Pumpkin Pie for Hallowe'en

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He's so newborn he doesn't even have any teeth. Chance can only drink chocolate owls' milk. I look after Chance, too. He climbs way high on things and can't get down. I have to say, "My son! Come down from there!" Then I have to help him 'cuz he's a real handful!

Look at us! We helped Grandpa James cook a pumpkin pie. I know where pumpkin pie comes from. It comes from pumpkins!  Pumpkins are ready to eat when Hallowe'en comes. I like Hallowe'en and I like pumpkins, too. I know the rules for making pumpkin pie. Grandpa James says the rules are called the recipe. This is how we make pumpkin pie.

First we put the cooked pumpkin in the big bowl. We add ginger and cinnamon and allspice. Then we put in the eggs and the milk. We get to stir it all up. Grandpa James says I'm the Minister of Stirring. Chance is too newborn to really help, you know, but Grandpa James says Chance is the Deputy Mini-Stir of Stirring. He just makes messes but he makes little squeaky noises and that means he's happy and we're all having a good time. We l-o-v-e to cook with Grandpa James.

When we put the pumpkin in the pie crust it's ready to go in the oven. The oven is very hot. It's so hot it can burn us. The oven is at 225C. That's really hot. We sit on the chair to watch our pie. Grandpa James says we use the oven to bake food in. That's different from cooking, you know.

When the pie is done it has to cool off. Then we can eat some. It smells real good. My tummy is growling. I'm as hungry as a bear! I can hardly wait. I l-o-v-e pumpkin pie. I want ice cream on my pie. Yeah. That would be even more yummy!

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to friends and neighbours Then you can eat Smarties and pumpkin pie and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can make pumpkin pie together! Okay! Over and out!"

The Stumble Inn

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? Chance and me are visiting our buddy Jason. Jason is our neighbour. He lives down the block on Sandwich Street. Jason has an important job. He works at The Stumble Inn. Jason cooks yummy food and serves good things to drink, too. Every one can come, you know. I got to drink root beer. Chance got to drink milk and pineapple juice, too. They're really yummy and yummy is one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide.

Jason is a good cook. I could be a cook when I grow up. I already know how to stir. James says I'm the Minister of Stirring. Chance helps me stir. He's so little James says he's the Deputy MINI-stir. I would cook good foods like peanut butter and licorice sandwiches but NOT broccolis or sauerkrauts. They're nasty. I don't like them, even if they're in Canada's Food Guide. I have to take two bites. I hold my nose.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do kind deeds. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can go to The Stumble Inn and you can meet our buddy Jason. Okay! Over and out!"

 

Baking Cookies for Hallowe'en

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He's so little he doesn't even have any teeth. Chance drinks chocolate owls' milk. He makes little squeaky noises when he's happy and little squawky noises when he's afraid or hungry or has poo in his diaper. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what we're doing? We're baking cookies. We're baking pumpkin cookies for Hallowe'en. When boys and girls come to our house and shout, "Trick or treat!" Chance and me will guess who they are and give them the cookies we baked. I'm sure they will like them 'cuz they're taste-O-liscious! We know 'cuz we ate them had to  make some more.

This is how you make pumpkin cookies. We measure all the ingredients in a bowl. Here are the ingredients. See?

• 300 ml all-purpose flour
• 5 ml baking powder
• 5 ml baking soda
• 5 ml ground cinnamon
• 2 ml ground nutmeg
• 3 ml salt
• 100 ml melted butter 
• 300 ml  sugar
• 250 ml cooked pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 5 ml vanilla extract
•  
• 
  

 Then we stir them up. James says I'm the Minister of Stirring. I l-o-v-e to stir. Chance is the Deputy Mini-Stir. That's a pun, you know. Then we put the dough on a cookie sheet. Then we put them in the oven.

We are very careful not to get too close 'cuz the oven is very hot. I have to hang on to Chance. He wants to go in the oven with the cookies! He can't do that! He'd get all crispy! Bear cubs shouldn't get burnt. Bear cubs have to be safe. If we got burnt, we'd have to go to Hotel-Dieu and see the doctor.


Now the cookies are in the oven. We set the timer and we watch them bake. The cookies have to bake for 12 minutes. That's a long time.  I only have to sit on the Time Out Chair for five minutes and think about what I did. Five minutes is a long time. Twelve minutes is really long! I wonder what the cookies are thinking about while they bake. I know what they should think. They should think about me. I'm as hungry as a bear and I'm gonna eat those cookies all up! While we wait, we sing The Prune Song and laugh.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? The timer is ringing! I know what that means. It means the cookies are done. We have to turn off the oven and the cookies have to come out of the oven. James takes them out but we can't eat them, yet. They're too hot. When they cool off, we get to eat one. Cookies are yummy and yummy is one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide. We want to eat more but James says we can have another one after we eat supper. We're gonna have pumpkin soup for supper and pumpkin cookies for dessert!

Oh wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Good citizens get to help bake pumpkin cookies for Hallowe'en. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can bake pumpkin cookies together! Okay! Over and out!"