Dinner in a Pumpkin

This is our family's traditional Halloween dinner.  I know I've posted a recipe for this before, but it's been a couple of years so I've tweaked a few things here and there.

Some good tips to follow:

First, choose your pumpkin carefully.  If you plan on eating the flesh of the pumpkin, you may want to consider a variety that is grown specifically for eating.  Traditional Jack-o'-lantern type pumpkins are typically very bland.  I like to use the "Fairytale" variety we grow in our garden.  Not only is it beautiful, it's pretty tasty too. That said, I have used just regular ordinary pumpkins too.  You just may want to up the spices a bit to compensate.

Second, when you cut your pumpkin, try and make sure you cut straight across the top.  If you cut the same way as you would a carving pumpkin you run the risk of your top caving in while the pumpkin bakes.  Not good.

And lastly, this recipe calls for condensed soup-- like a lot of down-home type casseroles.  If you'd prefer not to use the canned stuff, you might try giving a recipe like this a chance.  I use only one can, unlike most recipes that call for two.  If you are a fan of the condensed soup, you might like to throw the extra can in.  For our family, one is just about right.

• • •

Dinner in a Pumpkin

2 pounds pork sausage (or whatever mix of ground meats you'd prefer-- for a once-a-year treat, we're all about the sausage)
1 medium onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 apples (we typically use Jonathans or Golden Delicious)
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t chile powder
1/4 t cloves
1 1/2 cups brown & wild rice blend, uncooked
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 sugar pumpkin

1.  Brown the sausage over medium-high heat in a large skillet.  Drain meat, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the drippings in the pan.  Set meat aside and keep warm.
2.  Sauté onions and mushrooms in drippings until they are just starting to brown.  Add garlic, apples, sugar, salt, pepper, and all spices, continue cooking just a couple of minutes longer.
3.  Add rice and stock to pan, stirring well.  Cover, and cook until rice is done.
4.  While rice is cooking, preheat oven to 400°.  Prepare pumpkin by cutting off the top, straight across.  Remove seeds and pulp.  Rub the inside of the pumpkin with additional salt, pepper, and spices.  This will help add more flavor to the pumpkin flesh.
5.  When rice is finished, add the sausage back to the mixture as well as the condensed soup.  Stir well, and fill pumpkin with sausage and rice mixture.  Replace top to pumpkin and place on a baking sheet lined with foil.
6.  Bake at 400° for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until pumpkin is tender and flesh scoops away from rind easily.  Serve by scooping rice mixture with a little of pumpkin flesh onto plates and enjoy!

Yield:  One pumpkin will easily serve 10, likely more.

Pumpkin Pancakes

It's been a long time since I posted a new recipe, so I thought I'd break the streak with some seasonal pumpkin recipes.  Prepare yourself.

These pancakes are really yummy.
I know that because Taylor tells me so.
He actually says that they are the best pancakes ever.

I don't know if they're that good, but considering that he is our toughest food critic that must be saying something.

The combination of the pumpkin and whole grains lends itself to a wonderfully hearty breakfast.  Our family loves them traditionally served with butter, maple syrup, and a side of bacon.  I'm tempted to try them with sweetened whipped cream with a hit of cinnamon, topped with pecans.  I'm pretty sure that would be positively divine, but also am pretty certain that the kids wouldn't touch them that way.

On the other hand, maybe that's not such a bad thing.

• • •

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 1/4 cups milk
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 cup pumpkin purée
3 T molasses (brown sugar or sucanat may be substituted)
1 egg
2 T canola oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground allspice
1/4 t ground cloves

1.  Pour milk into measuring glass and stir in vinegar.  Let stand ten minutes in a warm environment.
2.  In a large bowl combine milk mixture, pumpkin purée, molasses, egg, and oil.  Mix well.  Stir remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add to wet ingredients.  Stir just until combined.
3.  Ladle batter onto a hot griddle and cook individual pancakes until edges are starting to set and bottoms are browning.  Flip and cook until desired level of doneness.

Yield:  16 medium-sized pancakes

{five things • vii}

This past week, the kids and I took the opportunity to drive up the canyon one sunny afternoon to luxuriate in the natural fireworks display put on by the beautiful autumn leaves.  For my five things this Friday, I thought I would share a few of the photographs I was able to take from the car.  (Logan hasn't been feeling well, so we kept ourselves confined within-- away from the cool mountain breeze.)

Nature in its splendor always reminds me of the scripture found in the book of Alma:

...And all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion...and also the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.  (Alma 30:44)  

- one -

- two -

- three -

- four -

- five -

For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth over and around us lies

Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.

(Foillot S. Pierpoint) 

• • •

And those are my five things for Friday!

To learn more about the Book of Mormon, please visit this website. 

This post is part of a series hosted by the Book of Mormon Forum!

Harvest Apple Æbleskiver

 

This is a seasonal adaptation of the basic æbleskiver recipe that I posted yesterday.  By substituting some of the buttermilk with apple cider, and adding some cinnamon and nutmeg, this makes a heavenly autumnal breakfast.  Since I rarely have buttermilk on hand when I get the whim to make these, I use the substitution described in the previous recipe.  For this particular version, I use a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar combined with milk to get a buttermilk-like result.  I think the best way to enjoy these is with some warm apple butter and a little plain yogurt, but they can also be served with butter and maple syrup.

Harvest Apple Æbleskiver

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, plus enough milk to make up 1 cup of liquid

6 egg whites

6 egg yolks

1 cup apple cider

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat)

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Oil or cooking spray

Powdered sugar (optional)

1. Combine vinegar and milk and let stand at least ten minutes.
2. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.
3. Beat yolks until lemon-colored.  Mix in milk, cider, flour, honey, spices, baking soda, and salt.  Gently fold in beated whites.  
4. Heat æbleskiver pan over medium heat.  Place small amount of oil or cooking spray in each cup of pan. Fill each cup about 2/3 full with batter.  Cook until batter bubbles up a bit and is set around edges.  Turn puffs with a toothpick or wooden skewer and cook until completely set.  (This will vary depending on your pan-- one of my pans takes a few minutes longer than the other, so you'll have to experiment with what works best for you.)  Roll finished æbleskiver in powdered sugar, if desired.

Yield: 75-80 puffs