I once was a summer girl. My birthday was in the summer. We always traveled on our biggest family vacations in the summer. No school! We would ride our bikes - everywhere! Especially the pool! The taste of freedom on those bikes with just enough breeze a little change in the pocket for the ice cream treats and cold soda cans from vending machines. And I used to tan this beautiful gold and the sun naturally highlighting my hair. What happened? Now I am so not a fan of the summer - it's buggy, hot, and I always feel sweaty and I no longer tan. I burn pink and then red rather quickly. No fun! But autumn?
Oh how I have fallen in love with autumn (Secretly I would love to name a daughter Autumn Rain - I can share this with you as my husband has vetoed this a bajillion times but I am a die-hard dreamer and still holding out hope :) But the temperatures around here are just perfect for layers and jeans. My favorite outfit. The leaves are just majestic. And some of my favorite produce appears in the markets. I love my berries in the summer those reds and blues and maroon blacks - yummy, sweet and tart. But when the crispness of the air starts to appear its apple and yes wait for it ..... the beautiful greens, oranges, reddish tones play out for the wonderful Winter squash season - can we say delicious? And minus the turban squash (my arch-nemesis) the rest of the squash family is always a go-to for a super tasty, filling, and easy side item/entree. You can see my entry last year how the turban squash and I fought. I always like to claim victory but as they begin to appear in stores I physically turn my cart around at the sight of these amazingly grotesque but yet disturbingly attractive sculptures of produce. But no handy chef knife will slide through these heavy duty squashes. The work did not equal the reward - so I steer clear. But if you are having an autumn party they would make phenomenal center pieces.
But yes the squashes have hit the supermarkets and now my home. We sit with a two spaghetti squashes and one butternut squash (by far the family favorite as it makes a simple but tasty roasted side or can also be used in a cozy heart-warming soup. ) And here comes our fruit/veggie of the week - A White Pumpkin. I believe the grocery store just called it a mixed pumpkin.
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| Boo - Happy Autumn :) |
So why the white pumpkin? If you have read my produce of the week I am a sucker for non-typical color choices. Pumpkins are always thought of as orange. As the white pumpkin sat a couple of weeks on our counter (love that squash has a sturdy shelf life) I always chuckled at the sight of it. I thought two things. Its a ghost pumpkin which sounds like a fantastic halloween mascot/symbol. And two it looks like someone washed away all the orange and here sits this morose pumpkin without its cheery festive orange color. After several conversations and hints from my husband that it would just make his day to come home and the pumpkin no longer stealing our counter space I decided to tackle the pumpkin project.
Who doesn't have great pumpkin memories? The carving, the baked goods (my dad makes fantastic pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie and even yummy pumpkin seeds.) This used to be one of our fall traditions. My dad was in charge of pumpkin duty and I was honored to be his assistant. I gathered and picked through pumpkin guts when we would carve our two family pumpkins which I believe I did most years up to my junior or senior year in high school. I do enjoy holiday traditions - the cheesier the activity the better right ? :) And I was assigned certain duties for pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread - I was ALWAYS the sifter for pumpkin bread. We had a squeeze sifter that I used over wax paper. After I married my hubby the amazing chef of our household. He asked me to sift and I was so excited as this was a kitchen task both familiar and fun. Smiling to myself as I was going to dazzle my hubby with my amazing skills he hands me this tin mug with a crank. Ummmm what is that? He shrugged and had the audacity to raise his eyebrows with the reply "A sifter". Ummmmm no. My sifter of choice is a tupperware equivalent with a orange top with a handle that you squeeze and part of the top swivels back and forth as it passes the dry ingredients. Don't give me this lose sieve with a weird crank. A girl has her pride and loyalty to childhood traditions. Plus my daddy used to praise my sifting skills my husband again shrugged his shoulders and offered "then don't sift its not that big of deal." Oh its a big deal!
But I digress back to the white pumpkin. It was intimidating! I tackled the pumpkin in the past as an assistant letting the leader navigate the recipe and the portions. I don't know what to do with this pumpkin - soup, bread, pastry, treat it like squash? And the size I wasn't sure exactly how this broke down. One dish, two, three, six? I don't know. So I decided I wanted pumpkin seeds and to puree the rest and throw it in the freezer until I had the wits about me and measurements. Wow - I know why I procrastinated with this huge white pumpkin. It's a lot of work to cook this produce with no true path. We did roast the pumpkin seeds using the fabulous "Roasted Pumpkin Seeds" recipe from www.epicurious.com
Ingredients
Ingredients2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 drops hot pepper sauce
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking pan with aluminum foil.2. Stir together the pumpkin seeds and butter in a bowl. Add the salt, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and hot pepper sauce; stir. Spread the seeds in a single layer on the baking pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven until crispy, about 45 minutes.
Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/ROASTED-PUMPKIN-SEEDS-51179871#ixzz2AHWC70SU
Ohhh so good! I am so debating if we should buy at least one more pumpkin for just the seeds. Such a tasty snack - little savory, little spice, little salt, little sweet and fantastic crunch!!! When you first cut into the white pumpkin you may be surprised that the flesh is a pale yellow. I think I still expected that bright orange flesh that screams "Happy Halloween". But the seeds were pretty easy to remove as the pumpkin guts weren't as gloppy as I remember. Not sure if that is the difference between the white pumpkin and the traditional orange carving style pumpkins. Or if I am not the same and didn't puposely dig through the flesh in search of every single seed.
We do things - simple actions, big gestures, innocent comments that people observe, record in their memories and base opinions or judgements. The quiet moments when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and unscripted are when people truly witness our contributions and our character. My dad had no idea how much I would still treasure those fall days where we baked pumpkins and I still can see where I sat to sift my ingredients on the wax paper and smell the spice of pumpkin goods. I can only hope that my son is starting to build his own scrapbook of the memories that will warm his heart about his childhood. Our witness about our spiritual journeys, our mental conquests, our physical feats, our heartfelt passions, and/or our simple acts of charity need not be grand or over-the-top crazy or perfectly molded - they just need to be sincere. And hopefully when we do good, with God's grace and blessing some of our actions will be seeds that fall into good soil to encourage the growth of others. May God bless you and keep you - 'til we meet again. . .
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