The Art of Using Fresh Pumpkin To Bake

MMMMMMM it's pumpkin season again and I am in LOVE with pumpkins. So far I've made pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin soup and now this yummy pumpkin cheesecake! It's a fairly easy recipe for such an elegant looking pie! For the complete recipe go here and check it out! I always use brown sugar even when it calls for white sugar in all pumpkin recipes because it tastes much better that way. When I'm feeling a bit wild I'll add some maple syrup to the mix too! And maybe some Trader Joe's Tahitian Vanilla extract-yum! (Betty doesn't know everything!)

For a series of pictures to inspire your baking, continue reading :) 

First, take a trip to the pumpkin patch and pick out some pumpkins. Some say there are special "baking pumpkins" you can look for but Aiden says that they are all the same to him! (He picks the best ones!) 

Next, set your baby in his highchair with a snack and a special movie on TV so you can uninterruptedly begin carving up this ginormous vegetable. Make sure to warm up your muscles with a few jumping jacks beforehand, this carving business is a lot of work! Whew! I always feel a little guilty just throwing away the rinds of the pumpkin. If I had a hog out back, I'd throw it to him. If my husband didn't shut down my composting station in the backyard, it would have gone there. (We need an actual composting bin from Lowe's, the flies and smell were too nasty for this prissy little city neighborhood) If we could recycle them, I so would. But since we have none of the above, (for now) I just toss them in the trash. Sigh. Oh well. 

Now, after you've carved up and baked the pumpkin at 350 for about an hour and a half, scrape out the mushy pumpkin straight into the blender to make your puree. I add a bit of salt to the puree to help preserve it when I freeze large amounts and for the jar that remains in the 'fridge too. 

Yummy homemade pumpkin puree! Now you can truly ditch the canned stuff that's most likely been sitting on the grocery shelf for A YEAR! GROSS! YOU really gonna EAT THAT!!!????? This will taste so much better, just you wait and see! And no, not just because you used up an hour and a half of your life preparing this pumpkin mush, but because it really does taste more like, well pumpkin and not whatever they add to the canned stuff to make it last years on the shelf. YEARS...(Just breathe that in for a second)

Oh and don't forget to take your kid down from the highchair when you've put up that big carving knife. He wants to play with his cars. 

On Not Having Cable, (or any) Television

"We don't have t.v. " I say when someone asks if I've seen the most recent episode of The Bachelor or any other show.  "What?" They reply, "How do you LIVE!!??" "Very well thank you..." I reply.
Now don't get me wrong, we do own an actual TV.  It's one I bought when silver was the "in" color back in 2003 after landing my first real job after college graduation. And although I would LOVE to own a big, fancy LED Sony 62 inch, our TV works just fine when we decide to pop in a movie after Aiden has gone to bed. We have a Blockbuster membership, (Been meaning to do Netflix but the cashier at Blockbuster is just too cute to give up! Haha!) We probably watch maybe one movie a week and then when the only TV shows I care about are in season, ("Parenthood", "Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting") we watch that online at Hulu from the wi- fi that our most generous neighbors unknowingly supply us with :) Every now and then when I want a real brain cell killing fix I'll tune into "The Hills" (strictly for fashion updates) or "Teen Mom" (When I am having a bad day and am questioning my stellar parenting abilities) :)
Most evenings after hubby arrives home from his long day at work we eat dinner as a family, go on walks, go to downtown farmer's markets, meet new neighbors at our park across the street, listen to Aiden's music and sing with him, have friends over to BBQ, get house projects done,  and just...well...talk and play with our baby. Now that I've got my piano moved back into our house I predict lots of piano playing as my alone time in the evenings or even some super- cheesy family sing-a-longs!  It's peaceful and mind clearing not to have the sound of the 5 O'clock news droning on and on in the background informing us of all the things that are wrong with the world. We read about it online and that's enough. NPR radio shows provide much to ponder as well. When we used to have cable, I feel like we would spend our evenings consumed by it, starring at it like zombies and not being in the moment of our life.  (I almost never turned it on during the day though unless I was sick on the couch) I feel like we missed out on sharing more of our thoughts, coming up with new ideas, being outside in nature, having the mental space to be creative and exercise our talents for ourselves and with Aiden. Life is short and you don't truly realize this until you have watched a child of your own grow into their first year. I am afraid of missing out on the poignant memories of our baby laughing and rolling around on the floor with his Daddy because I may have spent too much time in front of the TV throughout his early years. When we first rid ourselves of the brain-cell killing device, (oops I mean cable) it was a little quiet and felt a bit lonely in the house but after a week or so we had adapted and came up with new, more interactive ways of living that truly make each one of us more alive and happy. I think having cable can be great and I'm sure we will have it again someday, but by doing without it for a while, (So far over a year) I hope that when it enters our life again we can learn how not to get so addicted to it like a lot of people out there. I hope we will create our own stories instead of watching the scripted ones of the actors.
What are some family activities you enjoy? I am always looking for new and creative ideas for spending quality time together.

Green Your Halloween!

This year, instead of shelling out mucho cash for a costume your child will only wear ONE night, try greening your Halloween by participating in a costume swap. Go here to find a local costume swap in your area and if there's not one than think about starting one maybe through your mommy's groups, playgroups, or churches. I'm going to plan one as soon as I get home!
According to Green Halloween, if just half the children who celebrated Halloween swapped costumes instead of buying new ones each year, annual landfill waste would be reduced by 6,250 tons which is equivalent to the weight of 2,500 midsized cars!
Be green, save some green!

Baby's Nanna Oat Breakfast Bars

On mornings when we need to be out of the house by 8:30am for playgroups, doctor's appointments, or other activities we eat these yummy homemade cereal bars alongside a hard boiled egg or some Greek yogurt for some extra protein. Just like banana bread but a lot healthier! 

1/2 cup Sucanat (or other unrefined evaporated cane juice)


1 Tbsp finely ground flax seeds


1/4 cup plain or vanilla soy or almond milk


1/4 cup sunflower or other light-tasting oil, preferably organic


1 tsp pure vanilla extract


2 medium, very ripe bananas 


1/3 cup dried cranberries (optional)


1-1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not instant) 

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut


1/4 cup whole oat flour 


1/2 tsp baking powder 


1/8 tsp (.5 ml) fine sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line an 8”  square pan with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, combine the Sucanat, flax seeds, soymilk, oil and vanilla. Cut the bananas into chunks and add to the bowl. Using a potato masher or large fork, mash the bananas into the mixture, leaving a few little chunks (about the size of peas) here and there. Stir in the raisins, if using. Set aside while you measure the dry ingredients, or at least two minutes. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour the wet mixture over the dry and stir well to combine. It may seem too wet for a bar dough; this is as it should be.

Scrape the mixture into the pan and smooth the top. Bake in preheated oven 40-45 minutes, rotating pan about halfway through, until the top is dry and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Makes 12 bars. May be frozen.
Gives baby lots of energy too so that they can go and do things like this: