Fresh Farmers Market Pumpkin Cooking Tips

Unusual Pumpkin Recipes - Sweet And Savory Surprises

If there was ever a vegetable that evokes the feeling of Autumn, it's the pumpkin. They are everywhere the minute summer starts to fade and fall approaches. No matter where you turn, there is a pumpkin with a candle inside of it, fields of pumpkins to be chosen, piles of pumpkins, people dressed as pumpkins, and even trash bags for your leaves that mimic pumpkins. But of all the pumpkin-related things out there during the fall, my favorite pumpkin is the one on the dinner table.

Unfortunately, when pumpkin is delivered to the table in the same way over and over again, it can result in what I like to call 'pumpkin burnout.'  Just like with any food fatigue or burnout, it isn't the fault of the food, but the way the food is delivered.  When was the last time your pumpkin pie brought exclamations of delight to the family dinner table?  Have your pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bread been met with a less than enthusiastic welcome?

It's time to get creative and avoid 'pumpkin burnout' this fall.  Let's switch things up a bit and create some sweet and savory surprises.

Dessert

A plate of pumpkin cookies is a surprising sweet treat after dinner.  Just looking at them, your guests may not be able to tell what exactly is on the plate.  But, they will soon find out when they bite into this scrumptious flavor favorite.  Pumpkin pie won't even be missed when you serve up a variety of desserts like pumpkin dip with ginger cookies, pumpkin mousse, pumpkin torte, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cheesecake, or even a pumpkin souffle. 

You can make pumpkin chips by roasting thin pieces of a sugar pumpkin, sprinkle them with cinnamon, and serve with a cream cheese dip flavored with nutmeg and allspice and other pumpkin pie flavors.  And don't forget pumpkin fudge.  With all these surprising options to pumpkin pie, you can't possibly suffer from pumpkin burnout!

Casseroles

When you think about serving pumpkin in something other than a dessert, a casserole comes to mind almost immediately.  And when you're thinking about casseroles, you should think about Kürbisauflauf. Yes, I know it is a mouth full, but this German pumpkin casserole is something that will definitely not contribute to any kind of pumpkin burnout.  This casserole is made with potatoes, apples, breadcrumbs, and pumpkin as the main ingredients and usually served with fruit compote.

Even though this is a sweetened casserole, it is not overly sweet. You add sugar if you want, but much of the sweetness comes naturally from the apples and raisins, if added.  Also, you are using pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, so the spices are not there.  Pumpkin does not taste like pumpkin pie until you add the spices.  In this German casserole favorite, you'll be tasting more of the apple and enjoying the moistness of the pumpkin.

Breakfast

You are probably familiar with pumpkin muffins. But, because we're trying to avoid pumpkin burnout here, we're going to skip the familiar and go with something you may not have tried yet.  Pumpkin is a wonderful ingredient to add to pancakes or waffles. Pumpkin offers moisture as well as lots of fiber for a nutritious and delicious breakfast.  You may want to add pumpkin to your favorite yogurt and granola parfait for breakfast.

If doughnuts are your favorite breakfast treat, why not add pumpkin?  It is a simple matter of combining your doughnut ingredients with pumpkin pie filling and cooking them up as you normally would. That plate of doughnuts all of a sudden is very seasonal and festive.  Is a hot bowl of oatmeal your go-to breakfast?  Why not perk it up with pumpkin!  Add your favorite spices, some raisins, and you have a hot breakfast that kicks the nutrition level up a notch or two.

Savory

If sweet isn't your thing, you may want to turn your sights on savory flavors.  Remember, pumpkin puree has very little flavor of its own.  For that reason, pumpkin is the perfect vehicle for other flavors.  And, because pumpkin is packed with nutritional fiber, it's a great choice for healthy diets, as well.  Pumpkin puree, either homemade or canned, can be mixed with other pureed root crops like rutabaga, turnips, carrots, potatoes, or parsnips, to make hearty soups.  For the savory twist, fry up smokey bacon with onion, leeks, garlic, and herbs like rosemary, thyme, and marjoram. 

