The recipe

The is the recipe that I made for the college kids.  I am told that they were great....
so thought I should share.  They are very rich, so cut into small-ish serving sizes.
I did NOT add the walnuts or nutmeg, as much as I do not like pumpkin, the farmer
equally does not like walnuts....or nutmeg.

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate and WalnutPrep Time 20 Minutes
Cook Time 25 Minutes
Servings 16Ingredients
• FOR THE BLONDIES:
• ¾ cups Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• 1-¾ cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• FOR THE FILLING:
• ½ cups Chopped Walnuts
• ¼ cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 14 ounces, weight Caramels, Unwrapped (1 Bag)
• ¼ cups Heavy Cream
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin until combined. Slowly incorporate the remaining ‘blondies’ ingredients into the batter. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly to ensure a smooth batter. Spread about 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
For the filling: Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips over top of the batter.
Place caramels and cream into a heat-proof bowl. Microwave on high until caramel is smooth and completely melted, being sure to stir every 20 seconds. Stop as soon as it’s melted and smooth.
Pour melted caramel over chocolate and nuts. Spread around evenly with a butter knife or spoon. Place dollops of the remaining batter over the top of the caramel layer. Spread those dollops out to try and get a smooth layer of batter over top. (It’s fine if some of the caramel layer is peeking through.)
Bake for 25 minutes or until edges are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. (It might come out with a little caramel on it which is fine. You don’t want batter on the toothpick.)
Cool completely before serving. Or be prepared to get a whole lot of oozing caramel if you serve it warm.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
We are now closed until the day after Thanksgiving for Cut Your Own Christmas Trees!!

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!

No Pumpkin Shortage

There is no shortage of PUMPKINS at Sauvie Island Farms this year.
We have beautiful pumpkins in all sizes and shapes sitting right in the field
where they grew, waiting to be picked!
The largest pumpkin we have seen come out of the field this
year was picked by Micah and weighed 73 lbs.
All pumpkins over 26 lbs are just $8!
There must be one larger than Micah's....come out and
search for it!
We are open Monday-Saturday 9am-6pm thru October.

October

There is so much to do at Sauvie Island Farms this October.....

Climb the straw pyramid

                             



Go on a hayride

                                                                                     

                               

Pick a pumpkin from our huge field



Cut a bouquet of beautiful flowers

   

 



Play in our straw mazes



Visit our farmyard animals



 

Enjoy a walk on the farm

We are open Monday-Saturday 9am-6pm in October!

More than Pumpkins

Sauvie Island Farms does have a field of beautiful pumpkins ready for you to come out and pick your own!  We also have Chester blackberries, a few strawberries, sweet corn, peppers, six varieties of squash, and APPLES for you to pick on the farm this week.  Our apples are excellent this year.  We have Rome Beauty, which are a great cooking apple and a few trees of Red Delicious.  Our Romes make great applesauce, apple butter, apple pies, apple juice, etc!  They are only $1.00 per lb, if you pick over 10 lbs the price drops to 75 cents per lb.

Here's a great Apple Crisp recipe:

4-6 large apples

8 graham crackers

3/4 C brown sugar, packed

1/2 C rolled oats

1/2 C flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 C butter, melted

Peel, core, slice apples. Finely chop graham crackers (use a food processor). Combine crumbs, sugar, oats, flour and spices. Add butter; mix well. Spoon mixture over apple slices.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes

Serve warm with ice cream

This recipe is from Leigh Anne's blog, she also has an Apple Cake recipe posted and a caramel sauce that I made last fall....which the farmer loved!!  Go visit her at http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/