Steamed Pumpkin Pudding and an Arctic Express

Magnus is able to annoy Newt, even in his sleep. The kitties spend about 23/7 indoors, now that the woodstove is cooking about 23/7 as well.

We tried a new pumpkin recipe tonight (scroll down a bit for the recipe), and it's a winner. If you don't already have a pudding steamer, this recipe alone is reason to go buy one.

The howling north winds are as tough on the bees as our more common Pineapple Express. The Fraser Valley can sometimes take over our weather in the winter, giving us days of bone dry, frigid gales. At least we're lucky this one isn't bringing snow. We put some old roofing panels to use as baffles, and it seems to help. You can see downed branches from our last windstorm to the left.

Gemini has a thick, soft, woolly coat to keep him warm. The humans, on the other hand, have to dress up in some creative outfits to work more than a few minutes outside.

The hens are keeping their feet warm in the straw while they get some sunlight. There is a heated water bowl in the background, and each coop has a heater on a thermostat. They still don't look very thrilled with this weather. Once Doug & Buddy are gone, we'll be starting on their coop upgrade/move to the barn.

Even the garlic is trying to keep warm! Hopefully the wind will leave the straw in place, if not we'll have to lay some chickenwire over it.

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It's garden planning time...the seed catalogs are getting dog-eared from overuse. The 2010 garden should be lots more productive, and lots less maintenance involved. Fingers crossed!

All steamed up over pumpkins

This time of year my thoughts turn to pumpkins! I always fill the freezer full of pre-measured baggies of pumpkin puree for use throughout the year. I had one 2-cup bag left from last year to cook up before refilling with a fresh hoard of sugar pie goodness, so I settled on this recipe:

Steamed Pumpkin-Cornmeal Pudding

Here's their picture of it. And the recipe:

Notes: Serve this moist steamed pudding with sweetened whipped cream flavored to taste with rum.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (3/8 lb.) butter, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/4 cup cup rum

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a bowl, mix flour with cornmeal, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.
2. In another bowl, with a mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin, rum, lemon peel, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until well incorporated.
3. Scrape batter into a buttered 8- to 9-cup bundt pan and set in a 12- by 17-inch baking pan. Place on bottom rack of a 350° regular or convection oven. Carefully pour boiling water around bundt pan almost to the level of pudding. Cover entire baking pan tightly with foil.
4. Bake until the pudding feels firm to the touch and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes, then invert over a plate to unmold. Serve warm, or let cool completely and cover loosely until serving. Reheat in a 350° regular or convection oven until warm, about 10 minutes. To serve, slice into wedges.

We used our pudding steamer, which sets in a large, covered soup kettle, with a few inches of water, to cook it. It simmered for about an hour then we had to run an errand. I turned it off, and steamed it a bit more when we got back, until a wooden toothpick came out clean.
Our version came out really dense, but tasty. Not sure if it was the extended steaming time, or that I forgot to mix in the eggs until later in the process. It unmolded perfectly (I sprayed the steamer with cooking spray and dusted it with flour) and we ate some with a drizzle of half & half, and some with huckleberry syrup. Tasty!!

Gratuitous kitty porn.....Magnus filling in as laundry inspector, making sure the dryer is working within acceptable parameters.