Pumpkin Time

Outside the window of my office are the bright orange, rotund vegetables that have become synonymus with Fall. Pumpkins, rows and rows and bins and piles. Pumpkins everywhere and where there are pumpkins, there are children. I can see the delight on the children’s faces when they spy them and watch while loving family members aim cameras at them begging, “smile”.
This year Miranda had a “photo op” area created with corn stalks surrounding bales of hay and pumpkins. I picture thirty years from now, those photos being enjoyed by the children of the little ones happily sitting on a hay bale or among a sea of pumpkins.
I imagine that the pumpkins outside my window will be carved into jack-o-lantern faces, scary or happy or unusual, or be combined with autumn leaves and other symbols of fall to decorate someone’s front porch or dinner table.
Thirty years ago when I started making pies for the orchard those pumpkins presented a huge task for me. First baking them until soft, cutting them open and scooping out the seeds, scraping out the flesh and then pressing it through a sieve until it was finally in a form that could go into a pie. Huge pots of pumpkin puree finally made, I added pumpkin to the list of pies that I could offer for Thanksgiving.
Pumpkins are also good for soup or other desserts. This is a recipe that my granddaughter, Crystal Russell Galvin gave me. It came from her husband’s grandmother, Marie Galvin. Crystal tries to keep one in her freezer for whenever she needs to come up with a yummy dessert.

PUMPKIN ROLL (Marie Galvin version)
Cake :
3 eggs
2/3 cup pumpkin puree (1/3 of a can of pumpkin)
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line 10″x15″ cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix all ingredients together except nuts. Pour in pan and cover with nuts if you want them. Bake for 15 minutes (my oven is for 12 min so adjust to your oven) immediately turn it over onto a clean tea towel sprinkled with sugar, remove the parchment paper, and roll into a Jelly Roll with towel. Let this cool completely in this position then carefully unroll and spread with filling.

Filling:
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar.
Beat all together and spread on the cooled pumpkin cake. Roll into a jelly roll and refrigerate for several hours. Slice and serve. It also freezes beautifully for last minute serving.