Utilize a Halloween Pumpkin

I disagree with others who tell you 

 Halloween pumpkins 

are usable for decorative purposes only. 

 

Why waste it after season changes? 

Even these pumpkins are good food. 

Today I cooked my Halloween pumpkin.

I opened it up, took the seeds and gunk out. 

It didn't take long using an ice cream scoop.

The seeds were cleaned, seasoned
with Salt, Marjoram 

and a drizzle of olive oil. 

Baked crisp on 400°F (200°C) for about 15 min.
or until golden. 

The two halves of the pumpkin were baked in the oven for an
1.5 hours on 350°F (175°C).

The soft flesh came off the skin easily. 

In a big bowl I mashed the cooked pumpkin 

using a stave mixer and divided the amount. 

One part for pumpkin butter and another 

for vegetable stews/ soups.

The pumpkin butter was seasoned with brown sugar, 

cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clover.

Filled into clean mason jars they will stay in the fridge 

for a few weeks time without spoiling.

The recipe I followed for pumpkin butter can be found here.

The recipe for roasted pumpkin can be found here.

Peanut Butter Cookies

This is my favourite recipe because can be done within a short time.

I alternate it once in a while.

Sometimes I add raisins or chocolate chips.

Today, I used part butter and part melted coconut oil. 

I also added 1/4 cup of coconut flakes to the batter.

The cookies turned out crisper on the outside

and still a little soft inside. 

Very good. 

On some of the cookies I placed a chocolate chip

before they went into the oven. 

If you only have chocolate kisses available, 

place them on top of the warm cookie 

after they come out of the oven. 

Kisses would melt during the baking process.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter (1 stick)

1/2 c peanut butter 

(I prefer the crunchy version, ca 3 tblsp)

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

How to:

Preheat oven to 350 °F , (180 °C)

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl

Mix all soft ingredients in another bowl

and beat the batter for ca 30 sec.

Add the flour mix and fold it in until all is combined well.

Drop a teaspoon (I prefer 1/2 teaspoon = bite size) of the batter 

on an cookie sheet lined with non greased parchment paper.

Bake 8 - 10 min until edges are slightly brown.

Enjoy!

Hubby was quick to test the goodies!

There they go...... mmmh!

Coyote and Hare

For you who has not realized that I started a new blog 

for my "not food" related stories 

try the Link to get to my new posting.

Coyote and Hare

See you there!

Lemon Loaf

This morning when I checked in on FB I discovered 

Diania had shared David Larson's Lemon Loaf. 

Since my banana bread was down to it's last piece 

I gave it a try.

I needed something for a treat for after my 

Sunday afternoon walk.

This is a Top Secret recipe version of 

Starbucks Lemon loaf, David wrote.

I could know because I never go there but I 

will share the recipe with you here.

Starbucks Lemon Loaf

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup(s) FLOUR
1/2 teaspoon(s) BAKING SODA
1/2 teaspoon(s) BAKING POWDER
1/2 teaspoon(s) SALT
3 EGGS
1 cup(s) SUGAR
2 tablespoon(s) BUTTER; Softened.
1 teaspoon(s) VANILLA
1 teaspoon(s) LEMON EXTRACT
1/3 cup(s) LEMON JUICE
1/2 cup(s) OIL (recommend coconut oil)

LEMON ICING
1 cup(s) POWDERED SUGAR; Plus 1 Tablespoon.
2 tablespoon(s) WHOLE MILK; I Used 2%.
1/2 teaspoon(s) LEMON EXTRACT

Instructions:
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Use a mixer to blend together the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon juice in a medium bowl.
Pour wet ingredient into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.
Add oil and mix well.
Pour batter into a well greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into center of the cake comes out clean.
Make the lemon icing by combining all the icing ingredients in a small bowl with an electric mixer on low speed.
When the loaf is cool, remove it from pan and frost the top with the icing.
Let the icing set up before slicing....'

