Pumpkin delights

I really like pumpkins! They look like they came straight out of a fairy tale or a fantasy world. Have you guys ever seen a pumpkin field? So cute with all the orange spots! I think they look magical, but this may just be my little girl's heart speaking and dreaming. ;)

Pumpkins make great decorations around Halloween, but they are also delicious! I bought one single medium size pumpkin very recently, and here's what I did with it. 

Pumpkin soup (Or the Witch's potion.... if served at Halloween!)

2 cups pumpkin in cubes
1 cup carrots in slices
1 big onion, minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger root, minced
1 cup lentils
1 can cubed tomatoes
approx. 1 cup tomato juice
approx. 4 cups chicken bouillon
(liquids can be adjusted)

1- Cut open and clear the inside of the pumpkin.
Note: Set the seeds aside for later use.

2- Cut the pulp in cubes. Use approx. 2 cups for this recipe. Set the rest aside.
Note: I made sure to keep the bottom half of the pumpkin intact to use as a serving bowl!

3 - Prepare the carrots, onion and ginger root.

4- Put everything together in a cooking pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the carrots are tender.

Enjoy the delicious taste and comforting warmth. :)

Note: Can be frozen. 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Time to use those seeds we put aside.
Note: I kept some of the seeds to dry and store for next year's gardening season!

Mine are a bit too salty! Don't make the same mistake. ;)

1- Preheat oven to 150 C. (300 F)
2 - Separate the seeds from the pumpkin fibres. Clean under cold water if necessary.
3- Toss the seeds in a little bit of vegetable oil.
4 - Place in a single layer on a cookie plate. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt.
5 - Bake until golden (20 to 30 mins)

Eat the roasted seeds whole. Yummy little evening snack!


Pumpkin Cookies

One can not talk of pumpkin delights without talking of pumpkin cookies!

1/2 cup (125 ml) melted butter
1/2 cup (160 ml) brown sugar
1/2 cup (160 ml) white sugar
2 eggs
1 ts (5 ml) vanilla extract
2 cups (500 ml) grated pumpkin
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) flour
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) oat flakes
1/2 ts (2 ml) grounded cinnamon
1/2 ts (2 ml) grounded nutmeg
1 pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180 C (375 F)

1 - Mix the melted butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla together.
2- Add the pumpkin. Mix lightly and set aside.
3 - Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, oat flakes, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt)
4 - Add to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
5 - Place on a cookie plate and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

* * *

I still have half a pumpkin to use, and I am thinking of trying to make a pumpkin pie. I've never tried it, as my grandmother makes the best pumpkin pies in this entire Universe! But now that I live in a different country, I can not enjoy the yearly pumpkin pie meeting (aka: Thanksgiving), so I'll just have to learn to make my own!

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it!

Seed-a-lee-doo...

This season, I learned a lot about sowing and caring for a garden. I've also come to realize that while it is indeed a lot of work, it is not necessary, unlike what I was led to believe, to be absolutely perfect in the art of gardening in order to enjoy a decent harvest. There are weeds in my garden. Yep... But there are also perfectly fine vegetables which I was able to add to many meals and happily savour. It certainly was successful enough in the end to make me already look forward to next year and a new garden season.

In preparations to that, the next thing I wanted to explore was seed harvesting. How fun would it be if I could eventually harvest all my seeds from my own garden and use them in the following years! Not only would I save a lot of money over time, but I would also ensure the quality of my seeds. I decided to start with the obvious: Everything that grows in pods.

So I am intentionally leaving some peas, green beans and yellow beans on the plants to mature and dry,  whereafter I will be able to crack the dried pods open and save the seeds for next year.

In the meantime, I looked around the yard and garden to find seeds that I could already harvest, and here is the result of my mini-quest.

Zucchini
(Same process for pumpkins)

1- Allow one of the zucchinis to grow and mature on the plant. I learned that they can become really quite huge!

42 x 12 cm (around 16.5" x  4,5") 

2- Cut the zucchini open and scrape the middle out.

Cut and scrape...

3- Find the healthy looking seeds. They look pretty much like pumpkin seeds. Discard the rest of the gooey stuff. The flesh can be eaten, of course! Lay the seeds on paper towels or on a screen net tray. Set somewhere warm and dry and leave them for a couple of weeks. When the seeds are completely dry, store for next year!

It's not only vegetable seeds that can be harvested. Flowers are fun too, and some of them are quite easy to deal with.

Iris

I spotted my blue irises earlier this year. When the flowers were done, the plant started forming pods in their place. I didn't touch anything and waited through the season for the pods to mature and dry.

1- Wait for the pods to dry and turn brown. They will start opening at the top and they will sound like mini maracas when you shake them.

Dried iris seed pods (featuring a blurry Kashew  in the background)

2- Pick the best looking ones, and crack them open.

3 - Clear residues out and store the seeds away. 

Lavender

Harvesting lavender seeds is a bit of a different process. 

1- Wait until the flowers are done and dry. They will have holes all over.

Dried lavender flower. (Featuring a blurry Tiana in the background)

2- Cut out some of the dried flowers and place them in a container with lid.

Lavender flowers, even at this stage, have such a nice fragrance! 

3- Close and shake the container. The little seeds contained in the flowers will fall out. 

4- Take the flowers out and set the seeds aside. Repeat the process with the same flowers until no more seeds are obtained. 

5 - Clear the residues out and store the small seeds. 

Tiny lavender seeds

I don't actually have any intention of sowing lavender directly in soil. I have a lot of it and one of its way to propagate is to run roots out under the soil in and pop baby plants everywhere. So as nice looking and as beautiful a fragrance it can have, it can be quite a pest at times! However, lavender in pots can also have its charm. :)

That's it for the time being. If any of you also harvest seeds and have tricks to share, please feel free to comment! I would love to hear from you. :)