Baking Day

I love Saturday's like this, a day we don't have to be anywhere and one where the kids and I can spend the day creating in the kitchen. The first project of the day was dishes from last night~yes, I will admit it, we left the dinner dishes until this morning. Yesterday was a really long day for both Scott and I. I didn't get home from work until after 7 pm and yesterday was supposed to be a day off. Oh well. So the kids and I did teamwork; I washed, Adin dried and the girls put away what the could reach and set the rest on the counter. It worked great and it was fun.

Our first baking project was a new muffin recipe that I received from a friend's blog, This Mom's Cooking. Dareth and I used to work together back in the day at camp and she has this fabulous cooking blog. Our family has used many of her recipes. The star of the morning was her Banana-Carrot Muffins and boy was that good. The kids couldn't wait until they were done. We used shredded carrots from our garden and homemade apple sauce. They are actually very healthy also, which as a mom I like. We then went on to our favorite Pumpkin Muffins that disappear as soon as they are cool. Fortunately today, I will be able to store some of them as the kids ate the Banana-Carrot ones already. I made a double batch - first one done and second in the oven right now.

~ Oh time out ~ Timer is going off. ~

My next project is to uncover a frozen pumpkin or two from our deck (they are buried under a foot or more of snow and ice right now. It may be a challenge) to cut up, clean out and bake for some more frozen pumpkin for these muffins. We are running low in the freezer. I also have been promising a friend that I would get some to her.

Things have been a bit different around here the last couple of weeks as we no longer have a microwave. One morning I put something in to warm up and it started popping and sparking so I thought right away that I had flaked out and put something in there that was mettle. Nope. I was a pretty exciting moment as I unplugged it and ran it downstairs into the garage where then a few days later it went to the dump. The sad think was that we had to pay $15 to get rid of it and back when I bought it, it probably didn't cost much more. I have had that thing since I was a Sophomore in college back in 1995. I'd say it served us well. I am getting used the not having a microwave. We can cook just fine without one, although I think that Scott is getting antsy to get a new one. I also like having more counter space and being able to leave the Bread Machine out on the counter.

Well I best get to the pumpkins and planning supper.

Pumpkin Muffins - All the Craze

I am so glad that my friend Rebekah and I started talking about baking pumpkins and figuring out how to use them, because this pumpkin muffin recipe that I found in our old church cookbook that I got from my Grandmother as a wedding shower gift. My family makes them disappear as fast as I can bake them. They are so yummy. I keep trying to get some extra made and freeze them for quick breakfasts and such, but no such luck. This morning I made a double batch and already they are vanishing. I am glad that everyone likes them. I have also discovered a pumpkin waffle recipe that I want to try soon.

Red

I now have the beautiful color of red in our garden. The tomatoes have started to ripen, even the huge tomatoes on our Tomato Tragedy plants from earlier this spring. It is truly amazing how tough these plants can be. I thought that after those storms earlier this summer pretty much took out the two tomato plants that I have in my asparagus bed that they were toast. I was wrong! I'm very glad. Those 2 plants have some of the biggest fruits on it that I have ever seen. And the mega blossom tomatoes, crazy. (sorry, no pictures. I left my camera charger in Ashland at my sister's after this weekend. No good.)

This is my week of reclaiming my garden. Now that I am finally done working at camp and have this week off before I start my new job at the day care, the kids and I are going to hit it hard (maybe not as hard as my son hit a tree yesterday while swinging on the tire swing at my sister's. I'll post more about that tomorrow with pics hopefully. He has a pretty sad little look now with a major fat lip and puffy nose.) The peas are coming out and maybe the beans, we'll have to see about that. I'm still hoping that the yellow bell pepper plants do something - as of now...not so much. The pumpkins have taken over, next year they will have a new home on the south side of the garden outside of the fence (seeing as how most of them have made their way that direction anyway) so I have more room for other things that don't become out of con troll as much as these have. I have a pumpkin forest.

Well, they guys are here to install our outdoor wood boiler, so I best get outside. One last note... if anyone has any good recipes or trick to canning pumpkin for later use (aka - pies) let me know. I think I'm going to have a bumper crop of pumpkins this year - more than what we'll need at Halloween.