Fall's Signature Food: Pumpkin

Pumpkins are the signature food of autumn and who doesn't love pumpkin?  Pumpkin is packed full of fiber, great for our skin (proven to reduce wrinkles), a food that can lower the bad cholesterol, and improve our vision.  And of course they are in season, so it's time to stock up.   Remember to buy local too - I'm annoyed when I see people buying pumpkins at Walmart when they are the same price from your local farmer.    Here's two of my favorite pumpkin recipes:


FIRST RECIPE:

Pumpkin Curry Soup

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 cup chopped onions

1 clove garlic, minced

3 cups vegetable broth

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspooncrushed red pepper flakes

1 1/2 cup pumpkin from a pie pumpkin

1 cup light coconut milk

 

 

Heat the coconut oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and garlic; cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Mix in the vegetable broth, curry powder, salt, coriander, and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a gentle boil, about 10 minutes. Cover, and boil 15 to 20 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Whisk in the pumpkin and coconut milk, and cook another 5 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender, filling only half way and working in batches if necessary; process until smooth. Return to a pot, and reheat briefly over medium heat before serving.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

 
RECIPE 2

This is my all-time favorite pumpkin dessert, and it's absolutely AMAZING!  The recipe is on my last year's blog right here:  The Best Pumpkin Bunt Cake

But, here's the picture on my Grandma's platter:

Pumpkin Spice Cake

I miss my Grandma this time of year.  Right before she died (2009) we took a trip to the pumpkin patch in Strum - she was so full of life that day.  One of these days, I'm going to look for the pictures of that day.

Good-by, sweet flowers!
Through bright Summer hours
You have filled our hearts with cheer
We shall miss you so,
And yet you must go,
For this is the Fall of the year.


Yes, that's right, I finally ripped out our window boxes and decorated them for Fall.  The window boxes on our house are my favorite (next to the screened in porch) because they make the house feel alive.  Here's what they looked like a month ago:

Window Boxes - August

And now today:

Same Window Box - October

What a great week, first a super fun class reunion, an amazing book club at Hollyberry Inn but I'm SUPER excited to be going to the Badger vs. Gopher game on Saturday with my oldest son Graham, my dad, and my brother.  Go Badgers!!!!

Share my blog, let me know, leave your address, and I have a little something fun to send to you :)  Who doesn't like free stuff?

What's your favorite pumpkin recipe?  I have waaaaay to many to share, most of them fattening.  I'm trying to avoid the unhealthy pumpkin recipes since I'm sidelined from exercising for a bit (varicose vein surgery coming up).

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

P.S. - I'm canning pumpkin tonight - I'll have to let you know how it goes :)

Mr. Cranberry, Meet Mr. Pumpkin

Just when I think I'll be short on ideas, I have a FLOOD of inspiration.  I love it!!   This weekend I made an out-of-this-world cranberry salsa, pumpkin curry soup, and I was able to combine pumpkin and cranberry and make a great pumpkin cranberry bread!

Here's the cranberry salsa recipe:  Cranberry Salsa

I brought this to our neighbors house for a bon fire last night, and I heard Stu say, "this is good, I don't really like cranberries, but this is good."  That's what I like to hear!   Not only is this SUPER good, it's SUPER easy!

Cranberry Salsa

This is taken on my Grandma's platter, but I'm adding to my wish list a salsa and chip dish.  I make a ton of salsa, and I'm always improvising on the dish.   Another must have..

Thanks to my cousin Erinn for the idea of Pumpkin Curry.  Who doesn't love curry, and I certainly LOVE pumpkin, so I had to give this a try.  And, it's super simple!  I had just baked pumpkins yesterday with the intention of freezing the pulp, so I had the pumpkin ready to go (which made this super simple). And it's so good!

Here's the recipe:  Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin Curry Soup

And, this recipe inspiration came from the website Pinterest.  If you haven't joined this website, I would encourage you to leave my blog NOW and sign up.  It's the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Last but not least, I was able to combine pumpkins and cranberries to make cranberry bread.  Here's the link:  Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

I added walnuts to the bread, because I love nuts in my bread, and it baked 13 minutes longer than the recipe stated.  Everyone LOVED this bread, including my children.  That's a good thing.

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

And now I'm preparing for a "blog-cation" as I prepare for a "work-cation".   No cooking, no cleaning, no car-pooling, no laundry, dang I'm so disappointed that I need to leave (ha!).

I also need to get back to my kids, they are making a gingerbread haunted mess or a gingerbread haunted house, depending on how you look at it.

Gus making his haunted mess

Happy Cooking,

Another Haunted Mess

Kristin
(Go Packers!)