Pumpkin Sauce - 3 tips

I know it's not pumpkin season yet but it is the time to grow them if you want them for later.  We love squash of all kinds from zucchini and crooked yellow neck to butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash. From pattypan to delicata and long of Naples.

We eat it sautéed, roasted, in pancakes and breads, and any way I can figure out. I also buy it canned from Trader Joe's.  we like to put half a can or so when we make pancakes or French toast. Sometimes i use the leftover milk and egg batter to make pumpkin pots de creme or baked custards. 

Last year we loaded up on some organic heirloom varieties from a nearby farm. I roasted a few and made homemade pasta sauce. It made a huge batch which I froze and we've been enjoying it ever since.

Here are 3 ways in which you could attempt it. 

1- Buy a jar of ready made good quality Marinara or basic pasta sauce and add a can of pumpkin purée to it. Combine and cook for 15-20 min. Simple, easy, and quick. 

2- Make homemade pasta sauce with canned tomatoes, onions, carrots, and celery, and add canned or roasted pumpkin purée and cook for 2-3 hours. You will want to look up a recipe for a pasta sauce. This is somewhat simple but lengthy. 

3- Use fresh tomatoes and make your own pasta sauce similar to above and use roasted pumpkin and purée it. This is  a solid 2 day process but well with it. 

I did not have fresh tomatoes at the time I made my pumpkin sauce so I made it as step 2. I may attempt step 3 this year if I have enough tomatoes from my garden. 

 This was a few years ago when making homemade pasta sauce from the garden tomatoes.

I've used it as pasta sauce with sausage or ground beef which the kids loved. I've also used that sauce to make "sloppy joe's". It wasn't well received by the kids this way.  I hope to try it in risotto and on pizza as well. I'm happy with this sauce because its easy once you have 5-7 jars sitting in your freezer, and it's loaded with veggies and fiber. It's a bit of work but well with it on those hurried days. 

The "sloppy Joe's" we made with the pumpkin pasta sauce.  Didn't look good but tasted amazing.  A little on the wet side for the bread but perfect for pasta.

Hope you get to try it and experiment with any of the above steps and with all the varieties of pumpkin and squash out there! 

Next venture- try all this with roasted sweet potatoes instead! I do wish I had space to grow them.

 I tried to make my own homemade pumpkin latte, too gritty.

 Pumpkin french toast stuffed with marscapone and berry compote.

 Pumpkin pots de creme with berry compote.

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2 Year Old Makes Banana Bread

As it is evident from our Facebook page, we do a lot of cooking in this house.  And whenever possible we try to involve the children.  Sometimes, we cook specifically so that the children can make or have a chance at helping or cooking something they like. Most of these are filed under Kids in the kitchen. 

Today, after days of promising the children that we'd make banana bread, I decided to let the 2 year old get to it while the other one was at school.  I used a Better Homes recipe but did a lot of substituting.

For the most part, I have found that the children were drawn to real activities than specific toys.  Even though we have a "Montessori" type toys, the simple daily activities of cleaning, cooking, sweeping, folding clothes, etc are the most rewarding to them and the ones that give them purpose.  They enjoy stacking block and building puzzles but they would drop it in a moment if there was cooking involved.

Hope you're all enjoying the start of summer and find some time for more fun activities indoor and outdoor!

 Started off by letting her peel and break up the bananas (3).

 She used a potato masher but had trouble with it, so I got started and then let her finish up.

 I measured the flour and she dumped it into the bowl.  We substituted 1/2 cup walnut meal for flour.  She measured the baking soda and powder.

 She added the chocolate chips and got started mixing the wet and dry ingredients.  We lost about 1/4 cup of it in the process.  (see flour on right side of photo)

 After, why not treat ourselves to a little sanding sugar that never seems to get used.

 I realized it was a good pincer activity, but most of the sugar was in one spot- se la vie!

 And to finish up, there is the always required washing of the hands before and after.  They like to run to the bathroom for this. 

And finally while the bread is cooking and mom is on the computer, why not get some baking done in the play kitchen.  

The resulting loaf: a dense looking- amazing smelling, hopefully tasty banana bread.  It didn't rise quite as high and I'm assuming it's due to the walnut meal. 

Shared on: More the Merrier Mondays, Eco-Kids Tuesday, Tuesdays with a Twist,  wildcrafting wednesday, Wildlife Wednesday, simple lives thursdays, HomeAcre Hop,  small footprint family, Friday Nature Table, fresh eggs daily, Transformation Thursday, Thrifty Home,  Fresh Bites Friday, Wednesday Fresh Food,  Sunday Parenting Party, hip homeschool moms,  No Time for Flash Cards, Living Green Tuesday, Montessori Monday, Farm Girl Blog Fest,  Food Renegade, Eat Make Grow, Saturday Show and Tell, Kids in the Kitchen, Learning for Life, Mums Make Lists,

The Garden & Easter- In Photos.

I thought I'd try to do an update to my previous garden post.  We're about to pull out some of the winter items and put in the summer crops.  As we added new beds since my last post, we've started filling them in slowly.  Here are some pictures from the past few months and also from Easter when we used up some items from the garden.

Related post: The Garden April 2012

Everyone helped out at the 3rd Annual Gardening Event

 A pumpkin that had been composted whole in one of the new beds sprouted while we were out of town and resulted in this and then days later, below.

 Beans are srouting

 Corn

Round black Spanish radish a variety of small carrots (came free from Baker Creek)

 A guest

Some Shyra grapes

 We used the nasturtiums in ice to decorate the water pitcher

 Almond Jam Patries from a Sunset recipe.  I used homemade apricot jam and almond meal instead of whole almonds. 

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Kid's Tea Party- Kids help Host.

We had a few friends over on Friday for a tea party.  My 4 year old has been wanting to have some friends from school over to play and have tea with.  So, we did.  I learned that it was a great opportunity for her to learn how to host, and how to prepare for guests.  She cleaned up the house and got lots of things ready for them.  I allowed her the to opportunity to decide how to prepare, and organize things.  Giving this opportunity to make decisions and do things her way gave her the chance to feel in charge and happy to do things for her friends.  This is not in preparation for being little miss hostess, but I do hope that it will give her the confidence to make decisions and to feel valid in being able to contribute to the family and more importantly, herself.  I didn't set out for this to be the outcome, but in the process it did.

She washed and set up all the cups for tea.

She decided how to cut and set up all the tomatoes and cucumbers. 

The little one also wanted to contribute by helping, but we didn't server these. We saved them for our home snack.

I attempted strawberry goat cheese spread (chevre) with honey.  Unfortunately, I used too many strawberries so had to add in some cream cheese. 

We had a spread of apricot scones, almond jam toasts, cut strawberries (which she cut up), veggies, quiche lorraine, and apple strudel muffins which her friend and her brother made. 

She also loves pouring tea for her sister. 

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