I mixed it in a little different way, 

didn't have all the ingredients either 

and use a bigger pan, hence the different shape, 

but it turned out very tasty. 

A Change is in the making.

Dear Readers and Followers. 

I have decided to continue my postings under a new blog address.

The reason: 

"Dinner for two" was misleading people 

to think that it might be a food blog only. 

It is true, as it started out as one.

"Dinner For Two" changed from food related postings 

to postings about this and that.  

Confusing.

As a result, changes are unavoidable.

Therefore: both topics will from now on 

be divided.

I will continue here 

when I have something to write about food,

and 

I will continue my postings about 

everything else 

on a different page. 

Check it out! 

The new page is called:

SIDEWALK and can be found here.

or at the top under "pages"

Feel free to follow me on SIDEWALK, 

and make sure to register your email under the new page.

See you there!

It started out like this...

I wasn't supposed to write about birds again.
It started out like this:

I was about to go through some photos that I shot the other day, 

and selecting what I could use for a fresh posting.

Towards the East, a gorgeous sunrise 

in shades of orange and yellow.

Towards the West, a gazebo in the early morning light.
Al lavender and pink.

Or, this bicycle leaning against a tree.

Abandoned, in the grip of winter. 

Waiting for spring and summer to come.

Sitting in front of my laptop, I had just started out on this posting,
when I suddenly,

 out of the corner of my eye,
something in motion!

And here we go again - BIRDS!

 Weren't these elusive chickens just
walking by, 

RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE ?!!

Up I jumped.

Arghhh - where is that camera?

Change lenses ..... Hurry up!
Be quick!

Though I was hampered with a dirty window,

This time I got a closer view at them, compared to last time. 

The birds did NOT wait for me to get ready.
They had moved on to the next group of trees.

They must be grouse. "Sharp tailed grouse", because

they show a white/grey underbelly and 

(not barred as with prairie chickens). 

But it's just me guessing.

 Amazing how perfect their grey, brown and rusty colouring 

blends in with the bark of the tree!

Well, that's the way it ended. 

As I said the other day:

Easily distracted!

Contemplating drops of water

What does one do when one has a day off?

  

It is cold outside and you are bound to stay inside? 

Clean, cook, read, or what?

Gaze out the window.

Watch the water droplets 

make their way down the window pane.

It is actually interesting

if you look closer, 

turn it upside down, 

you will see that the droplets are

 reflecing the outside: blue sky,snow, trees.

they are chasing each other,

 melting into another
on their way down the glass.

Clear like diamonds.

Time ticked away

and I realized something else!

The sun set has moved towards the north!

I used to set right behind that 5-wheel,

now it is to the right of it.

January 10
We are definitely going towards SPING! YEEAAA!
Molly thought that all was:
a case of ZZZZZZZ.

My guess is: You probably think the same.

I had this "problem" already as a child, in school.

Nature would capture my attention and

keep me from the paying attention.

That got me some remarks like:

"Beatrix is easily distracted, 

she is watching the clouds!"

Maybe it was the teacher's fault?

Didn't make the lesson captive enough.

OR?

Grouse or what?

I have seen the signs in the snow.

Small foot prints or wing marks. 

They seem to walk all around the campground

 and forage around the shrubs and trees where

the snow cover is thinner and seeds/berries are 

to be found.

 One of these days I scared a whole bunch 

of them out of their hiding place from under a dwarf pine, 

when I approached the bathrooms early in the morning. 

Frrrrrrr, frrrrrr sounded their wings when they took off.

I guessed that it must be some kind of chickens.

Today, when I walked Molly, I suddenly saw them.

A flock of chicken like birds on the ground 

about 40 m (43 yards) away. 

Of course, no real camera handy.

But, I remembered my cellphone.

So, I got some photos of them, but the

built-in camera is just a joke for long distance shoots.

I guess they were some kind of prairie grouse.

They took off before I could get a closer look. 

I would have run too, because that approaching "monster" 

looked pretty scary! Laugh!

