Back to the Harvest

Had a blast at Time Out for women....but now its time for pumkin!

Today had to do some catch up, but after all of the Time Out Feasting I was not ready to eat any more! Oh well , for the cause.

So I had to complete two recipes, and some fabric Pumkins to catch up to date.....these fabric pumpkins are really so easy and fun to do!

 These first ones are the quilted ones I dreamed up...the ones below are the original inspriations that my mom had made for me a few years ago! each one comes out different though so that makes them fun! and they are low calorie!

dont look to close....she really was a better seamstress than me!

Fabric Pumkins! Too Cute...more to come

OK tired of cooking and I had seen a version of these before so I dreamed up a couple different versions....since I am going to time out tomorrow, I am going to do a couple of days at once....this is for Thursday....and maybe a new version tomorrow for Friday! They may just be sooooo cute I will give myself Saturday off!

Finally something without sugar and butter...but it worked!

Wednesday....
This actually sounded odd, ended up really good!

Spicy Pumkin Taco DIp

12 oz cream cheese, softened
1 Cup pumpkin
3 1/2 Tbsp taco seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder ( I did a garlic sea salt)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 Cup dried beef (I skipped this,,,just could not do it!)
1/2 Cup cut bell pepper....I also threw in some chopped up green onion
1 Can olives sliced up
I added a whole avocado, soft, crushed up

I made it half the size but I went light on the pumkin and heavy on everything else and it really turned out good! The girls at mutual gave it the thumbs up...some of them even after finding out it had pumkin in it! Brave girls!

Pumkin Ginger Pizzookies

After my victory over the critics Monday I think I could finish the month now and be happy....but I did say the whole month....

So on Monday I did two recipes...this ones for Tuesday!

Erin shared with me a yummy recipe below:
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/11/pumpkin-ginger-pizzookies/

I just switched it up a bit and did a Molasses/Spice Cookie but really I think any yummy cookie will do!
The Pumkinc cream was good...just in case I bought butter pecan too...so we had a scoop of each...
and then the nuts, carmel and we added whip cream!! Not a bad alternative to soup!

Revenge is SWEETER than Pumpkin Pie!

Yea, I did it....so what! They deserved it. And I am thinking I am the smartest person in the world right now!

So if you read the posts from yesterdays "Pumkin Soup" disaster, you saw that my family was brutal....really and I only put in the nice stuff! So today I decided that they needed to eat their words!

There was surprisingly a bit of the Kabocha Soup left so I saved it and then hatched a beautiful plan for how I would use my pumkin today......

Pasta a la Revenge....

Sauted Ground beef sausage onion and garlic in a pan until browned.....
while it cooked I mixed in a crock pot on high

couple of shakes of olive oil
1/2 jar of Ragu Spaghetti Sauce
1/2 jar of Ragu Alfredo Sauce
4 oz of cream cheese
1 Cup half and  Half milk
(oh and did I mention the left over pumkin soup)
and leftover parmesean.....let that simmer in the crock....
then added the meat and put it on low while we all went to the gym

I made sure they were nice and hungry....tossed together a cute little salad and then
dinner was served!!

Meal Comments ;

"does this have pumkin in it" - to which I replied no....not a lie its Kabocha Squash so not a lie!
"this is actually pretty good"
"mom, can you give me some more pasta"....my reply "sure son here you go.....(big serving)

I personally enjoyed the meal very much. And then the finale was super.....jaycee looked down at her empty plate with just the sauce lingering....and found just a tad of the red bell pepper from the night before....."mom, did you put pumkin in this...." - "No I did not put PUMKIN in that...." but my smile was already giving it away...keegan (the smart one of the bunch) "you put SQUASH in this!!!!"

I laughed so hard I dont think I will have to do abs tonight!!

And now they are all not speaking to me....aaaaaahhhhh the peace and serenity!

Today was a "Great Pumkin Day!"

The best for last

Back to the cinnamon, sugar and brown sugar!

This cake is the one I first posted before starting the blog. Taylor actually discovered this cake a few years ago and it has been one of our favorites since. We are not Pumkin Pie fans so we make this at thanksgiving and while everyone is eating their pumkin pie...we much on this cutie!

Pumkin Orange Spice Cake with Orange drizzle....

Start by following the directions on a box of Spice Cake but reduce the amount of water by 1/2 C and use 1/2 Cup pumkin puree instead....also use about 1 tsp of grated orange peel and a 2 Tbsp of 100% orange juice. Bake as the box tells you in a bundt pan...( if you like a lot of the orange flavor you can also add more juice/less water...we continue to play with it)

Once the cake is baked and cooled flip onto serving platter...

In a sauce pot place 3/4 stick of butter and begin to melt...add 1/4 cup of 100% orange juice and then begin to sift in powdered sugar....if you like a lot of drizzle you can increase each item in this...I dont even measure anymore just keep throwing in til it looks good. Add yellow food coloring or even yellow and red for a light orange....Once you have a thick syrup like frosting drizzle one layer over the cake and throw quickly into the fridge.....that will cool and harden. ...take the rest of the frosting off the heat and set aside for just a few minutes.....once the first layer has soaked in and hardened a bit....go back and really slather on the rest....

This cake is gorgeous when you fill the middle of the bundt with fall flowers....The cake is so good but the orange drizzle frosting then just makes it so much better! It is really a centerpeice and dessert all in one!

Kabocha Squash....Japanese Pumpkin

I think I spelled it wrong a least a few times...Kabocha Squash....looks like a preemie watermelon.