Pumpkin

Help!!! It's rare to come across sugar pumpkins here but I found a stall which had them over the weekend. The grocer promised to have another batch this coming weekend. Can anyone please advise as to how long these will keep in the run to Thanksgiving? Or do they tend to rot in a few days. If they don't tend to, should I store them in the pantry or leave it to stand at a cooler place, like the porch perhaps?

You can store whole pumpkins in a cool, dry place up to a month. As long as your porch is enclosed and not damp, you could keep the pumpkins there. But if it is very damp, it could cause mold to start grow on it.

I have a wonderful receipe for pumpkin bread one from Southern Living and friend from Church gave me , both wonderul . I make Pumpkin Bread and give it away for Christams to friends. Oh, I love the Holidays on line so many girls have wonderful recipes for cookies and food . We should have a cookie exchange on line . Just a thought

Many thanks Cookie and Renee. In the interim, I managed to contact my old cook who will help prepare Thanksgiving dinner and also offered to source them for me in the event the grocer does not deliver with the promise. If I don't come across you personally in any of the threads in the run up to the day, I would like to wish both of you Happy Thanksgiving and God's blessings.

Good luck making your pumpkin puree, Lola! I use to make fresh pumpkin pie from time to time, but found the canned stuff was just as good....or maybe it was just more convenient, ha. I love pumpkin!

Renee, pumpkin bread sounds good. I have a pumpkin choc. chip muffin recipe that someone gave me. Supposedly it won a blue ribbon at a state fair. Who knew...chocolate and pumpkin!

Pumpkin Chip Muffins


2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin
3/4 cups canola oil or cooking olive oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, or white choc.chips or combo of both. ( I used the mini choc. chips)
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, pumpkin & oil until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 375 degrees for approx. 20-25 minutes or until test done. Cool in pan about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Makes approx. 8 Large muffins or 24 small ones….give or take a few. * This recipe can be doubled and the extra muffins can be frozen.

I also use the can pumkin it is earlier to , just take the pumkin out of the can . I just love muffins so much and cranberry muffins if anyone has a receipe for them also. I use to make six different kids of cookies and work part time and still don't know how I did did it . I went crazy one year .

I have a receipe for the mini choc chip cake that is so good and it is so light and yummy that everyone just loves it. Also, have one made with mashed bananas in a loaf pan. Now that is good and moist and yummy .

Well don't just say you have a recipe Renee, post the darn recipe...especially the banana one. I am always looking for something good to use bananas in....HUGS

One receipe I would LOVE to have is the soups you got everywhere you went in Ireland. They were ALL pureed. Every single soup. Talk about yummy! Maybe Popea can help me...

JJ

Well, Chatty,
That sounds like a good idea to post the recipe on line , now I have to go find it . It is so good

Yummy !

How did I miss this?? What soups JJ, if you tell me their names I could help. My favourite soup to make is carrot and ginger. That is a great one for a detox diet, hangover food etc.

Po

Please post your soup recipe Popea....would love to try it.

Hi Chatty,

I love my soups and so do my family. Anyhoo, here is the one I talked off. It would feed a small army.

2 large onions
6 large cloves of garlic
2 Table spoons tomato puree
4 tins plum tomatoes(500g undrained)
2lb large fresh carrots.
1 Chunk of ginger(apprx the size of two cloves of garlic)
1/2 table spoons of balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons of powdered mustard.
1 teaspoon paprika.
3/4 Pints of veg stock
Bunch of fresh basil

Chop onions and garlic roughly and sweat (basil infused extra virgin oil) in a large soup pot with the tomato puree until softened.
Add balsamic vinegar,paprika and mustard powder.
Then the tinned tomatoes and leave to simmer gently while slicing carrots and finely chopping the fresh ginger.
Add carrots, ginger and veg stock.
Bring slowly to boil and leave to simmer then on a low heat for an hour and a quarter,(leaving the lid on the pot)

After the cooking time, check to ensure that the carrots are cooked just soft.( Not mushy!)
At this point, I usually take a straining seive and lift out about a third of the tomatoes and carrots and put them in a bowl before tearing up most of the basil, throwing it into the remaining pot and blitzing it with the hand blender.
Put the contents of the bowl carefully back into the soup pot, season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Tear the remaining basil and sprinkle on top.
Serve with crusty rolls and brie.

I also add spicy sausage and canneloni beans to this recipe and it becomes a hearty winter warming stew when not blended.
8/10 servings depending on how hungry your diners are.

Po

Oh boy Popea wait until JJ sees this wonderful and healthy soup recipe. I copied it, cutting down the ingredients to feed four, and will be trying it out next week. Thanks...

LOL I just learned what 'sweat' is in cooking tonite from Alton Brown on t.v.

I LOVE pumpkin anything. Chatty, I bought the large box of Krusteaz pumpkin breads at one of the box stores and instead of adding oil, added pureed banana. ohmygosh, it tasted wonnerful.

pureed banana can be found at a costco business supply place. an i got a vita mix for Christmas so i will be pureeing anything i can get my hands on!