its finally here!!!! (page 4)

grumblecakes

i think i may make those two house on the bottom, i like those.

i LOVE the puking punkins!!!!!!!!

ziddina

Yeah, the puking pumpkins are cute, but from personal experience, it's a difficult display to deal with.

I have to move my pumpkins OUT every morning and IN every night - temperatures dropping below freezing will ruin the pumpkins eventually. At the same time, one cannot have the pumpkins in direct sunlight, or they'll dry out.

I like to have several pumpkins on hand - and I'll reference some REALLY tasty varieties that are fun and spooky, too, in a minute - but I usually cut up a couple of pumpkins around Oct. 10th - then another one around Oct. 20th - and then one or two more around Halloween. Some last until Halloween, and some are "casualties"...

Anyway, here are some of the 'heirloom' varieties - and this first one is the BEST tasting variety I've EVER had!!

It's called "Galeux d'Eysines" or "peanut-shell" pumpkin, and it's DEEEE-LISH!!

Then there's the "red" pumpkin - seen on the right here... Makes a neat addition to your pumpkin display, but I haven't tried eating one, yet...

Then there's the 'white' or 'ghost' pumpkin - if you get one with ORANGE flesh, it's delicious, but the WHITE-fleshed ones are YUKKY!!

Then there's the "Pink Porcelain Doll" and "Blue Porcelain Doll" pumpkins... I haven't tasted those yet, but they look yummy!

grumblecakes

zid, im now convinced you are the master of halloween. i have so much to learn from you....

i like the idea of doing several at different intervals thru october. gotta keep mine indoors though (jw neighbors, boooooo!)

besides toasting the seeds, what else do you like to do with the punkins cooking wise?

ziddina

Oooo, glad you asked!

Lemme grab my cookbook!!

If you have a decent "zuccini-bread" recipe, you can do the same recipe substituting cooked pumpkin instead of the zuccini...

Somewhere on this website I posted a good recipe for pumpkin bread - ah, too much trouble to look it up; I'll just re-post it here:

in a minnut

grumblecakes

nice. does the bread taste like punkin pie?

ziddina

Okay, here we go...

To prepare pumpkin...

Don't bother trying to get the hard skin off of the pumpkin; wash it off thoroughly, cut it up into pieces small enough to put into a GLASS baking dish - NEVER COOK PUMPKIN IN A METAL DISH because it ruins the taste - and bake it at around 250 - 300 degrees [American] for at least 1/2 hour until the hard outer skin cuts off easily.

Then you can continue cooking it at the same temperature for another 1/2 hour, or until the pumpkin mashes easily - like mashed potatoes.

At that point, you will need:

2 1/2 cups flour [I use the whole-wheat in combo with unrefined flour]

2 cups sugar - that would be raw cane sugar...

3 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups mashed pumpkin

1/2 to 1 cup BUTTER - [WOW, that's a lot of butter. If you want to substitute oil, I'd use 1/2 cup olive oil, or for a fun variation, you might try toasted sesame oil - but use MOSTLY olive oil and just add 1/8 cup toasted sesame for a richer taste...]

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon cloves or allspice

Mix together sugar, eggs, butter or oil, and vanilla.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves/allspice, and ginger - [unless using raw or candied ginger - I'd recommend the powdered spice for this recipe].

Stir liquids into flour mixture, blending thoroughly.

Add mashed pumpkin and mix.

At this point, you could add the following optional ingredients:

Nuts and/or raisins, currants, dried cranberries

Chocolate chips

Pineapple bits- be sure they're drained thoroughly, or you'll have a soggy cake/bread

bits of candied ginger- but that will make it HOT and spicy!

Pour into oiled or buttered GLASS baking pan or pans, bake at 325 degrees for approximately one hour. CHECK the bread at the 45-minute point; if a knife inserted into the bread comes out clean, the bread should come out of the oven at that time or a few minutes later.

This recipe should make the equivalent of 2 small loaves in "regular" 4" x 10" x 5" baking pans, though the addition of the optional ingredients might increase the volume.

Next, I'm going to describe a pumpkin-pineapple-raisen or cranberry dish that's good as a sweet vegetable dish but could ALSO be used as a pie filling...

ziddina

Pumpkin fruit dish - also can be used as pie filling, though it WON'T 'set up' like regular pumpkin pie filling...

Prepare the pumpkin as above:

"To prepare pumpkin...

Don't bother trying to get the hard skin off of the pumpkin; wash it off thoroughly, cut it up into pieces small enough to put into a GLASS baking dish - NEVER COOK PUMPKIN IN A METAL DISH because it ruins the taste - and bake it at around 250 - 300 degrees [American] for at least 1/2 hour until the hard outer skin cuts off easily. ..."

THEN cut the pumpkin up into bite-sized bits, toss into a GLASS baking dish - I use a souffle dish approx. 7" - 9" deep - and add some or all of the following:

Pineapple bits - If you use pineapple bits in THIS recipe, get the ones packed in their own juice and ADD THE JUICE.

Cranberries - I like the fresh ones - I buy bags of them in November and freeze them - they last FOREVER in the freezer - gives the dish a tart tang!

Raisins or currants - I especially like using the GOLDEN raisens...

Again, you can add nuts - I like adding pecans or walnuts. I don't think I'd add macadamia nuts or pinons - WAY too rich - but hey! Test and experiment - you'll probably come up with your own variations!!

You can ALSO use the 'bread' recipe to make pumpkin cupcakes...

I'm going to experiment with my pumpkins this year - going to see if I can make a sweet pumpkin "jerkey" and maybe even pumpkin gingerbread...

ziddina

Whoops.

Forgot to say - after pre-cooking the pumpkin at 250 - 300 degrees for around 1/2 hour - longer if necessary - to cut off the hard skin, and then cutting up and combining your chosen ingredients, cook the batch for at least another 1/2 hour - maybe even 45 minutes - at around 300 - 325 degrees...

Set up a 'tin foil' drip-catcher, just in case the pot overflows a bit. Saves you clean-up, later on.

Enjoy!

Zid

grumblecakes

thanks zidd!!!!!!!!!!! i cant wait! (and i totally didnt know that part about not cooking the punkin in metal. good to know!)

ziddina

Yeah, I found out that one shouldn't cook pumpkin in metal, the HARD way...

Ruined a few good pumpkins in my day...

its finally here!!!!

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