The pumpkin, fall/winter squash and sweet potato recipe thread

[tiggerfan1]

St Nicholas is a continental thing - on 5 December the children leave out their "clogs" (wellies now) and if they've been good st Nick leaves sweets and treats, or if naughty, sticks. We all leave our boots out but as I "help" St Nick I only get good girl stuff - DH gets the most sticks, the boys get a bit of each As Dh has early shift on 6/12 he said he was going to move all his sticks into my boot

How fun! We should start celebrating St. Nicholas' day here in the U.S. Hey, maybe I'll try to start a trend. Unfortunately, I don't have any clogs or wellies. Do you think my high-heeled Nine West boots would be OK?

That is SO funny! I love traditions, far and wide. lol Have you ever seen the "Rick Steves" European Christmas? He's a travel guide and he does a good job showing off the Christmas traditions. He's a tiny bit... well, something... but I alwasy learn something when I watch him and here in the states he comes in High Def which is a beautiful way to see a country I can't afford to visit.

I saw that Christmas special last year! Gotta love Rick Steves. I also love Ian Wright on Globe Trekker. He always cracks me up.

I remember growing up, and celebrating St. Nick's day!

Hi, mel63! That's awesome that you celebrated St. Nick's day. What kinds of sweets did you get from Santa? Or did you get sticks ?

 

[tiggerfan1]

About my Thanksgiving..........


I was getting really stressed out trying to put together the Thanksgiving feast. At the last minute, I decided to call a caterer. Boy, did that save me a lot of trouble! This particular caterer loves to think outside the box. Instead of the usual turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc., we had:





Toast

Popcorn

Pretzel Sticks

Jelly Beans

Ice Cream Sundaes

I highly recommend Chef Snoopy!

Just kidding. I used this as a joke on another thread and I thought it'd be fun to share it here, too. My real T-day pumpkin report will be done soon. Stay tuned..............

 

[tiggerfan1]

Inspired by the Pioneer Woman's blog...............

~*~ Confessions of a Tigger Fan ~*~


How I Offended the Food Gods and the Sweet Potatoes






Warning: Beware of crappy pictures. I am not the greatest photographer.








It was a bright, sunny Thanksgiving morning here in the State of Confusion when I started to fix breakfast. I wanted to try one of the recipes from this thread, so I decided to make pumpkin french toast (recipe on page 9). I figured it would be easy to prepare and could be made in advance. Here's a picture of it:




Pumpkin French Toast w/ Maple Syrup

(The pumpkin french toast was really good. Braided challah was my choice of bread. I used half-and-half instead of cream and added an extra tablespoon of sugar. Oh, and I used 1/2 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon instead of following the recipe. The french toast came out really well. It doesn't have a big pumpkin taste, but it's still good. I will definitely be making this again. )




This year, my family and I had Thanksgiving with my aunt (she's not really related to me, but I still call her my aunt) and some of her family members. My aunt, whom I will refer to as Aunt M, made the turkey, pumpkin crunch, pound cake and a few side dishes. My Aunt M is an amazing cook. Her turkey was so tasty and moist. I wish I had gotten a picture of it.




We had two kinds of sweet potatoes this year. My Aunt M and her folks prefer candied sweet potatoes (w/ no marshmallows), while my family and I like sweet potato casserole (w/ lots of marshmallows). Unfortunately, putting marshmallows on sweet potatoes is considered to be highly offensive to the food gods. Making green bean casserole can also incur their wrath. (I am an unabashed green bean casserole lover. ) How did I offend the sweet potatoes, you ask? Well..........I forgot to take a picture of them!!! I was so focused on the pumpkin stuff that I neglected the poor little sweet potatoes. If you read about the pumpkin-turnip/rutabega feud, you'd understand my concern. To avoid a potential feud between the sweet potatoes and the pumpkins, I decided to post pictures that looked similar to what we had.


My aunt's candied sweet potatoes looked a lot like Travelmel's. (Sorry, Travelmel, I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" your picture!)

My sweet potato casserole looked a lot like the picture below. The only difference is that my sweet potatoes had more streusel topping and marshmallows on it. It doesn't look very pretty in my opinion, but it tastes good! (recipe on page 5)

I repeat, this is NOT my own picture!







