Pumpkin Butter

...or as Mike insists on incorrectly calling it...apple butter.  :)

on a bite of baguette

No, it's actually pumpkin butter and was surprisingly (to me) quite good.  I think the best part of all was the rich scent that filled my tiny little house.  There aren't too many better smells than sweet pumpkin!

on an english muffin for breakfast!

This can be used on an abundance of different items...

*Anything you would use jam on

*A dollop with pork chops

*Oatmeal

*Grilled turkey or ham

*Scrambled eggs

*Cornbread

*Toast

*Vanilla ice cream

*With yogurt & granola

*Roast turkey or chicken sandwich

*Biscuits

*Maybe mix with cheese and dip pretzels/crackers into?

I mean, how diverse is that?  I'm more of a toast kind of girl, but several of these sound pretty good, too.

this is the extent of my creativity or lack of materials...one of the two

The recipe calls for a small slow cooker but I only have a big one - didn't seem to affect it any!  Definitely enjoyed making this - thank you, Cooking With the Big Dogs!

Print the recipe here.

Non-Vegan Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

Although I'm often attracted to healthier recipes, cookbooks and blogs, the word "vegan" always sounds like I'm-so-healthy-I-don't-taste-good food.  I know, that's probably wholly inaccurate and enraging some of you...and I'll be the first to admit I was wrong!

So, in search for some new and different pumpkin recipes, I came across one (okay, tons) that caught my eye. I ended up changing the recipe just slightly because I didn't have "vegan chocolate chips" and stuff like that, so maybe the flavor was altered a bit, but it was very pleasing to all my taste-testers... aka the husband's football buddies who came over for the Duck game.

Okay, totally off subject, but I sometimes wish football played every day.  Not because I understand a single part of it, but because it means PEOPLE to COOK for.  That is my favorite.

The time I spend in the kitchen is sporadic and entirely depends on a) our travel schedule for work and b) when we have people over.  It's not much fun cooking for just the two of us.  I do it occasionally of course, but it's way more fun to cook for groups, right??

I really enjoyed this recipe and would definitely double it in the future.  All that work for 12 muffins is sad!  But definitely a keeper.

Print it here.

Perfect Pumpkin Cookie

When we had to go to Idaho last month I brought with me all sorts of ingredients I needed for various things I wanted to cook while there.  I needed to keep up the blog!  But cooking in various relatives' kitchens was harder than it appeared...As you know, I ended up posting almost nothing during that time, but I did manage to bake these terrific cookies!  When it was posted 2 months ago, I had saved it immediately.  A must-try.  And now I'm finally sharing it with you!

Adapted from Erin Cooks, enjoy the Perfect Pumpkin Cookie!

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin puree (I used fresh)
1 egg, beaten
1 t. vanilla extract
1 pkg. (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. cinnamon chips


Instructions
Set oven to 350 F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Set aside.
In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment combine the butter, sugar, pumpkin, egg, and vanilla - beating until just blended.
Mix in the dry ingredients.
Remove the bowl from the mixer stand.  Stir in the chips.
Using a cookie scoop drop the dough 1-inch apart on the baking sheet.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

And share the joy of this tasty cookie with those around you!

My First Pies - For Thanksgiving!

I found out several days ago that, for our big family Thanksgiving gathering, I was assigned pies.  I'd never made a pie in my life!  ...But that's not surprising as I really only began cooking a year ago off and on...

Fortunately, I had been obsessing with pumpkin and still had a lot of the puree left.  I quickly began the hunt through my mom's recipe box.  My dad is actually the pie maker of the family so I knew I was probably looking for his handwriting of my grandma's recipe.  I ended up finding it in a really cool notebook my mom put together years ago with random old recipes from various places (mostly my grandpa's, I think).  Here is what the pumpkin pie recipe looked like:

It even has splattered pumpkin on it!

I got the full story from my mom later - apparently they finally got tired of calling my grandma for 25 years every November, so a couple years ago he scribbled it down and kept it!  In case you are wondering what "MOLA" is, as I did at first, it means Molasses. heh.

So, I made my first pie.  It looked like this:

By the way, start getting used to the dark dreary pictures for several months because I have no natural light to work with.  Welcome to dark and dreary Eugene, Oregon.  *sad face*  I brightened these pictures with the free program that came with my computer.  Sweet.

So my first pie maybe wasn't the prettiest but tasted as wonderful as pumpkin pie can taste!  I must say I do prefer my family's way of including the molasses...could be because I grew up with it or could be because it's just better!

Okay, so all that happened last week.  Now I am in Idaho for the big day and I made my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th pumpkin pie over at my grandma's this morning.  They were a lot prettier.  I forgot to take a picture of all 4 but here are a couple of them.

