Saegoah Pursuits: The Orange End of Winter Treat

Saegoah Pursuits: The Orange End of Winter Treat February 27, 2015

This is the first of a new type of series I’m starting wherein I share a bit on the goings on in my personal quest for Ehoah (complete harmony within Nature). I plan to do this series as a periodical post from time to time with no schedule. I also invite other Saegoahs to share their own adventures in their pursuits in comments below and/or as submissions to this blog (pathsthroughtheforests(at)gmail(dot)com).

So here is what I’ve been up to:

Saegoah Pursuits, Arboreal – Pteromyini 8 / 12014 H.E.

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A Pumpkin I Grew In My Garden By My Apartment Stairs. Image Credit: Rua Lupa

The Orange End of Winter Treat

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while would likely remember the post I did on suburban and urban gardening, and the photos of my own garden by the stairs of my apartment. In the finally photo of the animated gif there was a pumpkin, and that pumpkin was stored in our apartment until recently. That is to say that I totally ate that orange temptation. I had puréed it in my blender and because it was on the smaller side I didn’t have four cups of pumpkin at my disposal so altered my homemade recipe so that It worked by cup. And here is my recipe below with my vegan pie crust recipe as well which I used to make cupcake sized pies.

As a side note, I personally am not vegan or vegetarian. I just found that its more ethical to eat less meat to lower my impact on the environment, I also acknowledge that we don’t require as much meat as is conventionally eaten today. Vegan and Vegetarian recipes also makes for longer lasting camp food and I have a friend who is allergic to eggs and milk so it makes sharing food easier and being able to share dishes is more fun anyway.

Vegan Pie Crust
Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C)

2 Cups All-purpose or Organic Whole Wheat Flower
1 tsp Salt
2/3 Cup Shortening (alternatively lard)
8 tbsp Ice Cold Water

Mix 2 cups of flour & 1 tsp salt with 2/3 cup shortening. Then add 6-8 tbps of ice water.
Stir until mixture forms a ball.

For open top pies, roll dough flat and large enough to fit into pie pan.

For crust covered pies, divide ball in slightly off of half: Roll the larger one flat and large enough to form the bottom of the pie pan. Roll the smaller one to form the top of the pie.

For mini cup cake versions roll flat and separate and form size and shape further by hand.

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Mini Pumpkin Pies Nearly Devoured Before Remembering To Take A Picture. Image Credit: Rua Lupa

Pumpkin Pie Filling (vegetarian)
The following is for Per Cup of Pumpkin Puree

1 cup Puréed Pumpkin
½ tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, Allspice, cloves and sulphites)
1/6 cup Honey to sweeten

Mix all together and pour into pie crust.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425°F (220°C), reduce heat to 350F (175C) for 40 minutes. If pie puree remains gooey, turn down further to ~300F (150C) or less and check again in 30 minutes. Repeat until knife comes out clean.

The puree can become half its original size due to water content. Alternatively you can add a cup or so of flour to puree to thicken it and hasten the baking time.

 

Taking Advantage of Unexpected Sprouts

One of the reasons why I prepared my pumpkin for a meal was because I was able to press down on its skin and it would bend with the pressure. No longer being hard means that I either had to prepare it now or let it begin to rot. When I had opened it up, I found that several of the seeds inside were sprouting. Unfortunately the chopping process of preparing the pumpkin for eating had damaged a lot of them – because their sprouts where already stemming and were thus fragile. I still managed to save a bunch of them that were just coming out of their seed and decided to convert my second worm composting bin into a cold frame in full – having already left a carrot top and allum plant grow from the scraps. I had dried out the rest of the seeds on a baking sheet with newspaper hoping that they too weren’t starting to germinate and had inadvertently killed them then and there. These being the offspring of a pumpkin that successfully grew in the tough conditions I had already subjected it to made them all the more valuable to preserve and start landrace heritage with. At the absolute least there is one that looks to be doing grandly in its new highly fertile home.

Only One Pumpkin Sprout Had A Stem - The Rest are Buried Around It. Image Credit: Rua Lupa
Only One Pumpkin Sprout Had A Stem – The Rest are Buried Around It. Image Credit: Rua Lupa

Stay Tuned For More on Worm Bin Composting in a Later Post!

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