For 2020, we’ll be trying to have as normal of a Thanksgiving as possible. This year will be my second year cooking dinner, and I have many new foods planned for this meal. Last year, was the standard three: turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, then we also had some crescents and 2 different veggies. This year, I am planning a sweet potato casserole, glazed and roasted beets, crescents again, and frozen green beans from this summer’s garden. This year I also made a pumpkin pie that we’ll be having with our dinner. Once the day is over, Friday, I’ll also be boiling the bones to make stock again this year. This year’s stock will be frozen like before, however this stock will likely be used almost strictly entirely for gravy.
To see recipes for what I’ll be making, you can click a link below!
Pumpkin bread is another simple way to use up any extra pumpkin you may still have. I roasted my pumpkins before I blended it into a puree for these pumpkin recipes. This bread has lots of seasonal flavor and is very easy to make. This bread has good moisture, a good bread/cake texture, and is not overly sweet. I was able to make 3 loaves from this recipe, however, I only filled my pans half way, so if you want bigger loaves, just fill your pans a more, but leave about 1/2 an inch for expansion. This bread is also very similar to a zucchini bread, just with pumpkin and with festive spices!
1. Heat oven to 325 F. Spray bread(s) pan with non-stick spray then coat with flour. In a mixing bowl, creme together sugar and butter. Once combined, begin adding oil and eggs slowly. Add your spices, baking powder, and baking soda, then slowly mix in flour, and finally, mix in your pumpkin and stir until fully combined.
2. Fill bread pans to 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bread will not rise much. Bake bread for 65-70 minutes until tester comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, eat within a week, or wrap with two layers of cling wrap before freezing.
Pumpkin pie is delicious and a classic dessert for this time of year. If you plan to have pumpkin pie at your holiday meals this year, look no further than this recipe; it makes 2 pies, and you can freeze one or both. These pies take some time to make, so save some during the holiday by making these pies early. This recipe also makes lots of pie filling. You could probably even make 3 pies with the amount of filling this makes! With my extra filling, I made some mini custards that I can enjoy in the meantime.
This recipe is straight forward. The only important thing to note with this recipe is that these pies shouldn’t stay frozen for longer the 1 month. Their quality will begin to get worse after that time, so if you make these pies the week of thanksgiving, the second pie will only just make it until Christmas before the quality starts to get worse. Or, you could choose to do what I am doing, and gift the second pie to a family member if you can’t see them for the holiday. If you choose not to freeze these pies, they last one week in the fridge. If you freeze your pies, you should thaw them for at least 12 hours in the fridge before serving!
1. Heat oven to 450 F. In a mixing bowl, beat your eggs. Add Pumpkin, Spices, Milk, evaporated milk, brown sugar, flour, and salt, then mix until blended.
2. Place pie crust into pans. Fill 1/2 to 1 inch from top of pastry. Line edge with foil. Place on large baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes before reducing heat to 350. Bake for 40-50 minutes, remove foil, then bake for another 10-20 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Let cool for 2-3 hours. Wrap twice with cling wrap, being careful to not touch the top of the cake, then wrap with aluminum foil before freezing.
Pumpkin is very abundant this time of year, and there is lots you can do with it. Especially now that Halloween is over, pumpkins are on sale so it’s a great time to try cooking with it! Pumpkin can be used for lots of different meals. You can roast it, which is the recipe below, then use it in many different recipes. Pumpkin can be an ingredient in breads and cakes, it can be added to smoothies, you can eat once roasted, or you can stuff your pumpkin when roast it and have stuffed pumpkin as a meal. Roasting a pumpkin is easy. If you plan to eat it once roasted, you should add the glaze during the last 15 minutes of baking. If you are vegetarian, you could also use brown sugar and fruit juice or corn syrup for your glaze to make this dish fit your diet. If you plan to use the pumpkin for another dish, you can roast it just plain. I plan to use this pumpkin to make 2 pies, so I roasted these plain.
1. Heat your oven to 400 F. Cut your pumpkin in half, scoop out the insides, and rinse.
2. Place your pumpkin skin side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Then, either glaze and serve, or use the pumpkin for another recipe.
For advice from others and how others alter roasting pumpkin seeds, visit this recipe. This is an older recipe, so there is a lot of feedback and advice that might be helpful to you. Many of the popular opinions, I’ll touch on though. Some people like to boil their seeds in salt water, while others just like to toss and bake. If you do boil your seeds, the salt flavor is infused into the seeds, however it is recommended to let your seeds then dry for 24 hrs before baking. Some don’t wait, they just have to bake a bit longer to get out the extra moisture. Boiling would also help save time in cleaning the seeds since boiling separates the pulp from the seed. If you don’t boil your seeds, you can rinse them in a strainer to help remove the excess pulp. Also, instead of using normal salt, some use garlic salt or sea salt for different flavors, and instead of butter, some use an even mix of oil and butter, or just oil to coat the seeds before baking.
As for my experience, I tried a mix of different advice I had seen. First, I did boil the seeds. I wanted the salty flavor on the inside of the seeds, and I believed this would make the outsides softer to eat. Then, I did not let them dry out for 24 hours, instead I immediately tossed them in butter and baked them. I baked them at a higher temperature, 350 F, for a short time, 25 minutes. Because of this, the seeds were very roasted, and were visibly darkened. They had a rich roasted flavor that would easily have burnt if they continued too much longer. Also from this higher heat, these seeds are very brittle. They easily crack open and break apart. The flavor on these seeds were absolutely delicious though. Buttery, salty, and with a rich and deep flavor, similar to the flavor of sunflower seeds, these were delicious and can easily be made into a topping for a salad, or turned into a tasty seed butter. I had a 3-4 pound pumpkin and got about 2 cups of seeds to roast.
1. Place salted water in sauce pan and place over high heat. Separate your seeds and place them in a colander. Rinse seeds with hot water. Place seeds in boiling water, boil for 15 minutes. Strain. Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Melt butter and add salt into tossing container. Toss seeds in butter. Spread out on baking sheet in one layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir, then return to single layer before baking for another 10 minutes. Pour into a storage container.
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