Oh, thank the Lord for wonderful blessed sunshine in the great state of Idaho!  Makes me happy and it also makes my photos look better. :)

Last but not least, my grandma (who doesn't have actually written recipes for most things) talked me through my first apple pie!

Mike would like to think the "M" is for him (and we'll just let him keep thinking that), but it was really for Mitchell - my family's last name.  That's how super creative I am. :)

I can't believe I was once intimidated by pies.  Easy Schmeasy.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Ribbon Pumpkin Bread

Taste of Home's Ribbon Pumpkin Bread has been on my mind for weeks.

Now I've finally made it, loved it, and can share the recipe with you!

Ingredients for Filling
6 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. flour
2 egg whites

Ingredients for Bread
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 T. oil
1 2/3 c. flour
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/3 c. chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. For filling, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour and egg whites in a bowl; set aside.  In a mixing bowl, beat the pumpkin, applesauce, egg, egg whites and oil.  Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves; add to the pumpkin mixture.  Stir in the walnuts.

2. Divide half of the batter between two 8x4x2-inch loaf pans coated with cooking spray.  Spread each with filling; top with remaining batter.

3. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Votes Have Been Tallied

It sure was like the little boy's loaves and fish with my pumpkin seeds.  I kept taking them everywhere with me, but they'd never disappear.  So many people have now eaten my various flavors of pumpkin seeds and have voted accordingly.

Flavor 1: 10%

Flavor 2: 3%

Flavor 3: 13%

Flavor 4: 13% 

[I was one of the above votes]

Flavor 5: 7%

Flavor 6: 53%

The last flavor I tried (spicy + sweet) was apparently the most popular!  Thanks, friends, for casting your votes.

And, just for a little bonus, here are my seeds in the news:

Article on Food Whirl

Photos on Savory Sights

Photo on Taste Spotting

TOP 9 Foodbuzz Photo

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

I started preparing these way too close to the time we needed to leave the house the other evening that I was scurrying around like a crazy lady trying to get them into the oven in record time.  I probably did set a record!!

I literally pulled them out of the oven, put them where the rest of the family couldn't see them and left the house.  I didn't get to enjoy them till the next morning, but it was worth the wait!  I borrowed the recipe from here and adapted it slightly.  Here is my version:

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. pumpkin puree
3 T. oil
1 1/4 t. cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a 9″x9″ cake pan with nonstick spray.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add chocolate and remove from heat. Let sit for a few minutes, then stir until smooth.

In a large bowl beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3-4 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat until just combined.

Put about a third of the batter into another bowl and stir the pumpkin, oil, and cinnamon into it. Stir the chocolate mixture into the remaining batter and spread a little more than half of it into the prepared pan. Top with the pumpkin mixture, then drop large spoonfuls of the remaining chocolate mixture on top. Swirl a toothpick through both to create a swirled effect.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, until just set and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Makes 16 brownies.

White Chocolate & Pecan Pumpkin Muffins

I badly wish I could just transfer the smell of these muffins through my computer to yours.  Even if you don't like the muffins (which would be difficult to believe), you would love the smell.

I often make tiny adjustments for our own taste preferences, but this recipe was perfect...well, I made mini ones instead of regular, but that's the only change I made.  You can check it out here.

P.S. Any tips on how to more easily get those muffin trays out of the oven?  I burn my hand every time - whether on the tray or the oven wall/door!

P.P.S. If you have a door to your kitchen, lock it.  I literally didn't have all the muffins out of the tray yet before 3 people had eaten them.

Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes

Thanks to Lindsey over at Gingerbread Bagels, I discovered a new great dessert.  The recipe is fairly long, so go see it here if you'd like to try them out yourself.

I think the next time I will either not include the nutmeg or greatly reduce it just because a few people near and dear to me don't care for it and I want them to care for my food.  ha!

Other than that, they are a very rich, scrumptious dessert!  And a great complement to coffee, too!

Frosted Pumpkin Bars

First on the Pumpkin agenda (besides the seeds, of course) was Frosted Pumpkin Bars!  I made these last year in Peru and remembered how much Mike and I liked them, so here they are again!

Ingredients Needed:
2 c. white sugar
1 c. oil
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
2 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
2 t. baking soda
1 c. chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix together sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin.  Add combined remaining ingredients (minus the walnuts) and mix well.  Stir in walnuts.
Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake for about 25 minutes.  Cool and frost.

You can use any cream cheese frosting.  This is what I use:

8 oz. cream cheese
5 T. softened butter
2 t. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar
Continue adding powdered sugar until desired consistency.

The Pumpkin Slaughter & Roasted Seeds

There are few different ways of cooking pumpkin to create puree: baking, boiling, and microwaving.  Since my pumpkins were bigger than ideal for baking (stringier and gunkier – yes, that’s a new word), I opted for the boiling method this time.

