Wow, two posts in a row! (and "Looking Back Sunday")

Well, I made it to my class today. Most of the spinning part was yesterday and today was primarily knitting (and I don't knit), however Judith did spend some time with me on some questions that I had, and I got to spin some beautiful Bluefaced Leicester/silk blend and triple plied it (eeek) - (s-twist on the singles and Z twist on the plied) and the knitted mittens that everyone was making were quite nice.

So, on to Looking Back Sunday - These pictures were actually taken two years ago this week - but the game is still the same - Our church provides some of the pumpkin pies for the community food baskets - and for the past few years, we've been providing the pumpkin for those pies.


After the pumpkin is baked, I scrape it into my big yellow Tupperware bowl. Previous years I have used my potato masher to smush up the baked pumpkin - but this year - TA DA - I got to use my new KitchenAid immersion blender that Susan at Farmgirl Fare is always recommending.

Wow, it really lived up to her promotion! The first bowl had a few "stringy" bits - that thing really took care of them and pureed up the whole bowl in just a few minutes - It got a harder workout on the second bowl as although that pumpkin had been in the oven for FOUR (4!) hours, it was still a little bit "chunky" Way preferable to using a potato masher, let me tell you. So I'm pleased (I also got a chance to blend up the black bean soup that I was making at the same time - Yum)


As in years past, The Shepherd saved the best and biggest seeds. These are an heirloom Amish pie pumpkin and often weigh up to 20# - so you can get enough pumpkin puree for 8 or 9 pies from one pumpkin.






I portion it at 2 cups in a freezer bag and flatten it out for easier storage.

The Shepherd took all 30 packages that I did this past week up to church today - there are four more pumpkins for our use - pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie or pumpkin bars with brown butter frosting - (check my recipes for all these delectable treats)


And the weather report - it's about 26 degrees out now and they are forecasting more snow for tomorrow - I have a feeling it's gonna be a L-O-N-G winter!