Day 10 of NaBloPoMo: First hard freeze

Some green tomatoes to fry, a few bell peppers and possibly the last of the ripe tomatoes- I saved them from freezing tonight. 

Tonight we will have the first hard freeze of the season.
We've had a few frosts, but my roses kept blooming and so did the dahlias.

The dahlias were planted next to the barn, so I'm thinking they were a bit sheltered.  Knock-out roses are simply very hardy.

But I don't think any of it will escape tonight, with temperatures forecasted to be down in the low 20's.  Heck, it's already 26.

So, I spent some of the afternoon picking through our high tunnel, looking for any produce I could rescue from the freeze.

I found ripe tomatoes, green tomatoes, and bell peppers!
I'm pretty happy to still have homegrown salad ingredients this late in the year.

Some of those green tomatoes will ripen. Some I'll fry...maybe make a fried green tomato BLT.

And the smallest ones will be good to chop and toss into a stir fry.

I carried a few pumpkins to the smokehouse, where they'll probably be alright for a few more days.  But I soon need to split those open, save the seeds, and roast or cook the pumpkin for using later in pies or something.  

I make a pumpkin casserole sometimes that is like pumpkin pie without the crust.  And it's just as good with coffee. While searching for the recipe, one I found online, I came across this variation from Just a Pinch recipe club.

Sounds good to me, with or without the topping!


Crunchy Topped Pumpkin Casserole

2 c cooked pumpkin or 16 ounces canned pumpkin

1/3 c milk

3 Tbsp melted butter

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 c vanilla wafer crumbs

1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place pumpkin in a buttered 2-quart casserole dish.

3. Stir in milk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla.

4. Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in a small bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes, or until almost set.

6. In a small bowl, combine vanilla wafer crumbs, brown sugar and melted butter.

7. Remove casserole from oven. Sprinkle with crumb mixture.

8. Return to oven. Continue cooking for 15 minutes.

9. Remove from oven. Serve immediately or refrigerate.