Procrasti-baking, Pt. 2

Yes, I know I'm recycling this post name. But in all honesty, there's just not another way of describing it. It's the time of semester where, even if the immediate projects are taken care of, you can feel the term papers looming in the distance. This year, it's compounded not only by job search deadlines, but by writing and grading term papers. There may be a lot of elaborate desserts in my future... or a lot of rice-cooker recipes.

But for now, I took some time to myself this weekend to bake a pumpkin that's been sitting around lonely for a few weeks now. I stole the recipe from NPR, and tweaked it just enough to reflect what I had lying around and what was on sale at the farmer's market. Except for the bacon, which I gave in and bought at Sparrow, from a very cute butcher.

My proudest find was the biggest bunch of kale EVER, which I bought at the end of the day for $1.50:

Isn't it pretty?

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos that do the pumpkin justice. Because the cool thing is, once it's cooked, even with everything scraped out, it still looks like a pumpkin. Genius, and saves you a serving dish. I think it worked particularly well with this one which, since a bit older, had very firm skin that was a nightmare to pierce in the beginning, but held up really well in the oven. Also, I love that you can work with the pumpkin seeds too, reducing waste.

Maybe more pictures later--this will make another appearance for Thanksgiving, I'm sure of it.