It's a Hubbard Squash

The winter squash you probably didn't recognize is a golden Hubbard squash.  Most commonly it's used as a substitute for pumpkin, so anywhere you'd use pumpkin, like in soups, you can use this squash.  Or, even better... pie!

Photo via Reimer Seeds

To me, nothing says "Americana" more than a pumpkin pie.  In this case, the recipe even mentions a Hubbard squash specifically.  I'm happy to share (below) my pumpkin pie recipe.

But first, here's another of my favorites.  It's a dip that's highly reminiscent of pumpkin pie.  It's very quick to put together, and it's a great appetizer for get-togethers.  The ginger snaps are a perfect compliment as well.  As a matter of fact, it's inspired me to try making a ginger snap crust for this Thanksgiving's pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin dip
Ingredients

• 8oz cream cheese
• 8 oz pumpkin
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• ginger snaps

Directions

Mix all ingredients well and serve with ginger snaps.

Burt's Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp butter or margarine
• 1-1/2 cup cooked fresh or canned pumpkin
• 1 ½ tsp ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp mace
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk

Directions

1. Line a 9" pie pan with pastry and keep it cool in refrigerator while you make up the pumpkin filling.
2. Start your oven at 450 degrees.
3. Melt butter and stir it into the pumpkin (or squash) along with the spices.
4. In a separate bowl beat the eggs until light and frothy. Stir the flour, both types of sugar, salt and milk into the beaten eggs. Then mix the egg mixture and pumpkin mixture together with a gentle hand.
5. Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. At the end of this time reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 45 minutes longer; or, until the tip of a knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean and shining.

As the Weather Cools

The pumpkin tunnel is open this weekend!  Make sure to stop by and pick up some pumpkins!

Okay, now it's seriously fall.  Everything is orange now, especially lots and lots of pumpkins.  Jack-o-lanterns?  Well, not quite yet.  But it is time for [drumroll]... pumpkin soup!!  Wahoo!  First things first.  Do not use canned pumpkin.  You will absolutely notice the difference, and it's well worth the effort.  Here's what you do:  Cut the pumpkins in half, regardless of size.  (Be careful, often you have to put some force behind your knife to cut pumpkin or acorn squash.  Use a sharp knife, in other words get yours sharpened, and be extra mindful of where your hands and fingers are.)  Take out the seeds and strings, drizzle with olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Wrap tightly in foil, and bake at 350˚F for about 90 minutes.  Ta da!  It's soft, let it cool and scrape the pulp off the skin.  I put it in 8oz paper cups and freeze it, then take the cup off and leave in a Ziploc in the freezer.  On a cool spring day, it's nice to make pumpkin pie again.

Butternut, and pretty much any other orange flesh squash make really good soup!

As for the soup itself, it's a very blank canvas upon which you can try lots of things.  Boil the pumpkin in chicken, vegetable, or even seafood stock (especially lobster!), add aromatics (celery, onion, carrots, fennel, that sort of thing), herbs and spices, and cook.  Use an immersion blender to purée the soup, and reduce until it's the desired consistency.  Finishing with a little butter or cream makes it even awesomer.

As for what seasonings to use, it's pretty wide open.  Everything from the creole recipe linked above, to curry, to something fancy with saffron will work.  (By the way, if anyone gets the pumpkin bowl thing in that last recipe to work, email me and tell me how you did it.)  This recipe is a hearty version with ham.  Or, for simplicity, I just use the same spices that go in pumpkin pie with just a small handful of brown sugar and some sage.  That one's pretty classic.

It's fall.  Enjoy it while it's here!  I hope to see you and the kids at the pumpkin tunnel this weekend.  Happy soup cooking!

So how much soup would one of the big boys make?

Thanksgiving Favorites: Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

Thanksgiving In Nalls’ Kitchen!

7310 Beulah Street, Franconia, VA 22315

(703) 971-4068 ~ info@nallsproduce.com

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

The pumpkin replaces any egg in this cheesecake, and you can easily make it gluten-free with some crust gluten-free graham crackers of gingerbread cookies for the crust.  Plus, with the right substitutions (we used So Delicious’ Pumpkin Spice Coconut Milk), you can have a vegan cheesecake to pair with that tofurkey!

Ingredients:

16 oz reduced fat cream cheese

¾ cup sugar

2 Tbsp corn starch

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp Kosher salt

¾ cup pumpkin spice flavored creamer

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

½ cup pumpkin puree (make your own!)

For crust:

6 oz of gingerbread cookies, gingerbread snaps, or graham crackers, finely crumbled

6 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix together cookie crumbles with melted butter.  Then press mixture into the bottom and sides of a cheesecake pan or cake pan.

