Farm to Table Foodie Pumpkin Video and Recipe

The Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend, Sari and I had an amazing day in the pumpkin patch. It was PERFECT weather and we got there before the parking lot filled up with hundreds of cars. The fields were full of pumpkins and the place was packed with families of all shapes and sizes running around the property. It was quite interesting to see that they also had Camel rides and a giraffe on site. Hmmmm... I wasn’t real sure what that was all about but the pumpkins were plentiful so that is all we cared about. Check out the video HERE and the recipes below. ENJOY!

WHY WOULD YOU BAKE A PUMPKIN?

You can make:

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Bars, Pie, Scones, Pancakes

Pumpkin Risotto

Pumpkin Ravioli

Pumpkin puree can substitute oil in baking. Use a 1:1 ratio

Freeze the puree in 2 cup portions if you aren’t going to use it all.

DIRECTIONS FOR BAKING A PUMPKIN:

BAKING WHOLE: Wash the pumpkin and place it right on the oven rack with some foil on the bottom rack under the pumpkin to catch any drippings. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes depending on the size. Then cut in half and scoop out the guts in the middle. Use the flesh for puree.

BAKING IN HALVES: Cut the Pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and guts. Place the halves face down in a shallow pan filled with about about 1/2 inch of water. Bake at 350 degress for 35-60 minutes. To check, insert a knife through the skin and when it slides through easily, the pumpkin is cooked.

ROASTING THE SEEDS:

Rinse the seeds and release them from the pumpkin guts. Lay on a paper towel to dry. After the seeds have dried spread them on a baking sheet and season with: honey and cinnamon, salt and cayenne, parmesan and italian seasoning, etc. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. You may want to shake them up during the baking process.

FEATURED RECIPE:

Pumpkin Mousse

2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

1 ¼ cup macadamia nuts or cashews

12 dates

1 ¼ cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk

Pumpkin Spices

2 t cinnamon

1 ½ t nutmeg

½ t ginger

Bake a small/medium pie pumpkin. Scrape out the flesh and set aside. While waiting for the pumpkin to cook soak the nuts in the almond milk for a couple hours (Soaking overnight is recommended if using a regular blender). Soak the dates in hot water for about 20 then drained. Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth.

*You can eat this mousse alone or put it into a date/nut crust, pie crust, tart crust, make parfaits or freeze as an ice cream.

Farm to Table Foodie Apple Video and Recipes

Wow! I have been super neglecting this blog lately. So many things going on and trying to edit the Apple Video was one of them. It is finally complete! Check it out! Just click HERE !

See the recipe below!

FYI....I am setting the wheels in motion for a possible move back to Santa Cruz by early next year. Who knows what that will look like or when it will happen but I am very excited about it. So much to pursue there and I am ready to make a place my home.

In "Farm to Table Foodie" news, I will be hopefully shooting a piece on pumpkins in the next week or two so be ready for the video and a great recipe in a few weeks. Hope you are all having a beautiful fall and enjoying the yummy harvest foods. Feel free to drop me an email if you need any ideas for your latest Farmer's Market pickup or you just want to say hi!
info@thyme2travel.com

Best - Becks

On the Fly
Apple Pie

Ingredients

Filling:
7-8 Peeled Sliced Apples
1 T Cinnamon
1 cup apple sauce
4 finely chopped medjool dates
¼ cup of whole wheat flour (or substitute with gluten free flour)
Topping:
1/3 cup nuts (use any variety or any mixture of cashew, pecan, macadamia, almond, walnut)
10 medjool dates
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup flax meal

Method:
Peel and slice enough apples to fill a 9x13 baking dish about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with 1 T Cinnamon, add applesauce, chopped dates and flour and mix well. In a separate bowl mix the rolled oats and flax meal. In a food processor mix together the nuts and dates. Add the nut/date mixture to the oats and flax and mix well. Crumble and press the oat mixture on top of the apples. Bake for 30 minutes at 375

OTHER DELICIOUS RECIPES

Apple Sorbet
Serves 10

Ingredients
2 cups homemade applesauce (see recipe below)
2 cups %100 apple juice
2 Teaspoons lemon juice

Method
Puree in blender or food processor. Place in shallow dish and freeze at least 6-7 hours. Serve
by scraping into curls with a soup spoon or ice cream scoop.

