pumpkin

Who’s Ready For Pumpkin Fest?

Posted by Judy Moon

My husband Joe and I have recently been spending a lot of time in the kitchen together. It’s been one of the positive offshoots from being quarantined for a few months. We sometimes like to make a themed meal and we recently had a dinner we called Pumpkin Fest! We do an “Asparagus Fest” every Spring where the entire menu contains asparagus and yes, I do have an Asparagus Bundt Cake recipe. So we thought, why not a Pumpkin Fest for Fall?

I pulled out a recipe that I haven’t made in awhile and I forgot how EASY and DELICIOUS this recipe is. I originally found this recipe on the Food In Jars website and it is definitely something I will be adding to the weeknight recipe rotation.

Curried Pumpkin Coconut Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder (use your favorite)*
  • 2 pints pressure canned pumpkin (with their canning liquid)
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • sea salt to taste

Instructions
Combine onion and coconut oil in a small soup pot. Cook until onion softens and browns. Add curry powder and cook until it is fragrant.

Add pumpkin cubes, their canning liquid and the coconut milk. Stir to combine. Add up to one coconut milk can of water should it need a bit of thinning.

Bring to a bubble, reduce to a simmer and place a lid on the pot. Cook until onions are tender.

When soup is done, blitz it with an immersion blender. Taste and add salt as necessary.

Eat and enjoy.

Notes
*If you don’t have any home canned pumpkin, use 1-15 ounce can of commercial pumpkin and one can of water.

I have always just used commercial pumpkin from the grocery store and it worked great. 

*Curry can be a bit spicy for some, so use a smaller amount if you are not a huge fan of really spicy flavors. 

Pumpkin is also a nutritional powerhouse. 

Pumpkin contains

  • Alpha-carotene
  • Beta-carotene
  • High fiber
  • Low calories
  • Vitamin C and E
  • Potassium
  • Magnesium
  • Pantothenic Acid  

What else was on the Pumpkin Fest menu? Pumpkin Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sage Sauce, and of course Pumpkin Ice Cream for dessert!

Happy Pumpkin Fest!

Are You As Passionate for Pumpkin As I Am?

Posted by Judy Moon

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Posted by Judy Moon

This is the time of year when it’s all about pumpkin. Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin latte, Great Pumpkin Smoothie, pumpkin body scrubs, pumpkin pie – you get the picture. Don’t get me wrong, this girl loves her pumpkin, as my mantle shows, but sometimes I prefer it in a more savory way.

I was super excited to find this recipe a while ago on the Food in Jars website. Marisa McClellan is a local Philly gal and makes canning seem easy and fun! I’ve done a workshop with her and consult her book Food in Jars, Preserving in Small Batches from time to time.

I LOVE this soup and it couldn’t be easier. I always have the ingredients on hand in my pantry and you can have tasty soup in a flash. True confession – I often use canned pumpkin from the grocery store and I think it works just fine when I don’t have any fresh pumpkin to play with.

Curried Pumpkin Coconut Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder (use your favorite)*
  • 2 pints pressure canned pumpkin (with their canning liquid)
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • sea salt to taste

Instructions
Combine onion and coconut oil in a small soup pot. Cook until onion softens and browns. Add curry powder and cook until it is fragrant.

Add pumpkin cubes, their canning liquid and the coconut milk. Stir to combine. Add up to one coconut milk can of water should it need a bit of thinning.

Bring to a bubble, reduce to a simmer and place a lid on the pot. Cook until onions are tender.

When soup is done, blitz it with an immersion blender. Taste and add salt as necessary.

Eat and enjoy.

Notes
*If you don’t have any home canned pumpkin, use 1-15 ounce can of commercial pumpkin and one can of water.

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Posted by Judy Moon

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Posted by Judy Moon

When October rolls around, it means one thing to me…Pumpkins!!

And of course the switch from a martini to a Manhattan before dinner. I’m not sure how that personal rule of mine started but so it is.

Back to pumpkins.

I LOVE pumpkins. I love the shapes, I love the colors, I love the process of picking them out, (my husband Joe is a patient man, the only thing longer and requires more patience from him is my picking out the Christmas tree), I love the cider donuts they sell at Duffields Farm, where we go for our pumpkins. I secretly want to go through the corn field maze they have there – but it’s kind of for kids and there is a part of me that doesn’t want to be the adult in there freaking out if I got lost. Not worth the stress!

They have all of the cool varieties of pumpkins and gourds like you see in Martha Stewart – the blue ones, the white ones. They just make me smile.

Another cool thing about pumpkin is that it’s a Super Food- a real nutritional super star.

Pumpkin contains:
*Alpha-carotene
*Beta-carotene
*High fiber
*Low calories
*Vitamin C and E
*Potassium
*Magnesium
*Pantothenic Acid

Check out Super Foods- Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steven Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Matthews for even more fun facts about the benefits of pumpkin.

Here is a great pumpkin smoothie recipe that I make. It’s loosely based on the Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Recipe from Oh She Glows.

Great Pumpkin Smoothie
(serves one)
1 c unsweetened almond milk
1Tbs flax seed
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (I used canned but you can use fresh if you are that organized) *I have been known to use a little more since I like it really “pumpkiney” if that’s a word
1/2 banana
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg ( I use 9 grates of nutmeg, I like nutmeg and the number 9- that’s my logic)
1tbl molasses
1 tsp maple syrup or agave
ice if desired

Blend all ingredients in your Vitamix, Magic Bullet, Montel Williams Health Master or whatever machine you blend your shakes in and the most important part is… enjoy the flavor of fall!

Cheers!

Photo Credits // 1 Flickr // 2 Martha Stewart // 3 Oh She Glows // 4 Two Peas and Their Pod // 5 Tumblr