Palatial Pumpkin

Like just about everyone else north of the equator, this is by far my favorite time of the year. I love the weather, the anticipation, and especially the food! I thought I'd share my favorite pumpkin recipes I'm enjoying right now. And if anyone has one for a fabulous pumpkin pie, I'd love to try my hand at it.

Pumpkin Pancakes

In a large bowl mix:

2c flour (unbromated of course :)
1 tbsp backing powder
1/2 tsp ginger
12 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
1 tsp cinnamon

In a small bowl mix:

2 slightly beaten egg whites
1 1/2 c milk
2 tbsp oil
1/2 c canned pumpkin

Add small bowl mixture to large bowl. Stir until just moistened. Heat griddle, brush lightly with oil. Pour batter by 1/4 cup onto hot griddle. Makes about 16 small pancakes.


Pumpkin Soup (this is a Jamie Oliver recipe and it is AMAZING!)

2 large butternur squash
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 dried chilies (unless you are a wimp, b/c they really do make it spicy)
olive oil
10 slices pancetta, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
a bunch of fresh sage
11 oz of chestnuts (could not find these ANYWHERE, so I used pine nuts)
1 onion, finely chopped
about 1 1/2 liters chicken stock
4 tbsps sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds, reserving these for later. Grind the chilis until fine and sprinkle over the squash. Drizzle with some olive oil and roast in hot oven until soft (about 30 minutes).
Heat a little oil in a large pan and fry the pancetta with half the sage leaves. Add the nuts and the oinion and fry gently for about 15 minutes. Spoon the squash out into the pan, leaving the skin behind. Cover with the stock and bring to a boil. Remove half the mixture and blend until smooth, then pour back into the pan.
Take the rest of the sage leaves and the reserved squash seeds and fry them in a little oil until crisp. Serve hot* with some sour cream spooned on top and sprinkle with a little of the crisp sage and seeds.

*it makes a lot, so we had some for the next few days heated up. I think it was even better after a few days.


Pumpkin Cobbler

3 eggs, beaten
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1 c sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 yellow cake mix
2 cups melted butter*
1 c chopped nuts

In a bowl, mix the first 7 ingredients. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the cake mix evenly over the top of the pumpkin mixture. Melt 1 cup* of the butter and drizzle over the top of the cake mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the nuts over the top and drizzle with remaining cup* of butter. Bake 15 more minutes.

*Okay, I do NOT use this much butter, but its totally up to you. I half what the recipe calls for and only use 1 cup. It's SO good...and don't even ask how many calories!

ENJOY!!!

Fall is a Blast!

Okay, I am prefacing this post by telling you that my husband is a lousy picture taker. He thinks he's good, but he tries to do like all candid shots with no flash and they turn out blurry and stupid. So, he's fired.

These are the TWO decent shots he got after taking the girls to the pumpkin farm. Do you see any pumpkins??? Yeah, me neither. Boaz had a fever that day so I stayed home and took care of him. I guess daddy should get some points for just attempting an outing.

These are from Halloween. Our church has a little party they call Jesus Jam. Here's my little alien nephew....so cute!

And a little fairy who had already consumed 3 rice crispy treats by 7 o'clock.

Bobbing for apples. Never really thought about how UNsanitary this is!

And that is IT from Halloween. BOO Kevin!



These, however, were taken by my cousin. This is from a gas line EXPLOSION that occured at 1am Thursday morning about a half a mile from our house. We woke up STUNNED to see a literal wall of fire out our bedroom windows. Shortly after, we had woken up our sleepy babies and evacuated along with the rest of our neighborhood. FREAKY! Fortunately, no one was killed and miraculously only one house was destroyed. The flames shown in these pics were 700 feet high! YIKES!

Needless to say, we are feeling very thankful and blessed for the safety of our family and home as we rapidly approach Thanksgiving! Please pray for the the family who is recovering from such devastation right now.