After boiling to tenderness, I let the chunks cool.  Then I pureed them in a food processor – you can also use a food mill or just mash it with a potato masher.

While boiling/cooling/pureeing the pumpkin, I worked on a few different flavors of roasted seeds – my favorite part of all the pumpkin.  The original plan was to compare 3 different ideas for the seeds…it turned into 6.  I just couldn’t stop.

 Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe #1

(salty)

1 c. pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly

2 T. butter, melted

1 t. Worcestershire

1/8 t. garlic salt

1/8 t. onion powder

Mix all ingredients together, making sure the seeds are thoroughly coated.  Place seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 280 for 45-50 minutes (or until browned and toasty looking), stirring every 15 minutes.  Let cool and store in an air-tight container.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe #2

(sweet)

1 c. pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly

1 T. oil

½ t. brown sugar

¼ - ½ t. cinnamon

1/8 t. salt

Mix all ingredients together, making sure the seeds are thoroughly coated.  Place seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 280 for 45-50 minutes (or until browned and toasty looking), stirring every 15 minutes.  Let cool and store in an air-tight container.

…goofed up the oven settings and this batch overcooked.  Still pretty good, though!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe #3

(salty & sweet)

1 c. pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly

1 ½ T. butter

1 ½ T. brown sugar

1 t. basil

1/8 t. cinnamon

¾ t. salt

1/8 t. cayenne pepper

1/8 t. ground black pepper

In a saucepan at medium-low heat, melt butter.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Stir for a few minutes until sugar is mostly melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the seeds.  Place seeds in a single layer on a well-greased cookie sheet and bake at 280 for 45-50 minutes (or until brown and toasty looking), stirring every 15 minutes.

 Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe #4

(simply salty)

1 c. pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly

1 T. butter, melted

1 t. salt

Mix all ingredients together, making sure the seeds are thoroughly coated.  Place seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 280 for 45-50 minutes (or until browned and toasty looking), stirring every 15 minutes.  Let cool and store in an air-tight container.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe #5

(spicy)

1 c. pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly

1 ½ T. butter, melted

1 t. chili powder

½ t. cayenne pepper

1 t. salt

Mix all ingredients together, making sure the seeds are thoroughly coated.  Place seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 280 for 45-50 minutes (or until browned and toasty looking), stirring every 15 minutes.  Let cool and store in an air-tight container.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe #6

(sweet & spicy)

1 c. pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly

1 T. oil

¼ t. Garlic salt

1/8 t. Chili powder

1/8 t. Cayenne pepper

1 ½ t. Brown sugar

¼ t. cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together, making sure the seeds are thoroughly coated.  Place seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 280 for 45-50 minutes (or until browned and toasty looking), stirring every 15 minutes.  Let cool and store in an air-tight container.

All the above proportions are pretty small because I wanted to try so many kinds.   Feel free to double each recipe. 

I'll be asking various people this weekend their favorite recipe from these choices.  Stay tuned for results and more pumpkin excitement!

The Disappearing Act

My goodness!  So sorry for the delay in writing!  The Drinkwater Kitchen had to be put on a sudden hold due to a surprise trip to Idaho (and staying in a place without internet).  I thought I’d get another post in there but then we needed to turn right around and head up to Portland for my youngest sister’s major surgery.  We knew it was coming but it was still a big emotional event.  Lots of driving, little sleeping, and many other crazy things happening in the Drinkwater home that I am just now clearing the fog that was my brain for a while!

The surgery went very well, by the way, and she will be recovering in the hospital for the rest of the week before allowed to come home to recover many more weeks here.  You can follow any more updates we write on our other blog.

 I completely forgot that I had 3 pumpkins in the garage!!  I picked them out last week when we went to the apple orchard.  They were going to be my weekend project and then my weekend was spent entirely different than planned…

So, stay tuned for super awesome pumpkin posts.  Oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t speak so soon…I thought I’d have super awesome apple posts, too…haha. 

Pumpkin Cake Pops

Last week inspired me…or I gave in to all my friends wanting more.  Probably both!

Bakerella’s pumpkin cake pops called for green tic-tacs.  Though she is the expert and there’s no way I could come up with even a fraction of her terrific ideas, I thought maybe I could find a better pumpkin stem that didn’t taste like spearmint…Turns out, my husband did!  We were on the hunt and our second candy store visit produced this idea:

 They even have the “bumpier” look of a pumpkin stem.  All you need is green licorice (Apple! Another great fall flavor!):

 

I brought several dozen Cake Pops to a party Saturday night, but forgot to take photos of all the happy Cake Pop eaters.  Trust me, there were a lot of them.  However, I saved a basketful for some more friends and snapped these pictures last night:

Mmm cake pops with coffee.  Unbelievable.

These do take quite a long time to make, but the smiles they produce are so worth it.  Plus, I couldn’t stop eating them myself…