Roast diced pumpkin with other fall vegetables, season with cumin, cayenne pepper, and other savory seasonings to create a side dish suitable for beef, pork, or chicken.  Layer sliced pumpkin, onions, potatoes, eggplant, and tomatoes with spicy Italian sausage to make a baked dish that's sure to please your hungry family, and without a bit of pumpkin burnout.  Once you get beyond thinking of pumpkin as only a sweet dessert, you will easily move your pumpkin from the sweet side of the pantry to the savory side.

Drinks

Pumpkin drinks are an instantaneous hit anywhere they are served. Some pumpkin beverages are simply pumpkin desserts cleverly disguised as a drink.  Pumpkin pie smoothies and pumpkin cheesecake shakes are two that come to mind.  Whipping up these drinks is as simple as getting out your blender and making your favorite dessert with a little added milk or ice cream.  Of course, pumpkin pie hot chocolate is another favorite. 

You can even go the adult beverage route with many recipes that combine pumpkin puree or pumpkin liqueurs.  Some drinks simply play on the flavors we associate with pumpkin pie; the spices, that is.  But others do actually call for combining pumpkin pie filling with ingredients like Kaluha or rum, and whipping it all up into a frothy drink topped with whipped cream.  This would be a sort of dessert drink with a pumpkin twist.  Certainly, these drinks won't lead to pumpkin burnout!

Whether you're looking for new recipes to serve pumpkin in sweet ways, or you're trying to steer your pumpkin away from sweet and into savory, all it takes is a bit of creativity.  Experiment with a variety of flavors, both savory and sweet, to bring out the very best of everything pumpkin has to offer.  Remember, pumpkin does not taste like pumpkin pie on its own.  That means, you can start fresh!  Surprise your family and your guests with something new this fall – serve dishes that will never contribute to pumpkin burnout.

Healthy Harvest Lasagna With Leeks And Squash

10 oz lasagna noodles
1 medium (2 lb) butternut squash, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
5 medium leeks, cleaned and sliced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
6 oz grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking oil.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, turn off heat, and set noodles in the pot.
Grate the seeded butternut squash into a bowl, using the largest holes on box grater.
Melt unsalted butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat and add leeks, cooking until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Sprinkle in flour to Dutch oven and stir together with leeks, continuing to cook for about 1 to 3 minutes or until flour begins to turn yellow.
Start pouring in the milk, whisking while you add it, cooking until mixture thickens, about 5 to 7minutes.
Continue to whisk and add the thyme, salt, nutmeg, and pepper, then remove from the heat.
Put together the lasagna in the prepared baking dish by layering in this order:
1/3 noodles, 1/3 sauce, 1/2 squash, 1/3 cheese
1/2 remaining noodles, 1/2 remaining sauce, all pine nuts, all remaining squash, 1/2 remaining cheese
all remaining noodles, all remaining sauce, all remaining cheese.
Cover with parchment paper then foil, and bake the lasagna covered for 45 to 50 minutes.
Uncover and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes or until bubbling and lightly browned.
Let stand for 8 to 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Grilled Fall Veggie Pizza

1 (12 inch) pizza crust
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small eggplant, scrubbed and sliced into thin circles
1 small sweet potato,  peeled and sliced into thin circles
1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin circles
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (6 oz) tomato sauce (pizza sauce, marinara, or anything you like)
1 can (6 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
chopped fresh basil

Prepare grill to medium heat.
Put the prepared eggplant, sweet potato, and red bell pepper in a large bowl, drizzle with the olive oil, and toss to combine. 
Heat grill and put the veggies on and grill until softened but still a little firm; set aside.
Flatten the pizza dough out on a work surface and brush with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Grill for about 2 minutes, flip then grill another 2 minutes; remove to a pizza pan or baking sheet.
Spread the tomato sauce over, then add mozzarella evenly over the top and the grilled veggies next, then top with the basil.
Put pizza (on pan) back on grill just long enough to melt the cheese, then remove.
Let sit for a few minutes before cutting and serving.
Serves 2 to 4.

Perfect Pumkin Pie

The Goodness And Glory Can Be Yours

You know it when you taste it.  It's probably ingrained in your DNA.  We're talking about pumpkin pie perfection. That warm spiced creamy goodness with the flaky crust that falls apart, except for that little bit of chewy edge that soaked up some sugary butter from somewhere deep inside the pie.  Buttery, sugary, warm and spicy, and with a tiny crunch... it all works together to coax those yummy sounds from you just like when you took your first bite way back when.