In a separate bowl, cream together cream cheese, sugar, corn starch, pumpkin pie spice and salt until completely incorporated and the batter is light and fluffy.  Stir in creamer, vanilla and pumpkin puree and mix until fully blended.

Pour over your crust and then bake in oven at 325 for 30 minutes.  When your cheesecake is done, the center will jiggle when you tap on the pan, but you’ll have about ½ inch to and inch ring around the edge that will hold firm.  Remove from oven and cool at room temperature, before cooling in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  The longer it chills out the better!

Sausage & Pumpkin Pasta

Don't get too excited, there won't be any pie pumpkins in this week's Crop Share, but I suspect some of you still have your pie pumpkin sitting around just begging to be turned into something yummy.  Either that any of the hard squash you've received, like the butternut, acorn or this week's carnival squash can be used in place of pumpkin.  Just follow the same basic steps for making your own pumpkin puree whether you're using any type of pumpkin or hard squash (just not spaghetti squash, too sinewy).  But this dish is our absolute Fall go-to meal!  Not only is it quick and easy, but holy mother of pearl it is goooooooooood!  Kind of makes me want to hoard pumpkin puree so that I can make this dish in August, because every time I make it I wonder why I haven't been making this every single week.  So if you enjoy all things pumpkin, prepare to fall in love with this pasta!

Sausage & Pumpkin Pasta

Ingredients:

1 box pasta (farfalle or rotini work best, and I use Bio Naturae gluten free rotini)

6 links hot Italian-style turkey sausage (casing removed and crumbled)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup pumpkin puree, or puree of other like hard squash (make your own!)

1 1/4 tsp dried, rubbed sage

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Cook pasta to package directions.

In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in crumbled sausage and onion.  Once sausage begins to brown add in garlic.  Once sausage is cooked through and browned on the outsides, deglaze pan with chicken broth and wine.  Bring liquid to a light simmer and stir in pumpkin, sage, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Cook for an additional minute or two, just enough to thoroughly heat the pumpkin.  Remove from  heat and stir in parsley.  Toss with pasta to serve.

Adventures in Cauliflower, Part 2: Pumpkin Chicken Curry over Cauliflower Coconut Sticky "Rice"

Well, it was with much, MUCH, trepidation that I attempted another cauliflower recipe.  I waited over a week to recover from the last experience, and finally got up the courage to give it another go.  Plus, not being able to sleep does lend itself to the kind of randomness needed to tackle this project.  Thankfully, 1 AM is also a great time to make curry (any time is great for curry, but I have a soft spot in my heart for late night pub curry that may or may not have followed inordinate amounts of drink)!  And thanks to new Crop Share member Louise for answering my call for cauliflower recipes and sending me a recipe for Pumpkin Cashew Coconut Curry over Coconut Rice from PaleOMG.  It should be noted that Louise is also not a big fan of cauliflower, so again I say, where are all these cauliflower lovers and their incredible recipes?  Hmmmm???!!
 
The great thing about the recipe is that it was automatically gluten, dairy & egg free, so no needing to substitute there for our household.  But the cashews had to go, especially since I was the one who discovered the Mister's cashew allergy when I tried to kill him with a cookie one night.  He married me any way.  So what better thing to substitute in to a pumpkin curry than pumpkin seeds!  Thus without further ado, here is my twist on PaleOMG's recipe, and then scroll to the bottom to see if I'm finally sold on the vegetable of doom.

Pumpkin Chicken Curry over Cauliflower Coconut Sticky "Rice"

Ingredients:

For the curry:
1 Tbsp coconut oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, diced
1 1/3 cups reduced fat coconut milk
1 cup pumpkin puree (make your own!)
5 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
salt & pepper to taste (the seeds I had were already salted, so I didn't add any additional salt)

For the "rice":
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 head of cauliflower, rough chopped
pinch salt
2/3 cup reduced fat coconut milk
1/2 cup unsweetened, finely shredded coconut
2 tsp local honey

In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp coconut oil over medium high heat. Once oil is melted, add in cubes of chicken and garlic.  Once the chicken is white on all sides, add in onion and saute until chicken begins to brown.

Deglaze pan with coconut milk and then stir in pumpkin, mixing well to break up any clumps.  Stir in spices and pumpkin seeds, taste to determine if salt & pepper is needed.  Pull from heat and set pan aside.

Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender (if using a blender, you'll have to do this in stages) "rice" up the cauliflower until all the chunks are gone.

