pumpkin - - Page 6

by Emily

Throw This Party: Progressive Dinner Caravan

Ugh, I am so sick of dinner parties!

Actually, that is a complete lie, I will never be sick of dinner parties. BUT I am always looking for a way to make the traditional dinner party even more exciting. My friend Dayna was inspired by an episode of Top Chef in which the cheftestants were challenged to throw a progressive dinner party; basically, they each had to host and serve one course before moving on to a different location, where a different chef would host and cook. Well, if they can do it, why can’t we? And so the posse of progressive dinner party friends was formed.

We suggested our idea to friends who live in our neighborhood. The rules were simple: pick a dish and a drink to go with it, and prepare most of it at home ahead of time, with decor, music, etc…selected to enhance the dining experience. We would caravan from apartment to apartment, spending an hour in each kitchen while we took turns hosting and serving our creations. At first our friends were a bit hesitant about the complicated nature of this party, but we promised it would be a worthy endeavor, and it was.

How it worked, plus my dinner party veggie recipe, after the jump.

by Miss K

Pumpkin Pie in a Pumpkin

Two years ago, in my very first ES post ever, I wrote about a certain pair of two-year-olds and a stuffing-stuffed pumpkin. Last year around this time, I changed things up and made a rice-stuffed pumpkin. Now Halloween is gone, twins are almost five, Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, and I once again heard the call of the stuffed pumpkin. But what to stuff it with this time? I considered potatoes or quinoa, but those just seemed too…tame. Then, inspiration struck. Why not stuff a pumpkin with pumpkin pie? Crazy. I knew that this had major FFU potential, so I bought two pumpkins just in case. Spoiler alert: I still have the second pumpkin, uncut, on the kitchen shelf. That’s right, folks. I baked a pumpkin pie in a pumpkin. And you can too. Here’s how:

Step one: Bake the pumpkin.

When choosing a pumpkin, go with a small-to medium-sized one. Fewer bumps are ideal, or you will have to contend with holes when you peel it.

Cut the top off the pumpkin, then scrape out all the seeds and gross stringy bits. If you want, you can save the seeds and oven-roast them. Then put the whole hollowed-out pumpkin on a cookie sheet, place in a 350-degree oven, and bake until a fork goes through the skin easily. Let cool, then peel off the skin. To make the shell more or less pie-shaped, cut around the opening about a third of the way down the pumpkin until you have what looks like a bowl. Reserve the cooked part that you removed for later.

in Desserts / Featured / Holiday / Recipe / Veggie 7 comments

by gansie

The Best of the Pumpkin: A Jack O’Lantern Home Birth

Please thank the good folks of Blessed Birth Doula Services for their creative, slightly horrifying, but very on-trend, Halloween contribution: a pumpkin home birth.

Now go on, try to get back to work.

Not terrified enough? Check out the rest of our Halloween tips: costumes, cocktails, cakes and we promise, no more veggie pregnancy scenarios.

(Photo: Blessed Birth Doula Services)

in Holiday / Veggie 2 comments

by BS

Food Bloggers Give Panera’s Menu a Gluten-Free Makeover

Remember the team of activist food bloggers who took our list of America’s Top 10 New Sandwiches and made vegan versions of each sandwich? Well, Namely Marly and her team are at it again. This time, they’re giving one of America’s biggest bakery chains a GF makeover. Namely Marly writes:

I recently met a friend for breakfast at Panera and was surprised, nay shocked, to learn that they didn’t offer any gluten-free items at the bread bar. How could this be? Are they not aware of the growing number of people who are flocking toward gluten-free lifestyles?

The solution? De-gluten-ize the whole place! Namely Marly and her crew came up with gluten-free recipes for nine different items on the Panera menu. But will the bakery chain add any of these creations to their roster? Your move, Panera.

1. Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Recipe: Multiply Delicious

2. Caramel Pecan Rolls

Recipe: Namely Marly

3. Spinach and Artichoke Souffle

Recipe: Clean Green Simple

in Breakfast / Desserts / Recipe / Restaurants / Trends / Veggie 4 comments

by Miss K

The Return of Miss K…and the Great Stuffed Pumpkin

Last fall, I wrote a few posts for this website, heading down a path I was sure would lead to fame and fortune as a food writer. It wouldn’t be long before Gail Simmons was calling me to do a story and Rachael Ray was looking to me for advice on new ways to serve chickpeas. But then I hit a literal bump in the road in my relationship with food — pregnancy. I spent the first three months “uneating” my dinner every night at ten only to wake up ravenous at 3 am. Why exactly is it called morning sickness? Then, I took a job as a camp counselor for 3- and 4-year-olds, which left me with exactly enough energy each afternoon to go home and go to bed, sometimes at 7 pm. Eating became rote, done primarily to keep my stomach from devouring itself before I could make it downstairs for breakfast.

My darling boy arrived in September at a robust 8 lbs, 6oz.. I guess someone was getting enough to eat. Now that the haze of the first few months has lifted, I am back to some of my old hobbies, namely cooking and writing. Plus, we finally polished off the last casserole in the freezer. For my return, I have a recipe that represents my life — the same as a year ago, but really not the same at all. Here’s an updated take on last year’s baked stuffed pumpkin:

in Recipe / Veggie 1 comments

by BS

100 Ways to Cook a Pumpkin

Pumpkin season is here! Now let’s be honest — for most of us, that means leftover pumpkin season is here, too — because how many times can you make boring old pumpkin pie? Never fear, Endless Simmer is here. Whether you’ve got half-a-can of pumpkin puree sitting around, a cupboard full of pumpkin pie filling, the stringy insides of a Jack-o-Lantern or just a few stray pumpkin seeds, we scoured the web for 100 creative recipes that will help you use up all that beautiful orange goodness.

Click on the photos for full recipes…

Previously on ES:

100 Ways to Cook a Banana
100 Ways to Cook a Tomato
100 Ways to Cook a Sweet Potato

in 100 Ways / Featured / Lists / Recipe / Veggie 50 comments

by Miss K

The Life and Oh-so-Delicious Death of a Pumpkin

Editor’s Note: Please welcome our newest contributor: ES reader, DC resident, and noted pumpkin expert Miss K.

We were walking to my lovely Northeast DC rowhouse when we first saw the victim. It was not a pretty scene. The pumpkin’s guts were trailing across the sidewalk, leading to the broken corpse. My goddaughter Nana stopped, gasped, and said, “Oh no! Pumpkin broken.” I explained to her that it was okay, that Halloween was over anyway. Either this convinced her, or her two-year-old goldfish-esque attention span kicked in. One way or another, we were able to keep walking. I thought the matter had been settled. I was wrong.

The pumpkin remained for several weeks, cycling through various stages of decay. And each time we passed the pumpkin, Nana would repeat her original comment, “Oh no. Pumpkin broken.” It became something of a local landmark for us, and by the time it finally disappeared, both she and I mourned its passing.

I may be somewhat to blame for Nana’s pumpkin obsession. I love pumpkins, probably more than most. But not because you can carve them, or in the case of the ones that come in the mixed bag of candy corn, rot your teeth with them. No, I love to eat pumpkins. To me, why leave a perfectly good squash just sitting out on the porch (or sidewalk) to rot? My husband and I took Nana and her sister Bitty to a pumpkin patch this year. We shook our groove thang to the bluegrass band, played in the kiddie land and had one unfortunate accident which I believe was a result of deathly fear of the port-o-potty. But really, can you blame her? We departed in exhaustion with four lovely little pumpkins. The twins took theirs home and I began plotting the tasty demise of ours…

in Cheese / Recipe / Veggie 6 comments