So, what happened?  For some reason, you got the passive gene for destroying every pumpkin pie you attempt.  When you pull your pie out of the oven, your family looks on in dismay.  It's time you showed them you can overcome this pumpkin pie failure.  After today, you will be well on your way to creating the perfect pumpkin pie you dream about.

Made from Scratch

The first step to making pumpkin pie perfection is to start by using simple ingredients.  And do not think for a moment that a pre-made pumpkin pie will pass as homemade. None of the things you love about pumpkin pie translates to a packaged pumpkin pie you buy in the frozen food section or even in the bakery section.  If you want to serve pumpkin pie perfection, take your time, do your research and begin at the beginning.

The pumpkin filling can be a little tricky if you're going to use a fresh pumpkin.  Be sure when you buy your pumpkin, that you get an actual 'pie' or 'sugar' pumpkin and not a jack-o-lantern.  Yes, there are actually pumpkins that are grown specifically for cooking with and making pumpkin pie. They are smaller in size, normally very round, and have a smoother skin than the carving pumpkin variety.

You can roast your sugar pumpkin or even steam it.  Either way, you just want to get it nice and soft.   Once you have you pumpkin soft, which means it's cooked, you'll be scooping out the good parts and putting it in your food processor to puree.  All pumpkin pie recipes start with a good pureed pumpkin.  The rest of the recipe is up to you and your family's preferences.  Experiment with the recipes you find to reach just the right combination of spices.  Using your own pumpkin puree allows for this tweaking of recipes, so have fun.

A homemade pie crust is easier to make than you might think.  With just a few ingredients, and the right technique, a pie crust can be made and rolled out in the time it takes to roast and puree the pumpkin.  Most pie bakers agree that once the crust is laid in the pie pan, stick it in the oven to pre-bake for a few minutes to prevent the crust from getting soggy on the bottom.  Your pumpkin pie filling will have a lot of moisture in it, so this little step can help make your crust as perfect as your pumpkin filling.

Help from the Store

If, for some reason or another, you are simply not able to make the pumpkin pie filling from scratch, then by all means, choose canned pumpkin puree.  However, be absolutely sure you are NOT using the pre-flavored stuff;  the pumpkin pie filling.  You want to use only the pure pumpkin puree without any flavoring.  To this canned pumpkin puree you will be adding eggs, cream, and a heaping helping of warm spices.  Just plopping the contents of the can into a crust won't make a pumpkin pie worthy of any table.  Even if you were to use pumpkin pie filling, the stuff with the spices, if you dump it into a crust, it will have the texture and taste of something you just dumped into a crust.  In other words, canned pumpkin puree does not a pie make.

With regard to the crust, you have to decide whether you want to take a few minutes to throw around some flour and a few other ingredients and roll out a crust.  It really is that easy to make a pie crust.  However, if for some reason you find yourself unable or unwilling to put together a pie crust, then the store can help you out again.  Look for refrigerated or frozen crusts that require rolling out.  They tend to be a bit flakier than the ready-to-use crusts.  Of course, if you choose a frozen crust you will have to thaw it out, which takes about as long as it does to make a crust from scratch.  You'll have to see which works best for your situation.

The Trick to Perfection

You might have heard there is no way to make a consistently perfect pumpkin pie. This is simply not true. Pumpkin pie perfection is more of an art than it is a science. Part of perfection in baking is in knowing your equipment. Some pans are a little thicker than others or don't hold heat well.  Glass pie pans bake differently than metal pie pans or ceramic pie pans. Ovens run at a slightly higher or lower temperature than what is shown on the dial or display. You have to know where your equipment stands before you can begin making consistent pies.  This means you will have to take the time to make a few test pies to see what works best. Use different pie pans and different oven settings, take notes, and decide what method turned out the best pies.  I don't think you'll have any trouble finding something to do with the 'rejects!'

