GratiTuesday - Pumpkins, Pumpkins, and MORE Pumpkins!

We recently made a trip to a farmer's market, where we saw

these monstrous sweet potatoes 

and these glowing tomatoes

and this fabulous looking streusel.

We came home with several large pumpkins - a new variety I'd never seen before.  The farmer assured me that each would provide enough pumpkin for several pies, so this afternoon my helpers went to work.  They had a great time cleaning each pumpkin for me and then prepping the seeds for roasting.

 

Our pumpkins started out looking like this ...

and ended up looking like this!

Tomorrow we'll run all of this through the food mill and have loads of pumpkin for Perfectly Pumpkin Pancakes and Caramel Pumpkin Doughnut Hole (Muffins) and Perfectly Pumpkin Waffles and Steal-Good Pumpkin Bread and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Brownies and Mom's pumpkin bars!  I'm so excited to have pumpkin packed away in the freezer, ready to go for lots of healthy recipes, but ...

Even more than that, I'm amazed at our kids.  Last year My Little Man scooped the cooked pumpkin out on his own, perched on a chair, eating as he went.  This year the kids totally prepared the pumpkins all on their own, working together the whole time.  Not only was it really fun to listen to them giggling and planning their strategy as they scooped, but it was also a huge help.  I mixed up a loaf of Spiced Applesauce Bread while they worked, then did some dishes, switched the laundry, took some pictures, and started making dinner.  The kids were on top of the pumpkin project, and I'm really proud of them.

They're growing up.

Good thing I have lots of pumpkin to feed them.

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