I want to make all things pumpkin

I don't know who all these people are that keep saying they are "so over" the pumpkin craze. Because I am not. I am so not over pumpkin. Pumpkin is a fall vegetable that I love eating at this time of year. And this is a super easy dip that has been causing everyone in my family to look forward to an afternoon snack of apple slices.   

5-Ingredient Creamy Pumpkin Dip

Makes 1 cup
Time: 5 minutes to make plus 30 minutes to chill.

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup daiya cream cheese

1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup (or you can add more if you'd like it sweeter)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Wisk together ingredients.  Once you have it mixed everything, put it back in the fridge for at least half an hour to chill.  If you're in a huge rush you can skip this step but it really is at its best when served ice cold. Sometimes if it's been sitting out for a bit I will pop it back into the the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to chill it down again.  Otherwise if it gets too warm you get that little hint of the fake cream cheese taste.  

Serve with apple slices or graham crackers for dipping.

3-ingredient Pumpkin Pie Soup

Long before I ever had kids, before I ever thought about food allergies, I was an intern in DC and there was this little cafe there that was not too far from where I was living so I went there a lot.  I was short on time and money and it was on the way to the Metro stop and very inexpensive. In the fall, one of their specials was pumpkin soup and I could get that and a grilled cheese sandwich for less than $5.  I'm assuming if you are reading this blog, you probably are not going to serve this soup with a grilled cheese sandwich, but my memories of this place are all wrapped up in that soup and the grilled cheese sandwich so just bear with me. I cannot tell you how many times I ordered that soup and sandwich combo.  I just could not get enough of it. I loved going to that place and it wasn't even nice inside.  I just felt so cozy dipping my grilled cheese into my soup. 

After I moved, it drove me crazy because I don't think I ever even knew the name of the place and, a few years later, when I tried looking around where I thought it might have been I couldn't find it.  So I could never get another bowl of this amazing soup or ask the people (it was always the same 2 people) who worked there how to make it!  I spent years, literally years, trying to duplicate the recipe from memory and was always very disappointed.  I would go through the trouble of roasting a pumpkin, chopping vegetables, cooking down the soup for a long time and then, after all of that, be supremely let down.  The first time I remember making the soup it was not just disappointing, it was terrible; I under cooked the onions so it was kind of crunchy.  Crunchy soup is never good.  

Imagine my delight when somewhere on the internet I found a recipe for pumpkin pie soup that tasted exactly the way I remembered THE pumpkin soup and it was pretty much the easiest thing in the whole world to make.  The original is made with heavy cream but I subbed coconutmilk with excellent results after I went dairy free.  



Pumpkin pie soup
Serves 6 as an appetizer

• 1 can pumpkin pie filling (not plain pumpkin)
• 2 cups chicken stock or broth
• 1/2 cup canned coconutmilk (full fat, not reduced fat)

Stir ingredients into a pan and heat.  That's it!



I can't decide whether this soup is better hot off the stove or after it has cooled a bit.  I think objectively it might taste better room temperature but since the soup of my memories was always warm, I prefer it that way.  Try it both ways, see how you like it.
  
We ate this for dinner yesterday (although I actually don't recommend it as a main dish, because it's too sweet for that).  Since I usually try to avoid eating food from cans I normally only indulge in this soup once a year.  This year it was extra great because we paired it with New Glarus Pie Lust beer, which I had never had before.  The slight bitterness of the beer balanced well with the sweetness of the soup.  I know absolutely nothing about pairing alcohol with food and so this recommendation should be taken with a grain of salt. But I daresay the soup went better with the beer than a grilled cheese sandwich...

Perfect Fall Day

It has been rainy, rainy, rainy and we have been cooped up inside for several days. But yesterday we had pumpkins to carve and the ingredients for chili, plus my husband had some pumpkin ale in the fridge and there was football on TV so he was pretty happy. Pretty much the makings for a perfect fall day. By noon we had put the chili in the slow cooker and made these:  

And by we, I mean that I helped with the chili but was not at all involved in making the pumpkin masterpieces. That was all my husband and his brother - they are so creative!  Did you know that gourds are not at all easy to carve like pumpkins? Yeah, neither did we. That green Frankenstein one was impossible to cut open. Good thing we had a saw.  

So now to the recipe.  This award winning chili recipe was created by my brother and sister-in-law and it is amazing. They are very kind to allow me to share it with you.  I think it strikes the perfect balance between being nice and meaty, while still containing beans.  When we serve it to people who don't normally like beans in chili, they are always impressed by how good it is! 

Walt & April's Springtown Chili
This yields roughly 6 dinner-size servings of mild to medium chili.  We have often found that this chili is better the day after cooking.  

