31 Days of Things I've Been Wanting to Do, Day 29: Home Grown vs. Hand Picked

Home Grown
This was our first year at an attempt to have a tomato plant. And yes, I said attempt because, to date, we have had 4 tiny tomatoes come from one plant.

From the beginning, Reese especially was enthusiastic about growing our own food and making something from what we grew. I have done herbs the last few years with success so I thought we'd broaden our horizons. It budded 3 tiny green tomatoes and we waited, somewhat patiently, for them to turn any shade of red. One night, we had a big storm and our poor tomato plant got knocked over. One tiny green tomato fell off. Reese was so excited. We put it in the window and I said a little prayer that it would turn red....

And it did! It had a small blemish, so instead of putting it in a recipe, we sliced it to have with dinner.

(It didn't last very long!)

Hand Picked

Since we didn't include a home grown tomato in a recipe, I figured hand picking a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch was the next best thing.

This was my first time roasting a pumpkin. I'll admit, grabbing a can opener and opening a can of pumpkin might have been a little easier, but way less rewarding! I truly enjoyed preparing my own pumpkin!

Here's what I did...

Slice your pumpkin in half and take the seeds out.

Place the pumpkin cut side down in a 9x13 dish.

Add 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of the dish and loosely cover with foil.

Bake @ 325* for 1-2 hours. (Until your pumpkin is soft.)

Peel the skin away...

Place the pumpkin in a food processor...

Process until smooth....

My husband's Grandma gave me ideas on freezing the pureed pumpkin into small containers.

I did 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup and 1/2 cup containers. Brilliant!

Labeled the top...

And they are now frozen until the next time I need pumpkin!

I did leave some out for breakfast, of course....

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

What You'll Need:

3 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup milk

2 Tbs. margarine

2 eggs

2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cup pumpkin

1/4 cup brown sugar (topping)

Here's How:

Mix all ingredients except brown sugar for the topping in a bowl.

Put in a 9x13 pan.

Sprinkle remaining brown sugar on top.

Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.

Serve with milk.

Original Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal recipe found here.