So here goes nothing, my very first blog......
Yesterday while cleaning and going through my photography stuff, I FOUND the lost pumpkin. One of my fellow farmer's market stands was getting rid of her pumpkins because it was nearing the end of the season so she gave me this "baking pumpkin". It is not your typical carving pumpkin, infact it is kind of ugly! Well, I never did bake with it but instead used it as a photo prop for my fall sessions and then figured the goat's would get a nice treat out of it plus a bonus (raw pumpkin is a natural wormer for them). As fall photo sessions flew by and worked into Christmas sessions I did think about the pumpkin once and figured my husband must have thrown it out to the goats because I hadn't seen it in a while. WRONG!
After going through a big cluttered pile, I spotted the top of the pumpkin. I was afraid to look to see what kind of mess lurked in the basket it was in. To my surprise, it was bright orange and looked just as good as it did the last time I seen it. Apparently, its hiding spot in a basket next to the window with junk piled on top of it was enough to preserve it.
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| The LOST Pumpkin |
The question was - now what to do with it. Should I try baking a pie with it??? Or should I throw it out to the goats??? Asked my facebook friends - some said PIE, PIE, PIE - others said GOATS, GOATS, GOATS! So today, I inspected the pumpkin again and decided I was going to hack the thing open and see what the inside looked like. I took a big pie-like slice out of it and my nose was filled with a sweet scent. It was the best pumpkin I have ever smelt!! So I gutted it out and took the insides out to the goats. Then I proceeded to cut it into smaller chunks and then used the peeler to peel the skin off. I then had to puree it but all I had was a magic bullet instead of a food processor or blender. Hmmmmm - the bullet just wasn't going to do it. I then realized that I should have baked the pieces while the skin was still on so then I could scoop it out of the skin and puree it - making it 10 times easier. Messaged for a friend to call me as I totally thought I screwed up now that there was no skin on it. She assured me it was fine and that I could still bake the pieces but I opted for the microwave instead. Yep, if I would have cooked it in the first place I might have saved some wear and tear on the magic bullet.
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| All from 1 pumpkin. |
I ended up getting 6 cups of puree out of half the pumpkin so it was time to make a pie or 3. Much to my dismay....I didn't have all the ingredients in the house for a pumpkin pie - darn condensed milk or cream depending on recipe that was used. I thought about running to the local country gas station to get some but I really didn't want to spend $8 on a can/container and driving 25 minutes to town on icy roads were out of the question. Ok, now what??? Pumpkin cheese cake?? No - I totally do not need to be indulging in that. Pumpkin bread?? No - just made two loaves of banana bread last Friday. Pumpkin Bars? - Hell ya!! (ok, these are probably no better than the cheese cake....LOL). So pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting are what I made. The hubby and kids will be happy as well as the goats. Win, win situation even with extra pumpkin (now frozen) left over for future baking.
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| In the oven it went. |
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| Finished product - more like pumpkin cake. |
Would you like the recipe I used to make the pumpkin bars???
Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
(I used 2 cups puree from my pumpkin)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
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2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
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Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined.
3. Spread the batter evenly into an ungreased 10x15 inch pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool before frosting.
4. To make the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in vanilla. Add confectioners' sugar a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth. Spread evenly on top of the cooled bars. Cut into squares.
Let me know how yours turn out! (Mine turned out more like pumpkin cake, the kids and I sampled some before dinner - whoops!)
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| Happy Cattle, Goats and Chicken! |
