Eats
For seasonal and practical reasons, I have been looking for pumpkin recipes. Seasonal because summer is giving over to fall, and practical because thanks to a certain puppy we always have an open can of pumpkin in the fridge. For whatever reason pumpkin is a doggy superfood that is good for them and that they are nuts about. We've been giving her frozen Kongs filled with a mix of pumpkin and kibble for those times when we need to distract her from her current favorite pastime of chewing furniture.
The only thing is that it doesn't take very much pumpkin to fill a Kong so we have a surplus of canned pumpkin in the fridge at all times. Jenny posted a picture of pumpkin pasta that left me drooling, so I turned to the internets to see what I could make with a partial can of pumpkin.
I typed pumpkin into my browser and looked at all of the matches from my search history and came up with a recipe that I can only describe as being "so easy that it's stupid".
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Cheap Lazy Vegan's Creamy Pumpkin Pasta? I'll save you the trouble of clicking the link, it is equal parts canned pumpkin and coconut milk, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast. Whisk all ingredients together in a sauce pan, bring to the boil, and let simmer for a few minutes. That's it.
I was concerned that it was going to be too plain, and that was not the case at all. It was a very satisfying flavor profile for such little effort.
Workouts
Things have been on the meh side. I had gotten up to running two miles without walk breaks and was flirting with some speedwork when allergy season hit. One morning I felt very lethargic but pushed myself to run anyway, and was rewarded by taking a fall and skinning one knee and both palms. That meant that I had to skip my pushups because it hurt to put weight on my palms, and skipping any amount of pushups pretty much takes my pushup game back to zero. Everything is healed up now and the pushups are coming back but it feels like running is shot. I've gone back to run walk, but I have a feeling that I'll hang the running gig up again soon and go back to power walking on the treadmill.
Watching
Oh man I had two "book vs movie" watching experiences where the competition wasn't even close. One was amusingly bad and the other was awful.
Exhibit A: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo gets the Lifetime Treatment in An Amish Murder.
As you know, I am obsessed with the Linda Castillo Amish murder mystery series. Oooh someone made a movie of the first book! Wait...it was a Lifetime movie????? Huh????
At a minimum the lead character in the books is not Neve Campbell and I don't even know what to say about the hat besides this series is not Fargo. The male lead totally misses the mark. The book was a gore fest, and everything about the TV version was reduced to a PG Lifetime rating. It was comically bad.
Exhibit B: 11/22/63
I had high hopes for the TV mini series, which were quickly dashed. The show went out of its way to change every little detail of the story for no reason...the time travel is to a different year, the main character has a different name, the locations are different, and the show leans so heavily on "hey you know it's the early 1960s because everyone is bible belt and racist" which wasn't a part of the book. I made it a few minutes into the second episode and gave it up.
Reading
I'm still on a Linda Castillo bender, but to an extreme. I've read six of the books in a row. Part of it is that all of my other Libby holds have been slow to come in, and the other part of it is that I.Just.Can't.Stop. This series just keeps getting better and better (well, OK, one exception, book #12 Outsider was a little weaker than the rest but it was still good). The funny thing is that the first two books in the series were total gore fests, and out of no where Castillo seemed to get the confidence that she was writing good stuff and didn't need to go for the shock value. I'm on book #13 and there are 16 books and counting. I'm going to come up for air after the book that I'm currently reading since one of my other Libby holds came in.
I've also got an audio book going. Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne is about exactly what the title says its about. The author realized from an early age that she wasn't like everyone else, or let's just say that she had a bit of extra motivation to get a PhD in Clinical Psychology. I'm about two hours away from the end.
How about a dawg pic to close it out?
Sure thing! Here's the girl going to town on a pumpkin stuffed Kong.
You make me really want some pumpkin pasta! And so sorry to hear about your tumble. I've had exactly two of those in my life, and those were terrifying and ENOUGH for the rest of my life. I hope it never happens to you, or I again!
ReplyDeleteI've only had a few running falls in my life, but they were all memorable. I've seen some people get really hurt. I'm with you - no more falls for you or me or anyone else!
DeleteWhat are you allergic to that it affects you in September? That must be very annoying!
ReplyDeleteSorry about your fall! Run walks are great and power walking is fine! As long as you are moving those legs and getting the heart pumping.
