my favorite season.


Even though our schedule seems to speed up in September (and fly through until the end of October), my heart longs to slow down and enjoy simmering soups, bread fresh from the oven, smores roasted over the fire pit, and even better then that? Lots of birthdays in our family so extra time to enjoy with family and friends. 

And then there is the added fun of pumpkins -I love them! I love eating food made with them, I enjoy going hunting for them, they are perfect for pies and lattes. And even though my fingers were a bit tender after making a couple of them - I still love them.  

There are a lot of patterns out there for making your own fabric pumpkins, I referred back to Danielle Thompson's post. However, I chose not to do much sewing by hand and used my sewing machine instead. Even when you get to the part where you hand stitch so you can cinch up the top and bottom of the pumpkin - I just machine basted and treated it like I was making a "gather".

And to go along with the love of pumpkins and autumn... another "nut" recipe.


This is my third recipe from "party nuts". The books has 50 recipes and it is well worth the investment. I am a person who prefers pies and cookies over nuts, but this book has opened my eyes to the possibilities.

jenny's friend leo's grandmother's pumpkin pecans
-another handed down recipe that makes 4 cups-

-1 large egg white (2 tablespoons), lightly beaten
-2 tablespoons cold water
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
-1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
-1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
-1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/4 teaspoon chili powder
-1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-4 cups raw pecan halves

1. Preheat the oven to 250 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the egg white, water, sugar, salt, spices and pepper flakes in a large bowl and mix well. Let stand for 15 minutes, then add the pecans and toss until well coated.

3. Transfer the pecans to prepared sheet and arrange in a single layer. Place in the oven and cook, stirring every 15 minutes, until the pecans appear dry, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven, immediately loosen the nuts with a metal spatula, and set aside to cool before serving.

Comments

  1. When this post came up in my google reader for a moment I thought you'd been painting pumpkins with small flowers with amazing uniform skill!! They look great. I'm obviously very British as I'm not very good at cooking with pumpkins...must try harder, especially as I grow quite a few. I am however a nut and seed eater so I love these recipes. Bethx

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  2. Too funny Beth! You will not be seeing any of my painting or drawing skills soon - they are quite sad. Very interesting about pumpkins - I had never thought about them being a regional type of veg... Although I have to admit they sometimes take longer then I would like to cook, so I cheat and used canned pumpkin puree. Glad to know you like the nut recipes, I hope to make some of these this weekend. :)

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