Farmer-at-Heart

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

11:10 AM |

Posted by Jen Pietsch |

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My son Luke decided that we really needed to make pumpkin pie out of some of our harvest we found a great recipe on the internet. Don't be discouraged by how long the recipe looks. It is easy. The bottom part is just telling you how to get the pumpkin turned into glop. Pretty intuitive if you cook often.

Equipment

a pretty big pie pumpkin

A sharp, large serrated knife
an ice cream scoop
a large microwaveable bowl or large pot
1 large (10 inch) deep-dish pie plate and pie crust

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
one half teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)
one half teaspoon salt (optional, I don't use any)
4 large eggs
3 cups pumpkin glop (ok... "sieved, cooked pumpkin") see below for how to prep this
1.5 cans (12oz each) of evaporated milk (I use the nonfat version)

Note: if you do not have cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger, you can substitute 3 teaspoons of "pumpkin pie spice". It's not exactly the same, but it will do.

Mix up all the ingredients with a hand mixer or blender.

Note: If you can't get evaporated milk, you can substitute nonfat dried milk - make it twice as concentrated as the directions on the box say to reconstitute it. It won't be the same as evaporated milk, but it ought to come close.

Bake the pie
Bake at 425 F (210 C ) for the first 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 F ( 175 C ) and bake another 45 to 60 minutes, until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
I use a blunt table knife to test the pie. It comes out pretty clean, when the pie is done.

TIP: What do you do if you end up with more filling than will fit in your pie crust(s)? Easy! Of course, you can make another, smaller pie crust and fill a small pie pan... or just grease any baking dish, of a size that the extra filling will fill to a depth of about 2 inches , and pour the extra filling in.. then bake it. It will be a crustless pumpkin pie that kids especially love!

TIP: You may want to cover the exposed edges of the crust with strips of aluminum foil to prevent them from burning!

Pumpkin Preparation aka how do I get the pumpkin puree?

There are several ways to cook the pumpkin; This is my preferred method.

Step One:

Cut up pumpkin and remove seeds and stringy stuff.

Step Two:

Cook the pumpkin,

Put the pumpkin in a microwaveable bowl (You may need to cut the pumpkin further to make it fit). The fewer the number of pieces, the easier it will to scoop out the cooked pumpkin afterward. Put a couple of inches of water in the bowl, cover it, and put in the microwave.

Cook for 15 minutes on high, check to see if it is soft, then repeat in smaller increments of time until it is soft enough to scoop the innards out. Normally it takes 20 or 30 minutes in total.

Step Three:

Scoop out the cooked pumpkin. Once it is cooked until it is soft, it is easy to scoop out the guts with a broad, smooth spoon, (such as a tablespoon or an ice cream scoop). Use the spoon to gently lift and scoop the cooked pumpkin out of the skin. It should separate easily an in fairly large chucks, if the pumpkin is cooked enough.

The skin or rind will probably simply lift off with your fingers. I'll bet you didn't realize making your own pumpkin glop... err, "puree" was this easy!

Note: there are many varieties of pumpkin and some make better pies that other (due to sugar content, flavor, texture and water content. Drier, sweeter, fine-grained pies; the small (8" across) ones called "pie pumpkins" are best.

Watery pumpkin?
If your pumpkin puree has standing, free water, you may want to let it sit for 30 minutes and then pour off any free water. That will help prevent you pie from being too watery! Beyond, that, I have not found that the water makes a difference - I wouldn't be TOO concerned about it!

Step Four:

Puree

To get a nice, smooth consistency, I use potato ricer. You could use a hand blender, regular blender or whatever you have.

There you go you are on your way to the best pumpkin pie you ever had!

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Last of the Season Tomato Soup ala Bob Nutt

11:00 AM |

Posted by Jen Pietsch |

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We harvested the last of the seasons tomatoes and had a few more than we knew what to do with. Our friend Bob Nutt gave us this great recipe to use and we whipped it up. Froze some and ate some too!

End of the Season Tomato Soup ala Bob

6 Tb butter
6 Tb virgin olive oil
2 medium onions chopped
8+ carrots chopped
4+ celery chopped
16 large tomatoes chopped
4 c chicken stock
1 c brown rice or barley or?
2 grindings black pepper
1 t dried basil
Pinch sugar

Melt butter and olive oil in stock pot.
Add onions, carrots, celery. Cover. Cook over medium heat until veggies partially cooked @ 10 minutes.
Add tomatoes, stock, rice. Bring to boil.
Reduce to simmer for @ 1 hour.
Add pepper and basil.
Add water/stock as needed.

I didn't peel the tomatoes and it STILL came out great. I guess laziness sometimes works out!

The picture doesn't look like much but the flavor is so fresh.

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Pumpkin Curing

11:08 AM |

Posted by Jen Pietsch |

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The first important step is harvesting them. They should not be picked while they are still soft. Green or immature pumpkins usually will last only a few weeks at normal house temperature before they begin to shrivel or mold. Pumpkins should be fully colored with a fairly hard rind.

Picking is generally best done at the end of the growing season -- after the vines have withered and the stems have actually turned brown and begun to dry. Regardless of what the poet says, you do not want to see frost on the pumpkin, so harvest before we get freezing night temperatures.

