One of my favorite fall ingredients is pumpkin. I could eat pumpkin anything! It is so inexpensive & flavorful, which makes cooking with it so easy. I wanted to share a few recipes with you to show you some new ways you can use pumpkin in your cooking.
Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree
First up, did you know that you can make your own pumpkin puree? It is very easy and a great way to get your money back on the pumpkins you bought. The Tightwad Gazette recommends not cutting into your pumpkin until October 30th. Save the cut out portions in your fridge and the day after Halloween, you can begin to process it. Simply cut the flesh away from the skin and dice it, just as you would do with squash. Fill a pot with your cubes and add two inches of water to the bottom. Simmer the pot until the pumpkin is soft. Then all you have to do is run it through your food processor and you can freeze this into two cup portions (the equivalent size of the canned stuff). How easy is that? Heck, if you are super frugal you could just ask your neighbors what they are planning to do with their pumpkins and use those too! Few people take the time to do this, but why waste it? When unthawed, the puree will be more watery than the canned version. Just allow the water to drain out and use the pumpkin as usual.
Make Your Own Pumpkin Pie Spice
If you haven’t been over to our forum recently, you are missing out on a gold mine of recipes & great tips. As with all things on our site, there is no charge for membership or anything! One of my most faithful posters, Marva, shared her recipe for making your own pumpkin pie spice. This is definitely a recipe to keep in your back pocket with all of your holiday cooking. Many thanks to Marva for sharing her recipes with our readers!
Recipe for Pumpkin Pie Spice
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Mix well. Store in an airtight container. Use this as a substitute for store bought pumpkin pie spice. Yield: 7 1/2 teaspoons.
Now moving on to my favorite pumpkin recipes…
Pumpkin Pancakes
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin (canned or your homemade pumpkin puree)
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, adding yogurt, milk and pumpkin puree. Mix well. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Spoon the batter onto a preheated, oiled griddle, using 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes slowly over a low-medium heat for approximately 4-6 minutes, flipping after 3 minutes.
Makes eight servings.**If you want a really sweet pancake, substitute the cup of sour cream for one cup of French vanilla yogurt and decrease the sugar to a ½ cup.**
Spiced Pumpkin Bread
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts, if desired.
Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.
Pumpkin Pie
2 9” pie shells
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
½ cup white sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ cups milk
½ cup heavy cream
2 cups pumpkin puree
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. IN a large bowl combine eggs, egg yolks, white sugar, & brown sugar. Add spices. Gradually stir in milk & cream. Stir in pumpkin. Pour into the pie shells. Bake for ten minutes in oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for forty-five more minutes or until set.
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake (and Variations)
Cake: 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling: 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 8 tablespoons butter, melted 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan. To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey. Serve with fresh whipped cream.
Variations:
For a Pineapple Gooey Cake: Instead of the pumpkin, add a drained 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple to the cream cheese filling. Proceed as directed above.
For a Banana Gooey Cake: Prepare cream cheese filling as directed, beating in 2 ripe bananas instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above.
For a Peanut Butter Gooey Cake: Use a chocolate cake mix. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter to the cream cheese filling instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above.
And the latest recipe to add to my collection is a dish that we had for dinner last night. It is for a pumpkin pasta dish. Please do not wrinkle your nose until you try it! This was inhaled by myself, my super picky husband, my four year old little boy, and my ten month old daughter. The flavor resembled a delicious homemade macaroni and cheese. I tweaked the recipe with the flavorings that I knew our family would enjoy, but feel free to adjust things to your family’s tastes.
Please try this one- you won’t be disappointed!
Creamy Pumpkin Pasta
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 pound package of Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage (removed from its casing)
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 can chicken broth
¼ cup heavy cream (I substituted with half & half to cut down on the calories)
½ cup sour cream (low-fat or fat free)
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp white pepper
1 tsp sage
2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
¼ cup Romano Cheese, shredded
1 pound penne or rotini pasta
In a large skillet sauté the garlic in the olive oil on medium heat. Add the turkey sausage and cook until no longer pink, breaking the meat up with your spoon as you cook it. Remove turkey sausage and garlic from the skillet (I put it into the serving bowl we were going to use that evening, to cut down on dishes). Pour the chicken broth into the skillet and deglaze the pan using a wire whisk, to bring
up all of the flavors stuck to the pan. Whisk in the cream and seasonings. Simmer for ten minutes. Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain pasta and stir into the pumpkin mixture along with the turkey sausage, simmering for another three minutes or until the sauce thickens and hugs the pasta. Stir in parsley and garnish with Roman and more parsley.