Heat remaining Tbsp coconut oil in a saucepan over medium high heat.  Add in riced cauliflower and  pinch of salt, stir and cover to allow cauliflower to steam for about 3 minutes.  Then add in milk, coconut and honey, stirring to fully incorporate.  Reduce heat, replace lid and simmer for about 8 minutes, or until milk is absorbed, taking care to stir a few times to make sure it's not burning on the bottom.

Serve cauliflower rice topped with the pumpkin curry.



Soooooooo, what did I think?  Did this finally sell me on cauliflower or do I possibly hate it even more than I did before. Let's just say after one bite, this was me...

Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down.  And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there.  I'll tell you how I feel in love with cauliflower!

That's right, it's official, it's almost 2 AM and I'm eating a dish with cauliflower all up in it and I LOVE it.  Now, this doesn't mean I'll start eating heads of cauliflower with wild abandon.  But it does mean that if I rice the heck out of it, coconut it up and add honey, then I can turn it into something that doesn't trip the "eww, ick, urgh, cauliflower, I'm dying, ahhhhh!" trigger.  So for those of you like me who've yet to find a preparation that doesn't make your skin crawl, then my friends, THIS is the recipe for you.

Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

So on Saturday morning we're partnering with Kingstowne Pilates to offer Pumpkins & Pilates (alas, the even is already sold out).  There will be pilates, and there will be pumpkins, and the two may even combine.  And there will also be Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies to replenish everyone when the class is over.  Now that is where I come in, because heaven knows the only thing I will have to do with the pilates portion is emitting un-ladylike amounts of sweat and losing the will to live after about 15 minutes.  Okay, let's be honest with ourselves...after about 5 minutes.  So when Pat Backe, the pilates master, and I were musing about how to incorporate pumpkins into this event, I said I could make some sort of healthy pumpkin smoothie.  The operative word was could.  Did I actually have a go-to recipe?  No.  Had I made a pumpkin pie smoothie before?  No.  Did I wait till almost the last minute to test out some recipes?  YES!  Thankfully, after a few key tweaks to the recipe I tried last night, tonight's re-do was a resounding success and I'm highly considering drinking the whole blender full myself and getting pumpkin wasted.

Now the great timing with this is that, SURPRISE...we're all getting pie pumpkins in the Crop Share tomorrow!  HUZZAH!  So you can either decorate with it for awhile, or tell Libby's to take a vacation and make your own pumpkin puree.  The Pioneer Woman has a wonderful and easy recipe for how to make your own pumpkin puree from pie pumpkins.  Plus, she gives tips for freezing so if you don't need to use all the puree now, you can hang onto it and start building your supply for all your Thanksgiving baking.

So won't you just impress the pants off your friends and family when you roll out these Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies and you've made them with your OWN pumpkin puree!  Plus the local honey will give you a much needed allergy fighting boost if you're currently miserable.  And between the amount of anti-oxidants in the pumpkin and the wonderful number of vital nutrients and minerals in the black strap molasses, this smoothie is essentially a superfood in a glass!  Drink up!

Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin puree (put that Pie Pumpkin to good use and make your own puree!)
2 cups almond milk (I used unsweetened, vanilla Almond Breeze)
1 Tbsp raw, local honey
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp black strap molasses
1 banana, frozen and sliced  (peeling and slicing the banana first, before freezing, is helpful)
4 ice cubes

Easiest directions ever...put all items into blender.  Push "blend".  Watch blender blend.  Pour into a glass...or directly into your mouth.  Yes, you are drinking pumpkin pie.  Mmm, pie.

Makes about 4, 8 oz servings.  Basically, one liquid pie.  Again I say...mmm, pie.

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is only in a couple of weeks, isn't that crazy? If you're in charge of making the pumpkin pie this year, here is a great traditional pie recipe. Don't forget to top off with some cool whip :)

If you're making soups or sauces with your pumpkin, check out this great guide for how to make homemade puree out of the pumpkins and easily store it.

Ingredients:
Pie Crust
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup all-purpose shortening
3 Tbsp. ice water

Macadamia Streusel Toppping
1/4 cup chopped Macadamia nuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. melted butter

Pie Filling
2 cups pie pumpkin — baked and puréed
2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 large eggs — lightly beaten
12 oz. can evaporated milk

To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.marketdistrict.com/Create/Recipes/Detail.aspx?RecipeID=45&RecipeCategoryID=6&Page=2

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Using a pumpkin to cook can seem a little bit intimidating. I may be guilty of turning to the Libby's can of pumpkin puree in the past. Follow these simple steps and you'll become an expert at cooking with pumpkin. With these instructions, you can make your pumpkin puree to use for all kinds of recipes and the best part is, you can freeze it too!

Ingredients:

2 pie pumpkins

To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/make-your-own-pumpkin-puree/