Posted by Suzanne McMinn on November 2, 2007 @ 7:13 am
Giveaways, In the Kitchen
I wish I could say I wanted to make pumpkin butter yesterday, but I didn’t really. I’ve had such a busy week, with so many interruptions, and I have a proposal due in a couple weeks. I need to write! But my cousin’s mother needed to make pumpkin butter for the church bazaar and she wanted me to help her. GAH! STRESS! DEADLINE PANIC! Okay. She asked me to go to the store for the ingredients, then she asked me to read the directions and measure everything. (Did I volunteer to make pumpkin butter for the church bazaar? No! There’s a reason I didn’t volunteer to make pumpkin butter for the church bazaar! GAH! STRESS! DEADLINE PANIC!)
She sat down in a chair in the kitchen while the pumpkin butter was simmering and said suddenly, “I’m going to have to stop driving.”
Knock me over with a feather. Now, I’ve thought this was coming, or should be coming, ever since we were planting corn this spring and she asked me to check if she’d planted one row because she couldn’t remember and she couldn’t see the seeds. That’s when I decided she didn’t need to pick Princess up from school anymore. But my cousin’s mother is very active, very involved in the community, and she had a therapy a while back that was supposed to improve her eyes. (She has macular degeneration.) Then I realized she hasn’t driven anywhere all week. The therapy for her eyes isn’t working. That’s why she needed me to pick up the ingredients for the pumpkin butter. She’s not just getting ready to give up driving, she’s already given up driving. She handed me the recipe because she couldn’t read the directions, and she gave me the measuring cups because she couldn’t measure. She wanted me to help her with the pumpkin butter because she couldn’t make it without me. And I was so busy thinking about how much of my time this was taking up that I hadn’t even realized it. GAH! BAD! GUILTY!
And you know what? It didn’t take that long, it made the house smell really yummy, and it tasted good, too. And I wanted to learn how to make pumpkin butter, I just didn’t want to learn how to make it yesterday. But you know what else? Someday I’m gonna need someone to read the pumpkin butter directions to me, too.
PUMPKIN BUTTER
1 29-ounce can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmegBring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. Spoon into jars, cover with metal lids and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. (If you double this, it’ll make four pint jars or eight half-pint jars.)
In other news, I woke up at 12:15 and there were all these weird noises. At first I thought it was outside, then I realized the noises were coming from Princess’s room. Then no, not Princess’s room–the wall BETWEEN my room and Princess’s room. Something was inside the wall. Making scratching, clawing, chewing noises. Only in the upper half of the wall. And it was moving back and forth across the wall. Chipmunk? Mouse? Squirrel? DEMON???? Oh, and the cats? My 548 cats? Nowhere to be seen. I feed them WHY????
Giving away this weekend: a November 2007 Silhouette Romantic Suspense release, Sleeping with Danger by Wendy Rosnau. Let me know if you want it. And if you know how to slay demons. Either one.
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on November 2, 2007 @ 7:13 am
8:30
am
Hi…count me in for the book; sorry I can’t help you on the demon issue.
8:52
am
I’d love a copy of the book and thanks for putting up the recipe, I’ll have o give it a try. Have a great weekend and good luck on your deadline!
9:04
am
9:08
am
How long is the pumpkin butter good for after canning? Do I need to store them in the fridge?
Can you tell I’ve never canned anything?
9:21
am
Heather, no, you don’t have to store it in the fridge. Home-canned goods can be stored the same way you store other canned goods–in a cool place, like your pantry or cellar, and they’re good for a couple years. Once you open a jar, of course, you have to keep it in the fridge, but not before.
10:11
am
Recipe sounds wonderful! Giving up driving is so difficult. I no longer drive at night and my middle son just doesn’t get it.
What was in the wall???
10:17
am
The pumpkin butter looks great. It was very nice of you to help her make it. Thanks for the recipe. I would love to win the book.