For dessert, we had..........



My Aunt M's pumpkin crunch (recipe on page 13)

(Here's an up-close-and-personal picture of a piece of pumpkin crunch.)

My pumpkin-swirl brownies (recipe on page 1):

(These brownies were pretty good. To be honest, I think that I should have made my chocolate-pumpkin marble cake instead. These brownies took forever to bake and it ended up looking more like a cake instead of a brownie. The pieces were HUGE. As you can see, I didn't do a very good job of marbling these brownies. Yeah, I may not make these again. If I do, I'll probably have to tweak the recipe a little. Sorry Smitten Kitchen blog lady! I still adore your recipes, though! )




My pumpkin pie (recipe on page 2):

The graham cracker crust was made especially for me by the Keebler elves.


(As you can see, I used a store-bought pie crust. I also used the same old Libby's recipe instead of trying a new recipe from this thread. Yup, I offended the food gods once again. To punish me for my laziness, they decided to mess with my pumpkin pie. Before I baked the pie, I put it on a cookie sheet so that it would be easier to put in and take out of the oven. I also assumed that it would keep the pie pan nice and level. When I went to check on the half-baked pie about 20 minutes later, I noticed that something didn't look right. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the pie was slightly tilted and the filling was uneven!!! I was so upset, but I just let my uneven pie continue to bake. While the pie was cooling, I racked my brain trying to figure out how to deal with this mistake. I didn't have time to make another pie. Finally, I decided to hide the uneven filling with whipped cream. It did the trick. No one knew that there was anything wrong with the pie.........and they never will. )



I also made apple dumplings for dessert. I have no pictures of them because I only took pictures of the pumpkin stuff. You can see a picture of the dumplings on the Pioneer Woman's site, which is where I got the recipe. (The PW's apple dumplings look a lot prettier than mine did, anyway.) http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/02/apple_dumplings/


Although PW's apple dumplings looked delicious, I couldn't bring myself to use all that butter, sugar and Mountain Dew. That's totally ironic because I use lots of butter and sugar in my chocolate-pumpkin marble cake. Hmmm....maybe it was the Mountain Dew that that scared me. Anyway, I used half the amount of butter and sugar and used apple cider instead of Mountain Dew. It still came out good. Oh, by the way, I also made stuffing based on PW's half cornbread/half french bread stuffing recipe. It turned out really well!




Well, although there were a couple of mishaps along the way, we all still had a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for letting me share my Thanksgiving with you all. It felt good to get that confession off my chest. The sweet potatoes have forgiven me and are no longer offended. Wish me luck as I try to appease the food gods. ​

 

[tiggerfan1]

Now that I have finally gotten all of my pumpkin pictures saved to my computer, I can now share a few more pumpkin recipes that I've tried from this thread.



Warning: More crappy pictures ahead.



After I made the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, I tried the famous Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread recipe (recipe on page 1). Since this recipe got rave reviews from other DISers and got the highest ratings on allrecipes.com, I couldn't wait to try it. This pumpkin bread tastes really good. I think I may have found my new go-to pumpkin bread recipe. Thanks for the recipe, Dis2cruise!

Next up: Pumpkin Pancakes Paintnolish-style (from page 2) and Hot Cider Syrup (recipe on page 4)



Oh. My. Goodness. I've tried a couple of other pumpkin pancake recipes before, but they always turned out a bit mushy in the middle. My Unicorn sister, Paintnolish said that she adds a big glop of pumpkin to a regular pancake batter recipe and adds a little pumpkin pie spice to it. Was it really that simple? When I tried it for myself, I saw that it was indeed that simple. I'll never be afraid of making pumpkin pancakes ever again. Thanks, Paint!


The hot cider syrup took the pancakes "up another notch" (to quote Emeril Lagasse). Unfortunately, I sliced the apples a little too thinly and they were almost transparent when the syrup had fully cooked. I used a little less sugar, corn syrup, and lemon. I cooked it a little longer to make the syrup really thick. It was amazing. I'd never made my own pancake syrup before. I finally have a sense of accomplishment. Thanks for the recipe, piratesmate!



