I have had a craft idea I dreamed up and I want to try here soon. Ya know, right now the pumpkins in our area are dirt cheap. Jim got me two the other day for a buck apiece. So I just want to have fun with them and let my imagination run wild. I love the smell of pumpkin and I haven't been able to buy any reasonably priced pumpkin scented candles, so this is what I may do today or at least I will, for sure, tomorrow.
Just slice the side off the pumpkin so that it looks like a boat. Clean it out of the seeds and stuff. Then I want to dig a few holes in the rind with a knife and put the little candles in it. Like maybe three holes and just put the little scented candles in it. I have some left over from other holidays. But, anyway, red candles or green would be fall-like colors.
Then around the candles, I want to put some cinnamon sticks and whole cloves and maybe some bay leaves, and a few pinecones and branches of rose hips. Then, when you light your candles, you would smell a spicey pumpkin smell.
This fall array would last you a few days. It would be nice to make this on a day you will be home all day. And then make a bean soup with ham hock for the family to come home to. Maybe make some homemade bread to go with it or pumpkin spice muffins.
For bean soup, I just take an array of beans and rinse them off, cook them until they boil, then let them set for an hour or so. Then I rinse this water off in about an hour, and then I get fresh water and cook the beans in a pot until they are soft, for atleast a few hours. Then I put in a ham hock or some bacon, and some onion and black pepper and salt. And then I usually throw in tomatoes or a tomato sauce. I use black beans and all kinds of the dried beans ... the different colors make it pretty. Then I will put in a slice of green pepper (or yellow) and slices of onion. My bean soup always looks festive and colorful. Also, I will add some cubes of pumpkin. Not a lot -- Papa would croak -- and he said no black beans this time. So the black beans are out for today.
Now, if ya like black beans like I do, you could cook them in a separate little pot on the stove and put them in your own soup when you serve yourself ... maybe the children like them, too. But I will add parsley and garlic and I dunno which other spices yet. I will just look through the cupboard and get creative.
We should be home this morning so I think I will got ahead and make my pumpkin craft.
Also, I always save my seeds and put them in a jar of salt water and let them sit a day. Then I drain them good and roast them in the oven with butter and salt and pepper, and a bit of garlic but ... shhhh don't tell Papa. Our family loves roasted pumpkin seeds.
But I love to use up my pumpkins and the more I use, the more Papa will happily buy me.
