No power

we had a crazy wind storm with 60mph gusts. We have been without power for just about 24hrs. The chickens just got let out for the first time since Friday and my garden has some decent damage. Thankfully no trees On our house. I'll post an update or some of the damaged when the power and Internet is restored.

How to Roast a Sugar Pumpkin

It's the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas. Just at the end of summer-beginning of fall. The nights and mornings are chilly! (Can you say Sweater weather?) but still warm but not too hot in the afternoons. It's getting dark around 8:45 and the sun isn't up until well after 6. Winter is coming! Right now is my favorite time of year, most mornings we have fog in our field and the smell. My goodness, the smell of fog!  If you haven't ever had a foot morning in the country near water you haven't lived. There used to be a river running right through our field, every morning the river of fog rolls in. Literally rolls in, like waves. We call it the ghost river. it's quite lovely and just a tiny bit eerie if you've watched a few too many horror movies. 

Our fall vegetables are coming in and I figured I'd share what to do with sugar pumpkins. If you're looking to eat your pumpkin, sugar pumpkins are the way to go, not those giant carving pumpkins. The seeds from the big ones are great toasted but that's about it. How do you tell if you're pumpkins are ripe? Take a look at them, if they're orange that's a pretty good sign, give 'em a knock-knock-knock. Sounds hollow and is orange? You've got a ripe pumpkin.

First things first, whether it's store bought, from a farmer's market or from the garden, give that beauty a good cleaning. There's a few ways to do this. You can wash it in a 10% bleach solution. The bleach evaporates and is completely safe. I don't like the idea of using bleach on my food, or really anywhere else so I use apple cider vinegar and water. 1-3 ratio vinegar to water.  I fill the sink with cold water and add a few cups of vinegar to the water and let my produce soak. I usually have a lot to wash and let everything soak for around 10 minutes, give it a good rinse and let it air dry overnight.

Alright, let's get started. Turn the oven on to 350F, get a sharp knife, cutting board, sturdy metal spoon and a bowl for the guts. I always sharpen my knife before cutting large, hard to cut things (pumpkins, squash, etc). There is nothing more dangerous in the kitchen then a dull knife!

Cut the stem end off. It just makes everything easier.

Flip the pumpkin over (former stem side down) so it doesn't roll around. Carefully, cut the pumpkin in half (or as close to half as you can get).

Scoop out the innards, set 'em aside for toasting or saving seeds for next year.

I always give the pumpkins a good brushing with oil and roast cut side down on a foil line pan. You don't need to use foil or oil but I'm lazy and want minimal clean up. If you're going to be making soup you can season with salt and pepper. I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for, so I didn't season.

Roast for about an hour. I check mine around 50 minutes. If a fork goes in through the skin easily it's done. I end up cooking them for usually 65 minutes. That's just my oven

Take 'em out, let it cool until you can handle it enough to flip. 

Look at that steamy-roasted pumpkin goodness!

Cool the pumpkin until you can handle without burning your fingers. I usually sneak a few bites while I wait. 

Remove the skin. You can spoon it out but I just flip it over a bowl, hold the skin and give it a little shake. Most of the flesh falls right out. 

Blend in a food processor, blend or with an immersion blender, or mash to whatever consistency suits your fancy. I like my puree smooth as butter.

Portion, label and freeze flat. I can't stress enough that freezing things flat is the way to do it. They stack so neatly in a bin or a freezer door. I freeze everything flat. This pumpkin gave me 9 cups of puree. Imagine 9 bags of pumpkin frozen in heaps vs stacked flat. Saves so much room.

I have 2 more pumpkins, sitting on my shelf, ready to be roasted! I'm not sure yet what I'm going to make but I can't wait for pumpkin everything! Pumpkins are low in calories, basically fat free, full of potassium, vitamin A and C and a good source of fiber. Not to mention dogs and babies LOVE pumpkin.

Seriously, easy peasy! What are you favorite pumpkin recipes? What should I make? I'm so hungry!

Pickled zucchini and yellow squash. Holy moly so good.

You may remember I mentioned canning a few weeks ago. Well, I cracked open a jar and oh boy! They were delicious! I made some more and actually remembered to take some photos. We still have a ton of squash and zucchini but the plants have slowed down their production and I've started to make a dent in what we have. Now we have a new monster to deal with. Spaghetti squash.

I didn't end up using all of these squash, but I think I used about 8 of each. I used my mandolin on the thickest setting and went to work. I did all the slicing while the jars were boiling and the brine was brining. 

After slices the veggies and boiling the jars and lids, I filled the bottom of each jar with around 2 cloves on diced garlic, a heaving teaspoon on pickling spices and a heaping tea spoon of dried dill. I'm waiting for my dill seeds to arrive to make more pickles this week. 

After stuffing the jars in and attempting to make them pretty on came the brine. 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar and 1.5 tablespoons of salt brought to a boil. 

A quick 5 minute boil in a water bath and easy-peasy pickles are done! Next time I'm going to run the jars through the dishwasher on the sanitizer cycle, boiling them just takes too darn long! I spend most of the my time boiling jars.

I don't know what I waited so long to try canning! I think I'm hooked! I'm picking up more jars this week and going to try my hand at pasta sauce and doing something with the enormous cauliflower heads. I have a mountain of cucumbers that need pickling too. Check out the recipe and some tips on the kitchen, I used their brine recipe and the spices as a guide.

I'm off to snack!

Monday Motivation

Yesterday morning we had the most glorious and surprising sunrise rainbow!

Another week has past and I'd like to think I was productive! I made pickled zucchini and yellow squash (check 'em out tomorrow!), we harvested a bunch from the garden that I now need to take care of!

I already vacuumed and have the last load of laundry from the hamper hanging outside. Too bad the hamper will be filled again in a few days. This morning I got up on the roof and (hopefully) took care of some wasps. Those little buggers made a nest inside a toilet vent.

This week I should probably cut the grass. It's been so dry I haven't had to cut it since May or June. It's just starting to get a bit long, so I'll take care of that this week. And maybe wash my floors, but that's not too likely, let's be real!

What are you working on this week?

Monday Motivation

How was your weekend? Can you believe it's August, already?! Where did the time go? I'm pretty sure I say that every month. This weekend was hot as hotness.  Scribs bought the kids a pool and they've barely left it since.

What's with the dishwasher you ask? I spend my morning taking apart and deep cleaning this beast. Why? My dishes weren't coming out clean. I ran a cycle with a empty cup on each rack and nothing else, both came out full of gunk. I cleaned the dishwasher last year when we moved in so it needed to be done again. See that grey thing at the bottom of the door? That was literally full of gunk, a squishy mass of gunk. It was disgusting. There was a bunch of broken glass in filter and near the chopping arm. I'm not sure where it came from (not me!) but now it's sparkley and clean. When was the last time you cleaned your dishwasher? If can't remember or never is your answer, I highly recommend doing it. Just google how to take it apart and clean it. Depending how dirty it is, this could take half and hour to a few hours.

I've got a jam packed week. I've started getting too over-whelmed with my to-do list, so I've started planning me week with what I'm going to do each day before the kids get up and at nap time. Everyday I do a load of laundry and hang it first thing, so that's a given. Today my A.M. chore was clean the dishwasher, that alone was a huge project and took almost 3 hours while doing other things too.
Tomorrow, I'm cleaning my camera and canning salsa
Wednesday, making waffles and watering the garden
Thursday sort recycling and put the trash out, wash sheets
Friday water the garden
Saturday clean the bathroom
Sunday water the garden

We're on a voluntary water restriction so watering is only Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

What are you working on this week?