Pumpkin Patch Fun

    Halloween has been gone for over a week and the neighbors pumpkins are rotting away on their porches and I have still been remiss in posting about our pre-Halloween activities. I'll pin the blame on pregnancy brain and not just plain laziness! The Saturday before Halloween, Tim and I took our boys to the local farm located smack dab in the middle of Vancouver. I love having farm fresh produce available to me whenever I remember that Joe's Place farm  is so close to us.

 Once there, the boys began investigating the tent that held the hay bale maze.

Elijah was a bit concerned that he was going to hit his head on the roof about two feet above him.

Beniah was brave enough to crawl through the tunnels under the hay bales. No amount of coaxing, pleading, or shoving could get Elijah to go into the tunnels.

No amount of coaxing, pleading, or shoving can convince my husband to take a serious self photo of us.

Next up was the corn stalk teepee. Again, Elijah was super concerned with hitting the top of his head of the roof. 

Then it was off through the corn maze in search of good pumpkins.

We didn't find any good pumpkins there, but we did get in line for the highly anticipated tractor ride around the farm.

Complete with free apples to enjoy on the ride (perfect for this super hungry pregnant Mama!)

The ride was... thrilling as we passed neighboring houses and got to peek into their backyards. We had forgotten that we were actually still in the city.

 

Elijah ate his whole apple from the bottom to the top. It was the first non sliced up apple that he ate.

Then it was off to find a wheelbarrow and some pumpkins for the boys.  

Thankfully, they are more interested in the fun looking gourds than actual carving pumpkins. I personally hate carving pumpkins because of the gooey mess during the carving and subsequent rotting of the pumpkin as it sits outside with a candle in it. Plus, I like to cook up the pumpkin and make puree out of it for fall and winter baking.  I personally use the Pioneer Woman Cooks recipe for Pumpkin puree and got 13 cups of puree out of my one large pumpkin. 

 But pumpkin puree rant aside, we had a wonderful time finding the perfect decorative gourds that day.

Pumpkin Bread - The Cancer Fighting Superhero!

Did you know that Pumpkin is supposedly a cancer fighting agent? According to foodandlife.com it is one of the top cancer fighting foods. So, if I happen to hand out something made with pumpkin (or a bag of frozen pumpkin), know that it is because I care about you and definitely not because I have 12 bags of cooked pumpkin in my freezer and one can eat only so much pumpkin!

 Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping.

Streusel Topping Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup butter , softened 

Mix all ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

Bread Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Top with Streusel Topping 
4.  Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.