pumpkin – OwlCat Designs

November 5, 2012December 16, 2017

Gluten Free Pumpkin Crêpes

What better start could there be for a brisk fall day, than adding pumpkin to your crêpes on ~~a Sunday~~ any morning? And when you come back from running errands, your house still smells like pumpkin pie!

Make sure you keep these fairly thin as they tend to stay more moist than regular pancakes, too thick and the center will be more like pumpkin pie filling: namely dough-ey

These ‘crêpe-cakes’ were fine too. Any thicker though I have not had any luck with…

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup milk
1 /2 cup water
1 egg
1/2 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup chick pea flour/ besan
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions

Mix all the dry ingredients, then add everything else
Heat a non stick skillet over medium heat and quickly coat the inside with a bit of coconut oil, using a crumpled up paper towel.
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the heated pan and tilt to coat the entire bottom of the skillet. Cook until bubbles show through and the batter stops looking shiny, then gently turn them over to cook the other side. (These are pretty delicate, so do make sure your skillet is non stick and cook them enough before attempting to flip over.)
Repeat with the remaining batter, keeping the crêpes hot on a plate in the preheated oven or stick them in the toaster over (heat before, then turn off and put the plate in it)

November 9, 2011December 16, 2017

Roasted Pumpkin with Thyme Basting Oil

The Farmers market had a glorious amount of pumpkins! So much to choose from so many varieties. From your standard orange sugar or pie pumpkin to gray and hazy green looking varieties, they had it all. After roasting a quarter of the one I settled on and since it was an exceptionally beautiful (and BIG) representative of the pumpkin family, I made gnocchi with another quarter and pumpkin puree with the rest.

If your pumpkin seems very juicy, you might want to save that one for a soup or puree and use for pie. This dish works best with a firm pumpkin or squash. I tried it with one that was ‘liquid’, …results not convincing. Not sure why but that one time, I got one of those fairy tale pumpkins, kinda like the one in the picture and it was the juiciest pumpkin ever. Cleaning it out, it was running orange down my hands. I should have known better and turned that into, I don’t know, Pumpkin juice?

Ingredients

3 lb fresh pumpkin or squash
2-3 tbsp basting oil with thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Chop squash or pumpkin into 1″ cubes,
Preheat oven to 450 F
Toss, squash in a large bowl with 2 tbsp basting oil, then spread on a rimmed cookie sheet or roasting pan, season with salt and pepper to taste and place on the middle rack.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until fork tender

Note: Any leftover pumpkin can easily be turned into a yummy soup: Just blend and add broth or milk, bring to a boil and serve hot with a slice of crusty bread on the side and some fresh toasted pumpkin seeds for garnish!

November 8, 2011December 16, 2017

Pumpkin Apricot White Chocolate Muffins

What to do if you were blinded by the fact that all pumpkins were the same price, but one person can only eat so much pumpkin and still you picked the BIGGEST one at the farmers marked? My solution was this: You make another pumpkin muffin! This one with dried apricots and some white chocolate chips. They are not super sweet, therefore the white chocolate chips make for a nice addition. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar ( sucanat, coconut sugar or regular)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp to 1/4 cup water
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 400
Combine dry ingredients up to cinnamon, add the chopped apricots by sprinkling them over the flour mixture so they don’t clump together
Add the chocolate chips
Stir in pumpkin puree, vanilla, oil and water. Stir until just combined and you can see no more floury pieces of apricot
Drop by the tablespoon full into prepared muffin tin
Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean

October 22, 2011December 16, 2017

Pumpkin Goat Cheese Ravioli

As always, I am looking for creative ways to use seasonal produce and after getting some real life pumpkin (the convenience of canned could not keep me from trying this in the end) I had to use the resulting puree up, and trust me, it makes quite a bit. I had extra to put in the freezer! And it’s really easy to do (Tasty Yummies has a more detailed set of instructions, if you like), cut the pumpkin in half, scoop the seeds and stringy ‘innards’ out (keep the seeds, clean them and keep for roasting later) place halves cut side down in a baking dish, adding 1/2″ water, and bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 40-50 minutes, (depending on the size of your pumpkin), or until the flesh is soft when pierced with a fork. Scoop the flesh out, purée and voila!
Alternately, if you got a smaller pumpkin, you can also cut, scoop the seeds and cook it in the microwave until the skin is soft when pierced and peel the skin off the slightly cooled halves using a vegetable peeler!

Keep any seeds to make roasted pumpkin seeds later!

You can use the ravioli right away or freeze them for later use

Serve with Roasted Red Pepper ‘Cream’ Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh pumpkin puree (you can use canned)
2 1/2 to 3 oz fresh goat cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 pack Pot sticker wrappers or Wonton wrappers

Directions

Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl
Using 4 wrappers at a time, place them on work surface, place one teaspoon of filling in the center, brush edges with water and fold over and seal, crimping edges using the tines of a fork
place all the ravioli on a wax paper lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap to prevent drying while you complete step 2 with the rest of the wrappers
Either cook right away: Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop ravioli in, cooking until they float to the surface, about 3 minutes.
You can also freeze them for later use: Freeze on the sheet and once frozen store in zip top bags until ready to use. Do not defrost, but cook from frozen
Serve with Roasted Red Pepper & Pumpkin Cream Sauce.

or try a Tarragon Cream Sauce…

October 22, 2011December 16, 2017

Roasted Red Pepper and Pumpkin ‘Cream’ Sauce

Glorious colors of fall! Here the leaves have finally turned color and as I am typing this I can see the red and yellow leaves glow in the sunlight, and the bronze and ‘still green’ leaves add depth to the shadows. The birds have returned to the bird feeder in droves, the nights finally have that crisp quality you only experience on an early morning in fall and I am enjoying the view to say the least.

To celebrate fall, with its vibrant orange of pumpkins, golden corn field and that last rest of summer’s warmth int he afternoon, I roasted up a brightly colored, mighty tasty and versatile sauce/dip/spread. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper
1 cup chopped cooked pumpkin (or canned)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pinch salt

Directions

Roast whole red pepper until blackened in spots all over by holding it over a gas flame or placing under the broiler, then place in paper bag to cool a bit (the steam will loosen the skin making it easier to peel, added bonus, you won’t burn your fingers as much).
Peel red pepper (don’t have a guy do this, for some reason their hands are not made the same as ours and they cannot handle heat, as per my experience 😉 ) , this works best using a paper towel and literally rubbing the skin off. Cut in half and discard the seeds, then chop flesh.
Place pepper in your food processor or blender. I use a really cute mini processor for sauces and dips. And blend until you have a chunky mess, add the olive oil, blend until fairly smooth.
Add the pumpkin and salt and process some more. The result should not have any chunks left in it but be smooooooth.
Gently reheat to use over pasta, like the Pumpkin Goat Cheese Ravioli for example or chill and use as a spread for sandwiches or serve cold as a dip for veggies. Yields about 1 1/2 cups.

October 19, 2011December 16, 2017

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

One of my favorite breakfast spots in the area makes this amazing stuffed french toast that’s to die for. They are, however, closed on Sundays, which would only be like the perfect brunch day. So obviously it was only a matter of time until I had to try and recreate so I could have it anytime. Ahh the convenience of it 😉 And of course I will still go and have breakfast there, some days there is nothing better than to just sit down and have someone do all the work for you, including the dishes 🙂

Here’s my version using, you guessed it, some of that pumpkin that’s still left over from making pumpkin lattes, mini tartletts and goat cheese pumpkin ravioli. If you cook for one or two people only, you gotta be inventive and use what you have several different ways, so it doesn’t go bad, and I am not one to waste anything if I can help it, so bare with me if you feel pumpkin OD coming on. I’ll be onto something else soon, I promise.

Any bread will work for this, crusty bread just has to be soaked a bit longer. We used to make a dish like this back home, using any leftover day old bread, although we didn’t call it ‘french toast’, and we did not stuff it with anything.

Ingredients

4 slices of toast bread (or any day old bread, roughly equivalent in size, I used Ezekiel)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk, warm
coconut oil for cooking
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp granulated palm sugar, or sweetener of choice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
optional grated coconut for garnish, toasted if desired

Directions:

Soften cream cheese, and stir until smooth
Add the spices, sugar and the pumpkin puree, mix until incorporated.
Place milk and eggs in two separate deep flat dishes
Turn the bread in the milk, then turn in the beaten egg and place in heated skillet. Cook until golden brown, then flip over to cook the second side. Remove from pan and set aside and keep warm.
After making the second slice, while still in the skillet, top with 3 tblsp pumpkin cream cheese mix and top with another slice of french toast, and sprinkle with toasted coconut. (If your skillet is big enough, you might be able to cook all four slices at once, but mine only fits 2)

THE best!

October 18, 2011December 16, 2017

Pumpkin Cheesecake Minis

Ahhh it’s Fall, and I love me some pumpkin cheese cake. But ever notice how heavy that stuff is? I have a hard time finishing those huge pieces one is supposed to eat. How about ~~bite sized, nah, too small~~ maybe 3-4 bites? Now we’re talking! And while we’re at it, make it easy and quick as well.

That’s right, my friends, I want my (cheese) cake and eat it too (could not resist that one) And as you might know, I am not one for letting anything go to waste and so I was going through my fridge to see what’s on hand that might be useful.

The result? SUPER EASY, and besides the crust, NO BAKING! And to top that, you can make these in the toaster oven, in fact they turn out better in the toaster oven 🙂 Win!
Here is my secret weapon of choice: left over pot sticker wrappers! That’s right, and we are going to blind bake (or toasterize) them into crunchy littlte tartlet shells.

You need:

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 bar, pack, block? what do you call that?), softened
3-4 tbsp pumpkin puree (from can)
2 tbsp suconat or coconut sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix
1/8 tsp vanilla
8-10 pot sticker wrappers (or wonton wrappers, trimmed to a round shape)

Directions

Place pot sticker wrappers in individual Madeleine forms or muffin tins, place in toaster oven for about 5-6 minutes, being careful not to let them get too brown, trust me, it goes quickly. On mine I set it right between the light and the dark setting. If your toaster oven has a temp setting, turn it down to 400, but leave it on toast (depending on your muffin cups/ Madeleine forms it might take more or less time, shiny metal reflects the heat…) Alternately, using your oven, bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes, or until just slightly golden. They will crisp up more as they cool.
In the meantime place softened cream cheese in a bowl, add the coconut sugar/sweetener of choice, and stir until completely incorporated.
Add spices and pumpkin and mix until uniform.
When the shells are cooled a bit, fill each using a tablespoon.
Refrigerated for min. 1 hour to allow to get firm, prior to serving.

Note: these are best made and eaten within a day or so, since the crust will soak up the moisture from the filling and get progressively less crunchy.