October 6th The Great Pumpkin Challenge: Homerville Produce Auction

Have you ever been to an auction? I love auctions and so does my family. It doesn't matter if it's an estate sale, an animal auction in Kidron, or the produce auction we always have fun.

The great thing about the auction in Homerville is the people. Amish or English everyone is there to get the best price and a lot of something locally grown.

I have to say when the pumpkins come into season I could just go to sit and stare. It is beautiful! All the shades of orange, the sizes, the Indian corn.

I ended up buying two boxes, one box of beautiful guards for 40 dollars and a box of 60 pumpkins for less then 2 dollars a pumpkin. Between the campgrounds, girl scouts, and our annual Halloween carving night that should be just enough :)

The auction is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 4 pm. Check it out!

October 5th The Great Pumpkin Challenge: pumpkin brownies

I love to try new recipes. When I saw this recipe for pumpkin brownies I was very intrigued. 2 ingredient pumpkin brownies.

Sounds simple.

2 things I love... brownies and pumpkin...

Let's give it a go!

Step 1 mix box of brownies with 1 can of pumpkin.

Step 2 bake in oven at 350 for 40 minutes  in an 8 x 8 pan.

The reviews all raved... simole, yummy, kids ate them up.

Well I don't know what the hell they are talking about because these brownies are nasty. Pumpkins and brownies do not mix. Period.

They look good. They didn't smell bad. But damn. That was not a good flavor.

I'm still calling it a success, because it was the adventure of trying something new and it involved pumpkins. But I won't be making these again anytime soon.

October 4th The Great Pumpkin Challenge: Real pumpkin

Did you know that pumpkins do not come from a can? Its true. They come from a field, from a farmer, from a seed.

Too many of us don't know how to get real pumpkin- that it isn't hard or scary- and that you can freeze it so that you have pumpkin all year long.

Step one: Visit a pumpkin patch. This isn't just for picking pumpkins. This is therapy, this is pumpkin healing for the soul. Look out across all those beautiful pumpkins and find peace. Find your inner hippy and grab hold of the biggest pumpkin you can find and give it a giant hug. Then let go of that big pumpkin and find small ones. Yes, small pumpkins are easier to make pie with. So pick several of those bad boys, pay your farmer- give him or her a hug too, and head home.

My favorite pumpkin farmer aka my Dad.

Step two: wash off your pumpkins and break off the stem. Then cut the pumpkins in half and scoop out the seeds and strings, but leaving the "meat" of the pumpkin.

Lola cut them in half and scooped them out, now we just need to flip them over and get them in the oven.

Step three: Preheat your oven to 350. Put your pumpkins skin up on a cookie sheet and let cook for 45 minutes. To know if your pumpkins are done you should be able to take a fork and easily poke through its skin and know that it is soft and ready.

Step four: Pull out pan, turn off oven, and let cool for a few minutes. Then take a spoon and spoon out the meat into a bowl. I let my pumpkin sit for just about an hour to let the water separate itself the pumpkin, I pour the water into the sink, and the pumpkin into my blender. I blend this until its nice and smooth and then I transfer it two cups at a time into a freezer bag and in the freezer it goes. That's it! Its that simple and the next time your making pie, or cookies, or pumpkin roll- you have real from the farm fresh pumpkin to work with.

October 3rd The great pumpkin challenge: pumpkin rolls and boo drink!

I love pumpkin flavored anything. But my 1st place favorite pumpkin dish is the pumpkin roll.

My mother in law taught me how to make these beautiful and tasty creations 15 years ago.

Sue's  Pumpkin Roll Recipe
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
Mix for 3 minutes
Add 1 top cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup flour
Mix 3 more minutes

Line cookie sheet with wax paper.
Grease wax paper
Spread mix on wax paper
Bake 375 for 13 minutes
Let cool for a few minutes then flop it over onto a kitchen towel that is heavily sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Pull off wax paper and roll up into towel.
Put in fridge until cool.
Then unroll and add filling. Then roll back up again and enjoy!
Filling:
8 Oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla.
Mix together.

This year to start pumpkin season my cousin Brandy and I decided to spend an evening baking and "boo"zing. She brought the stuff for rolls and I brought the stuff to make a batch of moonshine. But not the kind of shine where it burns as you swallow and you can't imagine who takes a second drink... no, this is the stuff that is so yummy you look down and realize it's all gone somehow and your smiling so much you can't feel your teeth.

The recipe for this amazing batch of boo drink came from a sweet friend who is also a camper Earleen. If fall had an official smell it would be this drink.

Earleen's Boo Juice
1 gallon apple juice
1 gallon apple cider
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
5 cinnamon sticks

Heat in large pan

Once it's heated let it get cold again and add 750 ml caramel vodka (not salted).

Add 1 cinnamon stick to each quart mason jar and then fill.

This makes 7 to 8 jars. Store in the fridge Enjoy!

Brandy and I had so much fun baking and boozing together and I think our families really enjoyed eating the pumpkin rolls!

October 2nd the great pumpkin challenge

For day two I want to talk about roasting pumpkin seeds.

Lola and I decided to roast seeds. Tasty, healthy, and simple.

Step 1: Cut open pumpkin and pull out seeds.

Step 2 : Use a strainer and wash seeds clean.

Step 3: Boil seeds. For every half cup of seeds use 2 cups water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Boil for 5 minutes. This helps the salt soak into the seed and keep the salty flavor, plus it helps them stay tender.

Step 4: Strain seeds again and pat dry with paper towel.

Step 5: Line a cookie sheet with a good glob of olive oil. Spread your seeds out evenly across pan and give it a few wiggles to help coat the seeds in oil. Then sprinkle with salt.

Step 6: Bake in oven 350 for 5 to 10 minutes depending on how big the seeds are. You just want them to be lightly toasted golden brown color.

Step 7: Enjoy!

October 1 The Great Pumpkin Challenge

For my 1st day of the great pumpkin challenge I want to share about pumpkin chunkin!

For years my husband, kids and myself love watching pumpkin chunkin on t.v. thousands of people came together and used their creativity, science,  and the ability to let go and have fun. There were many different categories you could enter with air powered cannons, trebuchets, man powered... and when a pumpkin explodes mid air the whole crowd and my living room erupts into a loud scream "pie"!!!!

Seriously if you think football has fans wait to see chunkers.

So last year we decided it was time to load up our family and go to this awesome event. We had no intention on competing but just spectating and enjoying the magic.

Well after 30 years politics got in the way and the event was cancled. I was really heartbroken.

This year my Dad being the awesome man that he is let us use his pumpkin patch and our big extended family came together to have our first ever very own pumpkin chunkin.

We all worked on our own chunkers as families. My family went to Lowes and bought surgical tubing, Sophie sewed a pumpkin sling, Ryan and Lola built the frame, and together we put it all together and had so much fun.

Day 1 challenge: pumpkin chunkin

31 days of Pumpkin Challenge!

Today is October 1st! We love October and all the fun it brings. My favorite holiday, hoodies and jeans, leaf piles, trick or treats, so many yummy recipes, and best of all pumpkins.

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, carving, baking, decorating, pumpkin chunkin... there are so many amazing things you can do with pumpkins. So I celebrate this month with the great pumpkin challenge. Every day I will share something fun pumpkin related. I hope you enjoy, learn, share, and join in on the fun!