Stone Soup and Other News

The Urban Farmgirls met tonight at a local downtown coffeehouse for the monthly gathering. Harvest Food was the theme and we had an amazing potluck and recipe swap. Focusing on the types of foods that are harvested this month/season gave us foods like:

• Acorn Squash Lasagna (Cookie)
• Autumn Cheesecake with Apples (Mama Grouch)
• Apple Crisp (Rebecca #1)
• Harvest Time Pumpkin Bars (Kate)
• Sweet Pumpkin Dip (Laurie)
• Some sort of delicious apple bar that I didn't get the name of (Knittymama)
• Zucchini Muffins (Karen)
• Pumpkin Pie (yours truly)

Notice how that list is heavy on the desserts? I guess we can see where this group is headed - coffeehouse mochas and desserts at each meeting!

In keeping with our theme, our project for the night was to make dried soup mixes in jars to save for the winter months (or tomorrow, as some were already talking about making theirs!).

Everyone brought in one ingredient to share and we created our unique soups from the chaos on the table. We called it "Stone Soup" because "it is only by sharing that we may make a feast." (If you don't already know the story of Stone Soup, click here, a sweet old tale of coming together as a community.)

Speaking of community, here are the items that we collected for the Emergency Food Shelf Network:
We've decided that we will collect foods for the EFSN at each gathering - share the bounty!
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Catch-up News:

Hadley and Brad(ly) got married! Congratulations! We had so much fun at your wedding!!
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Jackson News:

Jackson started swimming lessons today - stay tuned for photos next week when Daddy comes with us. He LOVED it. He must be a fish like his Daddy, because he certainly isn't getting this love of the water from his mother. Maybe these baby swimming lessons will be good for me too!

Jackson also loves to "cruise" on the new toy that was passed down to him from his friend Charlie. He has so much fun on this that he screams if we try to take him off. Here's a clip for your viewing pleasure:


He also screams when I try to take him out of the baby swing at the park - today was the first official ride on the swing and it lasted about 30 minutes. Must...bring...camera...to...park...
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Knitting news:

Knittymama, Knittybaby and I went to see the Yarn Harlot in Eau Claire on Sunday and had a blast! (Jackson stayed at home with his Dad...) The Harlot is hilarious and it was such a joy to sit in a room filled with knitters and listen to her talk about our sport (you had to be there). Why did I go all the way to Eau Claire to see an author who writes about knitting?! Because I could and I did and it was fun.

Though I truly wish that I had not taken off my hand-knit socks just before leaving the house, since some of the Minnesota contingent got together for this photo:
I wore them today to make up for it, but it just wasn't the same... (Yes, those are Knittybaby's feet on the right, handknit baby!)

I bought the most lovely and soft deep orange cotton cashmere yarn at the Yellow Dog yarn store (sponsors of the Harlot's visit) to make a pumpkin hat for Jackson.
Just the right weight for the chilly fall. The green yarn is leftover from his patchwork baby blanket (the one that was finished just two hours before I went into labor) and will serve as the pumpkin top. I'm also currently working on...wait...I can't divulge that information here since there are gifts in the works. Drat. For all of you knitting-bloggers who may be visiting here looking for knitting details, I promise there will be some photos and details soon! I just can't post them yet. But I knit! Really, I do!

I don't sleep enough though so it's time to say good night. I sure hope my preferred candidate wins the primary today though...at last check he was coming in with 48%. Can't wait to see what happens overnight!
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(Update Monday morning...he didn't win. Why don't the people I vote for ever win?)
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Grama's Pumpkin Pie (sorry Farmgirls, I left the whipped cream at home!!)

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

Beat eggs slightly. Add all ingredients except milk and mix well. Add milk. Turn into unbaked pastry shell, 9-inch pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Note: The mixture will be very liquidy and it’s therefore very difficult to move the pie from counter to oven. Try to pour the mixture into the pastry shell directly on the oven rack (pour slowly) or on another surface very close and almost level with your oven. Slowly push the oven rack back into the oven. This is the only difficult part, if you can get through this, you can make a good old-fashioned pumpkin pie. You can tell it’s done when a silver knife comes out clean. It needs to set-up a while after baking – it’s best to bake it well in advance.