"Once you go fresh, you will never go back" hubpages.com

I agree! I love fresh pumpkin. I learned how to cook and use them about 10 years ago and I haven't bought a can of pumpkin since. I also love growing little pie pumpkins. They are called Sugar Babies and they are happy. When you cook them you get about 3 cups of cooked pumpkin. As the garden is winding down it is the last thing that is still going strong.

Here is some instructions on how to cook them up. Then you can use them in your favorite recipes. They make great pies and the quick bread is nice too. You can also throw the cooked pumpkin in a freezer bag and freeze it for later use. Here goes:

Option #1: The Oven
Cut pumpkin open and scoop out the seeds. Place pumpkin halves facedown in a baking dish. Add 1/2" of water to pan: this helps keep the pumpkin flesh moist.
Bake at 450º until you can pierce the skin with a fork (about 45 minutes to an hour).
Scoop flesh out of shell with a spoon.
Option #2: The Stovetop
Cut pumpkin in half, scooping out the seeds. Then, cut pumpkin into large chunks, but leave the skin on.
Place chunks in a large steamer basket (or a colander placed inside a dutch oven, with water on the bottom). Steam for 20 minutes, or until pumpkin is tender. Scoop the flesh out of the shell with a spoon.

Once the pumpkin is cooked, simply use a food processor or blender to whip it into a pumpkin puree.

Don't forget to save the seeds for roasting!


Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

Ingredients:

One medium sized pumpkin,

1/2 to 1 Tablespoon Salt,

1 Tablespoon Olive oil.
Method:

1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut open the pumpkin and use a strong metal spoon to scoop out the insides. Separate the seeds from the stringy core. Rinse the seeds.

2 In a small saucepan, add the seeds to water, about 2 cups of water to every half cup of seeds. Add a half tablespoon of salt for every cup of water (more if you like your seeds saltier). Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

3 Spread about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 10-20 minutes. When browned to your satisfaction, remove from the oven and let the pan cool on a rack. Let the seeds cool all the way down before eating. Either crack to remove the inner seed (a lot of work and in my opinion, unnecessary) or eat whole.

What to do on a hot day...

I guess I am in canning and pickling mode. It is 90 degrees today with 100 degree heat index and I find myself restless. So I decided to make the Current Jelly that I extracted the juice for yesterday. Then I made a Garlic Braid. Not bad for my first attempt, because it is not easy! Then I had cukes that I picked this morning and decided I was hungry for Refridgerator Pickles. Now it is 3:30 and I think I will go read a gardening book and then start supper, a light pasta salad sounds good on a hot day.

Aunt Syble's Refridgerator Pickles from COOKS.COM

7 cups thinly sliced cucumbers

2 cups sugar

1 cup sliced red onion

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon celery seed

1 tablespoon pickling salt

Combine all ingredients together in a gallon jar. Place in the refridgerator. Will keep until gone. Can add more slices to mixture. They're good.

Beautiful! Isn't it?

Garlic! I harvested it today. I harvested six of my seven varieties. The Blossom just looked like it needed a little more time. But isn't it lovely?

I have grown to love the garlic. You plant it in October, so it sits under the snow, waiting. It is the first thing to pop up in the spring. It pops up with the first Dandelions of the year. Then it makes those awesome llittle scapes in June. They are curly and cool looking. They make you smile just to look at them. And they taste good in a salad too. But then in July, when the stalks start to dry, you get to dig up those first few beautiful garlic. They smell so good as you are digging and pull out so straight and long, and then comes the garlic head... nice and round and ready to go.

Now to make my Garlic Jelly and dry and clean it up for Market on Thursday!

Like William Shatner once said, "Stop and smell the Garlic! That is all you have to do."

 

Kale

I admit it. It scares me too. It looks a little too "green" and "nutritious". But I was watching a cooking show this winter, I believe it was Rachel Ray, and she was saying it was the new "super food". So I decided to try it. I ordered the Siberian Dwarf variety. I planted it. It came up and it is beautiful!

So I looked it up online to see what to do with it. I found a website call vegbox-recipes.co.uk. It says "Kale is a leafy cabbage like vegetable. It's strong flavor requires careful cooking, so it's worth reading how to use it and checking out recipes, to make sure you enjoy it." Ok. So make sure to pick it young.

"Choose kale leaves when they're still small and young. Avoid leaves that are mottled yellow, as this means that they're going to be old and bitter. Use it as soon as you can." Here's the best part! "Trim the stringy stalk. Wash the leaves well. Then use them as spinach or cabbage. You can slice the leaves and wilt them in a little butter and garlic for a quick, tasty side dish. Young tender leaves can be used as a salad." Guess what's for dinner! Yum!

"Kale is a great source of Vitamins C, A and B6. It's also packed with antioxidants, which are vital for a healthy immune system." Cool.

I will have Kale to sell for the next few weeks at the Monticello Farmer's Market on Thursdays. Come be brave and try some Kale with me

Spinach recipe...

I love spinach and I love to find things to do with it! I am so happy that it is finally here, but you can only eat so many salads and I don't like it wilted too much. I still love the fresh flavor and thickness of the leaves. So I have found a recipe that my family loves. Here it is...

Spinach with Orzo and Feta

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook 1/2 pound orzo according to package instructions. Stir in 1 pound chopped trimmed spinach until wilted. Drain. In a large bowl, toss hot spinach and pasta with 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint, 1/2 cup feta cheese, 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and ground pepper.

Thank you Martha Stewart for the great recipe. Enjoy!

Gracie!

My name is Gracie! And I am the favorite chicken in the flock right now. I am also the smallest so I get picked on a lot by my sisters. See my featherless tail? But I have figured out that when my Mama comes out to feed and water us I can jump down and go between her legs and my sisters cannot get me! I also like to ride on her shoulder as she cleans out nesting boxes and collects our eggs. My Mama protects me.

I came from a home where I was raised with a Rooster named Mohawk. He protects me too. I had to come live here because my Mama was looking for a good Rooster to watch over her flock and my owner was giving us away. My Mama loves having a Rooster to hear them crow and to make the eggs yummier! She sells my pretty brown eggs at the Farmers Market. But you have to come early because she only has a few dozen a week and they are so yummy that they sell really fast. Happy Chickens make really nice eggs!

Its time for Rhubarb

OK. I admit it. Rhubarb is not my favorite. And my husband loves it. So I have had to really look for recipes that have a rhubarb flavor, but yet not too much, so that I enjoy eating it. Here is my favorite recipe so far. It s a coffee cake with rhubarb sauce running through the middle of it, Yummy!

Rhubarb Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
Filling:
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 cups diced rhubarb

Cake: 
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I use pecans)
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
Filling: In a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in rhubarb. Cook and stir over medium heat, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and cool.

Cake: Combine milk and lemon juice. Set aside. Combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly (a food processor is great for this). Remove 1/2 cup of this mixture and set it aside to use for topping. To the remaining flour mixture add baking powder, baking soda, and walnuts. Combine egg with milk mixture. Add to the dry ingredients and stir in or process until just moistened. Spread 2/3 of the batter over the bottom and part way up the sides of a greased 9 inch spring form pan. Spoon the rhubarb filling over this. Drop the remaining batter by spoon fulls over the filling. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

I will have rhubarb for sale for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy.