Stuffed Pumpkin

So, I know it's spring, and no longer pumpkin season, but there's been one siting in our back closet since the last farmer's market of the fall. It's pretty amazing how long they can last if you don't mess them up.

anyway - some where along the way I came across this recipe from NPR, for stuffed and baked pumpkin. um, it was pretty fantastic - alt

hough, I should have baked the pumpkin for longer, probably because it was way over 3 pounds.

Also - maybe now that the last pumpkin is out of our house, it can be spring now? What do you think Momma Nature? pleeeaaaseeee????

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

Makes 2 very generous servings

1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 pound stale bread, thinly sliced and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyere, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped

4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped (for the carnivores)

1 apple chopped into small pieces (bite sized or smaller)

About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

About 1/3 cup heavy cream

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Find a pot that's large enough to fit your pumpkin, or line a baking sheet. Using a sturdy knife cut off the top of the pumpkin, like a jack-o-lantern, and scoop out the seeds and stringy-ness inside. Season the inside of the pumpkin with salt and pepper.

Mix together dry ingredients (bread, cheese, apple/pear, garlic and spices). Stuff this mix into the pumpkin, and adjust until it's reasonably full. Stir together cream and nutmeg, and pour overtop, until it seems about right (not too liquidy).

Put the pumpkin's lid back on, and if there's room in your baking dish - fill it most of the way up with water. this will keep it moist and help with cooking. Bake for about 2 hours, or until the side mix is melty and warm and the pumpkin flesh is tender! If you want to brown the top of the stuffing, remove the lif for the last 20 mins or so.

Then take the pumpkin out (carefully, it's kind of heavy and soft), and arrange on a plate! - you might need two people for this step!). Carve out slices and enjoy!!

a cornucopia of fall deliciousness

sweet lord. fall has exploded in our house.Let me just run a list of what we made today:

1. pumpkin pie mix (listed here)

2. barbecue rub (that was tyler, i don't even think he'd remember what he put in if he tried)

3. pumpkin puree (listed here)

4. squash (emmy's making - delicious - she thinks it's a kabocha squash)

5. apple sauce (listed here)

6. pumpkin roll (made with the purred pumpkin -listed here)

7. pumpkin seeds (barbecue, pumpkin pie flavored, and salt - recipe here)

hoooolllllyy cow. (let me just say that those p

umpkin shells will soon be reincarnated as center pieces for t-gives. you're welcome in advance momma, be ready for m.steward part deux)

it all started when we went to the farmer's market today. I think the fact that you can use food stamps is fantastic. so great. I also love that the farmers a

t the Kingston Farmer's market are from right in the area. it's fun to know that

the apple orchard is less than a mile. fantastic. i am so excited for winter csa...

anyway!!! want some recipes??

1) pumpkin pie spice:

1 TBSP Cinnamon, 1/2

TBSP each ground ginger and ground nutmeg, 1/2 tsp allspice and ground cloves

store in a air-tight container. yum!! (now you don't have to spend like $5 on a small container, yipee!!)

2. Crockpot Apple Sauce

Last week Emmy and I went to the Jenkins-Leukin farm,

across the bridge and down the street, and we picked up a half bushel of apples for $12. have i mentioned that i love the farms in the area? love love love. anyway, while we were there we picked up an area guide called "visit vortex" - which has a ton of recipes in it: including the following 3.

Quarter and Core 8 apples. If you don't want to have apple skins in your apple sauce, then remove the skins. they're kind of good though.

2 tsp lemon juice (opt)

couple dashes of cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick

a couple of cloves (one of my new

favorite things - i feel like oprah)

1/2 cup of water

set crock pot on high, cook for about 4 hours. when soft and juicy, mash-em with a fork.

Quick tip - make sure that your crock put has been

washed out well from the last time yo

u made veggie broth. just sayin'. otherwise instead of smelling delicious, it'll just smell like broth. although it'll still taste delicious. Have i mentioned recently that i love this crock pot?

3. Pumpkin puree

Tyler and I had no idea that we would make soooooo much pumpkin puree with 2 small little pumpkins. they will last us most of the winter i think. I think we got about 6 or so cups from them (we're planning pies, breads, delicious delicious things. have i mentioned yet that i love fall???)

Steps:

1. heat oven to 350

2. Split the pumpkin in h

alf and seed it. (there's a game we used to play called "don't let miriam play with knives". i think you'll see why. these sugar pie pumpkins had such hard shells.)

3. Remove the fibers from the inside with a metal spoon

4. place the pumpkins open side down in a baking pan with about 1 cup water.

5. bake pump until it's soft, and can be pulled away with a fork .

6. scoop the pumpkin out and blend it in a magic bullet

7. freeze as needed.

4. Pumpkin SEEEEEEDDSSSS- IT'S FALLLLLLL!!!!!
after you've already scooped out the seeds from your pumpkin puree, before they're dry, separate the seeds from the stringyness. Rinse in cold water. Heat the oven to 325.

We made three different types of pumpkin seeds.

1)regular salt

2) bbq (with tylers rub, ohhh it's spicy),

3) about 2 tsp pumpkin pie mix and about 2 tsp brown sugar. yum yum yum (this turned out better than i could have expected)

mix the seeds with either oil or non-stick spray. arrange on a sheet in a single layer

bake for about 25 mins - stirring every 10 mins or so. Store in air tight container- if they last more than an evening, that is.

Some pumpkin seeds are better than others, if you know what i mean. Sugar pie pumps make great seeds. i think the hulls are less i don't know- gross than the others? Those sweet ones are delicious (they're in the dark blue bowl, the spicy bbq are in the light blue, salt in the black)

Are you pumpkin-ed out yet???? TO BAD - WE'RE NOT DONE YET.

5. PUMPKIN ROLLS

Tyler asked us to make pumpkin rolls about 2 weeks ago- and tonight we finally got around to it. As Tyler said while we were making it: "I wish i didn't know what was in this" Sometimes (often) i wish I didn't know what was in the food i made. too late!

i'm going into a food coma , so the pumpkin roll recipe will have to come at a later day. soooo fuuuuullllllll.

xoxo.

it's ok to be jealous...

I mean...will you look at these colors?

Ok, they don't show up great in these pictures. But believe me, it's unreal.

the whole mountain is awash with red and yellow and green. ugh. I'm pretty sure those are the adirondacks. or the catskills?
ALSO! I just bought a winter share in a CSA!!! Frozen versions of locally produced summer veggies!! Hooray! Best of all - the pick up location is down the street from my house! I'm really starting to love this area.

I'm turning into Martha freaking Stewart

And so can you! Here's what you do.

Walk through the mountains and trails near your house. It is fall after all. Find a HUGE branch on the ground. Walk illegally down a long highway as two different cars full of state troopers pass you stealing "wildlife." Sneakily collect some random fall things that you find on the ground. you know: acorns. rocks. moss. what looks like miniature tumble weeds. some of those pretty leaves living around your car.

Take that vase the nice church ladies gave you after the church rummage sale was through, knowing that you make less than minimum wage this year, and will take just about anything that's free. (thanks rummage sale!)

Artfully arrange (read: throw in) the random nature that you collected.

Get distracted by making things look "artful" (is that even a word?) and forget that you told your roommate that you would cut up and cook the veggies for dinner.

Stress out some more about how the tree branch is positioned, take everything out, and start again - this time while the baked ziti is in the oven. This time you manage to remember it, and don't let it burn.

Get twigs and stuff all over the floor you swept earlier this morning, and then put it on the table, and take copious amounts of photos.

See how easy it is to be Martha Stewart? YAY!

butternut squash risotto.

cooking with wine is dangerous... especially when your roommates don't drink wine, and you don't want the want to go to vinegar because you have an impending 9 months of sobriety, not because you're pregnant (DON'T PANIC I'M NOT), but because you somehow managed to contract latent tuberculosis (really? that still exists? did i visit a russian prison recently?) in the 3 months since your last TB test, and now you get to take a little pill called INH for 9 WHOLE months that is already going to destroy your liver, so no more alcohol for you little missy.

***public health lesson #1: you cannot transmit non-active (or latent) TB infection. only the active TB disease. which i don't have. don't panic. i didn't give you anything. hopefully. about 10% of the time, latent tb turns into active***

i digress.

Last night we made the most life-changing dish. Eatingwell.com - i officially love you.

Winter Squash Risotto. Risotto's a pain cause it makes your arm about fall off from stirring - but if you drink enough of the wine while cooking it’s not so bad :) and this dish I completely worth it. Make sure the squash is cut up small –no need to cook it before hand. It’ll melt in your mouth by the end. I am in love with this dish. To make it even more fall themed (as if it needed to be) we had it with salad that had apple pieces in it, and a vinaigrette with tahini, apple cider vinegar, apple cider, dijon mustard and a little bit of soy sauce and thyme and chopped apple pieces. Oh, and some freshly baked bread. I’ll put that up later.

Ingrediments:

5 cups vegetable broth (yay for making your own!)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 medium shallots, thinly sliced

3 cups butternut, chopped, peeled, hubbard, red kuri or kabocha squash (1/2-inch pieces)

2 cups shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced (or baby bellas)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme – or more if fresh

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine, or dry vermouth

1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

prep:

Place broth in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat so the broth remains steaming, but is not simmering.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in squash and mushrooms; cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms give off their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add thyme, salt, pepper and saffron (if using); cook for 30 seconds. Add rice; stir until translucent, about 1 minute. Add wine (or vermouth) and cook, stirring, until almost absorbed by the rice, about 1 minute.

Stir in 1/2 cup of the hot broth; reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition until all the liquid has been absorbed, until the rice is tender and creamy, 30 to 40 minutes total. (You may have some broth left.) Towards the end, stir in a bit more wine.Remove from the heat and stir in cheese.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/winter_squash_risotto.html