-18 C (WC -34C )

For BETTER and for WORSE

NO, I did NOT freeze during the night. That's the good news.

The bad news is: I did not sleep much.

After a while it actually got a tad to warm, 

and I struggled with the covers. 

That made me wake up and realize that something was wrong.

A clicking noise, another clicking noise...

UGH! At 11:30 PM (23:30 h) the furnace quit to work! 

My first thought was that the propane may have frozen solid. 

Horror.

I got up, dressed quickly, put my head light on 

and ventured outside, into the glittering, starry, 

bitterly cold night, to investigate.

No, the propane was not frozen, 

but both bottles (20/30pounder) were EMPTY.

I yanked two full ones up and connected them; 

a not so easy thing to do, because the lines 

were nearly frozen to sticks.

Safely inside again I started the oven - 

flames were burning there. GOOD!

Now the furnace. 

It clicked and clicked and clicked. 

FINALLY the pilot flame ignited, 

and soon warm air streamed again into the living area. 

Good. GOOD.

Back to bed, back to sleep.

Not so easy. 

I was constantly listening:

Was the furnace still running? 

When Peter left for work at 5 AM I thought: 

NOW I could snooze, but no, 

Molly started to whine. UGH! 

A sure sign that she has to go out for business. 

Up again, and letting her out the door. 

Alone.

This time I stayed inside. 

There would be nobody out there anyway.

After a few minutes she was back at the door, 

and I back in bed.

NOW I finally fell asleep !!

But the adventure was not over yet. 

When I got up, I checked around. 

No ice on the walls, 

but: in the corners, 

along the window's aluminum frames.

Ice in the corner behind the chair

WORSE, the temperatures inside 

had not risen above 10C (50 F)! 

Even with the furnace blasting warm air at full tilt.

The reason: outside temps still -28 C (-18F) 

with windchill of -42C (-43.6F).

But relief is in sight!

The TV NEWS showed that: by the end of the week 

we will be back to "normal" temperatures of -2C (28F) 

for daytime high temperatures!

All temperatures in Celsius.

That will feel like summer temperatures, compared! 

Layers is the magic word!

Now I know how an "Eskimo" might feel like.

Brrrr. Greetings from our

IGLOO!

Yes, and our water is frozen too, but that is not a surprise. 

I suggested to drain and winterize but hubby had

his own thoughts about that.

For Better and Worse!

They said.

I was not knowing what I was getting into....

This is the coldest day so far. Guess!

This is the coldest day we have had so far. 

Clear skies and wind out of the North.

-22C (-7.6) in the afternoon.

For night temperatures: see bottom page!

I had the day off and went for a few brief walks with Molly. 

The snow clouds moved away and 

the sunshine was brilliant. 

Barbara commented about Molly not having trouble with ice in her fur.

That's right. 

Molly has the coat of an arctic animal. Snow repellent. 

Add on wavy hair straws to keep air trapped for insulation, 

and lots of woollen undercoat.

That way she keeps herself dry and warm.

And, as long as the snow is so dry and fluffy it doesn't stick to her at all.

Walking through wet snow is different. 

Then there will be a build up of ice clumps between the paw pads. 

Molly has her own technique: stopping up, 

lifting the afflicted paw, 

chewing out the ice and walking on.

 She doesn't seem to mind the cold. Always sniffing around for something underneath the snow cover.

What are you waiting for?

Aww no ......

....another "selfie"!! 

Let's go on!

The sun is setting. The days are still short.

Ice on the window is building up already.

It is +16C (60.2F) inside. The propane furnace doing it's best.

I am dressed in layers. 

Back to one of the best gifts we ever got! 

(Thank you Marie J.!)

Can you feel the heat radiating.

So cozy.

And it will be getting pretty d... cold during the night. 

-28C (-18.4F). 

With the windchill down to -41C (-41.8).

Tonight I'll use an extra quilt, 

and a down duvet cover (Thanks to Rogette). 

I will not be freezing.