10:33
am
Oh, I’m so sorry for your cousin’s mom, Suzanne. I know there’s no cure for macular degeneration and that it eventually leads to blindness. (That’s my understanding, at any rate.) It must be terribly difficult for her, facing the loss of her sight and loss of much of her independence.
The pumpkin butter does look yummy, though. I’ll take a sample — hey, that could have been your Friday give-away. (Please *do* count me in for the draw.
As for the critter(s) in the walls…The cats are falling down on the job *because* you feed them well.
-Kim
11:27
am
I’d be glad to tell you how to slay demons, but it involves cats. Can I have the book anyway?
11:57
am
I don’t know what to comment on first lol. I never heard of pumpkin butter? I’m guessing
you put it on toast like apple butter. I do feel for your aunt but now she needs to learn to ask first before volunteering others - I’m sure it would make everyone happier. And you are sure there isn’t one of those 548 cats in your wall 
And please enter me for the book too.
12:47
pm
My sympathies go out to your cousin’s mother. It would be tough to give up the independence of driving. The last time we heard something in the wall it was a squirrel.
1:46
pm
I’d definitely love to read the book!
2:15
pm
Sorry about your demon in the wall Suzanne. According to a few new books I read, they blasted the demon’s in them with salt, to destroy them. But it might just make your’s thirsty and have to go to the sink for a drink.
The pumpkin butter sounds great. Is it a preserve like apple butter, which is really good on biscuits? I’ll have to make some maybe next weekend. Don’t enter me in the drawing. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Leanne
3:12
pm
Sounds like you need to call Kate Conner. She hunts demons for a living. I’m not sure she’ll commute from California, though…
3:27
pm
PUMPKIN BUTTER sounds good, I’ll have to give it a try.
3:43
pm
Suzanne,
How wonderful that your cousin’s mother chose you to help her. I’ll bet it’s because she knew you really wanted to learn to make pumpkin butter, and that you would be patient with her. How frightening it must be for her to know that her sight will continue to get worse and worse, and she’ll have to depend on others more and more.
Maybe next time you DON’T have a looming deadline, you can call and ask if she’d like to come and teach you how to make onion jelly. Sounds weird, I know, but it’s great stuff!
4:03
pm
Every thing happens for a reason. That beautiful lady asking you for help had to have been hard for her. I’m guessing she knew you’d help no matter what was going on in your life. People learn fast who will help and who won’t. I’m also betting your deadline will be met. Bless you for your kindness to her. She is facing a very difficult time. Please enter me for the book. As for Demons, I haven’t a clue and don’t know where to find one.
Maybe the cats need to go on a diet.Have a great day and 
to all.
4:12
pm
Slaying… sorry no recipe here!
4:16
pm
I never heard of Pumpkin butter until now!
4:37
pm
Enter me for the book please.
I make Apple Butter but have never heard of Pumpkin Butter; thanks for the recipe.
5:19
pm
I hadn’t heard of pumpkin butter until a week ago when I picked some up in a store, according to the hubs and daughter, it’s fabulous on pumpkin bread. *g*
Thanks for the recipe!
Sorry to hear of your Cousin’s Moms macular degeneration. It must be awful for her to give up something that made her feel free.
Have a good weekend!
5:27
pm
What does one do with pumpkin butter? Does it go in other recipes or is it used like apple butter?
Oh enter me for the book. I never heard of that author
9:30
pm
Yes, that’s it exactly! You use it like apple butter. And it’s really good!!
9:30
am
mmm…pumpkin butter sounds good! Please enter me for the drawing.
2:43
pm
I would love to win the book!
The pumpkin butter sounds yummy. Too bad my coocking sucks.
3:12
pm
I really would like to have the book.
Sorry, I have no experience slaying demons.
7:45
am
would love the book . have no idea about demons in wall . the pumpkin butter is that in the drawing too ? haha
6:31
pm
I’ve never heard of pumpkin butter before, sounds good
8:53
pm
The pumpkin butter sounds good. I’ve never canned anything in my life but if I ever do this would be what I would try first. Please enter me for the book also. Sorry, don’t have a solution for your demons either.