What I Learned This Week: Fresh Pumpkin Pie is the Best

What I Learned This Week

I planted sugar pumpkins for the first time this season. I was a bit skeptical in July as the vines overtook the section of my garden devoted towards viney crops. They quickly drown out my watermelon, muskmelon, and honeydew. Now I am glad they did!



Here's a sample of the 25 pumpkins coming from three vines.



I wasn't sure if I was going to do anything with my pumpkins until I saw an article about a pumpkin puree shortage. Knowing that others may not have canned pumpkin to make yummy muffins or pie, I figured I should use mine up! So, I made pumpkin pie from a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com, Pumpkin Butter from Smitten Kitchen and Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins.


It was so much easier than I would have ever thought!


Step 1: Wash the pumpkin, split it in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh. Put all the guts in your compost pile rather than the trash can.

Step 2: Lightly oil a baking sheet, place the pumpkin open side down, cover with aluminum foil and roast at 325 degrees until tender.


Step 3: Let cool until it is warm, but not quite room temperature. Scoop out the flesh and press it through a sieve.


Step 4: Substitute the fresh puree in recipes calling for canned pumpkin. One 15 ounce can equals 1.75 cups fresh puree.

Step 5: Store fresh pumpkin in a sealed container for one week or in the freezer for three months.

The pumpkin butter is divine. I can't wait to make a spiced pumpkin pecan milkshake or spoon it over cheesecake.
The muffins were also good. I took those to my daughter's preschool bake sale.

But the pie. OMG! It was super sweet and by far the best pumpkin pie I have EVER had.

And, as if a higher power knew I was planning this post, my son came home with more pumpkin facts today. Did you know Illinois grows more pumpkins than any other state? Or that you can use pumpkin puree to thicken chili, spaghetti sauce, soups and stews? Or add it to oatmeal? I think I may be trying that last one in the morning!

*Facts courtesy of University of Illinois Ideas for Eating Better for Less, October 2008 edition.

What I Learned this Week: I Need to be a Better, More Vocal Spokesman

This post is in response to blogger I follow, Musings of a Housewife. She recently published a post regarding modern corn production. My response was too long for the comment box. I encourage you to read it before reading my response.


It takes more than one acre, one season, one book, and one hour to learn and teach others about corn production, family farms and a safe, renewable commodity that feeds and fuels our world. I've been married to a grain farmer for ten years and an active participant in the agriculture industry for almost 20. I learn something new about our food system every day.

I've enjoyed reading your blog the last few months and learning about your perspective on food. I wish everyone around the world was a blessed as you to have the resources, both money and time to cook from scratch and support labor intensive farming practices. It makes me sad to write, that even if there were more people (consumers) with the time and the money, there are not enough industrious people (producers) or land in the northeast (This is where the Musings author is located, look at page four: Researchers will Explore...)to meet that demand and live a financially comfortable, comparable life to the people they feed.

Today, fewer farmers feed more people and fuel more cars with less land, less fertilizer and less pesticide than ever before. And, 98% of those farms are family farms. They may not look exactly like our great grandparents farms but everything changes over time. (Think back to my
I'm not your typical farm wife post. I am not the same farm wife as my mil was or my gmil but I am still a farm wife:).)

Today's farmers still work hard; really, really hard. I can't imagine having to give up the technological advances we employ today, especially the ones that ensure a safe, consistent product. I want my husband to live long enough and be healthy enough to retire, pass our farming operation on to our children and enjoy life.

I applaud your efforts to feed your family in the most healthful way you can. It has made me think more about our meals and helped me strive for greater balance in what I feed them. Have I given up HFCS? No, and I don't plan to. But I am more attentive to making sure we balance fresh vs. processed, eat out of the garden more and not over snack. I love the granola recipe you first posted and eat it for breakfast most mornings. I also realize that eating like this takes a lot of time, a lot of planning and a desire for cooking; things that not everyone has. There is a need for processed easy to prepare meals.

