Pumpkins, Pigs and a Promise

last fall we were blessed with an abundance of pumpkins. most we fed to the pigs, but some of the best i brought up to the house and processed into pumpkin puree, which i then froze. a dear friend blesses me with all her cooking magazines, and i was happy to find this recipe for pumpkin oat muffins. the main ingredients- pumpkin and oats are something that we have alot of, so i was eager to try out this new recipe. they turned out well, but when you make them, they'll taste even better. why, you ask? that's because you'll be a good little cook, and follow the recipe, right? right.

Pumpkin Oat Muffins

1 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cups raisins

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 T flour
3/4 t pumpkin pie spice
1 T cold butter

in a large bowl,combine the first six ingredients. combine the egg, pumpkin, mild and oil; add to the dry ingredients just until moistened. stir in oats and raisins. fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full. in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and pie spice; cut in butter until crumbly. sprinkle one rounded teaspoonful over each muffin. bake at 375 for 15-20 mun, or until a toothpick comes out clean. cool for 5 min. before removing from pan to a wire rack. serve warm. Yield: one dozen

the pumpkins are all gone now, (but for the little bit of puree that is left in the freezer) but the pigs are still here and growing big and fat. they are fed every morning and afternoon. recently, i made arrangements with a local restaurant to pick up all their food scraps. so every other day we go down and bring home several buckets of pig yummyness.

A comes with me nearly every afternoon to give the pigs their slops. the pigs just love the variety of food- potato chips, watermelon rinds, olives, salad, scrambled eggs, french toast, cookies, tomatoes and french fries. it's a veritable smorgasbord- Templeton would be in heaven!



this afternoon when we went down to feed the pigs, Dave came along to help me measure them. i wanted to know about how much they weighed. according to this source, our pigs are 160 pounds- give or take a pound or five. they will soon be ready to butcher, and none of us will be too sad to see them go! between interrupting our Christmas breakfast, making us late for church and giving me *more* grey hairs and a stomachache, it will be a relief to have them all wrapped up in neat little bundles in the freezer!

now to complete the aforementioned alliteration alluded to in the title, i will post pictures of the kitchen sometime this weekend. Dave is still working steadily, and we're making very nice progress. most of the cabinets are in... but you'll have to stop in later to see pictures!