Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin bread for breakfast, plain bread & pumpkin butter for after work snack. Not too bad! No chance it will go uneaten. And fortunately DH won't even try anything with pumpkin in it. More breakfasts for me then.

So here's the recipe for those who want to give it a try. I'll be interested to know what you think and how you adapt it. Recipe comes with a quarter pumpkin for someone nearby!

Honey-Pumpkin Butter (like apple butter - not buttery)

2 cups pureed, cooked pumpkin

1/2 cup honey

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (yellow part only)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients in saucepan. Simmer uncovered over low heat, stirring frequently, 35-40 minutes. Mixture should get quite thick - the same consistency as stiff apple butter when a spoonful is dropped on a chilled saucer. Ladle into jelly jars and refrigerate. Makes 1.25 to 1.5 cups. From Asparagus to Zucchini, a Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce.

Or my version:

Roughly measure everything, trying to remember which spices were just added so as to not add again, but do add a little more pumpkin 'cause we have lots to use. Squeeze fresh lemon from AZ lemons, but have no luck grating the slightly drying peel so decide fresh lemon juice is enough.(Taste the lemon juice from the bottle in the fridge for comparison. Now lemoned out, go with the fresh.) In between checking on the bread and cleaning up the bread mixing mess, try to remember to stir. Realize it is not on low and turn it down. Wonder if honey burns easily. Do saucer test successfully, but then get distracted, stir some more and declare it done. Cool slightly before scooping into handy Tupperware. Eat the saucer test sample.

Maybe tomorrow we'll move on to a new subject.

Pumpkins

Some of the pumpkins from this year's garden.   One has already become pumpkin butter.

Link to pumpkin butter recipe, plus other pumpkin cooking posts:
http://petunias-garden.blogspot.com/search?q=pumpkin+butter

Pumpkin Kitchen

So I started my search for the recipe when I got home later than I expected. Any recipe must use at least 1 cup of pumpkin (and then it still gets an extra spoonful). Bread used 1 cup, butter used 2 cups and I still have 1.5 -2 cups left from the first pumpkin half.

This is pumpkin bread with spices & raisins. Tomorrow's breakfast.

The honey-pumpkin butter is done when it has the consistency of stiff apple butter when dropped on a chilled plate. Mine wasn't chilled, but I decided it was done. It will be good on plain bread. The cloves are a bit strong, but maybe they'll blend in after setting.

Here's a very determined Maria helping me inspect for the bread batter I splattered everywhere. Next time wear cute flowery thrifted apron, not robe & pjs! And use the deeper bowl. Looking forward to Wednesday when I can catch up with everyone's blogs.

Lurking Pumpkins?

This Wyatt's Wonder pumpkin has been lurking in our garage. Now he is in the oven! A little vitamin A and iron should be just the boost needed for the ongoing winter predicted by the groundhog. See pumpkins growing, and harvest day Oct 14.
The other Wyatt's became Halloween decorations, so this is the first one I've cut. Seems to be a lot of pumpkin meat in there.
I have been cooking the smaller Snackjack pumpkins conveniently cut in half with shell side up. Since this larger one is more cut up, I added coverings just after I took the photo. This is just half of the pumpkin. I'll bake the rest tomorrow.

I'll mash up the cooked pumpkin tonight and make a pie or something tomorrow. Just saw a recipe for honey-pumpkin butter (like apple butter) I'd like to try also (From Asparagus to Zucchini-a Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce, from a community supported agriculture organization). There are still few other little pumpkins in the garage, but no more Wyatt's Wonder.

Stay tuned....

Apples & Pumpkins

DH did a nice job cleaning up the kitchen this afternoon. I took it as an open invitation to make a mess! He helped, too. First, an extra large apple crisp. Then cooked apples were run through the contraption, above, to make applesauce (we didn't peel them before cooking). Yes, we have an apple tree (remember?). I was surprised how good the applesauce tasted! Then the first of the pumpkins went in the oven.

Tomorrow, there will be honey-pumpkin butter, and pumpkin bread to make. Here is the link to the honey-pumpkin butter recipe from an earlier post.

Pumpkins in January

I haven't made a pumpkin pie yet this winter. Must do something about that!

I did bake this guy and made Honey Pumpkin Butter. It's all gone now. Time to bake another. This is a small sugar pumpkin who lost his stem during harvest.

...Pumpkin Jelly?

It is that time of year when we move from blossoms, although some are still going, to fungi and lichen. Found this beauty during our Geocaching outing, yesterday. Its color (a little more orange than the camera captured) really stood out amongst the greens and grays.

I believe it's a form of jelly fungi, perhaps dacrymyces palmatus. Might be aka Fairy Butter, but I'm having trouble finding a consistent common name.

My reference book says it is actually more firm than it looks. I'm sorry I didn't touch it, now! Or at least a little poke with my handy geocaching poking stick I was using to search among the leaves for the cache.

Would you have touched it?