Pumpkin Cre’me Brứlee'

A great dessert recipe for all those pumpkins that everyone grew! And since I have all this pureed pumpkin in the freezer I thought Pumpkin Pie (sticks finger in nose and announces "BORING") and it came to me- Pumpkin Cre’me Brứlee'. I saw Michael Chiarello make his version of this on Food Network, and I adapted it into my own little recipe. His version calls for using left over pumpkin pie stuffed into a ramekin, mine is a tad bit more involved, using my pumpkin pie recipe with no crust- but very easy! And yes, I washed the finger I stuck in my nose!

Pumpkin Cre’me Brứlee'
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1/2 cup of firm brown sugar
2 eggs or (vegans- 1/2 cup of egg substitute)
1 tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 can (12 ounces) Nonfat evaporated Milk or for vegan recipe, as Chile writes in her blog try making some evaporated soy milk (cook down to double-strength) for pie or as Chile says:
"Put 2 cups soymilk in a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirringconstantly, until volume is reduced to 1 cup. Cool. Store in jar in fridge."
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, pumpkin pie spice and non-fat evaporated milk. Carefully pour into Ramekins leaving about a quarter inch of room. Place Ramekins on a cookie sheet and Bake in 350 oven for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of one of the Ramekins comes clean. Let cool on the counter. Place into the frigidaire. Chill
Before serving, sprinkle about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar over each "custard". To get it crusty, Take your Blowtorch (I love cooking when there is the chance of danger) and aim the flame just above the sugar, just out of reach , until sugar starts to turn brown. Or use The whimps method: Simply place the sugared custards under a hot broiler and watch for browning, when evenly browned, Serve with a small dallop of whipped creme on it, and perhaps a berry for garnish. And yes this is also my favorite pumpkin pie recipe- you just pour the pumpkin mixture in a pie crust and bake for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes clean. Hmmm- a Cre'me Brứlee' pie???
Quick tip- Don't have ramekins? try using 1/2 pint wide mouth mason jars- then you have a screw on lid if you need to take them somewhere

Fall Clean Up Party and Potluck

POTLUCK AND GARDEN CLEANUP

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Potluck in the Garage at 1 p.m.

Garden cleanup following

Many of us have our own plots to clean up and perhaps plant winter veggies. We also have pathways to weed.* The work you put toward the whole community garden will go toward satisfying the required 8 hours per year.

Come celebrate our first summer in our community garden.

Contact Rebecca at RDARE2@yahoo.com for more info

* (By the way, it’s suggested that you use a tarp on the pathway when you clean up your plot. Dirt in the pathways leads to the growth of weeds in the pathways – and it also doesn’t look too great.)

Another use for zucchini

Still another use for zucchini- Bear repellent!

(FRENCHTOWN, MONTANA) -- This is not a joke, this story is for real.

Missoula County Sheriff Lt. Rich Maricelli says a Frenchtown, Montana woman defended herself successfully in a bear attack with a pretty low-end weapon -- a zucchini squash.

Frenchtown is part of the Missoula, Montana Metro Area, population 883 at the 2000 census.

Authorities say the 200-pound black bear went after one of the woman's dogs just after midnight Wednesday on the back porch of her house, which is about 15 miles west of Missoula.

The bear bit her in the leg while she tried to get the bear away from her dogs so she grabbed for the nearest hard object and it was the zucchini she had recently harvested from her garden sitting on the porch’s railing.

The woman threw the squash at the bear, hitting it with enough force to make the bear run away.

The sheriff’s office said the woman’s bite was not serious enough for medical attention. Montana wildlife officials were trying to locate the bear.

Early Seed Sale

Burien Safeway is selling Burpee Seed Packets @ 5 for $1 or 25 cents each to benefit MDA. Great way to get early start on your seed purchases for next season.

Community Gardeners Get to keep their plots

Michael, Rebecca, Wayne and Carol were able to attend the Parks Board meeting on September 8. Just want to pass along the great news that they unanimously decided to go with our recommendation to remove the one year plot term. Current gardeners (and future gardeners) will now be able to keep their plot as long as they wish, assuming they reapply each year, pay the $25 fee, volunteer their 8 hours and follow other garden rules. If there are more gardeners than plots a waiting list will be formed and gardeners will be assigned plots on a first come, first serve basis.

The Parks Board members' biggest concern with going to the unlimited plot term model was not having enough plots to make the resource available to everyone in the community. There seemed to be interest in building more community gardens if the demand is there (a wait list on the B-Patch), but funding is the primary issue that will need to be addressed.

A few highlights of our first few months at the garden

A few highlights of our first few months at the garden:

· 90 pounds of produce donated to the Highline and White Center food banks

·Gardener and community potluck was held on 8/29 which included garden demos, delicious food prepared with produce grown at the garden and over 40 people!

·Developed a B-Patch blog called the Bee Patch Blog to share recipes, garden announcements and work party information - http://beepatch.blogspot.com/

·The B-Patch is on Facebook

·Working with Sustainable Burien to help finish some of the final projects in the garden’s construction

·Learning 101 ways to cook zucchini, and trying to find more things to do with all the green tomatoes!

·Featured on the Photo Friday of the B-Town Blog

·The Mayor of Burien recently toured the garden

Pickled Kohlrabi

In the garden, the KohlRabi is coming out swell--- now to preserve it for a while longer. I found this recipe at Recipe Land .com of course I had to make my little changes to go with what I grow!
Ingredients

3 each kohlrabi peeled, sliced (I used 2)
2 large carrots Or I used 6 "baby" Carrots- I grow thumbelina and little finger
2 each garlic cloves crushed
1 each bay leaf
3 large dill weed sprigs

Pickling mixture
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon dill seed
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Parboil carrots for 3 minutes.
Mix kohlrabi and carrots; pack in a 1 quart glass jar along with garlic, bay leaf and fresh dill.
In a saucepan, combine pickling mixture.
Heat, stirring, until it boils and sugar is dissolved.
Pour boiling mixture over kohlrabi, filling jar completely.
Cover jar. When cool, refrigerate for 3 to 4 days before using to let flavors blend