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. pork sausage 
1 large onion, medium chop
1 large green pepper, membrane and seeds removed, chopped
1 teaspoon oil
5 cloves garlic, minced 
1 16 oz. can black beans, mostly drained 
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, mostly drained
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 
3 tablespoons chili powder 
1 ancho (dried poblano) chili, de-seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons salt 
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 dash habanero hot sauce 

Brown ground beef over medium-high heat, waiting to break up the meat so that most pieces sear on the outside. Drain, then repeat with sausage.  Saute onion and green pepper over high heat in 1 teaspoon oil (if needed), until slightly brown.  

Combine all ingredients except the beans in the slow cooker and stir to combine.  Then add the beans and gently stir until they are roughly mixed in.  Cover and turn heat to high for 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook for 9 or so hours. If your slow cooker runs hot like mine, you can get away with cooking it for 8 hours on low the entire time.  For a spicier chili, double the chili powder or add a couple tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce.  

We like to top it with chopped avocado, raw diced onion, and maybe some tortilla chips.  

My son likes it with daiya shredded "cheese":  

A note about ingredients: 
When this recipe was originally developed, it called for a tube of Jimmy Dean pork sausage.  It probably tastes the best if you use that but I don't cook with conventionally raised meat anymore. So I've been using Italian pork sausage from Whole Foods and I think it still turns out pretty great.

I also try whenever possible to avoid using canned goods so I often substitute 4 cups of homecooked beans for the two cans of beans. The tomatoes are tougher to substitute but I recently found some in glass jars that are not diced but seem to work ok with this recipe.  

Peanut Butter Bars

This is my step-sister Julie's recipe and she is famous among friends and family for making the best peanut butter bars ever. I was incredibly honored when she shared it with me at my bridal shower and I used to guard the recipe as a closely held family secret. But now with the advent of pinterest, there are lots of similar peanut butter bar recipes all over the place. Don't get me wrong, these are still the best! I didn't make any ingredient changes to her original recipe, other than use Earth Balance instead of butter.  It is ahhh-mazing, made either way.   

If you don't care too much what the bars look like, this is one of the easiest desserts ever. If you want them to be picture perfect to give away to friends, like Julie does, they take a tiny bit more work.  

Peanut Butter Bottom Layer
2 cups peanut butter*
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, melted

Add the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and brown sugar to a mixing bowl.  Stir the vanilla into the melted margarine and then add both to the bowl.  Stir everything together (the mixture will be stiff). Press into an ungreased 9x11 pan. If you want them to look pretty, make sure to use a spatula to level the peanut butter mixture out so that it is even thickness all the way around (I never do this. Or I have once but it was so long ago I might have imagined it). Also, I do not have a 9x11 pan and so mine never come out looking quite as good as when Julie makes them in the 9x11 pan.  But they still taste great!  

Chocolate Topping
1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips (make sure they are dairy free!)  
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine

Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Stir until completely smooth and pour over peanut butter layer, spreading with a spatula to make it as smooth and even as you can. Chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours and then cut into bars.  You can really chill them as long as you want, but pull them out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you cut them to make the cutting go a little more smoothly.  


*You must buy regular old peanut butter for this recipe.  No healthy peanut butters that lack added oils or must be stirred.  Think Jiff, Skippy, or Peter Pan...  

My Favorite Mashed Potatoes

You can always make your favorite mashed potato recipe substituting dairy free margarine and a neutral-flavored alternative milk.  The potatoes will be good but they will not be as good as these ones.  This recipe for mashed potatoes is so good you can serve it to your dairy-loving friends and no one will notice there is no cream or real butter. Thanks to my mother-in-law for letting me in on the secret of cooking the potatoes in chicken stock.


My Favorite Mashed Potatoes

• 5 large potoates
• Chicken stock or broth to cover (about 4 cups)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened alternative milk (I like SO Delicious brand coconutmilk but soy or almondmilk would work too)
• 3 Tbs non-hydrogenated margarine*
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the potatoes into uniform pieces (about 1 inch).  Add enough chicken broth to cover the potatoes completely (you can also add some water if the broth doesn't completely cover your potatoes). Bring potatoes and broth to a boil.

2. Cover, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until tender, about 12 minutes. You will want them to be tender enough to mash easily, but don't overcook or they may absorb too much stock and be thinner than you would like.

3. Drain the potatoes, reserving some of the broth.

4.  Put the potatoes through a potato ricer.  If you don't have a ricer, you can just use a regular potato masher but they will not be as luscious as if you use a ricer.  Mix in the milk and margarine.  Add extra stock if you want more liquid.  Season with salt and pepper.  If you've used canned chicken broth you probably will not need to add salt but homemade stock will probably need some.

*To make this recipe soy-free, make sure your margarine does not contain soy, or use olive oil.