It’s the great pumpkin – Cooking up memories

While grocery shopping I spotted several pallets of pumpkins. Jumbo pumpkins. The first thing that popped in my mind was, “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” That’s exactly what was printed on the boxes containing the pumpkins.

Seeing all of those pumpkins reminded me of the Charles Schultz character, Charlie Brown. The TV show inspired by the Charlie Brown comic strip always reminded me that it was time for picking pumpkins, making pumpkin seeds, and Halloween.

It seems that just yesterday (really a few decades ago) my brother and I were carving a pumpkin at my grandmother’s kitchen table. Newspaper was spread open to help contain the mess that was forthcoming. The top was cut off for us and we dug out all of the insides, squishing it with our hands and picking out seeds.

My grandfather helped us clean the seeds, put salt on them and bake them. He also made pumpkin pie. I’d like for my kids to experience moments such as this. They like carving pumpkins, but they don’t like touching the fleshy part of the pumpkin. One son will put on gloves rather than touch the mush.

Mushiness aside, I came across a few recipes to try this year. The Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins looked like a great treat. The recipe is below (www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins/Detail.aspx).

• 3/4 cup white sugar

·         1/4 cup vegetable oil

·         2eggs

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin

·         1/4 cup water

·         1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

·         3/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·         1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1.      Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

2.      Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

3.      Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Soup

Oops - Pumpkin Soup again...I couldn't delete it (-:

Whether you venture out to the local pumpkin patch or just to the grocery, It’s the time of year for cooking up some memories.

What are your memories of the harvest season? Do you have a favorite recipe to share?