Pumpkin Spiced Syrup

Well here is a post from a longass time ago that I am just now getting around to finishing. 

Sometimes that's how shit works around here. Anywho, back when I had a house full of pumpkins and didn't know what to do with them, I made this pumpkin spice syrup. The idea was to make pumpkin spiced lattes and I did make a few. But I also poured some of this badass syrup over vanilla ice cream too. That was almost better. 

The original recipe called for the liquid to be strained through cheesecloth. I got impatient and that's why there is some sediment at the bottom of the jar. When I got near the end, I just poured the syrup through a strainer into my coffee or over ice cream. The original recipe also called for cinnamon sticks, which I didn't have on hand. I used ground cinnamon and I am sure that added to the sediment problem.

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 cinnamon sticks or 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 tablespoons pumpkin purée

Directions:

~Combine water and sugar in a pot over medium high heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly.  Add remaining ingredients and cook until combined, whisking often.  Do not allow mixture to come to a boil.

~Strain through a cheesecloth, allow to cool and store in the fridge. 

To  make lattes - add 2 tablespoons syrup for every one shot of espresso and milk to taste.

recipe modified from: this one

CSA Overview

So I am finally finished with my CSA for this year.  Over the 24 weeks we got the following produce:

~ Acorn squash x 3

~ Apples

~ Arugula x 3

~ Baby bok choy

~ Basil x 3

~ Beets x 3

~ Broccoli x 2

~ Brussel sprouts x 2

~ Butternut squash

~ Cabbage x 3

~ Carrots x 3

~ Cauliflower

~ Chard x 6

~ Corn x 2

~ Cucumber x 7

~ Dill x 2

~ Edamame

~ Endive

~ Fennel

~ Flowers

~ Garlic x 4

~ Garlic scrape

~ Green beans x 4

~ Green onions x 2

~ Greens x 4

~ Kale x 5

~ Kohlrabi x 2

~ Lettuce x 3

~ Melon

~ Mint x 2

~ Mustard greens x 2

~ Okra x 2

~ Onion x7

~ Oregano

~ Parsley x 6

~ Peas x 2

~ Pepper x 6

~ Pumpkin x 3

~ Radish x 6

~ Red lettuce x 2

~ Rosemary

~ Rutabaga

~ Salad mix x 3

~ Spinach x 3

~ Spring garlic x 3

~ Stir fry greens x 2

~ Summer squash

~ Sun chokes

~ Sweet basil

~ Sweet potatoes

~ Tater x 12

~ Thai basil

~ Tomatoes x 4

~ Turnips x 5

~ Watermelon x 2

~ Yellow squash x 3

So, overall, a wide variety but a little inconsistent.  You can see that we got 'taters for half of the CSA but only got corn twice. Of the things we only got once: apples, bok choy, butternut squash, cauliflower, edamame, endive, fennel, garlic scrape, melon, rutabaga, sun chokes, sweet taters. I would have loved to have edamame again. Same with the melon and apples. And it made planning a little hard. I had several dishes planned for the edamame but never had a chance to try them.

The weather affected us too. For a good chunk of the season we were in a very rough drought. There were some crops that died as a result. We also had an early frost which killed some plants too.

The hardest part for us was rationing the food. Some weeks everything would be gone by Thursday (pick up day is Tuesday) and other weeks, we were in a rush to polish everything off come the next pick up day.

Overall it was a positive experience and we will probably do it again next year. Now that I have a year under my belt and know what to expect, I can work on gathering recipes for all the greens we got.

CSA - Week 24

The final week and I never did get time to take a photo.

For our final week we got: taters, rosemary, garlic, acorn squash, cauliflower, salad mix and turnips.  As a special treat we also got both whole wheat and rye flour. 

CSA - Week 23

Only one more to go. I am sad. 

We got brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, sunchokes, peppers, cabbage, turnips, rutabaga and salad mix.

So I normally get really excited about cooking all my veggies for the week. This week I chopped up the sweet potatoes, turnips and rutabaga and roasted them. See how pretty. Then I browned off some bacon and roasted the brussel sprouts.

Then I got distracted in the kitchen by some shiny light and.....

I burned everything. But I still ate it. The Good Daughter had yogurt for dinner that night.

CSA - Week 22

No photo again this week. It has been crazy this semester and I am falling behind.

We got 'taters, acorn squash, pumpkin, radishes, arugula, chard, radish and parsley.