Apple Sauce
Ingredients
4 Apples, peeled, cored and chopped (Use sweet apples such as gala, fuji, honeycrips or pink lady)
3/4 cup water
2-3 dates
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method
In a saucepan, combine apples, water, dates and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork for chunky or blend in a blender or food processor for smoother sauce.

Apple Time!

Sunday, Sari and I hit the Illinois highway on a GORGEOUS day to go apple picking. I swear, everyone and their dog decided to do the same thing on that very day. We went to a large orchard about 1 1/2 hours outside of Chicago, Kuiper Family Farm, and were amazed to see the how big it actually was and how many people were there. On one side of the country road was a enormous pumpkin patch and things going on for the kiddos and on the other was a huge parking lot (field) of hundreds of cars that lead up to the main barn and apple orchards. Apparently this was a very popular place. The line was probably about a 2 hour wait to pay and get your apple picking bag.

Luckily we were sly and took a shorter route which I won’t go into greater details about. You can ask me in person ;) (We didn’t hurt anyone nor did we cost the farm any money). They had a large variety of apples such as honeycrisp, golden delicious, empire, and roman. Families were all over the place and there were plenty of apples to be picked. It was such an awesome experience that I recommend to anyone. You get to get out into the field, spend time outdoors in the fresh air, be active, pick fresh fruit, and take part in a piece of nature. LOVE IT! We spent a couple hours filming and playing around before we hit the road again.

So many apples!!! Too bad these were all left on the ground to rot :(

Eve in the orchard

Film time - I'm saying something very imformative ;)

The beautiful cinematographer

How do you like them apples?

Next up, was the Long Grove Apple Fest. We decided to take the back roads about1 1/2 north-east-ish and appreciate the two-lane quieter roads with a little but more countryside scenery. BUT along the way I saw a sign that we were driving through Bartlett, Illinois and remembered an article I had just read about a movie thriller that was being created based on the urban legends of this road in Bartlett, Illinois called Munger Road. (Check out the story: http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-movie-munger-road-inspired-local-myths-murders-161600009.html ). I told Sari to google map it on her iPhone to see if we were close. Well, we were only a mile away and decided to drive the quiet eirey road over the railroad tracks just to say we did. I can definitely tell that it could be very creepy at night. Sari loves that stuff and wants to go back in the evening some time. Me? Not so much!

The Festival!

Back to the apple-day..... we made it to Long Grove and like many festivals I have experienced lately, I was disappointed. You would think that when something is called Apple Fest, there would be tons of booths selling apples and apple things. Well, there was one booth with apples and cider, another one with apple martinis and one bakery, the Applehaus, selling pies, donuts, and apple treats. The rest were crafts and tons of carnival-like JUNK food. And this was not just some tiny festival. That drives me crazy! Make it about the apples! The two lines for the Applehaus, one on each side, were probably a 2 hour wait. Do you think we waited? NO! Do you think we still got something? YES! Man, we are good! Sari slipped a guy in front of the line a 20 and asked if he would buy us a pie :) No problem. The pie is called a brown bag pie but it comes in a box. When we opened it, we were in a little shock but no longer wondered why it seemed so heavy. There was a huge carmel dome over the top that protected the flaky crust and apple filling and it was half wrapped in brown parchement paper.

Wow! Someone was actually selling apples at AppleFest!

THE pie!

But, what seemed to be one of the most popular things to buy at the Fest was a big let down. I am so glad we didn’t wait in line. The flavor was pretty blah and the filling was not well gelled together because you could see all the little clear pectin chunks mixed in with the apples and cinnamon. Total bummer! Oh, well, I was going home soon enough to make some fresh apple recipes of my own that I knew would be much better. We were late told by passersby that we should have tried the Apple Donuts but we were NOT about to wait in line. We could see them cooking them up though and of course they did smell pretty tasty. After a quick walk around we saw all that we cared to see and hit the road again. Back to Chicago!

The infamous Apple Donuts we could small, see and grab (if we really wanted to) but did not taste

Overall, it was an awesome fall day and if you have an opportunity to get out to an orchard in the next few weeks, I absolutely recommend it. It’s Apple time!

P.S. Hopefully we will have the video ready to post by next week.