Pumpkin pancake before hot cider syrup:

Pumpkin pancake after hot cider syrup (the picture w/ the transparent apples wasn't very pretty):

I can't wait to try more recipes!

 

[travelmel]

I saw that Christmas special last year! Gotta love Rick Steves. I also love Ian Wright on Globe Trekker. He always cracks me up.

I love Ian! My favorite quote of his is when he's in like.... I forget where but they're making him breakfast and it's something hideous like Garbanzo beans, curry, pork inerds, and then.... a raw egg on top. And he says, "That bit was not necessary."



He cracks me up, bigtime. I am a huge Globetrekker fan!

 

[travelmel]

You're so funny! Chef Snoopy! When I read that you had a caterer at first I believed it and i was like... Umm. that is ODD! Then I started to get it... !

Then I came across your sweet potato picture and I said to myself, "Wow, hers look exactly like mine!"

When I am particularly motivated I have been known to make Candied Yams (boiled and chunked) AND a sweet potato casserole (mashed and gooey). I like it all!

Pumpkin french toast looked MARVELOUS!

Pumpkin pancake looked good and I am DEFINITELY going to try that. When I saw them pictured with apples and syrup my mouth literally started squirting water. Looked SO GOOD!

I thought your brownies were marbled exceptionally well and before you said they weren't I had thought to myself, "Wow, those look really artful!" I stand by it.

Crunch cake?! I want crunch cake!!

Nice job saving the tilted pie!

I'm also going to try the pumpkin bread.... It's always nice to get a pre-reviewed for goodness recipe!

Everything looked wonderful. Let's not forget, pumpkin can be achieved all year long! Long live the GOURDS!

 

[tiggerfan1]

Hi, Travelmel! Believe it or not, it is now around 2 am and I came back on the DIS just to edit a picture on this thread! I couldn't sleep because I thought, "Those apples on the pancake didn't make the picture look very nice. I think I"ll go with another one of the pancake pictures." The DIS has taken over my life. Sad, ain't it?

I love Ian! My favorite quote of his is when he's in like.... I forget where but they're making him breakfast and it's something hideous like Garbanzo beans, curry, pork inerds, and then.... a raw egg on top. And he says, "That bit was not necessary."

That's hilarious......and soooo like Ian! I think I missed that episode.

You're so funny! Chef Snoopy! When I read that you had a caterer at first I believed it and i was like... Umm. that is ODD! Then I started to get it... !

Thank you, kindly. One of my DIS friends asked me if she could use Chef Snoopy for her upcoming wedding!

Then I came across your sweet potato picture and I said to myself, "Wow, hers look exactly like mine!"

I hope you don't mind that I used your sweet potato picture. Sorry, I should have asked you first. All your pictures came out so nicely that I couldn't resist stealing one of them. Your picture helped me get back into the sweet potatoes' good graces. Thanks!

I'm also going to try the pumpkin bread.... It's always nice to get a pre-reviewed for goodness recipe!

Everything looked wonderful. Let's not forget, pumpkin can be achieved all year long! Long live the GOURDS!

Thank you for all your kind words. I hope the pumpkin bread turns out well for you. I'm planning to try rutabagas soon. I'm definitely going to try your recipe. It sounds so good! Long live the GOURDS (and the honorary gourds)!!!


P.S. I'll post the exact recipe that I used for the pumpkin pancakes tomorrow (well, I guess I should say later on today). TTFN! (Ta ta for now!)

P.P.S. Is it just me or does that piece of french toast look like a car? Maybe I'm losing it. No....wait....I lost it a long time ago....... Uh....I think I'd better get to sleep now. Good night!

 

[travelmel]

Ha ha ha!!

reason for edit: Pancake apples didn't look right!

Yep, you and I are on the same channel DIS CHANNEL! LOL I think it's great.

And definitely, a squished, carmelized, yummy car!

You know at some point I have to ask you..... have you read...


.......


.. it?

 

[MazdaUK]

Unfortunately, I don't have any clogs or wellies. Do you think my high-heeled Nine West boots would be OK?

Any sort of boots are OK - obviously you can fit more in full-length

DH loved the hot pot pot pie, so next time I'll make it just for us and the boys can have fish fingers

 

[tiggerfan1]

Ha ha ha!!

reason for edit: Pancake apples didn't look right!

