Pumpkin Time!

I easliy get distracted from doing things like, oh I dunno, updaiting blogs, when the fall rolls around.  There's just so many things to do before winter, get veggies canned, get the fruit in, and then there's pumpkins.

Like, this one:

That's my kitty Specter by the way. 

I had meant to do an introduction post for all of the cats, and horse, and everyone by now but a few things happened to distract me.  Computers, real life, animals, fruit.

Mostly the animals and fruit... and of course now the pumpkins.




Most people look at pumpkins and see a jack-o-lantern, pumpkin carving, and all of that fun stuff.  I see something else, pumpkins appear in stores or at farmers stands and instead I start dreaming of pies, and cookies, and most importantly pumpkin butter.

Yes, you read that right, pumpkin butter.  Most people haven't heard of this wonderful fall treat, and the ones that have almost immediately start dreaming of it when they hear the name.  But what is it you may be wondering?  It's like apple butter, a creamy fruit spread you can put on anything from toast to ice cream.  I love it on pancakes and french toast.  You can also use it in cooking  in breads and other things like that.  In the case of pumpkin butter it's almost like a pumpkin pie, in a jar.  Just remove the pie shell, and egg, and of course the milk, and just leave being the pumpkin and the spices. 

Sounds yummy?  It is.  The first year I made it, by almost accident, I canned my first batch of 15 jars.  Almost as soon as they were cooled people had bought them up. I ended up doing 3 more batches of 20 jars each that year.  All of my batches take around two days to make, from the time the pumpkin is peeled and chopped, to the time its placed in a slow cooker and allowed to cook over night on low, to the point is canned in jars.  I really do think letting it cook slowly in a slow cooker allows the spices to spread threw the butter a bit better so each spoonful has that glorious pumpkin pie flavor.

I'll stop now before I make myself or anyone who may be reading this hungry.

The point was, it's pumpkin season, and for me that means butter time, which also means my house smells like warm pies for days on end.  Really fresh butter, from fresh fruit are one of the best things to wake up smelling as they cook.