Friday, October 28, 2011

How I really feel about pumpkins.....

This post is all about the confessions of the farmer's wife....me.
We grow pumpkins, I do NOT like pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin milkshakes or those pumpkin spice lattes that people drink in October.  I really do NOT eat pumpkin.  I am not sure I even like the color orange.....ouch.  Ok I said it.  I do like fall, and I do like the idea of harvest, and all that goes with it.  My family, however, does like pumpkin pie, cookies and bread.....so for all these years, my sister-in-law, Cindy has made all the pumpkin pies for family dinners....aka Thanksgiving. She has also made loaves of pumpkin bread and sent them to my college boys.  So....what is the point here?
I am hosting a dinner tomorrow night for our son's birthday with numerous college kids.  I wanted to make a new recipe that I found, a pumpkin caramel blondie, for dessert....so I went to Safeway to BUY a can of pumpkin.  OK...I KNOW.  I have probably lost the respect of all of you by now.  It was just going to be easier, I am busy this month!  Guess what?  There was NO pumpkin in the can on the shelf in Safeway.  The nice lady that works there told me that as soon as they get it in the store it flies off the shelves....figure of speech, I think.  See, people have the same idea I do.  So what's a girl going to do?  Huh?  Oh...right, I have THOUSANDS of pumpkins sitting in the fields behind my house.  So home I came, talked to Cindy, learned that the Cinderella pumpkins mixed with a Buttercup squash make a good textured pumpkin filling. I picked out one of each and home I came to bake the pumpkin and the squash.  It's easy.  Cut those suckers in half, take out the seeds, put them flesh side down in a baking pan with a small amount of water, and cook for less than a hour at 350 degrees.  After they cool, scoop the fleshing part into your blender or food processor and blend away, until it looks  all creamy and smooth.  Cindy puts her pumpkin in freezer bags to save for the holiday pie making. I got 10 cups of blended pumpkin from a small Cinderella and the squash.  I haven't made the dessert yet, so I don't know if is good or not.  The farmer tells me that it is always a bad idea to try something new on company.  But I figure that they are hungry college kids, so they will eat anything.  I will share the recipe with you next week, if it turns ok.  And just so you know, we DO have lots of pumpkins left here on the farm.  We are open on Saturday, Oct 29, closed Sunday, and our last day will be Monday, October 31.  If you want to try making your own pumpkin filling, there's still time to come out and get a couple of pumpkins.   We also still have cabbage, sweet corn, apples, squash, and of course lots of pumpkin.  Our flowers were hit with the frost earlier this week,  there are a few sunflowers that survived and are still blooming!

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