And definitely, a squished, carmelized, yummy car!

Yep, you and I are on the same channel DIS CHANNEL! LOL I think it's great.

"Pancake apples didn't look right." I like that! Maybe I'll edit my "reason for edit". I'm glad we're on the same DIS channel. Oh, and I'm glad you think that the french toast looks like a car. I'm not completely out of my mind.

You know at some point I have to ask you..... have you read...


.......


.. it?

At first, I had no idea what you were talking about. I finally realized that you had changed your signature and made the connection. No, sorry, I haven't read it yet. I hang my head in shame. I'm going to go sit in the corner with a paper bag over my head. For the past couple of weeks, I've been so preoccupied with this thread and the Unicorn Club thread. Don't worry, I'll be joining the party soon. Now that many of our Christmas decorations are up, I'll start taking pictures of them for your seasonal picture thread. I'm so glad that I'll finally have some real holiday pictures to contribute.

Any sort of boots are OK - obviously you can fit more in full-length

DH loved the hot pot pot pie, so next time I'll make it just for us and the boys can have fish fingers

OK, I'm glad my boots would be acceptable.

I'm glad that you DH liked your pot pie. Too bad your kids didn't like it. Make sure to give them sticks for St. Nick's day. Or better yet, fish fingers!! Just kidding!

 

[tiggerfan1]

Travelmel- I just finished reading the first few pages of the "flippant trip." I'm loving your trip report so far! I'll comment on your thread when I'm done reading the whole thing, but I just had to comment on a few things now.

First of all, your matching Disney shirts were awesome!

I cracked up when you mentioned the "Disney gods". You've got your "Disney gods" and I've got my "food gods". Great minds think alike! We are totally on the same DIS channel!

That's great that you guys got to eat at the Blue Bayou. I've been to Disneyland several times, but I've never eaten there. I gotta go there the next time I'm at DL!! Speaking of pirates, I think it's awesome that you got married on a pirate ship. That is the coolest thing ever. I'm sooooo jealous!! I loved your wedding pictures.

You are so right about the Aladdin show. It's the best Disney show, in my opinion. I would give anything to play Princess Jasmine in that show! I wouldn't even mind being her stunt double (she gets to fly in the magic carpet)!!

OK, I'll read more of you TR tomorrow. I'm going to go wreak havoc on your seasonal picture thread. Mwahahahahaha!!

 

[travelmel]

Thanks for all your comments!

It really is fun to get people's feedback. I think this Dis thing has made a wannabe reporter outta me!

I'm looking forward to your additions to the Seasonal Thread! and I'm glad to hear that you will be freed up to start.... just know that you will be outta commission for awhile.

And, too funny about the edit your edit reason!

 

[WeatherbySwann]

About my Thanksgiving..........


I was getting really stressed out trying to put together the Thanksgiving feast. At the last minute, I decided to call a caterer. Boy, did that save me a lot of trouble! This particular caterer loves to think outside the box. Instead of the usual turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc., we had:



I highly recommend Chef Snoopy!

I was getting ready to ask if your caterer was Charlie Brown.

 

[tiggerfan1]

I was getting ready to ask if your caterer was Charlie Brown.

Hey, WS! Charlie Brown is Chef Snoopy's sous chef.

 

[tiggerfan1]

OK, when did this become a chat thread instead of a recipe thread? To avoid being kicked off the cooking forum, I decided that it was high time that I posted another recipe. Actually, I meant to post this recipe yesterday, but I forgot. It's the exact recipe that I used for the pumpkin pancakes.



Pumpkin Pancakes a la Paintnolish


1 cup flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp. canola oil (or vegetable oil)


-In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and spices. In another bowl, combine egg, milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and oil. Stir egg mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix.

-Pour batter by 1/4-cupfuls into a prepared pan or griddle. Cook until the batter is bubbling in the middle and the edges are lightly browned. Turn the pancakes over and cook for another 2 minutes or so.

 

[tiggerfan1]

Travelmel- I just read a few more pages of your TR. Here are some of my thoughts:

I WANT TO GO TO THE MOONSTRUCK CHOCOLATE CAFE!!!!

