All pumpkined out.
Fresh off dropping the pounds from the previous week TOM decides to pay
a visit. So back up 4 pounds but I won't stress unless it's still here
a few days from now.
I've had a week of pumpkin! I bought more than I needed, and once it
was all cooked and mashed I had to dig up a couple more recipes to use
it all up. I had intended to make pumpkin oatmeal, which turned out OK,
and pumpkin fries, which turned out ... well ... mushy, and didn't
crisp up at all as the recipe said they would.
I'd also planned to make some pumpkin hummus,
which I must say was truly yum! So much so, in fact, that I promptly
got it out when the in-laws stopped by so they'd help eat it up.
Everyone really liked it and I followed the recipe except that I did
not add any oil, and next time I think I'd use a tad less lemon juice
and a tad more cumin. Oh, and maybe reduce that tahini to see if it
makes much difference to the flavor, that's a lot of fat. Otherwise it
was perfect ... very moreish as my mother-in-law described it!
What to do -- I figured now was the time to try any other pumpkin
recipes I had on hand, as I don't generally have cooked pumpkin
around. (Squash, to me -- it's a butternut squash, but they call those
pumpkins in Australia).
Pumpkin muffins -- now those were divine! I still had one cup left
though. Fresh stuff should be used within 3 days, I believe it said on
the home made pumpkin puree recipe I'd used. So I had to think of
something or waste it. Hey! He got me an ice cream maker for
Christmas. So far he's mostly been using it -- which is good because
he makes non-vegan ice cream, so I don't eat it. So far he's made
vanilla, cream cheese, snickers, and now Snickers with fudge layers.
He's gotten creative. So I wondered -- is there a pumpkin ice cream?
Sure enough I found several recipes on the net, even vegan ones. So I
made it -- very pumpkin pie tasting and I thought it was good -- spicy
like a muffin, but in a frozen treat. As I can't find soy creamer
here, it was all soy milk, so maybe that's why it wasn't as creamy as
I'd liked - more of a sorbet than an ice cream really -- but if you
like pumpkin pie flavor, you might like this stuff. I liked it --
wouldn't call it a favorite. The hubster and the in-laws were not keen
on it at all. Ah well ... we're now free of pumpkin. LOL
Good news is we walked about an hour and a half Saturday -- drove the
car in to the shop (with the dogs) and then we walked them back home --
45 minutes. Walked back to pick up the car -- another 45 minutes. My
feet are feeling it as I haven't been walking regularly like I used to.
But it feels good. Another very warm day today, though there was a
cooler breeze on the first leg of the walk, but it was a warmer breeze
during the second.