Headless Horseman Strikes the Garden

With Halloween around the corner, we all know that monsters might appear at any time of day or night, but the mere picking of our first orange sugar pumpkin brought to our garden…duhn Duhn DUHN… the Headless Horseman!

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There it is, our first orange sugar baby.
 
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I spent the evening creating this Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust using a fantastic recipe I found at The Hungry Mouse. It’s made with cognac. Enough said. Well, not enough — I want to add kudos to Jessie for her detailed photos and instructions on the making of this yummy and divine dessert.

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But alas, I confess that I resorted to canned pumpkin to make it. Here’s what happened: When I cut open that little sugar pumpkin that passed all its tests on ripeness, I found that there was a fair amount of green mixed in with the orange inside. I honestly didn’t know whether a little green was okay, but as the pumpkin was already cut open, I went ahead and scooped out the seeds and pulp and baked it. I figured I’d give it a taste test after baking and decide then what to do, all the while feeling pretty much like a pumpkin murderer knowing that there was a good chance I wouldn’t use it.

Well, the baking went fine, but when I tasted it, my first sugar pumpkin, I couldn’t tell whether it tasted the way it was supposed to, so I erred on the side of safety and decided to open a can of pumpkin. Well, it turns out that the canned pumpkin tasted exactly the same, so I could have used my little sugar pumpkin, but it was too late!

But the good news is that I remembered that pumpkin is good in a variety of ways for dogs, so the little orange-greenish pumpkin will not go to waste. I’ve already given some to the dogs, and tomorrow I hope to try my hand at making pumpkin dog treats, perfect for the holidays. I might also try making some muffins or other yummy human treat.

pumpkins10-26-09.jpgThe cheesecake is for today’s annual pumpkin carving party at our friends Stepan and Jennifer’s house. It’s our first year growing our own jack-o-lanterns, which have been behind schedule due to the hot summer and fall rains. But we chose three of our 10 growing pumpkins for early carving. Two are small, and one is still a bit green, but we grew these for carving, so carve them we will! The other seven pumpkins still on the vine will be for carving later in the week or for fall decorating.

pumpkinsb10-26-09.jpgMy yard is going to look so empty after I have to remove all these pumpkin vines… 

9 thoughts on “Headless Horseman Strikes the Garden

  1. Meridith,
    Good looking pumpkins. I’ve always heard that the pretty orange ones were not the best for cooking with. Just yesterday I bought a big (14inch)green one for making pies and muffins with.
    If you need a cheese cake tester I can send you my snail mail address…

  2. Well, Randy, I’d take you up on your offer, but our local taste-testers beat you to it! We brought a single piece home from the party — I guess my family will have to fight over it!

  3. It’s a great family tradition to carve your own pumpkins for Halloween! We just gathered our pumpkins and decorated a porch with them. We usually buy two big pumpkins for the boys to carve. Our biggest one was 64 lb in 2006.

  4. LOL Pumpkin murderer. Sounds like a good halloween story. The cheesecake looks and sounds delicious! I had no idea that pumpkin was good for dogs. Well I learned something new today. Thank you.
    I also know what you mean about clearing out the pumpkin vines. This year the birds planted several around my garden and I let them grow thus discovering that I really like them. The foliage is amazing. I will plant some on purpose next year. Of course those will probably all die and the birds’ pumpkins will thrive.

  5. I’ll have to add that to my Thanksgiving menu. Sounds and looks delicious! Have you tried roasting the seeds with a little salt and oil? My favorite!

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