Is there any way you can do these walks outside instead of on the treadmill? Or is it too complicated with doggo and work?
I don't know what it is, but as soon as the leaves start coming off the trees I get fatigue and low grade sinus stuff.
DeleteThe reason for doing the power walks on the TM is the power part - there is no where outside that will give me a 12% incline, so the intensity isn't there without the mill. It's a tough balance to hit - obviously my body doesn't want to run but it does want some kind of intense cardio.
Hmm, maybe I'll give that pumpkin pasta a try. I have never made that. I am still in the thick of zucchinis. It's just a never ending zucchini story around here. I did pick my first pumpkin yesterday!
ReplyDeleteMy husband gets allergies when it is haying season, it's pretty brutal.
The never ending zucchini story!!!
DeleteI went on a trip this weekend and while I was walking around I saw a house where they had a squash garden in their front yard and the vines were taking over the side walk. Squash city!
I love pumpkin...but rarely use it. Why? I do want to get a pumpkin spice latter this year. I never splurge on fancy coffees but got a Maple Cinnamon Latte last week and it was fun. I'm thinking one per season? Peppermint mocha is definitely calling my name.
ReplyDeleteI'm adding the Sociopath book to my list. Things like that FASCINATE me.
Does your family like pumpkin? That's what slows my consumption - one can is a big commitment for one person. Fortunately I have the dog to help me now.
DeleteI never splurge on fancy coffees either but...yes, one per season sounds about right and a ton of fun!
I am kind of the odd duck that does not care for pumpkin much overall. I like pumpkin spice but I don't care for pumpkin dishes unless they are very very savory. Years ago when I was studying abroad in Australia, we went out for Indian food and had a dish with pumpkin in it that was AMAZING. If I could time travel back to that time/place and eat it again, I would! But besides that I am usually kind of disappointed by pumpkin flavored things sadly. I similarly usually do not like sweet potatoes but have gotten more on board w/ them if they are, again, VERY savory.
ReplyDeleteThat is a bummer that the movie/tv adaptations were disappointed. That so often seems to be the case! I have never watched the HP movies because I feel like they will just disappoint me. But I will probably end up watching them when Paul starts to read those books.
I agree - I'm usually disappointed by pumpkin things. Or is it more accurate to say that most pumpkin things are disappointing?
DeleteI guarantee that you will end up watching all of the HP movies many times with your boys! So you're not missing anything by waiting until then. It's so great when both the book and the movie are good...and also so rare that both are done right.
I don't know, friend. If something calls for a cup of pumpkin or whatever, I just dump in the whole can. Kind of like how a lot of soup recipes calls 3 cups of stock and stock comes in 4 cup containers and I just dump in all 4 cups. I'm a recipe rebel! So there's never leftover pumpkin in my house.
ReplyDeleteThe Sociopath book sounds exactly like an audiobook I'd like to listen to! I placed a hold on it, but I'm 40th in line, so I will not remember that you recommended it to me when it comes in. Thanks in advance!
That's good advice to use the whole can! The only problem is that I didn't want 10 servings of pasta, I wanted 2-3. Plus Doggo needed her share.
DeleteI tell you Libby has been sooooo slow recently. I feel like all of my books are going to come in at once.
Oh, that's such a bummer about the allergies and falling! I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt. I have fallen a few times just walking, and it can really mess things up. Pumpkin pasta actually sounds good! I've never fed pumpkin to my dog. I didn't know it was something they'd like!
ReplyDeleteI would never have occurred to me to give pumpkin to our old dog. Then we got the puppy and our trainer suggested filling her Kongs with a mix of yogurt and pumpkin so here we are. It's low calorie and has all kinds of healthy stuff, it's supposed to be good for doggy tummy woes, and she's crazy for it, so it's win-win-win.
DeleteWhere were you with this fun put-pumpkin-in-a-Kong suggestion back when Lad and his energetic puppy, Finnegan, were living with me? Yikes, the fall sounds painful. Scraped up palms and a knee - that had to hurt. Pumpkin pasta - I didn't know that was a thing. Your descriptions of the books made into movies made me laugh. I remember watching a made for TV movie about Janis Joplin when I was in high school. I decided it was really just a tribute to bad wigs.
ReplyDeleteIf it helps, before last January I had no clue what a Kong was. Doggo and I have a whole routine of mixing up her "yummas".
