Monday, November 1, 2010

A Pumpkin Filled Halloween

So October 31st turned out to be a Pumpkin filled day.  
 
This is my teaser picture... please read below to see what I made.  I promise it will be worth it!

The other week, Sarah over at SarahFit posted my recipe on Baked Banana Oats.  I've written about this before, but I've revamped that recipe for the fall and added Canned Pumpkin.
(Which is funny because I just linked to Sarah's blog and noticed she just made these too- Sarah- we must have ESPN or something!!)

Here's a step by step process of what I do.  This is the lazy girls way to bake, meaning I prepped and cooked everything in my loaf pan.  Less clean up, sign me up!
Pumpkin Baked Oats
First, I spray cooking spray to the bottom of the pan.  Then I mash a banana or two.  I had two that looked ripe so I used two.
Next add about a cup of oats and a cup of Almond Milk.  I am big fan of "eyeballing it."  Use your best judgment.  
Then add about a cup (1/2 can) of Canned Pumpkin.
Mix that all together, and then add 1 egg, the leavening powder (I used Baking Powder) and the seasoning- I used about a tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie spice... and I may have added some chocolate chips too. If your mixture is too wet, add some more oats.
Then I added some brown sugar and unsweetened coconut on top.  Then I baked it at 350 for 30 minutes and let it cool completely.
And what we have is five beautiful Pumpkin Oat Bars.  
 
I squeezed these guys into a Tupperware and packed it for my breakfast for the week.  Then I take a piece out, microwave it for a minute and enjoy. Simple and delicious.  Go make these!


For Halloween dinner, I was inspired by Emily's Chili in Pumpkin Bowls. I searched high and low for Sugar Pumpkins.  I went to the Farmer's Market in Jamaica Plain after my run on Saturday but had no such luck.  Then I went into City Feed and Supply.  Have you been there?  They had the Sugar Pumpkins I was desperately looking for (they might have even been squash actually) and I was able to get three that were relatively the same size.  Then I went to Trader Joe's for groceries and they had hundreds for half the price.  Oh well, supporting my local farms is more important then cost, right?
I needed help opening up the Pumpkins so Dave cut the tops off.  Then I used my Ice Cream scooper to scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh.  The ice cream scoop worked wonders.  Emily on The Front Burner Blog said it took her a bit, this took me five minutes!
Once I had three scooped pumpkins, I added olive oil, salt and pepper and baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
I also roasted two butternut squashes at the same time.  One for use in this recipe and one for recipes throughout the week!
Then I got to work on my chili.  Let me just tell you right now that I like my chili SPICY!

I started with a base of onions, green peppers and 1/2 a spicy poblano pepper.  Then I added 97% lean Ground Turkey and cooked that through.  Then 2 cans of diced tomatoes.  One fire-roasted tomatoes and 1 Ro-Tel tomatoes and chiles.  Told ya I like it spicy.  Then I added in the Canned Pumpkin and the seasonings- chili powder, salt, pepper and cumin.

Next I added two cans of beans (black and red kidney) and added the roasted squash.  You don't have to roast the squash but I love that roasted flavor. I then added about a cup or so of chicken broth.


After the Pumpkins were roasted, it was time to stuff them with the chili mixture.
I stuffed them and cooked them for 45 minutes.  You want to make sure the edges are tender but that the bottom isn't overly cooked that it leaks.
About 5 minutes before I took the pumpkins out, I added some shredded cheddar cheese and baked until melted.  Then it was time to serve.  Mmmmm....
I served this with Corn Bread.  I used a JiffyBox mix and added diced poblanos and a little pumpkin.  Told ya it was a Pumpkin filled day!
We ate and we ate until (some of us) finished the entire thing! (Dave)
Then I scooped out the remaining pumpkin and look what I collected!  Can't wait to use this later in the week : ) It tastes just like Butternut Squash!
For dessert, I stayed on the Pumpkin theme and made Pumpkin Bread Pudding.  
I used day old Crusty bread.  And cut it up.  In hindsight, I would have chopped my pieces even smaller.

Then I mixed 1 cup of 1% Milk, 1/2 cup of cream, 1 Cup of Pumpkin, teaspoon of vanilla, 1 tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice, 2 eggs, 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar. 
Then I added that mixture on top of the bread and baked it for 35 minutes at 350. Then I added walnuts and heated Dulce de Leche.

Top this sucker with Pumpkin Ice Cream.  Oh yeah, pumpkin ice cream.  I tried this free sample out at Trader Joe's and I was persuaded to buy a gallon of it.  Wow, this stuff is addicting.
Oh yes!

I made some other stuff yesterday as well but I think this is long enough.  Hope you all enjoyed my Pumpkin filled day!

14 comments:

  1. Everything looks delicious! Definitely a pumpkin filled Halloween. Love that you ate right out the pumpkins too. :)

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  2. I must make those pumpkin oat bars soon!!!

    I tried the pumpkin ice cream at Trader Joe's this weekend too and literally moaned with delight as soon as I tasted it :p Sooooo good!

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  3. HOLY COW everything looks so so great! I am going to make the Pumpkin Baked Oats asap. Hopefully tonight!

    And I tried a sample of the pumpkin ice cream too -- but it was cold out so I put it into the coffee sample. Tasty as well!

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  4. I love that you mixed the bar ingredients right in the pan! Good call! I'm such a fan of stuffing squash these days. Your chili/pumpkin concept is right up my alley!

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  5. I had a friend cook me a sausage concoction in a pumpkin once and it was one of the tastiest dishes. Yum!

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  6. Lots of creative ways to use pumpkin! I'll have to try doing baked oats - it looks great and seems to be a big time-saver in the morning!

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  7. Man, I love pumpkin but you take this to the next level. Did you really eat pumpkin with every meal? Impressive ;)

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  8. That looks great. Very creative! Does it really taste like butternut? Maybe I won't smash mine then :)

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  9. Those pumpkins look delicious! I've been wanting to try that for awhile but keep forgetting to pick up a small pumpkin.

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  10. @MelissaNibbles- you have to get sugar pumpkins- those are the ones you can eat : )

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  11. You know I love the pumpkin theme! Your sugar pumpkins are darling! And the bread pudding looks amazing! Yum!

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