From Old Farmer's Almanac...

Seasonal Advice
To Clean a Pumpkin for Cooking
First, scrub the outside of the pumpkin with a vegetable brush. Cut the pumpkin in half and use a spoon to scrape out the fibers and the seeds. A serrated grapefruit spoon works great for this. Cut the pumpkin halves into smaller pieces, then place them skin side up in a shallow baking dish. Add water to just cover the bottom of the dish, and cover tightly. Bake in a 325 degrees F oven until the pumpkin is fork tender. The time will vary depending on the size of your pieces. Let it cool, and then either cut off the peel or scoop out the flesh.


Pumpkin Spice Mix Recipe
Mix the following in a jar:
1/3 cup ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg or mace
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1-1/2 teaspoons ground allspice.
For pumpkin pie, add 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of spice mix to your other ingredients.


Crunchy Pumpkin Seeds
Miscellaneous Recipes Vegetables Recipes
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Start to Finish Time: 20 minutes
2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine seeds and oil and toss well to coat. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake about 10 minutes and stir. Bake another 5 minutes or until lightly toasted. Transfer to a large shallow plate to cool.
If you prefer, you can toast seeds on the stovetop. Warm a large cast-iron frypan over medium heat. Add oil, then seeds, and stir well to coat. Spread mixture in an even layer; stir often until seeds are lightly toasted. Season with salt. Transfer to a large shallow plate to cool.

Scent Your Jack-o'-Lantern
Sprinkle a teaspoon of pumpkin spice mix into your carved pumpkin before lighting the candle.

Storing Pumpkins and Winter Squash
Winter squashes don't like to be quite as cool as root crops do. If you have a coolish bedroom, stashing them under the bed works well. They like a temperature of about 50 to 65 degrees F.

Uses for white vinegar.

Here are a few uses I did know about;

fasting dark colors-add a cup of vinegar to a first wash of new, dark colored clothes, helps to fast the overdye(a cup of salt works also)

in making your own "windex"-1 part each of; water, white vinegar and non-sudsing ammonia

fluffy rice-1 teaspoon of white vinegar in the water will give you white, fluffy rice

preventing the smell of cabbage from fumigating your house, add 1 teaspoon to water before adding cabbage

keeping acs from getting mold or bacteria growing in the collection pan or lines-pour 1 cup of boiling water and then 1 cup of vinegar into the line access, keeps ice from forming on the line(causes water backup in your house) and kills germs and mold.

Now for some uses that surprised me;

clean your john- pour vinegar into bowl, let sit 5 minutes, scrub off stains, then flush

rust cutter-put rusty or corroded bolts in some undiluted vinegar, then you should be able to work them free

grass killer-use half strength on any grass in sidewalks or driveways

freshen slightly wilted vegetables-soak in cold water and vinegar.

DO YOU LIKE SWEET TATERS?

of course the foliage is absotively beautiful!

but, did you know that you can pluck the greenery from the potato, stick it into some soil and in about two months have your very own sweet potatoes?

first you'll need a sweet potato - next you'll need to poke a bamboo skewer through it's midsection and place it into a tall cup or jar of water, remembering to keep water in it up midway until the greenery comes on.

when you have done this and your greenery appears, wait until each frond is about eight to ten inches long, pluck it off and stick it about two to three inches into a large pot of loose soil. indoors in the winter, moving the pot outdoors in the warmer months.

it takes about two months to realize your crop and you'll need to put on a pair of rubber gloves and dig down into the soil to check on the progress of the tater - we like ours to be at least six inches in length and about as big around as a half dollar for frying. larger for boiling or baking.

some benefits of sweet potatoes!

frying:

place about two tablespoons of canola (or other good oil) into a frying pan - put four cups of scrubbed and sliced sweet potatoes (unpeeled) into hot oil - fry until tender and serve. you may also add midway through whatever spices you'd like.

if you'll notice - the sweet potatoes DO NOT absorb any of the oil - i thought it was magic at first, but they just don't get greasy - most of the oil is left standing right in the pan! TOSS IT!

remember when frying sweet potatoes with other potatoes - they get done quicker than the other potatoes so slice them twice as thick.

ENJOY!