Pickin’ Pumpkins

Yesterday we took the kids to the local pumpkin patch. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and they had a great time. We let Ella and Troy each pick a pumpkin. Troy picked his right away; Ella took her time, searching for the smallest pumpkin she could find in the pumpkin patch. Luke slept the entire time. : )

Last year’s pumpkin patch trip

I Heart Faces: Orange

Things have changed a lot since the last time I entered an “I Heart Faces: Orange” challenge.

Pumpkin

During the month of September I checked the grocery store every time I went looking for a pumpkin to make pumpkin baby food for Ella. Pumpkin season fell perfectly for me to make pumpkin as a baby food for her. As the beginning of October rolled around, the pumpkins appeared in the stores. I grabbed one up the first time I saw them. As usual, I read about how to make the pumpkin on www.wholesomebabyfood.com. I did, however, buy my pumpkin prior to reading on the website. The website recommends buying a smaller pumpkin, sometimes called a sugar or pie pumpkin. Although I bought the wrong type of pumpkin, I plowed ahead.

I figured that the pumpkin would be cooked similarly to the butternut sqaush - and I was right. After removing the seeds and strings, place the pieces fleshside down in a little water in a baking dish, and bake at 400° until the skin puckers up. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, it might have been simple if I had the proper knife for breaking down a full size pumpkin, but I don't. It took me quite a while to get all the pieces cut apart, and separated into several different dishes (I think I had to use 4 different baking dishes to get all the pieces in the oven at the same time). Even though it was difficult to break the pumpkin down, the result was definitely worth it. Once baked, the pumpkin flesh is easily removed from the pumpkin skin. I pureed most of the pumpkin, and froze it in the ice cube trays. What I didn't puree, I cut into small dices for Ella to eat as finger food once she got a little older. I froze small servings of the pumpkin dices in packages I made with Glad Press 'n Seal.

The two best parts of making the pumpkin:

1. Ella loved it.
2. I got to roast fresh pumpkin seeds for myself. I LOVE fresh pumpkin seeds roasted with some butter and salt . . . yum :)

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

One of the reasons fall is my favorite time of year is my love for pumpkin. I love pumpkin bread, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie, and, well, the list could go on! Last night I combined my love for pumpkin with my love for cream cheese desserts, and made a pumpkin spice cheesecake. I scanned many different recipes for pumpkin cheesecake, but I couldn't find one that fit completely with the quantity (and type) of ingredients I already had on hand, so I created my own recipe based on what I thought might work from looking at other recipes. My pumpkin spice cheesecake probably has a little more "spice" in it than most - but we love cinnamon around our house.

This cheesecake filling made enough for two cheesecakes - one with a crust (store bought graham cracker crust because I was in a hurry and it is easy) and one without a crust. We tasted the one without the crust, which is why there is not a picture of that one. :) However, I think if you made a true cheesecake (in a springform pan), this would be the perfect amount of filling for one cheesecake.

Ingredients

• 2 packages of cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin (I only slightly considered using some of Ella's pureed baby food pumpkin before chickening out)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 eggs

Mix cream cheese, flour, and sugar until well-combined. Add pumpkin, sour cream, and spices and mix well. Add eggs one at a time on low speed until they are just incorporated. Pour mixture into graham cracker crust (or pie pan if you are doing a crustless version).

Bake at 325° for approximately 45 minutes in crust, or 30 minutes without crust.

Add cool whip on top as an added touch!