Showing posts with label Fairytale Pumpkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fairytale Pumpkins. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2020

MONSTER PUMPKIN PUREE

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WE were sure busy this week, trying to beat the FROST and today SNOW...and getting the garden and yard work cleaned up!


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October 24th, 2020...The GREAT PUMPKIN PUREE!

REMEMBER THIS!!!?


From our Midwest Gardening end of August 2020, . 
YES we did grow this monster! Instead of fifteen pumpkins in the yard, this is the only one that made it this year...? Back in the NW corner of the yard, this monster crept toward the compost pile, in the shade and watered, it grew, and Grew, and GREW. I guess that what GREEN gardening does.


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Now, where do you start? We did use the pumpkin for a display in the front yard for Fall.

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It really doesn't look big here, but it really was. We didn't weigh it, shame on us!
We had a heavy FROST warning, so we brought our monster and the purchased pumpkins inside. 

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Hubby pulled out a new battery saw, a small tree branch trimmer with a new blade, and gave the pumpkin basically a 'JASON' swipe. It worked perfectly and sure saved a lot of hacking! 


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Really not much mess either!

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The inside was as magnificent as the outside.

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Healthy and clean...I should have harvested the seeds, but I didn't. I do know it was a Fairytale Pumpkin, probably cross pollinated with a heirloom squash, due to the bumpy surface.  

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Hubby kept cutting into manageable pieces, well almost manageable. 

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This is my biggest pan, an old broiler pan from an old stove we had. I stacked the un-scraped pumpkin---no need to wear yourself out scraping. We added a cup of water to the bottom of the pan, and tightly covered with thick foil.

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A smaller pan was put in the upper oven.

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And the large pan fit in the bottom. I started the ovens at 375 degrees. After a half hour I  lowered the temp to 325 degrees. Roasting took about 3 or more hours. I lost track, doing other projects.
After this was done, I had another pan, I had to cook.

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To Test: Press down on the foil until the shell bends and is soft. Check under the foil, the hull should be the same cooked color all the way through. 
Let COOL.
 The inside waste easily scrapes away at this point.

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I scraped the shells and put in a bowl, and transferred the pumpkin water, (there was a lot) into another bowl in the front.

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 Puree two scoops in the blender with a small amount of pumpkin water to ease the machine. Don't tax it. 

You can use this Puree for Pumpkin Butter, pies, bakery as is. Or,  measure quantities into freezer bags for the freezer. Frozen pumpkin will 'weep' when thawed. Drained it becomes quite thick for your favorite recipes. The FLAVOR is divine and I got 40 cups of pumpkin puree out of our monster! 

Enjoy, next post:
How to make PUMPKIN BUTTER!
NUM! 



Sunday, August 9, 2020

Midwest Gardening: Early August Vegetables

 

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Hi, All! 

I haven't been posting photos of the garden, mostly because I have been too busy cooking. I totally missed last months vegetable garden post...so I had to retake photos for today.

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This is our Island in the Sun of 4 Yellow Summer Squash plants. 

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This was today, August 9th pickings. We have been eating yellow summer squash every day. Tonight I will bake some on the grill stuffed with Italian Sausage, and fresh garden greenbeans, zucchini and tomatoes.

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Nice bunch of green beans and a yellow tomato. Perfect for supper.

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Cherry tomatoes are everyday, now.

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This is what the inside of the 'Island in the Sun' looks like.

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Our peppers are just beginning to ripen. Nice and red, Carnival Peppers come in orange, red, yellow, green and occasionally a purple one.

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Despite the heat they are quite thick and heavy. 

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I will use some for supper and later this week, I will can some summer squash in tomatoes and peppers and onions with herbs: Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme, garlic, and some basil-maybe.

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Our Beans are fighting it out with the 14 foot tall sunflowers. I don't know who is winning, the beans are almost as tall.  Some SF stalks have broken.The Sunflowers are a post of their own.


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Green beans are also just starting. I have to pick every other day now, so many are out of reach, we may have to back to bush beans.

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I picked tomatoes heavy last week, so there are just a few now, but will be more in a few days. Only our San Marzano's are done, but they did poorly from the beginning.


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What do you think these bags are for??? Remember I try to do everything Green in the garden.


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We have winter squash and small pumpkins all around the perimeter of the garden wherever there is fencing to crawl up on.

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This one is a Halloween Pumpkin or a squash, not sure. I pulled the top edge of the wire fencing out for  as a support ledge. I think we will have quite a few on the shelf, as they take off so late in the season. But, winter squashes take longer, you just have to keep the vines alive! 

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From 12 broccoli plants we have 5 that didn't completely bolt. Now they are 
finally producing some tight florets. YAY! 

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We've had two cuttings of Swiss Chard, this will go nuts with the cool weather.

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I need a Fairy Godmother to turn this pumpkin into a carriage and take me away, LOL. It is no where near done growing and that is my size 11 shoe! We have it on three of those melon supports, YOWZA.  This one is a FairyTale Pumpkin, it will be pale orange and apparently HUGE!

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Another Fairytale?  Pumpkin, not sure! 

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I still have great dill. We will have to have some salmon with dill sauce on the grill.

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Our Carnival Peppers and Green Peppers are just beginning. 

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I had enough hot peppers to make hot pepper sauce last week. I got 9 1/2 pt jars. I can't share the recipe---because it is one of a kind, too many alterations and I lost track. I'd say that it all depends on how hot your peppers are.

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This cucumber pot has given up, despite being watered whenever it needed it. 

Lessons we learned in this Year's 
Very Cool wet Spring to Extremely HOT June and July.

Plants which thrived had some shade each day. 
Broccoli definitely needs to be in More shade each day.
Zucchini had a bad year-we had them in three locations and they failed. Eight plants produced only three zucchini so far. 
Next year, maybe plant cucumbers twice to extend the season?
After 2 years of virtually no yellow summer squash---WE have tons this year from only four plants.
No more Cucumbers on the front porch, too hot.

What is growing super in your garden this year?