Pumpkin Pie with a Major Twist!

Did you know they sell pumpkin pudding now?!  Alex knows I LOVE pumpkin so he got me two boxes around Thanksgiving.  

We were invited to the neighbors house for dinner and were asked to bring dessert.  I was feeling super lazy and didn't want to run to the store so I was trying to come up with a fun idea from what I had in my house.  I found the pumpkin pudding and was racking my brain for things I could make with it. At Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law made a pumpkin chiffon pie that was light and delicious!!!  He told me they added whipping cream to a pumpkin pie like recipe to make it super light and fluffy.  So I decided I could add whipping cream to pre-made pumpkin pie pudding get get something similar...I hoped!!!  It was a bit of a gamble since I was taking to our neighbors party...they could have been pretty disgusted and egged our house as a result.  Fortunately for us and our house, it was a HIT!!!!  

 

Lazy Girl's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie:

2 small packages pumpkin pudding - make according to instructions on box

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Crust:

Gingerbread Cookie Mix 

1 stick butter, melted

Make the pumpkin pudding following the directions on the box.  Put in refrigerator for at least one hour to thicken.  Whip up heavy whipping cream until there are super stiff peaks, add powdered sugar.  Once the pudding has set completely, fold in the whipping cream until combined.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

To make the crust, combine gingerbread cookie mix and melted butter.  Push into the bottom of a pie pan to form the pie crust.  Cook in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Let cool, then add the pudding mixture to the pie crust and refrigerate for at least one hour.  

This pie is SLOPPY!  But it doesn't matter because it tastes so damn good!!!

Pumpkin Pie Tragedy!....AVERTED!!!!!

My daughter got an extra pumpkin for Halloween from her preschool Fall Festival and wanted to use it to make pumpkin pie.  I figured it was a good opportunity to teach her how we make food from foods we harvest, since we usually used canned pumpkin.

Unfortunately, I am a busy Mama.  I stopped by the grocery store and took a look at the recipe on the pumpkin puree can which listed EVAPORATED MILK in a recipe that also called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  When I got home, I searched on Allrecipes.com and found a recipe that called for SWEETEN CONDENSED MILK.  I didn't stop to even consider that I was using evaporated milk AND that the recipe didn't have ANY sugar in it....until the pie was 3/4 of the way cooked.  (#$&(#@#$&  REALLY?!  I was SUPER bummed because my daughter was so excited about the prospect of eating pumpkin pie that was made from her preschool pumpkin.  

To make matters worse, I overfilled the pie crust and spilled pie filling on the bottom of our stove top which caused the whole house to fill up with smoke.  At this point I'm pretty sure you're asking yourself why you read this crazy's cooking blog. :)

WELL.....I managed to save the day by dousing the pumpkin pie in homemade caramel sauce!  WHOOHOO!!!!!  

Salted Caramel Sauce:

1 cup white sugar

5 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 pinch of salt to taste

Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium-high heat.  Stir continuously until sugar begins to melt.  Continue stirring until the sugar melts completely, begins to darken and all the chunks are dissolved, about 10 minutes.  Stop stirring and continue to cook until the sugar begins to smoke and turns a dark shade of amber, 3 to 8 minutes.  Remove from heat and wait 30 seconds.

Whisk butter until melted and combine.  Slowly pour in cream, taking care because it can bubble over.  Sprinkle in salt and stir to combine.  Transfer to a jar and cool completely before refrigerating.

I was SO worried about making this caramel.  I've always had bad luck in making candy type products, but this caramel was AMAZING!!!!  It TOTALLY saved the day!  My daughter even said I make the "best pumpkin pie, EVER!"  To be fair, she is only three and hasn't had a lot to compare. :)  I am a bit older and have a lot to compare it to and can confidently tell you this sugar-less pumpkin pie ROCKED with this caramel sauce!  Lots of it!!!!

Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup

'Tis the season for yummy pumpkin!  I honestly can't get enough pumpkin from October to December, so I stock up on canned pumpkin during the holiday season to make sure I have enough to get me through January to September. :)  This recipe for Pumpkin Waffles and Apple Cider Syrup is a BIG reason why!

Of course the pumpkin waffles are great, but the Apple Cider Syrup is what takes this breakfast to delectable levels of pure yummy goodness!  PLEASE, I beg of you, DO NOT SUBSTITUTE  the apple cider for regular apple juice...you will be so sad if you do!

Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups milk
4 eggs, separated....if you want to go to the effort of whipping up the egg white separately.
1/4 cup canola oil

Apple Cider Syrup
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.

Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, salt and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, milk and egg yolks.  Whip the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form (I always omit this part because I'm lazy...I think they taste just as good).

Stir the flour mixture and 1/4 cup melted butter to the pumpkin mixture, stirring just to combine.  Use a whisk or rubber spatula to fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter, stirring gently until incorporated (See, so much effort to have fluffy batter...I really have tried it both ways and don't think it makes much difference). Fold in the remaining egg whites.  Cook waffles according to manufacturer's instructions.

To make the syrup, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in a sauce pan.  Stir in the apple cider and lemon juice.  Cook ever medium heat until mixture begins to boil; boil until the syrup thickens.  Remove from heat and stir in the 2 tablespoons of butter until melted.  Serve warm.

McCormick Knows Pumpkin Goodness!!!!

I'm letting you know up front I am not being paid for this gushing review of McCormick's Pumpkin Fruit Spread.  :)

This weekend Alex and I went up to Baltimore's Inner Harbor and discovered a McCormick's cooking store.  It was PURE HEAVEN!!!  I hate going to the grocery store looking for a specific spice only to find the store doesn't carry it...well, I didn't have to worry about that with the McCormick shop!  They have EVERY spice you could conceivably dream up!  But the BEST find was their Pumpkin Fruit Spread.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I think pumpkin has been getting overrated in the last couple of years and is becoming overdone.  Even the pumpkin spice latte's are getting too sweet and over the top... BLASPHEMY!!...but it is true.  This Pumpkin Fruit Spread is INSANE!!!  On the top of the lid is a recipe for making pumpkin pie.  Using the  2 pints Pumpkin Fruit Spread, combine 2 eggs, 1 can evaporated milk, pour into a 9" pie shell.  Bake 60-70 minutes at 350 degrees.

I tried to find a link so you can purchase this fruit spread, but couldn't find it even on McCormick's web site.  :(  The next trip I plan up to Baltimore, I'm going to LOAD UP on their Pumpkin Fruit Spread!

Sunday Pumpkin Waffles

I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but the chill has been in the air here in Colorado Springs for nearly two weeks.  As a result, I decided today was the day to officially open pumpkin season in our kitchen!  I found this KILLER, and I mean KILLER, pumpkin waffle recipe at Pumpkins Waffles Blog.  This person is persuing the perfect pumpkin waffle recipe and I think they have found it with this one!

At first this appeared rather time intensive for Sunday morning waffles...but the three bowls it took to make this recipe were WORTH IT!  The only thing I modified with this recipe was the buttermilk.  I didn't have buttermilk and didn't feel like running to the store just to get it when the recipe only calls for a 1/3 cup.

Ultimate Pumpkin Waffles:

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/8 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 3/4 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg*

2 large eggs

1/4 cup whole milk

1/3 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin

3 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and warm

*Grated and lightly packed into the spoon, use slightly less than 1/2 tsp. Grated and loosely scooped, this is about 1 tsp. of nutmeg. If you have to use pre-grated, dried nutmeg, use slightly less than 1/4 tsp.

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl: wisk to blend. The waffles are spicy, so if you’re not a big spice fan, cut the quantities in half.

2. Separate egg: yolks go in a medium sized bowl and whites get set aside in a smaller bowl.

3. Add pumpkin, buttermilk and milk to the egg yolks. Wisk to blend and set aside.

4. Whip egg whites with a hand mixer on high until stiff peaks form – about 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. Set aside.

