Autumnal musings

There are a few things that I've been meaning to blog now for a while, but haven't because the pictures that I want to include are on our other camera, and the card reader associated with that camera is still packed away somewhere in the dark neither regions of the garage never to be seen again. Or at least not for a few more years. So I will just write and try to create with my awesome literary skills so that you can benefit from my musings without the benefit of the pictures.

And most of this has to deal with pumpkins. Just to let you know.

So tonight I made dinner in a pumpkin. And you know that anytime making a dinner starts with first going out to your front porch, assessing your meager Halloween decorations, and finding the pumpkin that looks the least sunken, then get ready to cook in it, you know you're in for good times! Rachele told me about this recipe last year but I never made it, so this year I knew I had to give it a try! So here is the recipe in case you need a fun, festive recipe to try with you and yours! Dinner in a pumpkin. I must say, the presentation of the meal was truly impressive and I felt my inner domestic goddess shining out from under my apron. And the best part, it was very yummy! We had our neighbors over to share it (it made a lot of food!) and we all enjoyed it. Well, maybe not Isaac as much, but he doesn't eat most things these days. Except for Vienna sausages for some reason, but I digress. Another topic for another entry.

On Monday night, we carved two of our four pumpkins which stand sentinel on our porch. Jarom created a very funny curvy-faced jack, and I followed a stencil to make the silhouette of a cat. The tail has already started wilting, but I'm sure that once I get a candle lit inside, it's going to look so amazing, you won't even notice that the tail is just about vanished. Isaac was a bit concerned when we started cutting into the orange flesh and scooping out the seeds and stringy goo and was very reluctant to get involved, but he finally helped pull out the intestinal mess and even used his plastic knife to help cut the already-cut-out pieces. I'm sure this will get more fun as he gets older, but I can see why we haven't carved pumpkins for many years.

The other fun food activity was inspired by my friend Stacy's blog where she gave instructions on making turtle bread. Our version turned out pretty good (and again, another time when the visual would be so much more apealing, but what do you do), although I think it probably needed to rise a little bit more. I also added a little too much salt (I don't usually confuse my T and t, but must have been in a bit distracted trying to keep Isaac and his friend Will from pushing each other off the stepping stool as they took turns adding ingredients). But otherwise, we had a great time! Isaac LoOoOoOoves helpiong me cook and I usually only let him help with things that won't make too much of a mess, but with the bread, I let him and his friend help knead the dough and do just about everything. I tucked my OCD self in the drawer and just let the activity be the objective, not the end result. And in return, we had a fun time making a fun snack!

Now that we live just a few miles from BFE, I've been making it a point to cook more (Del Taco is, like, 15 minutes away now!), and I've been using a cookbook I got for Christmas last year that my friend's ward put together, and some of the recipes have been so good! I'll try to post a few on here in the next little while incase anyone out there needs an idea of what to cook for dinner. My favorite by far, the quick fettucini. I've made it three times now.