Baking Pumpkins

My mother-in-law took Amelia to the Red Barn Farm for a little Nanny/Amelia date. She came home telling me all about the baby animals they saw and the hayride they went on. She also came home with two pumpkins; one for Amelia, and one for Marinn.

I'm sure these were intended to be for decorating for Halloween, but every time I looked at them sitting on the table I had visions of pumpkin whoopie pies dancing in my head. After about a week of refraining I got Amelia on board with the idea of cooking one up to see how it tastes.

Cooking a pumpkin is really simple! Much like the squash we cook, we simply washed it well, cut it in half and baked it face down on a baking sheet in an oven heated to 350. The only difference is with the pumpkin you scoop out the insides and add a half cup of water to the pan to make sure it doesn't dry out. (I used a melon baller to scoop it out and it made quick work of it.)

Simply bake until soft, about 45 minutes. You should be able to easily push a fork into the meat of the pumpkin. (Time will vary depending on the pumpkin size, however keep in mind that smaller pumpkins are better for eating.) Once it is cooked, remove from pan and allow to cool. Scoop the meat out and puree to use in pumpkin recipes! I found that my puree as a little thinner than the store bought so you may need to adjust your moisture content in some recipes.

Each of our small pumpkins made 3 cups of puree. It can be stored in the fridge up to one week or the freezer for longer storage.

Also, don't throw away the insides you scooped out until you remove the seeds for baking!

For toasted pumpkin seeds rinse them in cold water and soak them in a bowl of salt water over night. Drain the seeds and spread onto a baking sheet and allow to dry. Toss them with a little olive oil and sea salt and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until crispy.

We made some with a little chili seasoning mixed in that were a hit! I also tried soaking the seeds in chai tea (I hate throwing away the tea bags after one use because there is still so much flavor in them, so instead I steeped them again and used them here.) and I tossed them in olive oil and cinnamon sugar. They were a little bitter, however I think adjusting the cinnamon to sugar ratio will solve that problem.


Updated 11/15/2012

 Yay! A fix to the watery puree problem!

My pumpkin bread recipe was an easy fix when it came to the thin puree, simply cut back the water. Whoopie pies however were not so easy. I ended up mixing in an extra 1/2-3/4 cup of flour to get my batter thick enough to bake correctly. After this many years of making them, I have become quite accustom to having them made a certain way so I was less than impressed with the results.

Before going round two with the pumpkins we are preparing for Thanksgiving I decided to hit up the web for some ideas on how to fix the issue with the fresh pumpkin being watery in comparison to the canned. There were a couple of ideas so I did both, which resulted in a much thicker puree.

Fix #1
After baking the pumpkin until soft flip them cut side up and continue baking for an additional 20 minutes. This allows some of the excess moisture needed for the pumpkins to cook evenly to cook off a bit before you puree it.

Fit #2
Place pureed pumpkin into a mesh strainer and allow excess water to drain off. This step took a lifetime, but I ended up with a cup of water drained off of each pumpkin I cooked

Little Bo Peep and Her Sheep

Little Bo Peep lost her sheep and didn't know where to find her....

Just leave her alone and she will come home, bringing her tail behind her

I must say, I am quite pleased with the costumes I made for the girls this year for Halloween. Inspired in part by Amelia's obession with Toy Story 3 earlier this summer and by the classic nursery rhyme I came up with the idea of making Amelia a shepherdess and Marinn her sheep. As is apparent by Amelia's first two costumes(a baby bird and a pig), I love seeing babies dressed as animals. You can only get away with doing it for so long so I figured I needed to take advantage!

I made both cosutmes with no patterns, using their exsisting clothing as templates.  Bo Peep's outfit consists of a dress, pantaloons, and a bonnet (that were made by myself) as well as tights, boots, and a shepherds hook. I added the tutu I made for St. Patrick's Day to give the dress some volume. The sheep costume is a onesie style, fuzzy outfit that I made over top of black tights and a black shirt topped off with a headband complete with ears that I made from a pair or mens dress socks.

Marinn was less than pleased about painting her nose, but has done surprisingly well keeping her ears on. Amelia loves being Bo Peep and has been haming it up while in costume, eliciting many 'awes' over the pair.

Reusing Frappuccino Bottles

When I went to visit my mother in Texas over the summer I exploited my mother's guilty habit of consuming bottled frappuccinos and had her collect the empty bottles for me. I thought they would be good for drinks at the girls' birthday parties and rather easy to pretty up. With a little fabric and thread I whipped up these toppers to coordinate with Amelia's Ice Cream Shoppe party.

To begin I removed the labels from the bottle and washed it in hot soapy water and scrubbed the sticky off. (A little Bar Keeper's Friend help do the trick for the stubborn spots) Next I traced a circle roughly twice the size of the bottle lid onto fabric and cut them out. (One fat quarter made 12 toppers.) Using the sewing machine set on an overcast stitch I followed the perimeter, overlapping where they meet to ensure they wouldn't unravel. Taking one circle and a small rubber band (the kind made to go in littlekids' hair) to hold it in place, I put it on the bottle and marked where I wanted the straw to be. I cut a small circle out and using the same stitch I stitched the perimeter. Make sure the circle you cut isn't too large as it will get bigger after you stitch around it. All that's left is to fill the bottles with your drink, put your toppers on with the rubber band, and put a straw in!

 

I think these will be great for the spring and summer when the bugs fight you for your drink when you're outside.

Bacon Mac & Cheese

Chilly days call for comfort food, don't you think?  Maybe that is just my excuse to get into the kitchen where I can warm up a little next to the stove. Either way, the change in weather is to thank for this tasty (and oh so healthy-ha!) dish.

Ice Cream Shoppe Birthday Invitation

Party planning/prepping for Amelia's third birthday is well underway in our house and this week Amelia got to deliver the invitations. (I really like hand delivering the invitaions, Amelia gets to participate and I don't have to spend a fortune on postage!) Needless to say, she is very excited and we will probably be talking about her party every day now until it comes!

The theme for her party is ice cream shoppe so we made up these inviations to ask her friends and family to join us to celebrate.

To make these I used blank cardstock cards (5"x7") with coordinating envelopes from Hobby Lobby and some scrapbook paper (8.5"x11). These items frequently go on sale for half price, making this project realtively inexpensive.

Using Word, I printed the front of the card reading: Amelia's Ice Cream Shoppe 2.5" from the top, to ensure it would show under the awning.
Next I cut a piece of the pink stripped scrapbook paper down to a 3"x5" rectangle, stripes running vertically.
Folding in 1/2" at the top and 1/2" at the bottom I created an awning.
Next I cut one edge to make it scalloped using a pair of scissors (they have fancy scissors that can do this for you if you don't wan to free hand.)
Using a glue stick, glue the non-scalloped fold to the top of the card, folded edge to the top. This will make the awning stick out.
To make the ice cream cone I used solid colored cardstock, cut to a triangle, and a brown marker to make the cross hatches.
I topped it with three scoops of ice cream (also using solid color cardstock) to represent Amelia turning three and used left over scrapbook paper to add a couple stripes across the bottom of the card.
For the interior I typed the party information into Word and printed them onto the stripped paper, four per page. Then all I had to do was cut them down and glue them into the card.

I'm trying something new with this invitation; using 'regregts only' rather than 'RSVP'. Perhaps this will allow people to feel more comfortable with declining the invitation and I will be able to get an accurate guest count? I guess we shall see!