Use a sharp knife or pruning shears to cut the pumpkins and gourds from the vine. Always be sure to leave about 2 – 4 inches of stem. Don’t break the stem from the fruit, since this can encourage decay.

Wash the fruits in warm, soapy water to remove any traces of soil that may be adhering to them. Then rinse them in a diluted household disinfectant solution. For this purpose a five to ten percent chlorine bleach solution works fine (one part bleach to ten parts water). This rinse will destroy the fungi and bacteria, which are the prime agents of spoilage.

After wiping off any excess disinfectant, the pumpkins and gourds can be spread out on layers of newspaper or on window screening, pallets or in my case something I found in the barn. The essential thing is to arrange a situation that will provide good air circulation.

Cure them for a week or two where it is warm – at least 70°F. This will toughen the skin and heal surface cuts. Then store in the attic, basement, garage or shed. Whatever area is chosen should be dry, provide good air movement and have temperatures between 45 and 60°F.
The pumpkins are then ready for decorating, carving or eating.

Out of doors, carved pumpkins will usually last a week of two. Painted ones will last for many months, if protected from hard frosts. Baked into a pie, the pumpkin probably won’t last more than a day!

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Monday, October 19, 2009

It is really fall!

10:55 AM |

Posted by Jen Pietsch |

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This morning I knew it was fall, I could see my breath and the animals were all cushed outside with frost on their backs. It is wonderful to see the little outlines that their bodies leave when they get up. You can really tell where everyone slept.

Last weekend the kids and I spent much of the time getting ready for winter. Yard clean up, putting away of the yard furniture and best of all pumpkin harvesting.

About a week ago we harvested the 'pie' pumpkins (which I highly recommend growing, very satisfying) and have been curing them all week. I will post the directions for how this is done. We should be eating pumpkin through January if I did everything correctly.

Yesterday we harvested the last of the seasons tomatoes and the BIG pumpkins. It took two people, big strong people to lift a couple of them. Enjoy.

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Sunday, September 6, 2009

She is here!!!!

5:57 PM |

Posted by Jen Pietsch |

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Yeah! The last cria of the year is here for us to enjoy! Drum roll please! Introducing Mickey's soft, oh so darn soft, baby girl! As is always the case here we are toying with different names, so jump on in and help us choose if you would. Remember the name must contain the name of an herb to be in keeping with our self imposed herb theme this year.
Yes, this is a call to action!

Labels: Mickey's Girl |

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Cows in My Meadow

5:18 PM |

Posted by Jen Pietsch |

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It is no secret to my immediate family that I love my neighbor’s cattle. On misty mornings I love to wake up and find that Bob Ottie has moved his steer to the pasture that can be seen from my front porch.

Imagine my delight when he came riding up, yes, I did say riding, like on a horse, to my home to ask if he could pasture his cows on my lower field for a few days. It was almost like winning the lottery, okay a little lottery.

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

The New Kids in Town

8:42 PM |

Posted by Jen Pietsch |

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Well the babies are here, a couple less than we thought we were having, but everyone a joy. Brooklyn and her mom Trina decided even though they were pregnant in the Fall, confirmed by ultrasound, that they were not pregnant come spring. The doctor told us this is not uncommon especially after the unusually cold winter. “It isn’t uncommon. The pregnancy is just reabsorbed.” I am not sure what I think of this but…

Orcas Moon Summer Thyme

On Fathers Day, the first day of summer and, coincidentally our son Luke’s first communion came our first girl Orcas Moon’s Summer Thyme. Manhattan didn’t look like anything was happening when we all trundled off to church at 12:30. By the time we made it back less than two hours later here was our new cria, dried off, running in the sun with the herd. Manhattan is a fantastic mother. Being a maiden we were concerned but she knocked our socks off by knowing exactly what to do.

Orcas Moon’s Rocky Cilantro

Tinkerbelle our dreamer gave birth next to our bundle of joy, Orcas Moon’s Rocky Cilantro on June 30th. Tink was a champ during delivery but, Rocky’s temperature was low when we checked it. We decided he needed a warm up with the blow dryer and a couple heating pads. This worked and he was good to go. Once we took him away from Tinkerbelle to warm up she wasn’t so sure she wanted him back. It took a little convincing and a lot of holding her still for Rocky to nurse but they are now never apart.

Orcas Moon’s Sage Prince

My family has a tradition of going to the new Harry Potter movies always on the first release date. This was not going to change unless well, unless there was a baby coming. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince opened here on July 15th in Friday Harbor, just a short ferry ride away. We decided we would go to the 3:30 show. Ember showed no signs of labor all day and when we left to catch the ferry at 2:35 I thought no problem, no baby today. Alpaca usually have their babies in the morning or early afternoon at the latest unless there is a problem. Ember is a very expexperienced mom and has never had any difficulty with delivery.
Apparently Ember didn’t have any difficulty because when we came back around 7:00pm there was another perfect cria up and running around with her uber-protective mom Ember.

Now we are just waiting for one more, Mickey is due later this month and we have expectations for another beautiful cria. I’ll keep you posted.
Why don’t you come on out and see us.