Scarecrows and such

Our town started a new activity last year.  The Historical Society thought it would be a great idea to do a scarecrow fund raiser.  They sell the head for a fee and then the person buying it comes up with a clever scarecrow to house the noggin.  Last year, they sold out of the 50 they had made. This year, they sold out of the 100 they made and there's already a list for next year.  Pretty cool idea, I thought, and money raised for a great cause.  Enjoy some of the fun antics we have going on around town, won't you?

Josh, the pizza chef and butcher extrodinaire at your local general store.

The EMT outside of the fire station and ambulance service.

That's one GIANT spider at the Brown's house!

you can't see in this picture, but boy to the right is playing Super Mario on a fake tv, the little girl in front is walking their dog, Mom's harvested the garden in the back, not sure what Dad's up to...

At a local beekeepers house...

At the oldest resident's home, she's got got the Boston Post Cane this year and is 94!

Headless Horseman indeed!  We'll miss the person who used to ride up and down the street on Halloween night dressed at the headless horsemen with her bay horse, they moved to Tennessee this year.

an ode to the snow lovers...

A local artists home, pretty neat and it's rained a bunch since this was taken and the painting looks the same!...

At a retired shepherd's home...

Where we get our hunting licenses and deer cutting station...

Their daughter is an adult ballet dancer...

And Maestro's favorite, a Patriots fan watching tv with his big bowl of snacks, soda and magic 8 ball...

If I get a chance to get out and take more pictures, I'll add to this, there are 100 of them around town, after all! 

Scarecrow adventures to you, ~Peacemom







Lamb & Pumpkin Quesadilla With Cilantro Sour Cream

My oh my...this was possibly the best quesadilla I've ever tasted!  I can't take credit for this recipe, it was from Cooking Close To Home by Diane Imrie & Richard Jarmusz.  I borrowed this book from the library in my quest for local eating recipes.  The authors live in Vermont, so I thought it would be a good bet that I could find one or two inspirational recipes.  I was not disappointed!

This recipe called for lamb, and after two trips to the grocery store and unable to find it locally, I used ground hamburger instead.  The other substitution I used was parsley instead of cilantro (as those of you who have graced me with your readership know, I very much dislike cilantro).  I also added shredded carrot, because, well, we all like them, I thought the flavor would compliment the pumpkin and I had them in the garden ready to be harvested.  I was looking for a pumpkin recipe as I got one at the CSA last week and wanted to try something with pumpkin that was not sweet.  This is a recipe I will make again, it's being added to my "bag of tricks" as it was a quick and nutritious meal to put together on a work night.  Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

Lamb &  Pumpkin Quesadilla with Cilantro Sour Cream

Serves 6

1 tsp olive oil
8 oz ground lamb (or ground beef)
1/4 c onion, chopped
2 tsp fresh garlic, chopped
1 1/4 c raw pumpkin, shredded
3 Tbl fresh cilantro (or parsley, as I used)
2 Tbl water
1/4 tsp dried ground chipotle pepper (I used chili powder as I didn't have chipotle pepper)
1/8 tsp salt
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
6 six-inch whole wheat tortillas (or corn, which we preferred)
(I added  1/2 cup shredded carrots to the mix also)
Oil for pan

1 cup sour cream
2 Tbl fresh cilantro (or parsley)
1 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice (my addition, yummy)

1.  Heat a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add olive oil, ground meat, onion and garlic, and saute until fully cooked.  Stir to crumble lamb as it is cooking.

2.  Add the pumpkin, cilantro, water, chipotle pepper (carrots if using) and salt, and saute for 3 to 5 minutes until pumpkin is tender but still holds it's shape.

3.  Remove from heat.  Place the meat mixture in a bowl and add cheddar cheese.

4.  Lay out the tortillas and divide the filling equally between them.

5.  Spread filling in one half and fold over to form a half moon.

6.  Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and lightly oil.  Place the filled tortillas in pan and cook about two minutes on each side.

7.  In a small bowl mix together the sour cream and cilantro (and lime juice if using).

8.  Cut each tortilla into three triangles and serve with sour cream on the side.

So yummy!  The pumpkin is delicious without being overbearing in flavor and I loved using it as savory instead of sweet in a recipe.



Our own cooking show

Good Morn to you,
Just wanted to post a recipe for some yummy pumpkin bread that Little Red and I made the other day. He's really becoming quite adept with the mixer and is loving not fighting over who gets to mix the wet or dry ingredients. Since both boys love to help cook, and both love to do the wet ingredients, we have to switch off who does what each time we cook together. Now, Little Red gets to do wet AND dry and life is good in his little world. This having big bro gone to school for 4 hours each day is not all bad after all.

He's been having some fun with me during this time. I've purchased a few workbooks and we do our "school work" for 1/2 hour each day and we have set up a bit of a routine already. Once we wave our final goodbye to Maestro each day, we usually hop in the car if we need to go somewhere and head out first. This gives Little Red something to look forward to as he's always ready for an adventure. And let me tell you now, anyone who doesn't have at least two children wouldn't know this...it's absolute heaven shopping with just one of the boys at a time. Instead of dancing around, singing, knocking things off shelves, chattering incessantly, the list goes on, Little Red interacts with me, is well behaved, asks me questions, isn't hopping around like an ant with his butt on fire, it's all good.

After errands are completed, we usually come home, have that 1/2 hour of school work, then it's snack time. After snack time, we usually will make something together, some days it's cooking, some days arts and crafts, whatever the mood strikes me that day. Then, here's mommy's one big guilty pleasure that I've not been able to indulge since they stopped napping years ago...I turn on...shhhhh....don't tell anyone else, okay?....the Food Network....and watch a cooking show! A whole half hour of cooking, and no one jabbers through the whole thing, I can actually hear it AND get to increase my brain power instead of just listening to (let's face it, can't watch it) Curious George for the 453rd time. Oh, I love it! And, Little Red even likes it too. He says things like "YUMMY, that looks good" and "Can we make that, Mommy", oh it's music to my ears. I so rarely get to watch any TV that is adult TV and to be honest, most of the time, I don't care. I prefer to read at night once I crawl wearily into bed, so it works out just fine most of the time. But, I do miss the days when Music Man and I would snuggle up on the couch with some buffalo wings and the drink of choice and camp out for whole afternoons in the fall and winter and watch the Sox or Pats and enjoy a peaceful afternoon together. Though I'm not a football fan at all, I am a Music Man fan, and snuggling up on the couch with him didn't need an excuse! Time alone? We NEVER get that now, and I do mean NEVER. You parents know what I'm talking about, I know you do. I guess as they get older perhaps this will change, but I'm not holding my breath. I think life as we knew it is gone for good. But, when I look at my wonderful little men, I don't mind so much, they are more inviting then a Sox game most days!!

Now that the cooler temps are rolling in, I hope you'll try this delicious bread recipe. The boys like it a lot and have been eating muffins for breakfast for 2 days now.

Little Red's Pumpkin Bread

1 cup canola oil

2 1/2 cups sugar (I didn't say this was high nutrition this time around, did I?)

4 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 cup water

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1 cup dried cranberries, raisins, or both

Grease bottom and 1/2 in up sides of three 8x4" loaf pans (or one 9x5" and 12 muffin cups), set aside. In an extra large mixing bowl beat sugar and oil with electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs and beat well; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add dry mixture and water alternately to sugar mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.
Beat in pumpkin. Stir in cranberries and/or raisins.
Spoon batter into prepared pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven 55-60 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, cool completely on racks. Yum mo!!