Before you turn up your nose at the amber waves of grain, keep this in mind - only 3.8% of the 2008 corn crop (look at page 8-9) went to making HFCS. 30% went to decreasing our dependence on nonrenewable foreign oil and 44% went to feed livestock. Everyone has their preference, but I prefer corn fed beef over grass fed any day. The keys are parental control, personal responsibility, a balanced diet and an active lifestyle.

I am incredibly disturbed that your picture of farming has been shaped by the clip you presented in your post. Knowing that you often go on PR junkets, I invite you to visit our family farm in northern Illinois. Learn about commercial farming from a family that has seen and been part of the evolution of farming practices and market creation for our crop for over four generations. Maybe you can join us for Thanksgiving. We will likely be having a picnic on the tailgate of a truck in a field because the weather hasn't allowed our crop to mature and we will not have finished harvest. A sacrifice we will gladly make to feed and fuel our world.

One last thought: I can't speak for all farm families but I would venture to guess that over 90% have a patch of sweet corn and garden they eat from in season and freeze the abundance for winter. Many of our farmer friends also raise a few head of cattle or pigs to freeze and eat throughout the year. Farm families can, and do feed themselves.

Hot Damn Pepper Jam

My house is hot! I have been canning tomatoes and making Hot Damn Pepper Jam all week. Hot pepper jam over cream cheese is one of my favorite appetizers and an easy dish to pass. I made about seven dozen jars this week. What I didn't make was a dent in my hot pepper harvest.


The recipe below is adapted from The Jam Lady Cookbook.



4 cups sugar
1 cup chopped seeded sweet green peppers
1 cup chopped unseeded jalapeno peppers
1 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped, fresh seeded problano peppers
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 3-ounce pouches liquid pectin (6 ounces total)
1 slice onion (or equivalent amount of garlic cloves)
1/2 teaspoon butter (optional to reduce foaming)

"Blenderize" the peppers, onion vinegar and lemon juice. Transfer to a heavy pot, pour in sugar and butter and boil hard for 1 minute. Add the pectin and boil hard one more minute. Transfer to jelly jars, put on two part lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

I always play with the combination of peppers and the level of heat. This year I used red chilies, banana, Anaheim and jalapeno. I use cider vinegar instead of white wine because its less expensive.

The first person to comment gets a free jar!

2009 Garden Recap

I tried to take before and after pictures this year. Here's the result!

The tomatoes prevail!

The warm weather was just what the tomatoes needed. We finally have vine ripened, super sweet tomatoes to enjoy!

Blessings

Today was a perfect day! There was so much to be thankful for.

- A wonderful, warm clear day.
- A great message at church.
- A fun t-ball game with our church family.
- Talented friends who played at the first, and hopefully not the last, Music in the Park.
- Root beer floats.
- A good friend to enjoy both with.
- Friends who are raising patient, kind children who take time to play with younger kids.
- Kids born under the same sign. They couldn't be anymore alike. It's almost as if they were twins.
- A gentle, loving dog.
- A large yard. Mowing isn't so bad.
- A new baby. Welcome baby Ben! I can't wait to meet you and give your mama a hug!
- A friend who is blessed with the unwavering support her husband.

I hope you find the blessings in your day!

Care Tags

Most plants come with tags containing instructions on how to care for them. Life would be a whole lot simpler if people had tags, too.

Overly Sensitive: Requires extreme amount of empathy and agreement, Does not respond well to opposing view points
Rule Breaker: Requires constant flexibility
Rule Follower: Requires unwavering consistency
Know it all: Thrives as the center of attention

Balancing personalities and egos is not fun but it sure makes life interesting and dramatic. As a people pleaser I need to find my balance and my voice. I need to remember that people may not always like the decisions I make, but if I believe I am making them for the right reasons and can articulate those reasons, it's OK. I need to stop taking it so personally.