You totally celebrated your DDs' birthdays in style. I want a Bunco party, too!

Hats off to you for riding the Big Shot at the Stratosphere Casino. There's no way I would ever ride that! I'm way too chicken!

You guys were lucky not to get very wet on the Grizzly River Run ride. I get drenched whenever I go on that ride--no fail. The last time I was at DCA, I brought along a poncho and flip flops and kept all of my stuff in the free lockers next to the ride. I absolutely love that ride though! I rode it 5 times in a row once (there was no line). It's a lot better than the Kali Rapids at AK.

That's awful that you had to deal with such a rude guest service person. I hope you complained about her. I'm glad there was a nice CM to make up for it.

I cracked up when I saw those tattoo pics. That's amazing that those people got tattoos across their entire backs.

I'll read more later. TTFN!!

 

[travelmel]

Travelmel- I just read a few more pages of your TR. Here are some of my thoughts:

I WANT TO GO TO THE MOONSTRUCK CHOCOLATE CAFE!!!!

You totally celebrated your DDs' birthdays in style. I want a Bunco party, too!

Hats off to you for riding the Big Shot at the Stratosphere Casino. There's no way I would ever ride that! I'm way too chicken!

You guys were lucky not to get very wet on the Grizzly River Run ride. I get drenched whenever I go on that ride--no fail. The last time I was at DCA, I brought along a poncho and flip flops and kept all of my stuff in the free lockers next to the ride. I absolutely love that ride though! I rode it 5 times in a row once (there was no line). It's a lot better than the Kali Rapids at AK.

That's awful that you had to deal with such a rude guest service person. I hope you complained about her. I'm glad there was a nice CM to make up for it.

I cracked up when I saw those tattoo pics. That's amazing that those people got tattoos across their entire backs.

I'll read more later. TTFN!!

Man! All that happened in just a few pages??? WOW!



Kinda gives you a sense of how much I enjoy my OT's!

Thanks for the pancake-specifics!

Pumpkin Chat Recipe
Core Pumpkin
Remove Nuts
Place them on the Dis
Teach them to type
Roast Until Done!

 

[paintnolish]

Love the pumpkin pancake recipe title! I use Bisquick if I am feeling Martha Stewart-ish or some complete mix if I am lazier.
Pumpkin crunch cake looks so good. That'd go well with this morning's coffee.
My TGiving would have horrified you pumpkin purists...it horrified me! My sister said she was going to make a sweet potato souffle...I called in the morning and she was going with plain baked. NOOOO! Dh went out and bought the stuff I needed (I had to cut corners with canned potatoes). Nobody ate the plain baked! Then, her dh made a pumpkin pie...from a Jello Pumpkin pudding mix! This thread was not well represented!

 

[WeatherbySwann]

I've been having to squeeze all my time on the DIS lately into short intervals, and am just now getting a chance to catch up with this thread! I just read the Thanksgiving reports - you all are fantastic cooks! Perhaps I'll have to try a few of these recipes for Christmas.

You are so right about the Aladdin show. It's the best Disney show, in my opinion. I would give anything to play Princess Jasmine in that show! I wouldn't even mind being her stunt double (she gets to fly in the magic carpet)!!

OK, I'm officially jealous! I've never been to Disneyland and have heard so much about the Aladdin show, as well as all the other great entertainment they have there. There are MANY wonderfully hilarious videos on YouTube of Alice and the Mad Hatter greeting with guests at Disneyland - the character interaction seems to be much more spontenous and entertaining than at WDW. Not that WDW does a bad job at it, it's just that it seems like it's more unexpected as to what the characters will do at DL instead of the hug/autograph/picture routine. I'd also like to see their different variations of the rides that are at both DL and WDW.

Hopefully some day I'll make it to Disneyland.

 

[travelmel]

My TGiving would have horrified you pumpkin purists...it horrified me! My sister said she was going to make a sweet potato souffle...I called in the morning and she was going with plain baked. NOOOO!

Souffle.... It has a certain ring to it!

Hopefully some day I'll make it to Disneyland.

And me to WDW! Wouldn't it be great if we found out that we looked EXACTLY alike and we could switch lives for a week or two? A Tale of Two Dis-ers??