Pumpkin Love!!!!

We have this adorable little pumpkin patch next to the house. A few months ago the leaves were so large, we named the patch Audrey II (We're a theatre family, y'know.)

In the midst of my feeling down today, I decided to cheer up and be creative. SO I chose two of the pumpkins to make a pie and a Jack-O-lantern. (Aidenn wanted to pose as well.)

I took a large pot and filled it half way with water. I set it on the stove and started heating the water so it would boil. While it was heating up, I washed off both of the pumpkins.

I then took the smaller of the two and cut it in half- a Herculean task in and of itself. I scooped out the inside goop and seeds. I then began to cut it into pieces and cut the "meat" from the outside shell (or skin or whatever you call it). After that, I cut the "meat" in to small pieces and added it to the boiling water. I was surprised at how almost sweet the boiling pumpkin pieces smelled. It also made me hungry, lol. Once all of the pumpkin pieces were in the boiling water, I occasionally checked their texture. Once they were easily pierced with a fork, I knew they were ready for the next step.

I carefully poured the contents of the pot into a colander in the sink, draining out the water. I then allowed cold water to run over the softened pumpkin pieces to help cool them a bit.

This food processor pictured is what we call the Oskar, so dubbed because of the name brand. Now, the Oskar was a wedding gift for mom and dad. That thing is 25 years old and still works like a charm. Is it weird to have an emotional attachment for an appliance? I don't care. I freaking love the Oskar. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANYWAYS, I took the warm pumpkin pieces (they were hot-ish still) and started to puree them in the Oskar. I obviously had to do it little by little as there was a lot of pumpkin to grind up.

All in all, I ended up with a little over five and a half cups of pumpkin puree. With two cups of the puree, I whisked in the following ingredients to make the pie filling: 1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk 2 eggs 1 teaspoon Cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground Ginger 1 teaspoon Nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon Salt ***You can use one 16 oz can of Pumpkin Puree if decide to do store bought.*** I took the remaining three and a half cups of puree and place it in the fridge for later use (I'll definitely make another pie within the next week!) For the crust, I used the following recipe: 1 1/4 cup Flour 1/4 teaspoon Salt 1/2 cup Butter, chilled and Diced (this also translates into 1 stick of butter) 1/4 cup Ice Water I set the oven to preheat for 425 degrees. I combined the flour and salt in a bowl and then cut in the butter until the mixture resembled coarse crumbs. I slowly added the ice water to the mixture and stirred it up until it began to ball up. I went ahead and rolled out this mixture to make the pie crust. I had to add a little bit of flour as the dough was sticking to the rolling pin. I placed the dough in the greased pie pan and poured in the filling, and put the pie in the oven for 15 minutes. I ended up with extra dough and filling so I simply grabbed a small custard/souffle dish and baked it off along with the pie. After the 15 minute span, I lowered the temperature to 350 and baked for 35 more minutes.

While waiting for the oven to finish baking, I took the larger pumpkin, gutted it out, and carved a silly happy face. :) It made me smile.

This was taken right after I took them out of the oven. Isn't that a beautiful sight???? I love the fall!

Garlic Honey Black Bean and Veggie Stir Fry

After church today, I was craving a mixture of black beans, veggies, and honey (vegetarian cravings, lol). I looked over my foodie pinterest board, but I couldn't find something that suited what I wanted. SOOOO I made my own concoction. :o)

Ingredients:
-3-4 cups veggies (I used Carrots and Broccoli.)
-1 can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
-Sauce (ingredients listed below)
-2 Eggs
-1/2 cup Rice (I used Long Grain)
-1/4-1/2 cup Olive Oil, plus enough to coat the bottom of the skillet for the veggies *I used 1/2 cup, but it seemed like a bit too much.*
-A couple dashes of Onion Powder

Sauce:
-2 tsp Soy Sauce
-2 tsp Ginger
-6tsp Corn Starch
-2 tbsp Minced Garlic
-2 tbsp white cooking wine
-3 tbsp Honey

Steps:
-Cook the rice as instructed on the box/bag. *I started boiling the water before I started on the veggies and beans, so everything was cooking at the same time.*
-Ok, so I poured enough Olive Oil in the bottom of the skillet to coat it and start cooking the veggies and black beans. *I tossed in the Black Beans immediately with the veggies, and the bean were mushy by the time I plated the mixture. Next time I do this, I'm going to wait until the veggies are tender before I add in the Black Beans.*
-I added a couple of dashes of Onion Powder to the veggies and beans as I tossed them in the Olive Oil.
-Add the ingredients of the sauce together, stir. Pour and stir into veggies and black beans.
-As the veggies become tender, stir in the sauce. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.
-Scoot the veggie/bean mixture to one side of the skillet, and tilt towards the opposite side, allowing the oil/sauce to drain down. Crack and scramble the two eggs into the oil/sauce. When the eggs are thoroughly scrambled, stir them into the veggie/bean mixture.
-Once the rice is cooked and drained, toss it into the veggie/bean/egg mixture. Stir it all up and you're done! :o)

This yielded about 2 bowls (enough for a starving vegetarian, lol).

Strawberry and Banana filled crepes

*Sometimes, when I make something that blows my freaking mind, I have to blog about it because writing down a recipe usually leads to losing that piece of paper and thus losing the magic forever... This is one of those blogs.*

Crepe recipe-
-1 cup of Flour
-2 Eggs
-1/2 cup of Milk
-1/2 cup of Water
-2 tablespoons of Butter, melted
-A couple dashes of Salt
-A 3-4 splashes of Vanilla

1. Whisk together the flour and eggs, gradually adding in the milk and water, stirring to combine Add salt and butter; beat until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop 1/4 cup of batter per crepe into the frying pan. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
3. Cook crepes for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, and cook the other side.

**Yields about eight crepes**

Cream Cheese filling with Strawberries and Banana*-
*Ok, with the amount of fruit, I have no limit. I diced up about seven strawberries and one banana. The fruit is up to you!*
-Fruit, diced
-3/4 to 1 cup of Cream Cheese
-3 tablespoons of Milk
-A sprinkle of sugar
-A couple dashes of vanilla

1. Soften the Cream Cheese in the microwave for 30-50 seconds.
2. Stir in the Milk, Vanilla and Sugar, combine ingredients.
3. Stir in fruit.
4. Spoon fruit into crepes.

***I only made up four crepes for myself, so you may have to double the amounts if you decide to use all of the batter. :)***

Now, I decided to go the extra mile for my crepes and made a sweet topping with strawberries and sugar. I minced up about five strawberries and sprinkled about a 1/4 tablespoon of sugar. Because I lack the patience to cover the fruit and allow them to macerate, I put them in a glass bowl in the microwave for about a minute. I then topped each of the crepes with this amazing concoction and NOMMED like crazy.