If you like pumpkin pie and/or have excess pumpkin puree, this blog's for you! I recently was gifted 6 cans of pumpkin by a friend, so of course turned to my favorite pumpkin recipe, pumpkin muffins! I came across this recipe a long time ago. Rick and I used to visit Mendocino for a couple's weekend every now and then, and our favorite restaurant, Cafe Beaujolais, put out a cookbook and this recipe was in it! It's labelled "Rachel's Pumpkin Muffins" but to clarify, this Rachel is not the same as OUR Rachel (Gorham).
About that time I had kids in school, and used to volunteer for classroom projects. The 3rd grade teacher at Liberty School, Mrs, Berg, LOVED pumpkin muffins so was always happy to have me come in and make them with the kids. I used to clean and bake pumpkins from my garden, then take them in and get the kids to help me scoop out the pulp and puree them, then another set of kids would mix dry ingredients, another set of kids would mix in the wet ingredients, the final set would mix in chocolate chips and put them in pans, then we'd bake them and share with the class and with the teachers in the staff room. Always a popular activity!
One time as I was getting up at 5 a.m. to clean and bake pumpkins, I used newspaper to cover the counter and catch all the pumpkin debris. Imagine my coffee-deprived eyes widening as I noticed the grocery ad beneath my work - cans of pumpkin for only 69 cents! It did make me wonder if all my work was worth it, but the combination of having pumpkins in the garden to use up and wanting to teach kids WHERE pumpkin came from made me keep going.
I still make these muffins regularly, and have learned that I can save the batter and bake more later. The volunteers at Una Vida particularly like these muffins, and since we occasionally get pumpkins donated and have leftovers, I can take them home and make these.
I wanted to give a shout-out to my neighbor Trevor Mickelson. He is an enterprising young man, and about 10 years ago started hauling Christmas Trees from Oregon down to sell them here in Petaluma. He continually invested in more trucks and trailers, then set up shop on a busy corner in Santa Rosa. A few years ago he bought 10 acres south of town, and added a pumpkin patch to his repertoire of offerings. He really goes all out, with lots of games, food and attractions for the younger crowd. This last year I asked if he could donate extra pumpkins to Una Vida, and he and his family delivered some to our next Tuesday Market. What a great way to make connections happen!
To make it convenient for you to use the pumpkin muffin recipe, I include it as a file here:
I have been growing Cinderella Pumpkins in my garden lately, and they make a great puree. In case you missed it, here's the blog that talks about pumpkin scratching and gives details on how to puree pumpkins. Not all pumpkins make good baking, I think these and of course, the little sugar pumpkins are the best ones for baking.
I have a new holiday tradition. As I get ready for Christmas I clear the porch of pumpkins, and that's when I clean and bake them. It was a bit messy this year as I was saving seeds from all my white pumpkins as well as seeds and pumpkin to bake from my Cinderella pumpkins, but my newly refurbished sunporch was put to use for this messy job.
My other favorite pumpkin recipe lately is to make soup. I think many people think "ew, pumpkin SOUP" but once you try it, you'll be sold. You can also use butternut squash instead of pumpkin. I don't have any photos of this, but trust, me it's good. Here is the recipe:
Last but not least, one of my favorite holiday desserts is cheesecake, and awhile ago I happened on this recipe for pumpkin cheesecake. It's a new twist on an old favorite, and a great addition to your Thanksgiving table.
While I haven't baked them for eating, my pumpkin repertoire recently grew to include white pumpkins. Anujin, bless her heart, bought me a white pumpkin on their trip to Oregon. Little did she know the price was PER POUND, so I think they ended up paying like $11 for a cute white pumpkin, and they hauled it back and we used it for decoration. Her main goal was to use it to harvest seeds, so we did. I held my breath as they grew this year, since I wasn't sure it was an heirloom pumpkin and thus the seeds would produce the same type of fruit. Lo and behold, it was. We grew several white pumpkins, and I was able to practice decoupaging one as an alternative form of decorating above and beyond pumpkin scratching. I am definitely not an expert yet, but I'm happy to report they grew well in my garden. I was out at twilight one day taking photos and took this one, isn't it pretty mixed with sage and oregano blossoms?
In case anyone has some extra space in their garden, I now have a great supply of white pumpkin and Cinderella pumpkin seeds, so let me know if you're interested!
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