Thanksgiving Pumpkin Stuffed with Roasted Vegetables

There are so many delicious meat and starch dishes at Thanksgiving that it’s easy to forget to cook enough vegetables to go with the meal. We usually have either green beans or collards on our table. This vegan and gluten-free recipe provides something a little more, and it features many of those favorite flavors of Thanksgiving. The vegetables are baked inside a small pumpkin. When it’s done, the pumpkin meat is soft and tender and can be scooped out along with the vegetables.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin (e.g., New England pie pumpkin)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 chopped red pepper
½ chopped green pepper or orange pepper (or combination)
2 chopped celery stalks
1 chopped Portobello mushroom
½ c. chopped onion or 1 tsp. onion powder
1 large crushed garlic clove or ½ tsp. garlic powder
3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley or 1 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. ground sage
1 tsp. ground thyme
1 tsp. ground dill
½ tsp. black pepper
Salt to taste

Directions

Chop the vegetables. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Remove the top from the pumpkin and scoop out the innards. Fill the pumpkin with the veggie mixture. Put the top back on. Bake at 350˚ for 90 minutes (or at 325˚ for 2 hours).

Using 2 little pumpkins, a variation on this recipe would be to include 2 cups of crumbled cornbread and 2 beaten eggs. Also, consider adding ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese. Then you would divide the ingredients between the 2 pumpkins.

Other ingredients that could be added to the filling include chopped Shitake mushrooms, dried cranberries, chopped apples, chestnuts, or walnuts.

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!

Pumpkin Pie

I can’t imagine making a pumpkin pie with pumpkin from a can. I always bake a pumpkin and scoop out the inside for a real pumpkin pie. The seeds are delicious roasted, too (see my recipe for that). Any pumpkin meat that you don’t use in the pie can be frozen in a freezer bag and saved for another time. You will need a crust for this pie recipe below, of course. You can either purchase a ready-made pie shell or you can make your crust from scratch. Refer to my discussion about pie crusts (both with and without gluten) if you decide to make your own. This recipe assumes that you have the pie crust in which to place the pumpkin pie filling. (Or you can make it with no crust for a delicious pudding.)

Ingredients

2 ½ c. pumpkin purée (see below for pumpkin preparation)
¾ cup honey
1 cup scalded milk (lactose-free milk works for the lactose intolerant)
4 eggs (beaten)
2 tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
½ tsp. allspice
¼ tsp. mace
¼ tsp. salt
(optional: ½ tsp. grated orange peel)
1 pie shell (either make from scratch or purchase ready-made)

Directions
Don’t use jack-o’-lantern pumpkins for pie. They tend to be stringy and tough. Small pie pumpkins are best (New England pie pumpkins are my favorite). Cinderella pumpkins can be sweet and tasty, but note that they have a lot of moisture in them so you might want to use less milk in this recipe if baking a Cinderella pumpkin.

Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the innards (use my roasted pumpkin seed recipe to roast those seeds for a delicious snack). Put the pumpkin halves upside down on a cookie sheet with a little water in it (up to about ½ of an inch of water). Bake the pumpkin at 350˚ for about an hour or until it is clearly soft when pierced with a fork. Do not overcook as the pumpkin will turn brown on the bottom and discolor your pie. Once the pumpkin has cooled enough to handle, scoop out the meat, discard the skin, and whirl the pumpkin in a food processor until it is smooth. If it doesn’t whirl up so easily, add a little water, but not much.

Scald the milk. Do not boil. Just allow it to heat until hot then take it off the burner. Preheat the oven to 450˚.

Combine the pumpkin meat, honey, and molasses. Add the spices. Beat the eggs and add those. Whirl the filling in the food processor briefly or mix with an electric mixer to get the spices to blend in. Mix in the milk last. Pour the pie filling mixture into the pie shell. Bake for 10 minutes at 450˚ and then turn the oven down to 350˚. Bake at 350˚ for 50 minutes or until the pie is set. It might need to sit for 15 or 20 minutes after it comes out of the oven to “stick together.” I personally prefer pumpkin pie at room temperature. Because of the eggs and milk, this one needs to be refrigerated to keep.

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream are a terrific accompaniment!

Eat well, be well, live deliciously! (And a Happy Thanksgiving to all.)

Broccoli Plain and Simple

This straightforward recipe provides a terrific side dish to increase the color and healthfulness of any meal.

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 large crushed clove of garlic
3 tbsp. lemon juice (fresh-squeezed is best)

Directions

Cut the tender broccoli florets off the broccoli and place them in a vegetable steamer in a pot with 1-2 inches of water in the bottom. Steam on high heat for 8-10 minutes or until the broccoli is bright green and tender when pierced with a fork. Do not overcook.