DeleteWait. How is it Thursday and I'm just reading this??????? I will definitely try that pumpkin pasta recipe- you know I have to! It sounds good. I'll make it this weekend and report back.
ReplyDeleteWhy in the WORLD would they make all those changes to 11/22/63? It wasn't good enough to start with? I would have turned it off too.
I want to go back and read more Linda Castillo (and I will- I'm happy that I know I have almost the entire series ahead of me) but I'm swamped with books right now. I'm actually having a reading crisis because two library holds came in, and I'm 300 pages into a 1000 page book. I need to take a vacation from work and just read all day for a week.
The pasta was so epic for just a few simple ingredients (that you most likely already have in your house).
DeleteI had such high hopes for the TV version of 11/22/63...and woof it did not pan out.
I have the opposite problem - it seems like right now I can only read Linda Castillo books. Two of my Libby holds came in and I did a quick DNF and a hate read/skim. I've got the next Linda book to go back to for tonight's reading!
Ina Garten has an absolutely delicious soup with canned pumpkin and roasted butternut squash. SO GOOD. We used to give Mulder frozen peanut butter in his Kong. I think pumpkin would have been healthier. He loved pumpkin. :-) We gave it to our dog Genevieve when she had tummy issues, but for some reason it seemed to make them worse, which is NOT what is supposed to happen. She was a rebel.
ReplyDeleteNom to the Ina Garten soup!
DeleteDoggo's Kong routine is that at night she gets a Kong filled with Greek yogurt and sunbutter. When we first got her she gained weight rapidly so I was worried about overfeeding her and would only put the tiniest drizzle of sunbutter in the Kong. Now that her weight has stalled at 40 pounds I'm very liberal with the sunbutter. And then she gets the pumpkin and kibble kongs during the day - sometimes when she gets restless and starts chewing furniture and sometimes just because. Before her I had no clue what a Kong was and now it's something that I can't live without.
I'm so picky about pumpkin! I love a PSL, love a good pumpkin cookie, but don't enjoy pumpkin pie. I guess I need the taste of pumpkin but not too much of it? IDK!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have a (yummy!) solution to Doggo chewing furniture. My cats have DESTROYED my reading chair because they seem to think it's a WONDERFUL scratching post. So I think I'm going to buy a scratching pad I can attach to the area they use and let them go to town.
WHY make those changes to 11/22/63? That makes NO SENSE.
Oh boy have I got a pumpkin cookie for you! But that's next week's post.
DeleteThe pumpkin kongs are just a distraction from chewing the furniture, not a solution. She's put some serious tooth marks into some of our furniture, which is just the reality of having a puppy. The theory is that some day she'll grow out of it, and until then we do our best to keep her away/distract her with other things.
Hello, non dog owner here! Can you explain what a Kong is? Thanks! 😁
ReplyDeleteThe movie or TV show is never as good as the book, and I hate it when they change unnecessary details. Lessons in Chemistry did a good job, although they did change the timeline. I also think that the Lord of The Rings trilogy is pretty good.
The definition of a Kong is "something that I had no clue about before I had a puppy and now I can't live without". It is a small rubber cone with a hollow center that can be filled with food or treats, and then frozen if you want to make it last longer/want it to feel good for your dog. The dog gets it and will immediately stop whatever they are doing to lick the treat out of the center, which takes quite a bit of time. What the dog gets out of it is something fun and yummy and what the person gets out of it is 20-30 minutes of peace and quiet because while the dog is licking their kong they can't do rowdy puppy stuff like biting their owners or chewing furniture. Kongs are a godsend.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong_Company
I had no idea dogs like pumpkin. So interesting. I usually never have pumpkin at home.. I am not a big fan of pumpkin spice or pumpkin cake, so I haven't really explored any other recipes with pumpkin in it.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, dogs will eat just about anything, but there is something about pumpkin that she's extra crazy about.
DeleteThe pumpkin pasta recipe sounds interesting but... not a pasta person, and I cannot figure out how else to use the "sauce". Alas. I am sure I will survive. I'll just wait for your cookie recipe (I saw your comment to Stephany, above...).
ReplyDeleteFalls while running are so scary. I have Stories but they are not for sharing here. Next time I see you. ;)