5. Pour warm butter into the yolk/buttermilk/milk/pumpkin mixture. As you pour, wisk to combine; this is crucial for keeping the butter from firming up on contact with the cold milk(s) in the bowl.

6. Add all of the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients, and slowly mix them together until just combined. The batter is thick, so it may appear to be slightly lumpy. That will smooth out when the egg whites are added. Do not overmix, as doing so will toughen the waffle texture.

7. Plug in the waffle iron and set the temp as desired. Higher temperatures tend to work best.

8. Slide the whipped egg whites out of the bowl and onto the mixture you just prepared. Gently fold them in until no white bits are obvious.

9. Once the waffle iron is heated, you’re ready to pour the batter!

When Alex got is first taste of these waffles he said, "They taste like pumpkin pie!"  They were indeed yummy!  Just in case you are thinking of skipping the step of separating the eggs and beating the egg whites...DON'T!  It is totally worth it.  These waffles were fluffy!

Welcome to open pumpkin season!

Pumpkin Muffins!

Remember when I told you I don't follow directions well? Yeah, well it hit again in a BIG way today. I'm going to walk you through my post as my morning happened.

I was looking for a yummy recipe for pumpkin muffins that wasn't full of fat and sugar and it was hard to find a healthy recipe. Fortunately I stumbled up on a recipe by Ellie Kreiger that didn't just limit the sugar and fat, but it added whole wheat flour. SWEET!

The recipe calls for butter milk, which I didn't have, but I saw another recipe while I was looking for pumpkin muffin recipes that said I could substitute plain yogurt for buttermilk. I always have plain yogurt on hand for cooking.

Pumpkin Muffins:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk - I used 3/4 cup of yogurt along with a tablespoon of water.
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds - I omitted these since I haven't gutted a pumpkin lately.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. - I used my mondo large bowl for this and found that I had to transfer the dry ingredients to a medium bowl like the recipe called for.

In a large bowl, (Notice the bowl in this picture...it is the mondo bowl I put the dry ingredients in. Notice what is missing from the ingredients list?) whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined. - Now I actual thought...how does one over mix a batter? I'm going to make sure I don't over mix this one because the batter looks so fluffy...I wonder if it is because I used yogurt instead of buttermilk.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. (Now as I was walking the mondo bowl to the sink, I happened to lick the spoon...I know...I'm an adult and really shouldn't do that because of the uncooked eggs and I might get salmonella...but I do it anyway. But the batter didn't taste very sweet. WAIT, what the....I don't remember putting any sugar in this recipe. Could it really be that healthy that Ellie Kreiger didn't put sugar in it? No. I didn't follow the directions very well. RAH!!!!!)

Let's see how well the cooking spray works. I had to spoon the batter back into the mondo bowl, add the sugar and over mix the batter to incorporate the sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.
Fortunately my faux pas didn't screw up my pumpkin muffins. They turned out PERFECT! This is a GREAT recipe for a healthy pumpkin muffin. Ellie knows healthy muffins!

But that wasn't the end of my not following the directions morning. I got my coffee going so it would be ready when I pulled out my yummy pumpkin muffins. I even bought myself some pumpkin creamer to go with my coffee. My coffee maker started making that coffee percolating sound it makes when it has processed all the water through the filter...I grabbed my coffee cup, went to the coffee maker only to see a clear pot of water in the carafe. What the...? Good CRAP! Did I even put a filter in there? Yes, I, did. It's Saturday morning and you wouldn't think I was functioning on a Monday morning. :) I'm worried about what Monday has in store for me.

Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes and Salmon

My buddy Meg over at Megan's Munchies wanted to try out three pumpkin mashed potatoes recipes and I decided to try out what was behind web site number two. I was directed to Wise Food Ways for a pretty ambiguous recipe for Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes. I get nervous with ambiguous recipes because I always end of adding too much of something and ruin it...fortunately, tonight was not one of those nights. SUCCESS! These babies ROCKED!!! Thanks to my trusty pressure cooker, I fixed this up in 15 minutes!