Combine the olive oil and the lemon juice and crush the garlic into it.

Place the broccoli into a serving dish and drizzle the oil/lemon/garlic mixture on it. Serve immediately while still hot (or zap briefly in a microwave to bring back to temperature when the rest of the meal is ready).

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!

Manicotti with Baby Bella Mushrooms

Unless you have a source for gluten-free manicotti noodles (there are some on the market), then this recipe is not gluten-free. And it isn’t lactose-free as it uses both ricotta and mozzarella cheese, which are soft cheeses. It’s just plain delicious, however and a family favorite at our house. Serve with garlic bread, a Caesar salad, and red wine to enter bliss!

Ingredients

16 oz. manicotti noodles (about 16 noodles come in a box)
24 oz. tomato sauce
16 oz. grated mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese (for the top)
¾ cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. finely chopped baby Portobello mushrooms
1-2 tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
½ cup finely chopped fresh basil (or 2 tbsp. dried basil but the dried is not nearly as good as the fresh)
2 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. black pepper
salt to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Boil the manicotti noodles until done al dente (follow the directions on the package). Put a dash of olive oil in the water to help prevent the manicotti noodles from sticking together and run cold water over them right away when you drain them to keep them from getting gummy. You want them to be as firm as possible because you are going to have to stuff them with the other ingredients.

Chop the mushrooms and sauté them in olive oil for about 3-5 minutes, until soft. Add the chopped basil for the last minute or two to wilt it. Beat the eggs and combine them with the ricotta cheese and most of the grated mozzarella. Keep about ½ cup of mozzarella out to sprinkle on the top. Add the herbs/spices to the egg and cheese mixture. Add the mushrooms and basil to the egg and cheese mixture and blend together well.

Grease the baking dish with a little olive oil and then put in just enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom. Now comes the hard part. With a teaspoon, gently fill each manicotti noodle with the filling mixture. Place the stuffed noodles into the baking dish. If they tear while you are working with them, not to worry, just fill them with the filling mixture anyway and place them in the baking dish. When you have stuffed all the noodles and placed them in the baking dish, cover them with the rest of the tomato sauce. Then sprinkle the top with the mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese reserved for this purpose.

Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350° for 40 minutes, then uncover and bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes.

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!

Olive Pesto

This is a terrific spread to put on crackers or bread. It also makes for a delicious do-it-yourself pizza topping. I don’t add salt to it because the olives and the cheese are already pretty salty, but if you have a wicked salt tooth then add as you please.

Ingredients

3 cups pitted Kalamata olives
2 cloves of garlic (sliced)
¼ -½ cup olive oil (see how it goes)
1/3 cup walnuts
5 oz. Parmesan cheese
¼ tsp. black pepper

Directions

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and whirl until creamy smooth. Be careful with the olive oil, don’t add too much. Start out with about ¼ cup and add more if needed to get the consistency right for spreadability.

This pesto can be frozen in Ziploc bags and tastes surprisingly fresh when defrosted months (and even a year) later.

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!

Shredded Zucchini Salad

This is a wonderful fresh and different way to prepare summer squash. You can tell that I grow a lot of it by all the squash recipes I have. I call this a zucchini recipe, but I often make it with a combination of summer squashes, including patty pans and crooknecks.

Ingredients

2-3 medium-sized zucchini squash grated (approximately 3 packed cups)
4 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. brown or black mustard seeds
1½ tbsp. finely chopped (or grated) fresh ginger

Directions

Grate the squash (leave the skin on). Either use the shredding attachment on the food processor or simply use a hand grater. As mentioned, I usually use a combination of squash. Patty pan squash is great for this recipe because it’s a bit on the dense side. Don’t use a larger squash that is seedy.

Grate or chop the fresh ginger.

Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over high heat until smoke begins to rise off it. Add the mustard seeds and the chopped ginger and fry on high heat for approximately one minute, until the mustard seeds are popping and the ginger turns a little brown (two minutes at the most, unless your oil is not hot enough to start with).

Pour the hot oil, mustard seeds, and ginger over the grated squash. Add the Balsamic vinegar. Mix the ingredients together well. Chill. There you have it. Be prepared for an unusual flavor. This dish goes over very well at those summer barbecue potlucks.

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

This goes without saying. But I’m going to say it anyway, just in case someone needs a simple recipe for this salad dressing. I eat this every day on my salad at lunch and I never get tired of it.

Ingredients

¼ c. balsamic vinegar
¾ c. olive oil
3 tbsp. water

Directions

Combine, mix well, and put it on your salad!

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!