I’d like to offer a huge thank you to everyone who made our morning so much fun yesterday. Our entire stock of Vanilla Extract sold within just a few hours, thanks to you! For those of you who missed out, there are three more options for you:
1. Wait until February when we’ll have another batch ready to sell here.
2. Learn how to make your own vanilla extract. This is so much fun, very easy and cuts your cost down significantly. The vanilla beans may seem expensive initially, but I’ve learned that by making homemade vanilla, my cost is at least half what I’d pay for store bought vanilla. (Plus, you can get a discount on your vanilla bean purchase – read how this works!)
3. Check out this post in which I shared about my friend Jill’s homemade vanilla. She is the wonderful lady who taught me how to make vanilla, and she has some bottles available!
In other news, I baked a few more pumpkins yesterday for pies and muffins. Note to self (and to whoever else might benefit from this advice): Do not forget your pumpkins and leave them baking for five hours while you visit with a friend and make a trip to the store. Your pumpkins will turn black.
Ask me how I know this.
I’m happy to report that the pumpkins were only black on the outside and still worth using on the inside, even if they were a little darker orange than preferred. Perhaps this is where the color “burnt orange” originated?
The pumpkin puree still worked great to make Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares this morning for our class, thankfully. ;)
Here’s our menu for this week:
Sunday, November 13
Marriage class treat – Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares
Roasted chicken, carrots, potatoes, gravy
High School Huddle – Sloppy Joes (x4), chips, pickles, olives, carrots with ranch dressing, pear slices, butterscotch bars (x3)
Monday, November 14
Mini apple pies, cheese slices
Pizza casserole, tossed salad
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, green beans
Tuesday, November 15
Coconut flour muffins, pears
Chicken burritos, apples, carrots
Shepherds pie, tossed salad
Wednesday, November 16
Crustless breakfast quiches, creamy orange cooler
Baked potatoes with cheese and sour cream, peas
Teriyaki chicken and vegetables with rice
Thursday, November 17
Mini breakfast pizza, oranges
Turkey ranch pinwheels, fruit salad
Turkey sausage and red bean stew, tossed salad
Friday, November 18
Fried eggs on toast, fruit-kefir smoothies
Sub sandwiches, apples, carrots, fruit leather
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, steamed carrots and broccoli
Saturday, November 19
Multi-grain pumpkin waffles
Leftovers
Easy noodle stir fry with veggies
I have a pumpkin puree question! I baked my pumpkin last year scooped out the pulp and pureed in the food processor. When I used it in recipes it seemed too wet and the recipes didn’t have the right consistency. What did I do wrong? I tell people to give me their pumpkins when they are done decorating their porches, because my goats and chickens enjoy them. I have been given a PILE of perfectly good pumpkins that I cannot help but want to bake for our own use but I don’t want to go through all the work for something that doesn’t work very well.
I read somewhere else that after you bake it, you can cook it down on the stove so the water evaporates and it’s thicker.
I’ve never really had trouble with my puree being too wet, but I like the idea of cooking it down on the stove to prevent that from happening.
Just roasted pumpkin a few days ago and have a post about it ready to go up. Guess we will be making pumpkin pecan pie squares this week! Yum Yum!
I just started making my menu plan and I always start with yours as a base. (you should feel proud!) Anyway, I noticed your menu is heavy on the chicken and turkey this week. I was just really curious if that was an accident, or whether you had a surplus of poultry supplies you were trying to use up.
Also, I had a question regarding your big decision you and Matt recently made regarding not purchasing a local property. Did you share the details of your decision or the decision making process with your boys? Just asking because I wonder how much is enough or too much for kids to know about, especially regarding financial decisions. I ask because I am not at that point yet, but I will be someday. If this is too personal, disregard. I don’t mean to be nosy. We all make a lot of decisions on a regular basis regarding moving/relocating, purchasing homes/cars, school decisions, etc, and I wonder if this is a topic that might be relevant to others.
Funny that you noticed that! I tend to choose beef meals since I LOVE my beef. But, I made a goal to serve lots of chicken this week since I have a lot of chickens hanging out in my freezer. :)
Regarding your question about including our kids in making our decisions, that’s a great topic for a post. I’ll try to answer that question on my blog soon!
Ha!Ha! I like your idea for where the color burnt orange came from! I like baking pumpkins and having it in the freezer. It’s so easy!
Thanks for being willing to share your mishaps – like pumpkins cooking for five hours…or waffle batter and butter spread all over the stove while making waffles (hmmm…that was ME today…). Makes it easier to remember that mishaps are NORMAL, and then it’s not so overwhelming to clean up messes like half baked, butter slathered waffle batter. :)
I am wondering if making my own vanilla would be cheaper than buying it from Costco. Any ideas?
I don’t have a Costco close to me, so I’m not sure the cost there. When I figured it a while ago, I found that making it cost half what I was buying it through my food co-op or at a regular store.
laura, i baked a pumpkin for pumpkin puree, it was a very beautiful orange color and i baught it from a local farmer. but when i baked it and cut it open it was not at all orange it was a verypale yellow on the inside and very watery. so im thinkinhg it wasnt ripe? has this ever happened to you?
I don’t think anything was wrong with the pumpkin – you may just need to cook the puree down a little bit on the stove-top to thicken it a little bit.
I made vanilla to give to the ladies in my family after your advice and instruction this summer. It made A LOT more than I need! I would be happy to sell some if anyone is in need. I used your directions. Anyone could email me at leedapbdc at gmail.com . I would sell 3oz bottles for $9 including shipping.