How beautifully leaves grow old...

As you are all enjoying the refreshment of peaceful, mild autumn days, we've been having lots of fun with the rainy season over here. However we have discovered that there is definitely one wonderful taste of autumn that we get to enjoy despite the lack of autumn weather - the great pumpkin! So we thought that instead of just carving the life out of your beautiful pumpkins, perhaps you would consider trying a few recipes that we have added to our food rotation over here. No, they are most certainly not Ugandan, but they are Hightower favorites, so hopefully that's close enough! 



First things first - you have to roast your pumpkin so you can scoop out the goodness inside. Now don't be cheatin' and go buy that canned junk! You're doing this Hightower-style! Go grab yourself a pumpkin, a cookie sheet lined with foil, and a super awesome big ole knife. Cut your pumpkin in half, and scoop out the seedy stringy stuff. Put your pumpkin face-down on the cookie sheet and bake around 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour - I truly have no clue what the specifics are here as our oven has no temperature guide. I stick it in for about an hour and hope for the best! Let it cool for a bit, until you can touch it without hurting yourself. Then scoop out the yummy pumpkin goodness and store in tupperware container for fresh pumpkin puree whenever your heart desires! I hear it freezes well, but we're freezer-less over here, so we can't vouch for that.

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (we use cane sugar)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree 
1/2 cup olive oil (nothin' but the best!)
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or you can omit if your current country does not have these!)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda (I don't sift, and it turns out fine).
Mix together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, and spices. Combine with the dry ingredients - but don't mix too much! You can also be lazy and just throw it all in at the same time like I do! Stir in the nuts.
Pour into well buttered loaf pan (or muffin tins as we typically do here for an easy-to-grab breakfast) - we just smear some olive oil in the pan, and that does the trick. Bake 50-60 minutes (about half that for the muffins, just keep an eye on them). Turn loaf out of pan and cool on rack. When we do muffins, we have to let them cool in the pan, or the muffins become a crumbly mess. This makes at least 12 muffins, or if you're cool and have more than one muffin pan, you could probably make a few more.


Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar (cane sugar works too)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, vegetable oil, and vinegar. In a separate bowl, combine all of the other ingredients - the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just enough to combine.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle. Brown on both sides, and then eat 'em up! This makes plenty for 4-5 people.