What about that pumpkin?

Okay so I know you are wondering what ever happened to all that baking I was planning to do. Well I finally got to it yesterday, well some of it. Baking all day with three kids is not always as fun as it originally sounds, just in case you were wondering. I am convinced that in three years, this would have been a really fun day...but not now! It was so exhausting that I didn't even have the energy to tell you about it yesterday.

ANYWAY! So to cook the pumpkin I just cut it in half, took out all the seeds and such, and then placed it on baking pans cut side down in the oven at 350 for an hour...fyi it is good to use a pan with sides! This is what it looked like in the oven:


This is what it looked like when it was done:


While it was cooking I rinsed the seeds and laid them on a stone to dry for 48 hours.

I used a sugared pumpkin seed recipe to cook them. They are pretty good. We had never eaten pumpkin seeds before so this is new to us. I took other recipes and made my own... I used:
1 c pumpkin seeds
1/2 egg white
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

I then baked them at 275 for about an hour and 15 min. I stirred them every 15 min or so. They were goody until I let them sit and then they were really yummy.

Oh, and by the way, you should try halving the white of an egg...it is fun...really...



I made two trays of baby food. That was really exciting.

Then I made pumpkin bread. Two loaves. The recipe was for one loaf, so I made it twice and baked them at the same time. YUMMY! The recipe I used for that was:
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 c pumpkin
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbs butter softened

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg. Then add pumpkin, brown sugar, buttermilk, egg and butter until well blended. Pour in loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.


Then I made a double batch of pumpkin muffins. I used this recipe for those. Now those were some nice big muffins. However that recipe called for pumpkin pie spice? I don't have that and really don't have a use for it. So I used a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ginger. I didn't do this but I think it might be nice to add in some raisins, maybe 1/4 or 1/3 cup. Also, that streusel topping, I think it is enough for 24 muffins...just my thoughts on that!

Finally I made a batch of chocolate chip (well sorta) pumpkin cookies. They were fantastic. (if I do say so myself!) I used this recipe:

1 c pumpkin
1 c white sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 egg
2 c all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 c semisweet chocolate chips, umm, we will talk about that later...
1/2 c walnuts...not at my house!

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. You are supposed to dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir it in...I forgot that part, so I just sorta went with it and added to baking soda, then the milk. Then you mix the flour mixture with the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Finally you add vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts (if you so choose). Drop by spoonfuls (i used the small scoop) onto a greased cookie sheet (or well seasoned stone) and bake at 350 for about 10 min.

These are awesome cookies! However when I went to add the 2 cups chocolate chips, well I didn't even have a whole cup. OOPS! SO, I used what I had and substituted for what I needed...so I added about 1/4 c white chocolate chips, and about 1/4 cup of those white chocolate/semi sweet swirl. They are awesome. AND are not lacking in chocolate chips at all!


I finished the night by baking a couple of loaves of banana bread (I will share about that later), just because I wanted to at least try it. I still have lots of bananas to bake with I hope to do that tomorrow maybe? Oh who knows. But one thing I do know is, we want another pumpkin! That was fun! (well at least looking back it is fun to have all that stuff from just one pumpkin, I can not believe we threw it away last year...what a waste!)