Pioneer Woman at Heart

I love a bread recipe that makes 2 loaves.  With our family size, it's the best way for me to make the most of a recipe.  I love this recipe, as it contains two items from my garden, is another use for our eggs, and uses butter. Our long term goal is to have a jersey cow and make our own butter. Zucchini Pumpkin Bread 1 cup butter (or stick margarine) 2 cups sugar 3 eggs, beaten (or 3/4 cup egg substitute) 1 Tbsp. vanilla 1 cup grated zucchini 1 cup canned pumpkin (I used pie pumpkin puree) 3 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 tsp. cloves (ground) 1 cup chopped nuts Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla, zucchini, and pumpkin, and mix well.  Combine other ingredients and then add to creamed mixture.  Blend well and pour into 2 greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pans.  Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 2 loaves (Source:  The Zucchin...

This was the first year for us to grow our own pie pumpkins (baking pumpkins).  Last year we grew the type the kids could carve out for fall. The weird weather this year, caused our pumpkin production to be less than what we thought.  We even had less of our spaghetti squash this year.  It was simply too wet. We were blessed to have enough baking pumpkins to make pumpkin butter and possible bake a few pies. There is something so gratifying to grow the pumpkins and make pumpkin butter myself.  Nothing is wasted.  The pumpkin seeds are saved and roasted, and the the goats will get treated to some pumpkin skins (and a few seeds), and any remaining will be composted.  I have to double check with my daughter, to make sure the goats can eat it first.  It sure feels good to not throw something in my trash, or have to recycle plastic, metal or glass.

  I brushed the tops with milk and sprinkled homemade everything bagel seasoning on the tops.  The original recipe stated to boil them, just like you would yeast bagels, and I did not. I went online and searched for the recipe and found several, but for this one, I had to convert grams to cups to make them.  I was shocked at the results.  First, I doubted the dough.  After kneading it, it turned into a nice dough, although started out crumbs.  Baked at 400°F for 25 they turned out nice, but they do need toasted.  The inside is slightly doughy if they are not toasted, but a nice bagel for a breakfast or whatever, if we need a few in a pinch.  I like the fact, it only makes 4 for the two of us as well.  Yes, it requires white all-purpose flour, but I do use organic/non-gmo.  I used organic greek yogurt, and non-gmo baking powder (original recipe uses self-rising flour). Results?  Pretty good.  They don't stick to the parchment pa...

  Tuesday was our "Monday" this week.  We both took Monday "off" and spent the day enjoying it.  Tuesday was the day for thunderstorms to roll in late afternoon, so laundry went out on the line early. I am working my way through my garden freezer goodies, and made us some flourless pumpkin bread with frozen garden pumpkin puree.  It is a very dense, thicker bread, and with less sweetness and flavor, but by adding some extra cinnamon and nutmeg it's pretty good. The bread is also about half the height of other baked pumpkin breads.  I test the bread about 30 minutes into the cooking time, and let it cool almost completely in the pan.  I finish the cooling on a wire rack before slicing. Flourless Pumpkin Bread In a blender mix all of the ingredients: 2 cups organic old-fashioned oats 15 oz. of frozen, thawed garden pumpkin puree (I measure it, as it will weigh differently depending on the thickness of your pumpkin puree).  You can use 1 can of pure pumpk...

The previous rain left things very wet outside, so the inside got the attention it needed all day Friday. I roasted 1 larger pie pumpkin for making a batch of pumpkin butter. I put 2 cups in the fridge, and the rest went into the freezer. I roasted 6 more pumpkins for pumpkin puree, and have one very tiny one went to the porch for fall decor.  The puree will be used for pumpkin pancakes/waffles, pumpkin muffins and bread, pumpkin hummus, pumpkin steel cut oats, pumpkin-sage macaroni, pumpkin pie . . .just anything. I roasted more whiskey-bacon pumpkin seeds as well.  They are so good.  I updated over on the recipe post.  I doubled the amount of pumpkin seeds. (Saturday sunrise, just before we enjoyed our breakfast on the porch) Saturday the weather warmed back up, so I high-tailed it to the tomato patch and starting yanking those pesky stakes and tomato plants (which surprisingly, some were still green and alive).  What we started...

If you are like me, and have leftover pumpkin butter you need to use up, you may like the recipe we tried.  I baked a Pumpkin Butter Bread . Although it wasn't our favorite, they ate it up.  I didn't have raisins and walnuts, and that may add more flavor to it. This year I am trying to give myself a day "off."  We do honor the Sabbath on Sunday, but I really need to give myself a "break" and tend to  myself for a day. It's been slow going on this.  However, it's only been two weeks of initiating it also.   Ha ha ha!  A day "off" is a good day to bring home library goodies and browse books.  I found a few great ideas for using up my yo-yo's for Christmas ornaments and some great gift ideas. I also finished (YAY! I can say the word now) the last of the cat flour sack towels. I am also making progress on my mixing bowl re-purpose project. Somewhere around the house I have the original magazine article on how to make these:  ...

My 5 pumpkins resulted in 9 pints of pumpkin butter.  After researching canning recipes, I decided to heat my lids, after sterilizing jars, and simply attach the lids.  I allowed them to cool, and then moved them to the refrigerator.  They will last up to 6 months this way.   Canning is not recommended.  In fact, I plan to take the last of the pumpkins, and make pumpkin puree to freeze.  Then I can simply take it out to make pumpkin waffles, pumpkin bread, muffins, or pumpkin pie.  There are tons of pumpkin recipes to try it with.   Having always purchased sunflower seeds from a store, my husband was actually "giddy" when I shared these with him. "We grew those?" he squealed like a little kid getting candy (ha ha ha!) I will have to start covering some of them with cheese cloth.  The birds are starting to get into them, and they are not all ready to harvest. And once again, I am shocked at the fresh taste these little gu...

Update on my sick husband - he's feeling better, but tired.  His doctor (the nurse said she had the virus recently too) said he caught a virus, and it was very unusual for such a high fever.  Thankfully, the fever broke quicker than we thought it would.  I gave him ibuprofen, a hot cup of feverfew (I grow this) tea, and an ice pack for his neck.  He loved the chicken and wild rice soup for dinner and it set well for him.  He's on the mend, and it's going around in our area.  I have downed our 4 thieves vinegar as a preventative (trust me on this one, it works, but it is not tasty ha ha!). I am going back to making my own face cream. The most recent one I purchased is irritating one of my eyes, so homemade it is.  I am checking my supplies today. If you are a self sufficient DIY person, where do you buy organic apricot oil? The recipe calls for lanolin, but I'm leaving it out.   Which would be better - shea butter or cocoa butter?  I'm th...

We finally got one evening of rain here.  I'm not sure how much more we'll get from the cucumbers, but they are almost all dead plants at this point. The jalapenos are rolling in, so I have plans to bake us a jalapeno cheddar frittata for breakfast soon.  I also have plans to try a new hummus recipe (Jalapeno-Avocado). I've been trying new tea infusions, and have included some new ones and excluded some we didn't like.  I found that yerba mate iced in the early part of the day is delicous with nothing else in it. Once again, there are locals stealing, cars getting broke into, and in one small town, a person walked through the woods to break into a house.    I have discovered something new!  I can substitute pie pumpkin puree for mashed bananas in a zucchini muffin recipe.  I have only made the recipe a few times, as we lacked the zucchini (squash bugs). I did not know I could swap the pumpkin for the bananas, and I am blown away how good it tastes in t...