Pumpkin Palooza by Kinley Marie

Hello everyone. It's Kinley Marie.

I'm back at home after a week at Grandma and Grandpa Fritzemeier's farm on the County Line.  I'm telling you: They kept me busy. I had to go home just to rest up.

One of our excursions was to the Bethany Church of the Nazarene's Pumpkin Patch in Hutchinson. It was the only pumpkin patch that Grandma could find open on a weekday. (We had the K-State ballgame to go to on Saturday. Priorities, you know.)

 

That was a lot of pumpkins in one place - big ones, little ones and teeny-tiny ones. They had some funny shaped things called gourds, too. How ever would I decide?

Grandpa tried to help. I would carry one to him, then I'd try another one. I got my exercise carrying them from one place to the other. If I'm looking for a part-time job next fall, maybe I can seek employment at the pumpkin patch. I was pretty good at moving inventory.

Once we got the pumpkins home, Grandma and I decorated two of them with cat faces. My Mommy asked my Grandma how much work I actually did on arranging the kitty faces. My Grandma told my Mommy that it involved a lot of teamwork. She was right.

I also decorated one of the pumpkins with the butterfly stickers I got when we went to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. (That was another of our field trips which I will have to tell you about another day.)

As you know, today is Halloween. I will have to wait all day long to go trick or treating. Bummer!

I tried on my costume for Grandma and Grandpa last weekend when they took me home. As you can probably tell, I am an owl. I wonder if my friends and my teachers will recognize me at the costume parade at day care today? I'll be the one in wings.

I am not sure whether my Dolly will be going trick or treating with me.  But I guess I'll take Mommy and Daddy for sure. Grandma says she sure wishes she could be there, too.

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you get lots of candy. I think I'll have to watch mine like a hawk - or maybe like an owl - since I'm guessing my Daddy might like a piece of candy (especially if I get Starbursts). But I know it's a good thing to share. At least, that's what everyone keeps telling me.

Until next time,
Kinley Marie

No Bake: No Kidding!

I can make a pie. I have kneaded and shaped dozens of crescent rolls. I can get a meal on the table in 30 minutes or less, and, if you ask me to then pack it up and take it to the field, I can do that, too.

But I have had my issues with no-bake cookies. Yep. You read that right: No bake cookies. You know that traditional combination of sugar, cocoa, peanut butter and oats? They turn out too soft. Or they have the consistency of a rock.

Jill seems to have inherited my inability to make a consistent no bake cookie. (Sorry, Eric. I know you like them.) So when I saw the recipe for No Bake Pumpkin Cookies on someone's Facebook page, I was skeptical. They have similarities to the traditional chocolate no bakes: Throw some sugars and butter and milk into a saucepan on the stove and then add in some oats.

But the recipe also called for a box of pudding mix. And it gave a time frame for boiling the mixture. I have surmised that part of my issue with traditional no bake cookies is the lack of cooking time on many of the old recipes.

So, I tried them. And we liked them. They ended up turning out so well that they made it onto an assorted cookie tray for a PEO luncheon I served yesterday. (I wish I'd taken a photo of the cookie tray, but I didn't think of that until I woke up in the middle of the night and said to myself, "You should have taken a photo of that fall cookie tray." )

Oh well. Can't win 'em all. But you will win compliments with this easy recipe.

No Bake Pumpkin Cookies

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
1 box instant pumpkin spice pudding mix
3 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Note:  If you can't find instant pumpkin spice pudding mix, use instant vanilla pudding and 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice. (I happened to find one lone box of pumpkin pudding mix on a shelf. It was like it was meant to be for me to try this recipe!)

In a saucepan, combine sugars, butter and milk. Bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the pudding mix, stirring to combine completely. Add in pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and oats. Stir to combine and let stand for 5 minutes.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper, and allow to cool completely. Store in airtight container. Makes about 36.

Another note:  I used a cookie scoop to form my cookies, and I ended up with 33 cookies. I like the uniformity that a cookie scoop gives, and I think it's quicker, less messy and easier.

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Today, I'm linked to Wake Up Wednesdays. Click on the link for lots of other tested recipes. 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I got a new cookbook, and it wasn't even Christmas. My Mom gave me a cookbook assembled by her Pratt PEO IF Chapter. It's called Incredible Food. I guess I'd have to concur after trying three different quick bread recipes.

The new addition to my cookbook collection came just in time for my marathon baking sessions for the UMW Bazaar bake sale. This Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread recipe would be a good one for your Thanksgiving table ... or anytime.

I love cookbook collections like this one. These are recipes that come from Kansas small town kitchens. No wonder I can relate. No fancy weird ingredients. Just down-to-earth recipes I can create from my home pantry.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar
1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour and spices. Fold in chips and nuts (if desired). Fill 3 loaf pans 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Note: I didn't use the walnuts this time, since I was sharing some with Jill and she's not a nut eater. The original recipe called for a tablespoon of nutmeg. I reduced that to the 2 teaspoons I listed in the ingredient list.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

I know there are some poor, misguided souls who don't like pumpkin. My sister is one of them.

Fair warning: This post is not for you.

It's hard to be a pumpkin hater at this time of year because everyone (me included) thinks that pumpkin is the ingredient of choice. I usually try to consider this affliction when making fall desserts for gatherings. But this time, pumpkin won.

I made this Pumpkin Bread Pudding for a recent Nu Lambda meeting. All that warm, bread pudding deliciousness just seems like a dessert for fall, doesn't it? And when you add pumpkin to it? It just increases the autumn dessert quotient exponentially.

Enjoy! (Unless you're a pumpkin hater. Then you should fix something else.)

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

4 1/2 cups croissants, cut into large cubes
6 eggs
4 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, divided
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups milk
1 pint whipping cream
15-oz. can pumpkin
1/2 cup pecan halves
Optional: Butter Sauce and Ice Cream

Arrange croissant cubes evenly in a 13- by 9-inch pan sprayed with nonstick vegetable spray. Place eggs and yolks in a mixer bowl; beat on low speed until well blended. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar, spices, salt and vanilla; mix until combined. Add milk, cream and pumpkin; mix well. Pour over croissant cubes; stir briefly so that cubes are moistened. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar and pecans on top of cubes. Bake at 350 degrees until custard is set and knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Top with homemade butter sauce and ice cream, if desired. (I used a Caramel Crunch frozen yogurt.)

Butter Sauce

1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
1 cup sugar (Can be part or all brown sugar, though I used regular sugar this time)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Bring butter, sugar and whipping cream to a boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Serve warm over bread pudding, apple cake, ice cream, etc. Store leftover sauce in refrigerator, and rewarm to serve.

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. And when you think about the flavors of Thanksgiving, pumpkin and cranberries probably top the list for traditional fare.

Both of these perennial holiday favorites - along with pumpkin pie spice - are central ingredients in this recipe.

I baked this for the first time before our church's annual bazaar. I used mini loaf pans, so I had more loaves to sell - and one to leave home at home, of course. You wouldn't want me to sell it without trying it, would you?

This one will definitely find a place in my recipe file. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups sugar
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh, frozen or dried cranberries

Note: I used frozen. I always buy extra cranberries when they are on sale during the holiday season.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour loaf pans (I used cooking spray.) Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and juice in another large mixer bowl. Beat until just blended. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans and bake until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans and allow to cool completely on wire racks.

For two 9- by 5-inch loaves, bake for 60 to 65 minutes.

For three 8- by 4-inch loaf pans, bake for 55 to 60 minutes.

For five or six 5- by 3-inch loaf pans, bake for 20 to 25 minutes.