Make It Take It Wednesday....Pumpkin Season

This the season to be jolly....pumpkins, pumpkins, ppuummppkkiinnss!!!  Ok so that is not the way that the song goes but it should. Have you looked around...pumpkin spice coffee, pumpkin bread, and even lotions and soups come in pumpkin scent now. So commemorate the pumpkin season with our Make It Take It Wednesday. We have two great recipes that serve up pumpkin in different ways.

Our first recipe is pumpkin pie play dough...any childcare professional worth their weight knows how much you have to have a great play dough recipe to engage those little minds.  Plus every adult needs to get some sensory play therapy of their own every once in a while. My favorite pumpkin pie play dough is the following from the great mom at TinkerLab (http://tinkerlab.com/diy-pumpkin-pie-playdough/).

Supplies:

4 cups of water

2 1/2 cups salt

3 tablespoons cream of tartar

10 tablespoons vegetable oil

5 to 6 cups flour

Pumpkin pie spice or a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom 

Red and yellow food coloring

1- mix all dry ingredients together

2- heat up your water to a boil.  Add oil to dry ingredients.

3- add two drops of red food coloring to water then add six drops of yellow food coloring.

4- add the colored water to the other mixture and blend until lumpy dough state.

5- place the dough onto a flat surface and knead in additional flour until you are happy with a play dough consistency that is not too moist.

6- store your play dough in a zip top bag or sealed container.

As you can tell, Our children love to cook and make their own play dough. This recipe is sure to please your senses from your hands to your sniffer.

Our next recipe is one that is great for a cool chilly evening when you need a simple but delicious meal.  You can get your kids in the kitchen and stir up the fun together.  Our class discovered this recipe on the website Allrecipes.com.  For many of children, this was their first time using a pumpkin for something other than a jack-o-lantern or a pumpkin pie.  Gather your supplies and stir up some pumpkin stew.

Supplies

2 1/2 cups of chicken broth

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin purée (NOT PIE FILLING)

1/2 onion finely chopped

1 garlic clove minced

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (optional)

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

Directions

1- heat chicken broth, pumpkin purée, onion, garlic, and Cajun seasoning to a boil in a saucepan over medium high heat.

2- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

3-if you would like it smooth, place small batches in the blender and pulse for a few seconds.

4- stir in heavy cream before serving. Garnish with some chives.

For our classroom, we changed the recipe just slightly...

We used a crock pot on high for four hours instead of the stove top.  We also made ours a little more healthy by omitting the Cajun seasoning and heavy cream. We added a little more chicken stock that was lower in sodium and made our soup smooth.

Please enjoy these "pumped up" recipes with all these pumpkin plentiful activities.  Check out all of our pumpkin activities at our Facebook page or website at www.epartnersinlearning.org.  Enjoy the season....pumpkin season that is!!!!!