumpkin!
from our garden last week

Double-recipe, actually made 3 pies

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
lemon zest approximated from one small lemon
3 teaspoons cinnamon (maybe a bit less next time, but the recipe asked for 4!)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (used a tiny bit less)
12 oz. can evaporated milk
12 oz. can refilled with whole milk
4 eggs and 2 extra yolks
4 cups pureed pumpkin mixture, not packed

mixture on stovetop on LOW for 30-40 minutes until it began to congeal just a tiny bit, then poured into shortbread crusts (purchased) and put in oven at 425 for 15-20 minutes, then at 350 for more than an hour until the knife came up clean.

Recipes to use more of the pumpkin with:
Pumpkin bread
Cream cheese pumpkin muffins

And, next year I am planning on planting some 'sugar pie' type pumpkins. I already had the seed but did not plan it this year. The pumpkins I am using are 'field' type pumpkins, which are heirlooms, but are not considered the right type for making pies.