Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids out to a small local farm to choose pumpkins yesterday afternoon. There were three fields of pumpkins, fresh apples, ornamental squash, and potted mums to purchase. They had hayrides, face painting, a scarecrow that tied ballons into animal shapes, hay mazes, corn, horse rides and a small petting zoo. The term petting zoo was pushing it. They had some farm animals in corals close to the pumpkin happenings. Not too keen on horses (I don't think), Steven seemed to be interested in the 2 asses in one of the stalls. He came home and started researching mules. I swear I hope he doesn't decide he wants a mule. We are planning for chickens next spring and 2 dairy goats. After I got pregnant this year I wasn't able to handle a lot of farm stock so we waited. He is convinced he wants to fatten up a heffer and a pig for next winter. What would he do with a mule? The two youngest wanted to have a ride on the horses. The horses were old and I doubt they could have run away if they tried. They really looked tired and I felt bad about it. Steven and I chose three large pumpkins to have on the porch for fall decorations. I plan to only carve one for Halloween and only because of trick or treating. The girls each chose a smallish pumpkin from the fields and we chose yet another small pumpkin. The small pumpkins I will be roasting over the next couple of weeks. We will have fresh pumpkin as a vegetable for supper and I will be roasting and putting away enough pumpkin for fresh pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Roasting pumpkins is very easy. These are every day regular pumpkins not fancy sugar pumpkins. I like sugar pumpkins but you can't always find them. A plain pumpkin will work fine for pie. Don't be afraid to experiment a little. Choose nice smallish pumpkins (5 - 8 pounds). Wash them well. They are filthy even if they look clean. Carefully with a large knife split the pumpkin in half. Use a big spoon and scrape away the fiber and the seeds. Pour a little olive oil (or vegetable oil) into your hands and rub the pumpkin halves until all are coated with a nice thin layer. This protects the meat from drying out and burning. Place the 2 halves skin side up (cut side down) on an oiled baking sheet or lined with foil or a silpat. Bake at 375 degrees until the meats are fork tender. The scent is amazing! To serve as a vegetable for supper you can sprinkle with salt and pepper, maybe add a little curry. Pumpkin is excellent with a little pat of butter and eaten like a potato. For pumpkin pie you will need to mash or puree the baked pumpkin meat. A 5- 8lb pumpkin will yeild 2 - 3 cups of puree. To this add: 2/3 cup sugar 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp nutmeg Pinch ground cloves 1 1/2 c evaporated milk 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 tsp salt Before you add the eggs you can taste the pumpkin filling and adjust the spices to your liking. You can buy pumpkin pie spice and eliminate the need of adding all of the measured spices as well. The pumpkin pie spice is on the spice aisle at the grocer. You can also buy apple pie spice. Pour mixture into a 9 inch pie shell. Bake at 350 until the a toothpick inserted into the center pulls away clean. If the edges of your pie shell are browning too quickly fold a couple of strips of foil around the edges of the pie leaving the center uncovered to finish baking. Any leftover filling can be frozen. We picked up a basket of apples which I will be cooking today as well. We finished up our apples from our trees last month. We had only a small crop thanks to the damn birds. I will be cooking a pork roast today with pumpkin, squash, apples and prunes. Very polish meal. On one side of Steven's family his grandfather was a finnish immigrant. On the other side both of his great grandparents were polish. He has never really eaten alot traditional polish foods -I have no idea why. The pork roast and fall veggies is one of my favorites. I know he is going to love it too. The hearty vegetables with the sweet apples and prunes - mmmmmmmm mmmmm, good stuff. I also make a pumkpin potato soup with bacon that is amazing! I'll try to get that recipe up too while pumpkins are plentiful. I know you all do not cook in big batches and freeze like I do. Since so many of you seem interested in trying the cicken and dumpling I will post later today a recipe on my recipe journal for just a normal size pot of chicken and dumplings -using 1 chicken. Updated to add: What is up with Haloscan? I can't post a comment on most journals this morning.