With the 90 degree weather we were having last week, it only took a week for our pumpkins to end up looking like this:
Mine was the second one. Can you tell it was supposed to be an owl?
Tonight I am busy testing recipes and perfecting my entry for the Key Ingredient contest. The guideline are to bake and submit an original cupcake recipe using squash as the key ingredient and cupcakes as the theme. All you have to do is email your recipe by midnight on November 20th to sophie@keyingredient.com. The winner will be notified on November 23rd! The grand prize is a Demy! I want to win!!!
I hate giving bad reviews. I feel guilty. Just look at the woman’s face on the package. She looks so sweet and eager to share her pumpkin cheese balls with all of us and now I have to hurt her feelings.
These are weird. They sat in the refrigerator for a few weeks while I figured out what I was going to do with them: was I supposed to just grab a ball and eat it; spread it on some type of cracker; and what type of cracker would I spread it on–maybe a saltine or gram cracker? I finally decided to just eat one.
The gram cracker coating was soft, which was disconcerting. The taste was blah. I was not impressed and I’m still confused by them. Sorry nice blond lady but Kelly’s Kitchen Pumpkin Pie Dessert Cheese Balls are not a favorite!
A few days ago we received a package of lavender and lavender sugar in the mail. It pays to have a relative who works for a spice company. Thanks Anita! Every holiday, we make our spice wish list and she transforms into our own person Spicy Santa. It’s completely awesome.
With my lavender gifts, I quickly set out to bake this lavender pumpkin bread recipe. I may have been a little too eager because both the muffins and the bread were a tad undercooked but they remained delicious even though I had to put them back in the oven for a few more minutes. It is called “lavender pumpkin bread” and not “pumpkin lavender bread” but I would up the amount of pumpkin pie spice to at least 3 teaspoons. The aroma of this baking in the oven is well worth it. Our house smelled warm and delicious for the rest of the day.
We also had an abundance of over-ripe pears and so I also made a batch of this Vanilla Spiced Pear Butter to go with the muffins. I’ve had pumpkin butter and apple butter several times before but I tell ya, nothing beats pear butter. It was strangely perfect with the muffins. It came out as runny as apple sauce but after adding some instant pectin the consistency was more like a thin jam.
I’m going to be eating this for the next few months because Shannon thinks anything with lavender in it tastes like soap but I’m up for the challenge. I love baking!
I realize that I am not the target market for these but I can’t even slightly comprehend what the deal is with these thingies. Does the “pumpkin” on the right corner actually look like a pumpkin? They look to me like a crazy crooked blob.
I’m reinstating photo fridays during NaBloPoMo. This one is a masterpiece but you need to click on it to get to the larger size in order to fully appreciate it.
I recently purchased a new bento box and was searching the internet for some lunch ideas. I was looking for something to inspire me to pack my lunch so that I won’t have to rely on the same half a dozen restaurants that are within walking distance of my office. I’ve eaten at these places for so long that I’ve seen something wrong or nasty at every single one: ladybugs in my salad, flies lingering over the sandwich fixings, egg shells in my breakfasts, and so much more. Bringing my lunch has become more than my best option, it’s become a necessity.
Searching for bento ideas has left me with less inspiration and more of an inferiority complex. I mean, just look at some of these:
Happy Little Bento has some incredible bento photographs and she’s featured several pumpkin bento designs throughout the month of October. This is one of my favorites, probably because I love persimmons and never would have thought of using a persimmon to make a pumpkin.
Or how about this one from lianbento. All of her bentos are works of art.
For more pumpkin bento, have a look at this photo gallery on Flickr.
On Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010 in Ohio, the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers attempted to break their previous record for baking the world’s largest pumpkin pie. In 2005, they set the world record with a 12 foot wide pie that weighed 2,020 pounds. This year they decided to break their previous record, not by a couple of inches or pounds, they went super berzerk and made a 20 foot wide, 3,699 pound pumpkin pie.
The pie was later divided into about 5,000 slices and was passed out to the crowd on hungry onlookers.
If you’re wondering how you can make your own super giant pumpkin pie, here’s the recipe:
187 #10 Cans of Pumpkin
233 Dozen Eggs
109 Gallons of Evaporated Milk
525 Pounds of Sugar
7 Pounds of Salt
14.5 Pounds of Cinnamon
3 Pounds of Pumpkin Pie Spice
Pie Crust
Bake in a 20 foot pie pan for 11 hours, cool for 2.
With the Pumpkin Eatin’ Season 2010 flying by at a dizzying pace, my posts on Pumpkin Passion have been leaner than was ever intended. To rectify this situation I have joined NaBloPoMo–isn’t that the cutest name? NaBloPoMo is shorthand for National Blog Posting Month. To join all I had to do was commit to blogging at least once every day for a month. I’ve been reading about NaBloPoMo for years but have never committed myself to trying but this November I’m going to really try. I mean REALLY try.
I won’t promise that every post will make you laugh out loud or shed a tear but you will have more pumpkin posts than you ever thought you could handle. Wish me luck . . . I’ll need it!
I struggled against the Facebook machine for a very long time but I am weak. Pumpkin Passion now has its own Facebook page that you are more than welcome to “like” and keep up to date on the latest pumpkin news.
There are so many times when I see something pumpkin related and want to share it on the Pumpkin Passion blog but I find that I either don’t have the time right at that moment and then I forget or the link speaks for itself.
For the past couple of months we’ve been posting links to some great pumpkin stories and recipes. Here’s a small sample of what you can find on the Pumpkin Passion Facebook page:
-A tutorial on how to turn your pumpkin into a pinhole camera
-A recipe for Pumpkin Pie Pop Tart Cupcakes
-A recipe for pumpkin saffron macaroons
-Japanese pumpkin snacks
-An update on our pumpkin garden
You can “like” the Pumpkin Passion Facebook page here.
