Taylor's Table - Pumpkins!!! Part 1

Note: I am changing the title of this series to Taylor's Table and will try to post once a week, but not necessarily on a certain day each week.

I love autumn! There's something about the crispness in the air and the brightness of the sky that makes me feel energetic and nostalgic. For some reason, fall makes me think of decades and centuries ago when people were harvesting roots and squash to keep for the winter in order to survive. Today I started reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I read this series every few years to remind myself of the simplicity of life and how happy we can be with very little - here's a good link that talks about this). By coincidence, Laura shares in the beginning of the book some of her family's fall activities:

Now the potatoes and carrots, the beets and turnips

and cabbages were gathered and stored in the cellar,

for freezing nights had come.

Onions were made into long ropes, braided together

by their tops, and then hung in the attic beside wreaths

of red peppers strung on threads. The pumpkins and the

squashes were piled in orange and yellow and green

heaps in the attic's corners.

The barrels of salted fish were in the pantry, and

yellow cheeses were stacked on the pantry shelves.

She goes on to explain how Pa had killed a pig and deer and how they cut them up and smoked them over hickory chips in his log smoke house.

Don't worry, I am not going to teach you the intricacies of killing a pig and preparing the hams for the smoker. This is about pumpkins. I LOVE PUMPKINS! I even tried growing a pumpkin vine this year. One small pumpkin grew from it (pictured above). It is amazing how excited one can get over a small pumpkin growing in the backyard! I was so proud of it though I have no reason to be because the pumpkins were supposed to be profuse and large. I did absolutely nothing to the vine except water it occasionally. It a miracle that anything grew at all! Strangely enough, another one is now growing but I don't think it will be ripe before the frost.

So anyway, I have a few delicious pumpkin recipes that I want to share with you this week and next. I've tried many versions of these and at last have found ones I really love with a bit of my tweaking. (I can never leave a recipe alone!) Enjoy!

Pumpkin Waffles

2 cups flour (I used a mixture of buckwheat, white and whole wheat flour)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg (or to taste - I don't like too much of this)

4 eggs

1 cup buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/2 cup milk mixed together)

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 TBS honey or molasses

1 tsp vanilla

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, pumpkin, and honey. Gently stir liquid mixture into dry mixture. Cook on waffle iron until deep golden brown (5 minutes worked well for us), and serve immediately.

* Serves 6-8 depending on appetites.

* Adapted from this recipe at Frugal Granola.

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup rapadura sugar or sucanat

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs beaten

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Sift flour, salt sugar and baking soda.

2. Mix together pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, and spices. Then combine with dry ingredients, but not too thoroughly. Stir in nuts, if using.

3. Pour into well-buttered 9x5x3 in. loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until skewer comes out clean. Turn out of pan & let cool on rack.

* Makes 1 loaf, can easily be doubled, or be made into muffins, just cook for less time.

* Adapted from a recipe at Simple Recipes from elise.com.

Pumpkin Scones -

Not super sweet but super Delicious!!! Scones aren't supposed to be sweet anyway! The other day I picked up a scone at a coffee shop thinking it would be the least sugar-fied item but it tasted like a donut!!!! They are supposed to be more like biscuits. Oh what we Americans do to good food!

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup rapadura or sucanat or light brown sugar

1/4 tsp ginger

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1/3 cup or more raisins, or chopped dried apples

1/4 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, optional

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pumpkin Scones: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins and pecans, if using. In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 4 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash. Place the baking sheet inside another baking sheet to prevent the bottoms of the scones from over browning. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpickinserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes 8 scones.

* Adapted from this recipe at joyofbaking.com

Tuesday's Table - Homemade Apple Sauce

I started making applesauce last year when I realized how easy it could be and found some great looking apples at our local outdoor market. This stuff is GOOD and EASY! Here's how to make it.

*** Gather 10-12 (or however many will fit in your crockpot) apples of different varieties. The last version I made had a few granny smith's, a few cortlands, a couple of honey crisps, a few golden delicious, and a few galas. Peel these, if you like. You don't have to! Then, chop into one inch or smaller pieces.

***Dump the apples into your crock pot. Pour in about 1/2 cup of water or pure apple juice. Turn the dial to low and cook until apples are tender, 5-8 hours.

*** Use a potato masher to turn the apples into chunky sauce. Serve up in bowls and enjoy. This makes about two quarts.

***You'll notice this has no sugar or spice. I think you'll find you won't need it. Give it a try first before adding anything.

Taylor Tot Blog Not Moving!

I've decided not consolidate Wes's blog and mine. So click on over to his blog to see the updates!

www.wjtaylor.blogpsot.com

Tuesday's Table - Yogurt Mix-ins

When I was very young I hated yogurt. However, over the years I have grown quite fond of it - of the flavored kind, that is. While living in Lebanon pre-flavored yogurt was too expensive for us, not to mention the high sugar content along with other highly processed ingredients, so I tried to acquire a taste for plain yogurt. It worked to some extent. Sometimes I want to eat just plain yogurt, but I prefer a little flavor to tame the tartness. So this is the solution I came up with eventually.

I buy whole milk yogurt, mostly organic depending on the budget, or I make it at home. I also buy frozen fruits like strawberries or blueberries or raspberries. I let these thaw out and then toss them in the blender until they are pureed. Next, I pour the fruit purees into ice cube trays and freeze them. After freezing the individual cubes, I dump them into freezer bags to store. So when I want some fruity yogurt, I pull out a couple of cubes of fruit, thaw it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Then I mix in some yogurt to the thawed berries and dig in. Mmmmm....

Here are a few more simple ideas -

* Mix in crushed pineapple (I know it's canned but I figure it is better than the packaged pre-flavored yogurt - it is just pineapple in it's own juice.) with a bit of juice with the yogurt.

* Mix in a bit of maple syrup.

* Add a bit of vanilla and maybe some cinnamon or nutmeg.

So now when I eat pre-flavored yogurt, it is too sweet, I don't like the texture and it really doesn't even taste good.

Also, making plain homemade yogurt is fairly simple. Heat a quart of milk slowly to 180 degrees F. Then, let it cool to about 110 degrees F. This can take an hour or so. Next, mix in a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of yogurt. You can also add a TBS or two of powdered milk but you don't have to. If you have a yogurt maker, you simply pour the warm yogurt mixture into the jars provided, place them on the warmer, put the top on and set the timer for 8 or 10 hours. If you don't have a yogurt maker, you can simply pour the mixture in glass jars, wrap with a towel and keep in a warm place - the attic in summer is a great place, or in a cooler with a pot of boiling water. Let it sit until it looks solid.

Walah! You have tasty yogurt. You can tell that it is not an exact science. You really can't mess it up. I haven't had a bad batch yet. Sometimes the consistencies are different but I've never had just curdled milk. It always has that yogurty tartness which means it has all those millions of good bacteria our digestive tracts need.

Have fun experimenting!