PUMPKIN PATCH

The Blessings of a Pumpkin Patch!
The unique and lovely color of pumpkins makes them a great part of any fall display. This year we have two different kinds; large ones that I had to roll into place in the display as they were so heavy and then the small ones that are great for pies.
We celebrated Thanksgiving last Sunday at 1:30 as it suited our family best. The only problem was that the small pumpkins were not yet completely orange.

SUBSTITUTE FOR PUMPKIN
A great substitute for pumpkin is squash. I decided to cook up one of the deep orange colored squash and one of the yellow flesh squash. It ended up being the right consistency as the orange one cooked up very thick and the other one was thinner so together it ended up like cooked pumpkin.
I could also have cooked up part carrots with the yellower squash to provide the orange color and give the right consistency to the puree.

In the end 7 cups of pureed squash gave us 4 pumpkin pies that tasted just delicious.

PUMPKIN PIE – one 10 inch pie

1 ¾ cup pureed squash

2 eggs

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses

½ teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk

Blend the above ingredients well so the batter is smooth. Pour into an unbaked pie crust.
Bake at 350 °F for 20 minutes. Reduce to 325 ºF and bake another 30 minutes of so until it is firm.
Cool. Serve with whipping cream.

*For larger 12 inch pies, mix 1 ½ times each ingredient.

I had 1½ cups of puree left over and decided to make some muffins. Here again I had to make some changes because I was out of some ingredients but the muffins were delicious and were all eaten up yesterday. So even though I followed the recipe on page 29 in Winnie’s Winning Ways cookbook, I was forced to again make a few changes.

PUMPKIN BRAN MUFFIN
Yes, I was all out of bran, needed ½ cup more of pumpkin and changed the raisins for walnuts. (Some of our families do not like raisins)

¾ cup cooking oil

1 ½ cup squash puree

4 eggs

½ cup mashed banana

1 cup spelt flour

1 ¼ cup sugar

1 cup unbleached flour

1 cup wheat germ

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup chopped walnuts.

Beat together the oil, squash, eggs and sugar. In another bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients, add and mix it into the squash mixture. Fill 24 muffin holes 2/3 full.
Sprinkle a few chopped nuts on top of each muffin before baking. Bake at 350 °F for 25 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Nutrition in both pumpkins & squash
Both squash & pumpkins have lots of vitamin A, iron, calcium, some B complex, niacin, riboflavin thiamine and more.
They are packed with cancer-fighting beta-carotene. By using extra virgin olive oil in this recipe you are helping the body to absorb even more nutrients found in the pumpkin & squash.