One of the tricks many pie bakers swear by is to shut the oven off about two minutes before the end of the cooking time and let the pie sit in the oven for an additional ten minutes. This allows the internals of the pie to reach that critical temperature where they can solidify without the filling over-cooking or the crust burning.  An easy trick to avoid burnt crusts is to make an aluminum foil ring to fit over the crust edges on the pie pan and placing it on top of the pie once the crust has reached a nice golden brown color. This will slow down the browning process and eliminate that frustration when you know the filling isn't cooked but the crust can't take any more color.  Also, some say a small bowl of water placed in the oven beside a pumpkin pie helps to keep the surface from cracking, although I think the cracks look homey and quaint.

Perfection is not out of reach when it comes to making a pumpkin pie. Take your time, follow these simple instructions, and don't try to rush it along. Keep these things in mind and you will begin to develop the knack for pumpkin pie perfection just like you remember from long, long ago.

Golden Leaf Rum Molasses Apple Compote

2 Tbsp light rum
3 apples, peeled, cored, and coarse chopped
2 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
dash of grated fresh nutmeg
pinch of kosher salt

Put the ingredients in a large saucepan; stir to combine.
Place saucepan on low heat, set the pan cover on, tipping slightly to allow some steam to escape.
Simmer very slowly for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the apples are tender, stirring a few times while cooking.
Serve over rich vanilla ice cream in small dessert bowls or in the bowl with a dollop of whipped topping.

Fall Breeze Ginger Maple Corn Tomato Skillet

2 Tbsp corn oil
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp maple syrup
4 cups corn kernels

In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil, cumin, and ginger and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes, onions, and salt and cook slowly (turn heat down if it boils) for about 5 minutes until most of the liquid has cooked away.
Add to the skillet the maple syrup and corn, stir, and simmer over low heat for 7 or 8 minutes, or until corn is heated and flavors combine.
Serve hot alongside pork, beef, or chicken.

Your Guide To Becoming A Locavore

From Your Local Farm To  Your Table

The 'buy local, eat local' craze is sweeping the nation. Eating local is a great idea, but where do you start? How do you become a locavore?  And what benefits does it give to you and your surrounding environment? These are all great questions and, surprisingly, the answers are fairly straight forward. Let's get things straight and get on with eating local and becoming an honest to goodness locavore.

Locavore

You probably remember from history, biology, or perhaps one of those other 'ologies' about words ending in 'vore'. Think herbivore (plant eating animals), carnivore (meat eating animals) or even omnivore (animals who don't really care as long as it is edible.)  So it only follows that locavore means those people who consume locally grown food and use locally produced products, or at least try to remain within a certain radius from home. Basically, if it's on a truck for hours or days to get from the farm to your table, it doesn't qualify as local.

Health

So what exactly are the benefits to your health when you are a locavore? One of the most commonly stated health benefits is that food that is grown near you is believed to help your body fight off allergens. For instance, eating locally made honey will help you during allergy season because the same pollen that your body is trying to ward off is what the bees used to make the honey. Therefore, by eating the honey, you are helping your body develop antibodies that will help fight off the allergens.

Economy

Not only will your body thank you for eating local, but you also have the power to help sustain small businesses that count on you to keep going. You get the chance to see exactly what goes into your food and the local businesses are responsible to you, not some corporate entity. By voting with your dollars, you are telling these local businesses that you love what they do or you believe they could be better stewards of what they have. Either way, your dollar is working to influence your community.

Freshness

If you have never tasted a ripe cantaloupe that was picked off the vine just a few hours earlier, you don't know what you are missing. How about that big juicy tomato fresh off the plant in the garden? When a fruit or vegetable is picked when it is ripe rather than hoping that it ripens on the truck, you get a superior taste. Produce was designed to ripen a certain way, usually on the vine or tree or in the ground.  When we prematurely pluck it to get it shipped across country, we seriously defeat the ways of nature. The result? Food that doesn't taste the way nature intended.

Nutrition

It is amazing how much of a fruit or vegetable's nutrients develop during the ripening stage while still attached to the plant. During that stage, the soil pours in vitamins and minerals that are essential in order to ripen the produce; the very same nutrients essential to your health. By pulling your food from the ground or off the vine before it is ripe, you are losing out on nutrients your body counts on to maintain its health – your health!

Eating local is more than just a fad... it is a way of life. There is nothing more delicious, nutritious, healthy, and economy-boosting than being a locavore in your very own hometown.