Painting with Gramma

Gabriella asked Gramma to do a craft with her today so we picked up a couple wooden cut-outs at JoAnn for $1 each.

The kids did a great job taking turns and being good listeners!

Red Warty Thing Pumpkin Pie

Here is my recipe for A Red-Warty-Thing pumpkin pie that is dairy free and gluten free!

Crust:

Mix:
1 cup Rice Flour (I prefer brown but white will work just fine)
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp xanthan gum

Cut in:
1/3 cup plus 1 T of Spectrum Naturals Organic All Vegetable Shortening

Add 3-5 T of cold water as needed and stir with a fork until it is fully mixed. Gather dough into a ball in the bottom of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

Filling
In a large bowl combine:
2 large organic eggs
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 cups Red-Warty Thing Pumpkin puree (see post here for how to make your own)
1 1/2 cups Organic Rice Milk (have also made successfully with goat and almond milk)

Whisk together until fully blended. Set aside. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove dough from the refrigerator. Press by hand into a 9 inch glass pie plate. Quickly re-whisk the pumpkin mixture and then pour into the crust. (I find it is easiest to place the pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet, and put it into the oven, then pour the mixture into the crust. That way I don't make a huge mess spilling the pumpkin liquid when I transition the pie to the oven).

Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees F. Bake for another 40-50 minutes or until you can insert a knife in the center and it comes out clean.

Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool before eating. It tastes best warm but there is a fine line between letting it cool enough to get it out of the pie plate in a pretty slice or just eating it hot from the oven (careful, it is burning hot!).

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Puree

I love all things pumpkin! But I hate the way canned pumpkin tastes so metallic. Plus organic canned pumpkin is insanely expensive. Enter: lessons from mom.

My mom taught me years ago how to make our own canned pumpkin. This year I did it with a non-gmo pumpkin. Woo hoo!! It occurred to me that not everyone would know how to do this, so I thought I would post a little "how to" for those of you interested in having fresh pumpkin in your freezer year round. Plus the cost of doing it yourself is considerably cheaper than buying it in the store.

What you will need:
Crock-Pot
Pumpkin
Sharp knife
Some water
Food Processor or blender
1 cup measuring cup
Freezer safe, non BPA, quart size bags (I use Ziplock)

Wash the outside of your pumpkin and start cutting it into chunks.

Using a sharp knife, cut the hard outer layer off and then inner slimy/seed layer off. 

Rinse the pumpkin chunks and then pile them into your crock pot. 

Add enough water for about 2 inches on the bottom.

Cook it on low overnight or high for several hours during the day. When it is in the crock pot you can walk away and forget about it and not need to sit there and watch that it doesn't boil over or run out of water. 

Once it is fully softened (stick a fork in it to check, the same way you would check mashed potatoes), drain off as much water as possible. Then put the chunks of pumpkin straight into your food processor or blender. Note: you may need to do several batches this way depending on the amount of pumpkin you have. 

When it is completely smooth, scoop two cups out and put them into a freezer bag. Seal the bag after getting as much air out as possible. Continue to bag it up, two cups at a time until you have bagged up all of the pumpkin puree. 

Now put the bags in the freezer and enjoy fresh pumpkin all year long! 

I like to layer the bags on top of each other and then stack them on a large book in my freezer. That way they freeze flat and not in weird shapes that are hard to store.

This year I did up a Red-Warty-Thing and three Pick-a-Pie pumpkins. We have been eating pumpkin like crazy!!

Fun Day

Last Thursday the kids and I headed to the zoo with our friends Emily and Victory.

We had a great time! I am so happy that we got a membership so we have a fun and free activity that we can go do whenever we want.

All 6 of the tigers were out and close to the fences so it was very exciting.  And in the aquarium Xander kept kissing the glass because he was kissing the fishies rhat swam up close to him.

The peacock that roams around came super close to us while we were eating our lunch we'd packed from home. Victory was talking to it and it got close enough to us that we could have pet it!!

We hit the playground area before we left. Gabriella slid down the slide and got her pants soaked. She laughed and said, "I just like being all wet!"

Ruined

I am ruined.

I am ruined for an ordinary life.

I am ruined for just going through the motions.

I am ruined for "so-so".

I am ruined for anything other than an unstoppable love.

Place me like a seal over your heart,

    like a seal on your arm;

for love is as strong as death,

    its jealousy[a] unyielding as the grave.

It burns like blazing fire,

    like a mighty flame.[b]

7 

Many waters cannot quench love;

    rivers cannot sweep it away.

~Song of Solomon 8:6-7

Last Week

We haven't been up to much lately. Here are a few pictures of my sweet kiddos from the last week. Love those two!!

Perfect Pumpkin Smoothie

Its fall and I LOVE  pumpkin! I was craving a Jamba Juice Pumpkin Smash smoothie but it has dairy and non-organic soymilk in it. Mega bummer! So I headed home and made a delicious knockoff.

Get a food processor (or large blender) and combine:
1 pint So Delicious Coconut Milk ice cream Vanilla Bean
2 cups pureed pumpkin (I used homemade!)
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 Tbsp organic sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg (can add more of the seasonings to taste if desired)

Blend them all together and enjoy! A delicious and healthy treat! Plus it is non dairy and gluten free.

Autumn Walk

It was forecast to be rainy all day today but there was a little break in the rain and the kiddos were so restless in the house so we hurried outside.

We walked up a couple blocks to the local elementary school and then back to our house.

The kids had fun stopping to pick up leaves off the ground. And Gabriella chose to change out of her clothes and into pajamas so she would stay warm.

Children's Museum

The kids and I headed out today to go find something fun to do. Our friends tipped us off to the Children's Museum so we headed there.

It wasn't as big as Kid Time in Medford, but we still had a lot of fun (and I survived my first trip somewhere like this with both kids by myself!!).