My 12 pound Pumpkin

No, I am not talking about my baby, because that would be frightening. 

With Daniel being out of town, I made a list of things I wanted to do while he was gone...the usual-go thru winter clothes (see what will still fit this preggo mama), run certain errands, and also try to bake and freeze some breads in prep for baby. 

I've been good at freezing meals before, but freezing breads and cookies is a new thing to me, and I will say-I like it! 

So I waddled my way to the market to buy a few veggies and a pumpkin. My plan was to puree the pumpkin, and make some muffins and breads to freeze.

I picked out a large pumpkin and the lady told me, "it's really heavy." Yeah yeah yeah, I'll be fine. 

So when she handed me the pumpkin, I almost dropped it. It was 12 pounds!!!! I know because I weighed it when I got home. Honestly, I didn't even think I was going to make it home. I know many of you carry around your 30 lb child all the time, but an oddly shaped pumpkin is a completely different story. I had to stop several times on the way back home to readjust, and was thankful I hadn't bought some other things that had been on my list. Granted, the market isn't a full mile from our house, but it's not like it's next door either! (and yes, my right bicep was sore the next day)

So I got home, weighed the pumpkin and got to work. I cut it in fourths, scraped the seeds out, and cooked it for about an hour and a half.

After I pureed the pumpkin, my plan was to freeze the puree in one cup baggies, and leave a few cups out to bake with. However, I ran out of ziplocks, so right now I have two large bowls of puree in my fridge.

So yesterday morning I decided to make Pumpkin spice pancakes. I didn't put the sugar cinnamon topping on, I just ate these like regular pancakes-butter and syrup. Let me tell you, these were delicious!!!!!!!!!!

Since it was just me, I halved the recipe, and got about 5 large pancakes out of it. I will probably make these again tomorrow too!

I made my fave Cream of Pumpkin Soup for dinner Friday night......yummmm yummmmm. Sorry I don't have a picture, but trust me it was yummy. I found the recipe here....I've never made the croutons. 

Saturday, I went to work on pumpkin bread and muffins. I used this recipe (but doubled it), and used 5 eggs. I ground 1 cup of oatmeal and substituted that for a cup of flour. I got 1 large loaf, 2 mini's, and 12 muffins. i froze everything but one mini loaf. And for Daniel, I added chocolate chips.

Right now I also have several pounds of fruit-some familiar, some not, in my kitchen. Friday my teacher showed up with several bags of different fruits for me to try. Let's just say I really took one for the team. 

I had my teacher and her friend over last night for dinner, and received several more pounds of fruit. This time, I at least knew what they were. :) 

In other news, I've been watching Season 1 of Downton Abbey. This morning I woke up and had the thought that it would be lovely if people would start calling me "Your Ladyship." Maybe a few too many episodes?? 

What do you like to freeze?? Any DA fans out there?

love

laura