a cornucopia of fall deliciousness

sweet lord. fall has exploded in our house.Let me just run a list of what we made today:

1. pumpkin pie mix (listed here)

2. barbecue rub (that was tyler, i don't even think he'd remember what he put in if he tried)

3. pumpkin puree (listed here)

4. squash (emmy's making - delicious - she thinks it's a kabocha squash)

5. apple sauce (listed here)

6. pumpkin roll (made with the purred pumpkin -listed here)

7. pumpkin seeds (barbecue, pumpkin pie flavored, and salt - recipe here)

hoooolllllyy cow. (let me just say that those p

umpkin shells will soon be reincarnated as center pieces for t-gives. you're welcome in advance momma, be ready for m.steward part deux)

it all started when we went to the farmer's market today. I think the fact that you can use food stamps is fantastic. so great. I also love that the farmers a

t the Kingston Farmer's market are from right in the area. it's fun to know that

the apple orchard is less than a mile. fantastic. i am so excited for winter csa...

anyway!!! want some recipes??

1) pumpkin pie spice:

1 TBSP Cinnamon, 1/2

TBSP each ground ginger and ground nutmeg, 1/2 tsp allspice and ground cloves

store in a air-tight container. yum!! (now you don't have to spend like $5 on a small container, yipee!!)

2. Crockpot Apple Sauce

Last week Emmy and I went to the Jenkins-Leukin farm,

across the bridge and down the street, and we picked up a half bushel of apples for $12. have i mentioned that i love the farms in the area? love love love. anyway, while we were there we picked up an area guide called "visit vortex" - which has a ton of recipes in it: including the following 3.

Quarter and Core 8 apples. If you don't want to have apple skins in your apple sauce, then remove the skins. they're kind of good though.

2 tsp lemon juice (opt)

couple dashes of cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick

a couple of cloves (one of my new

favorite things - i feel like oprah)

1/2 cup of water

set crock pot on high, cook for about 4 hours. when soft and juicy, mash-em with a fork.

Quick tip - make sure that your crock put has been

washed out well from the last time yo

u made veggie broth. just sayin'. otherwise instead of smelling delicious, it'll just smell like broth. although it'll still taste delicious. Have i mentioned recently that i love this crock pot?

3. Pumpkin puree

Tyler and I had no idea that we would make soooooo much pumpkin puree with 2 small little pumpkins. they will last us most of the winter i think. I think we got about 6 or so cups from them (we're planning pies, breads, delicious delicious things. have i mentioned yet that i love fall???)

Steps:

1. heat oven to 350

2. Split the pumpkin in h

alf and seed it. (there's a game we used to play called "don't let miriam play with knives". i think you'll see why. these sugar pie pumpkins had such hard shells.)

3. Remove the fibers from the inside with a metal spoon

4. place the pumpkins open side down in a baking pan with about 1 cup water.

5. bake pump until it's soft, and can be pulled away with a fork .

6. scoop the pumpkin out and blend it in a magic bullet

7. freeze as needed.

4. Pumpkin SEEEEEEDDSSSS- IT'S FALLLLLLL!!!!!
after you've already scooped out the seeds from your pumpkin puree, before they're dry, separate the seeds from the stringyness. Rinse in cold water. Heat the oven to 325.

We made three different types of pumpkin seeds.

1)regular salt

2) bbq (with tylers rub, ohhh it's spicy),

3) about 2 tsp pumpkin pie mix and about 2 tsp brown sugar. yum yum yum (this turned out better than i could have expected)

mix the seeds with either oil or non-stick spray. arrange on a sheet in a single layer

bake for about 25 mins - stirring every 10 mins or so. Store in air tight container- if they last more than an evening, that is.

Some pumpkin seeds are better than others, if you know what i mean. Sugar pie pumps make great seeds. i think the hulls are less i don't know- gross than the others? Those sweet ones are delicious (they're in the dark blue bowl, the spicy bbq are in the light blue, salt in the black)

Are you pumpkin-ed out yet???? TO BAD - WE'RE NOT DONE YET.

5. PUMPKIN ROLLS

Tyler asked us to make pumpkin rolls about 2 weeks ago- and tonight we finally got around to it. As Tyler said while we were making it: "I wish i didn't know what was in this" Sometimes (often) i wish I didn't know what was in the food i made. too late!

i'm going into a food coma , so the pumpkin roll recipe will have to come at a later day. soooo fuuuuullllllll.

xoxo.