Recipe: Stuffed Pumpkin!

Not only did I get a WONDERFUL long weekend away with friends this Easter, I also got a great new recipe! Stuffed pumpkin!

My friend, and fellow blogger, broke down how you make this tasty (and very pretty) dish.

For starters you need a pumpkin. Since I baked the above pumpkin for just me and Mr. Rant, I purchased a half a pumpkin. Over Easter my friend bought a full pumpkin and cut it in half to create two to stuff.

So put your pumpkin half(s) upside down on a baking sheet. No need to take out seeds or anything. It's easier after baking.

Leave pumpkin on low heat (about 180 degrees C) for upwards of an hour. Be careful not to burn it or to take it out too early. If taken out to early the pumpkin meat is kind of hard.

That leaves the filling. I like to think of this as a junk pumpkin. You can fill the bad boy up with anything you like! In the above pumpkin I used a yummy combo of leftovers.

It has: Bacon, spinach, ricotta, pesto sauce, capers, 7 grain rice mix, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

When you make your filling, pre-cook whatever needs to be cooked. I fried up my bacon pieces then mixed in my spinach to cook it. I then added the pesto sauce and capers and let that simmer. I mixed in the olive oil and ricotta with salt and pepper. At the very end I added in my already cooked grain mixture.

Mix the filling well.   Once the pumpkin is done in the oven, carefully pull it out and scoop out the seeds. Put your mixture into the center of the pumpkin and pop back into the oven for another 5 minutes or so.

Take out, put on a plate like the above picture, and serve!

Yummy, pretty, and you look like freaking Martha Stewart! 

The Bacon Theory

I've had the bacon conversation with a couple of different people over the last couple of months. What's the bacon conversation?  Actually, it's more of a bacon theory. 

The theory goes as such: If a person in a family is bringing home the mouth feeding portion of the money each month (the bacon) you can not give them crap about working.  No, not "working" but that annoying stuff like answering business calls at 10pm when you are trying to get them to go "downtown." 

This theory is interesting and I find that Brazilians do not give their partners much crap at all about working a lot. Contrary to popular belief abroad, Brazilians put work horses to shame! Working until 830 or 9pm really isn't that big of a deal here, and I have a theory as to why. Shocker, huh.

There are numerous factors in this. First off, it's really not uncommon at all to have 2 income families down here. You are totally not going to bitch at your husband for answering that call if you were on the phone in the first place. 

There's also the Nanny/Maid situation. People have them. They are a buffer between overworking spouses and stay at home moms/dads.  Hell, they are the stand-in parent for the 2 income households.  And in the case of the Nanny/Maid, they can't complain to the bacon bringer. Hell, they are paid to wait around and cook the bacon that's brought.  

And that fact that there is someone in the middle, who's job is to pick up the slack, makes a huge difference.  The biggest complain of this stay at home Mom is the lack of buffering. I can get pretty chafed sometimes and it's not pretty! 

Of course, that's only with my minis as I do have a maid twice a week to help me around the house.  It's a good thing for Mr. Rant. He sure as hell would get a lot more crap for his socks being littered around the entire apartment.  He denies it but it's either him or we have a serious sock-mold situation growing in this place. 

The point being, it can be hard to be a supportive partner for a busy spouse. It can be upsetting to see the kiddos little faces pressed on the window as they look for Daddy on the street because they know he's going to be home before bedtime.  

And when they complain, I open sacks of bacon and throw pieces at the ungrateful little bastards. Actually no, that would be cruel. Good bacon is far too expensive in Brazil to be wasting it like that. 

But we have had the talk that everything costs money and the reason Daddy works so hard is to help pay for things like food, soccer practice, and cable tv. Priorities. And they get it. The chatter box even offered to not have snacks for a week if Daddy could come home early. 

Then when I put them to bed after a day that had, I swear, 321 hours in it, I go out to the living room. I sit down and I have the same conversation with myself using wine, internet connection, and staying home with my babies as my examples. 

Freaking Bacon, always expanding our minds. 

Snow or Bidet?

I've been in the states for a whole 5 days now and I'm already missing a couple of things about Brazil.

For example, I miss the fruit. It's winter and this morning, for the first time this season, there was a thin layer of snow.  I forgot that fruits don't really like to grow in this weather.  Of course we can get staple fruits. This is America people. But no, we will not eat American bananas. I am a Banana snob after Brazil and the American banana is like the American fake breast. It's beautiful to look at, but is as hard as a rock and tastes like cardboard. Not that I know or anything.

I also miss the bidet and/or butt hose.  Call me French, call me Brazilian, call me messy, but the bidet is the Cat's meow.   My Mother is a very good sport and got us the flushable wipies to help fill the void.  It's so not the same as a hose spraying right up your bum.  And I am really unaccustomed to my grownup parts smelling like baby powder.  It's a little creepy.

And then there's the doorman. No doorman here.  Well, it would be a bit strange to have a doorman sitting on my parent's front porch.  Strange or kind of cool.  Anyway, where is the random conversation. I have no one to discuss the weather with as I wait for the elevator.  Of course I don't have an elevator either but that is beside the point. 

Last and totally least, I miss the heat. Well, not the heat really but the convenience of it.  Heat means not having to bundle up.  You can kiss the 4 layers of clothing goodbye! 

There are some other benefits of hot as well. For starters, it's super easy to gorge on food here. Ever eat a salad in 4 degree (30 F) weather? No, that would be insane.  And going outside. My kids are troopers but how long can you really last dressed up as the Pillsbury dough boy.  That leaves about 10 hours a day stuck inside somewhere. Thank goodness for inexpensive toys, art supplies, and unfinished basements for running around in

But one thing makes all this worthwhile.  And you know what that one thing is, BACON! Oh yes people, I have real bacon in my hands, in my mouth, and all over my clothing.  The strips are almost 2 inches wide, the fat to "meat" ratio is balanced, and I can cook it in a broiler.  Mmmmmmmmm. 

I bet you guys thought I was going to say family.  Don't you know me by now?