How To Bake A Pumpkin

  I know a lot of you out there in blog land are getting ready for American Thanksgiving. Are pumpkin pies on your menu?

  I bought some pumpkins at the farmer's market earlier this fall to use in my fall decorating. (Click here & here to read about them.) Since fall is officially over here in Saskatchewan & winter (including snow) has come, my pumpkins were due for a makeover... a cooking makeover that is.

  If you have bought pumpkins & have struggled to peel them before cooking them, then this post is for you, my friend! This couldn't be easier!

What you need:

• A pumpkin (this is for a 4 lb. pumpkin. If your pumpkin is bigger, you'll need more water & leave it in the oven longer.)
• 1 cup of water
• 1 roaster pan or 2 smaller baking pans
• An oven :)

1) Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2) Split the pumpkin in half & seed it. Remove the pumpkin guts (stingy fibres) by scraping the insides with a metal spoon.

3) Fill roasting pan with 1 cup water (more if your pumpkin is bigger). Place the two halves cut side down in the pan. 

4) Bake the pumpkin until very tender. About 90 minutes. Longer for a larger pumpkin. 

This is what they will look like. All blistered & bubbly.

5) Flip them over & scoop the flesh out of each pumpkin half. 

6) Puree pumpkin flesh in a food processor or blender & use as needed. It also freezes well.

Here's visual run down of the instructions (feel free to "pin it"):

Pin It (Aak! this pinning button doesn't seem to be working... I'm still figuring this out. Sorry!)

What do you plan to make with your pumpkin? I use mine for yummy muffins & pies. 

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Chef In Training

Fall Festival

  In the last few weeks of blogging, I've been talking about the Fall Festival that our church was planning. Sunday was the big day. My friend, MJ, & I had set up our booth on Friday afternoon. I was full of anticipation to see what people's reaction would be.

  We started the day out getting our kids all costumed up for our church's Candy Carnival. Our little girl was a hula girl & our little boy was a pirate. I got the hula stuff at Dollarama. Most of the pirate costume came from thrift stores (ladies slouchy boots, too-big black pants, & a ladies ruffled blouse). We got the pirate hat, stick-on moustache, eye patch & sword from Dollarama. The parrot came from Wal-mart. The coat is mine. :)

  The kids partied in the gym while we were having church. After church, everyone headed into the gym for a yummy meal of fried chicken, rolls, & salads with home made pies for dessert. Delish!

  There was live entertainment, fun fall decorations, caramel apples, carnival games, popcorn, sno cones, tons of candy for the kids, & of course the booths which were run by different people in our church. 

  Our booth was well received & MJ & I both sold about half of what we brought. I'd call that pretty successful. 

The goodies in our booth. Top row: my offerings. Bottom row: MJ's fabulous creations.

  

  I didn't get a lot of photos as we were kept pretty busy with our customers, but here's a few:

A great time was had by all! I, for one, hope it becomes an annual event. A huge thank you to everyone who helped pull it off!!

Enjoy your Monday!

Linkin' Up:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Don't Mess with My Pumpkins!

  Fall decor is lovely... until it gets stolen!! Grrr! Last night, my husband came home from an evening meeting to find one of my lovely pumpkins (previously residing on our front porch) smashed in front of our next door neighbour's house. I'm positive it wasn't my neighbour's doing. Likely some passing kid thinking it was funny. Don't get me going. Just let me start & finish by asking you to please teach your kids to respect other people's property. I will stop my rant there.

  I'm trying to just forgive & move on. But to protect my remaining pumpkins from harm, what can I do? I thought I might carve something like this into them...

What do you think? Perhaps throwing some explosives into the mix would help as well?? 

I'm trying to enjoy my day. Enjoy yours!

"Thankful" thanksgiving banner

  Well, here in Canada, Thanksgiving is coming up soon. This weekend, in fact! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie... Mmmm... is it dinner time yet, Mom? :) We're so blessed to be invited to my parent's for Thanksgiving dinner on Monday. It's one of my favourite times of year. 

  For Thanksgiving, I like to add some extra touches to my fall decor. I made this Thanksgiving banner to display at this time of year. 

  I started with 8x8 squares of patterned paper. Then, I wanted to round the corners off to make them look "leaf-ish". I actually used a soup bowl to trace the rounded edge & free cut them. 

Then I:

-inked the edges 

-cut the letters with my cricut 

-stamped leaves in fall-ish colours & cut them out

-gathered all my fall type stickers, etc.

-started decorating!

  Then I punched holes in the top of each "leaf" & used ribbon to connect them into a banner. I hung it under my bar top between the living room & kitchen. 

  Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! 

I'm thankful for:

My loving Saviour, Jesus Christ

My wonderful husband

My precious children

My warm, comfy home

My fabulous friends

My great church family

And really, what else do I need?

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Someday Crafts

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

The Creative Paige

Tatertots & Jello

The DIY Showoff

One Artsy Momma

"Gilded" Pumpkins & Squash Tutorial

  What do water, pumpkins, & spray paint have in common? Well, for today they are three of the objects needed for the "gilded" pumpkin & squash project I made yesterday.

  First of all, let me tell you that this project is super fast! It only took me 10 minutes plus drying time.

Here's what you need:

-Pumpkins and/or squash. I used the mini ornamentals that you can buy this time of year at the grocery store.
-A bucket of water
-Metallic spray paint (I had some silver spray paint left over from my silver side table project)
-Rubber gloves
-Newspaper or cardboard to place pumpkins on while they are drying

1) Fill your bucket with water almost to the top for easy dipping.

2) Shake your spray paint & generously spray a layer of paint onto the surface of the water. Spray paint floats because it's oil based.

