Pumpkins!

I love the point in fall when you start to see the leaves changing colors, the temperature getting cooler, and the pumpkins out on peoples front steps. Jack, Clara and I went to a pumpkin patch last week with their four cousins and Auntie, and we picked out a pumpkin to take home and carve. Well, the carving got postponed until Halloween night. We carved it right before the trick-or-treators came to the door. Since we had waited so long I wanted to cook the pumpkin instead of carving it, but Greg wanted to carve our pumpkin. So we did both.

We carved it, the candy was dispersed, and then we cooked it that night. Have you ever cooked a pumpkin? I never really thought about eating a pumpkin. Last year, my mother-in-law cooked a pumpkin. A strange little dish we had, but it was surprisingly tasty. This year, a friend posted a recipe on her blog for pumpkin muffins. They looked delicious so I decided to cook my pumpkin and use it instead of buying a 15 oz. can of pumpkin. The muffins turned out delicious. I crushed some walnuts and mixed them with sugar, cinnamon, and butter and sprinkled on top of the batter. MMMmmm...

I cooked the pumpkin seeds in the oven too. Aren't cooked pumpkin seeds yummy? I've done this so few times in my life, but I really love them. I just melted some butter and sprinkled a little salt on top and cooked them in the oven about 40 min. on 300. MMMmmm... tasty.

We planted a little pumpkin patch this year, and we have three that are coming up now, a little late. But I'm hoping we get one or two ready to eat around Thanksgiving time. I can try some other recipes out with my cooked pumpkin and eat some more seeds.