I'm going to share with you how I made these potatoes and then you can hit the Wise Food Ways for the more ambiguous recipe. :)

Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes:
2 medium potatoes, peeled, washed and cut into big chunks
1 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin
1/2 stick of margarine, just kidding...I added a whole stick of margarine.

1 small box of cream

1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

plenty of salt and pepper

Procedure:
Cook potatoes in pressure cooker for 11 minutes according to pressure cooker directions. While potatoes are cooking, heat up margarine, cream and pumpkin over medium heat until margarine is melted and pumpkin is warmed through.Mash the vegetables with a potato masher, fork, or whisk and add butter and dairy and spices until you like the consistency and flavor.

I was worried I had destroyed the recipe because the consistency was a little 'wet'...but HOLY CRAP! It was like smooth pumpkin pie...almost. The sweet potatoes are a requirement for the consistency and taste on these potatoes. DAMN! I LOVE these potatoes!

The meat to this meal was smoked Salmon. My dad gave me a stove top smoker when Alex and I got married and it has quickly become a favorite kitchen tool. It is so silly easy to use!

The smoker is a metal box with a lid that slides on and off. In the smoker is a drip tray with a metal rack to put your meat on. I wrap my drip tray in tin foil so it is easy to clean and spray the rack with pam to keep the meat from sticking. On the very bottom of the smoker, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of alder wood chips (which conveniently came with the smoker). Put the drip tray on top of the wood chips, then the metal rack and place the salmon on the rack. Slide the lid over the top until 1 inch of space is open. Put smoker on stove top over medium heat. Once you see little wisps of smoke, slide the lid completely closed and cook for 22 minutes. The internal heat stays at 375 F while cooking...just in case you were curious.

The flavor of salmon smoked in a stove top smoker is AMAZING! It is such a subtle taste...it is so elegant. Very little smoke escapes into your house, so no worries on setting the smoke detector off. Just open a kitchen window a crack and you are good to go!

Pumpkin Drop Biscuits

I finally made it to the store to get me some pumpkin puree so I could make the Pumpkin Drop Biscuits from Megan's Munchies blog. Well worth the trip to the grocery store. I had a couple of mishaps while I was making the biscuits and I was certain I had destroyed the recipe, only to find that they weren't bad at all.

Instead of using the gluten free all purpose baking mix I opted for what I had on hand, Bisquick. I was a little nervous about the substitution because I'm not really sure the difference between Bisquick and gluten free all purpose baking mix. Initially I added 1 1/2 cups of Bisquick and couldn't understand why the batter was so runny. I added the additional cup of Bisquick and thought my problem was solved, but the batter was still runny like cupcake batter. I didn't want to throw out the mix because it had that pumpkin goodness in it, so I threw it into my trusty pumpkin cupcake tin and baked according to the instructions.

Pumpkin Drop Biscuits:
makes 12 biscuits
2 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose baking mix
2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tablespoon water

Mix baking mix, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.
Stir in pumpkin, milk, and water until all is moist.
Drop into 12 heaps onto baking sheet prepared with non-stick spray.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. If tops start to brown too fast, reduce heat to 375 degrees for the last 5 minutes.

FANTABULOUS!!!! These turned out pretty yummy for a recipe I thought I botched. The next time I make this, I am going to reduce the amount of milk. There is a recipe for drop biscuits on the side of the Bisquick box that I would mimic to give these more of a biscuit consistency. I LOVE the flavor of this recipe. I took these babies into work today and my co-workers LOVED them!

Look how cute this cupcake/biscuit looks? There is something to said about eating food that looks good. This just screams, 'I am yummy pumpkin goodness. Open your mouth and eat me!' O.K., so I talk to my food and it talks back to me...What's a girl going to do?