3) Dip your pumpkins / squash into the water & paint mixture. You may want to dip a few times to get the desired amount of "gilding". I found that I could dip 2 pumpkins / squash & then I had to add more spray paint to the water.

4) Allow the "gilding" to dry. Mine took about 2 hours to dry.

5) Display & enjoy!

How easy is that?! I think they are so pretty. They would also be pretty in a display with a few different metallics... silver, gold, & bronze, for instance. If you give it a try, be sure to link me up with your pictures so I can see your results!

Enjoy your day!

Linking up to: Nest of Posies Fall Festival & Someday Crafts

Vintage pretties

  I'm so excited! On Friday I had a brain wave... but let me start at the very beginning (a very good place to start. That's for all you Sound of Music fans.). The last time I went thrifting/antiquing one of my finds included an 8x10 black & white photograph. The man at the antique shop I got it at didn't know who the people in the photo were/are, but I wanted it anyway. The clothes, the hair, & the soft angelic look of all the girls drew me in. (I'm also curious to know why there's only one male in the photo?)

  I bought a simple black certificate frame at Wal-mart & discovered that it was too big for the photo. I set it aside to return & find a new frame. That's when the brain wave hit. I had some vintage sheet music I was itching to use in my home decor. So I got it out & mounted the photo on top of it. Then I slipped the music with photo into the frame & wa-la - almost instant vintage art. I'm lovin' it.

  I hung it near my back entry with my new mail / magnetic key holder from Umbra. 

I quite like the mix of modern & vintage.

  So that kicked off my weekend in a satisfying way. I had a wonderful weekend: flowers from a dear friend, a massage on Saturday morning, found some cute pumpkins at the farmer's market in the afternoon along with doing some window shopping at some thrift/antique shops. On Saturday evening I was able to get in some crafty time making some cards & a scrapbook layout. (I'll post those pics tomorrow.) Sunday was church with my wonderful church family & family time in the afternoon & evening. A blissful weekend all around.

Oh, and how could I forget?! I also joined Pinterest this weekend. What a cool site. I love the fact that now all the inspiration I come across on the internet can be corralled in one spot without a million bookmarks. 

Not to mention categorized! :)

(This girl loves all things organization.)

  What did you do this weekend? Did you find any treasures or start any projects? 

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day!

Linking up to Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Fall Decor

 I've been seeing some fabulous fall decor in blog land as of late. I am especially enjoying all the fall wreath ideas out there. Alas, I didn't make one this year, but I did get a good deal on mine at HomeSense. That counts right? ;)

  I don't do a ton of fall decorating in our home... mainly just a few touches in the main living area & my front porch. I'm in awe of some of the beautiful front porch displays I've seen recently. Gorgeousness! Seriously, just Googling "front porch decorated for fall" will inspire you. There are some amazing displays out there. 

  Here's what I've done this year on our front porch. Our porch is pretty small, so I keep it simple. I'll probably add some pumpkins when I find some.

Fall Mums

Fall Mums

New doormat in fall-ish colours

My HomeSense wreath

I did something a bit different with some of my fall decor inside this year. I had some sprigs of fake fall leaves, but was never quite sure what to do with them. They weren't wired, so it was impossible to make them look real. So, I cut them all off the sprig so I could use them individually. I added some to the hurricane lantern on our front table. And don't worry - the candle in there is a flameless, battery operated candle, so it's not a fire hazard! 

I'm loving the orange accents with my purple walls.

Front table. Leafy pumpkin is from HomeSense as well.

I also used some of the leaves in my table centre piece. In the fall, I collect pinecones in the parks near our house. Yes, I'm that lady who is walking around the public parks, collecting natural items to use inside. :)

Centre piece on dining area table

More pinecones & a small birch branch adds a little touch of added interest to this pumpkin pie dish.

On the bar top

What have you been doing for fall decorating in your home? 

Please leave a comment & fill me in. I'd love to hear from you.

Enjoy your day!

Linking up to: the Fall Festival at Nest of Posies, Tater Tots & Jello, One Artsy Mama, & Craftaholics Anonymous

Chai Loaf

  I am loving fall. Well, here in Saskatoon it still feels like the middle of summer since our weather has been unusually warm. But I've started to see a few trees starting to don their autumn fashions, the nights are feeling cool, & school is back in full swing. It feels good to be back to the regular routine. With fall comes a change in menu & the foods we make take a bit of a turn. Soups, stews, & "comfort food" become regulars on my menu plan. I also tend to do more baking.

  Here is a great recipe for one of our favourite loaves. I'm pretty sure it will become a favourite of yours too.

Chai Loaf

Prep time: 15 min. Total time: 3 hrs. 55 min (includes cooling time)

Makes 1 loaf

Bread

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter or marg, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup prepared tea or water (I use decaf chai)

1/3 cup milk

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. ground cardamom (found it in the ethnic foods at superstore)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

3-5 tsp. milk

additional ground cinnamon

1) Heat oven to 350 F. Grease loaf pan with cooking spray.

2) In large bowl, beat sugar & butter with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs, tea, milk, & vanilla on low speed until ingredients are well combined (will appear curdled) . Stir in remaining bread ingredients just until moistened. Spread in pan.

3) Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (do not underbake). Cool 10 minutes in pan on wire rack. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool 30 minutes.

4) In small bowl, stir powdered sugar, vanilla, & 3 tsp. of the milk, adding more milk by the teaspoonfuls, until spreadable. Spread glaze over bread. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly & store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

  What are some of your favourite fall baking recipes? I'd love to hear about the things you're whipping up in your home. 

  Thanks for stopping by! 

Enjoy your day!

Linking up to: Nest of Posies Fall Festival, Tater Tots & Jello, & Craftaholics Anonymous