Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

Is there anything better than a chunk of warm cornbread next to a hot bowl of full flavored chili?  Especially when the cornbread is slightly sweet, soft in texture, and the perfect palate for butter, honey, or jam?  Nope, there really is nothing better!  (Well, except maybe a Swedish massage or an all expense paid trip to Tahiti, but let's focus on the simple things.)

I made this to accompany the delicious Chicken Barley Chili I featured in my previous post.  It was the perfect side kick to the robust flavors.  The pumpkin really does something to the flavor of the cornbread, not to mention the beautiful orange hue it gives.  And forget about dealing with anything dry or crumbling, these are so soft, you could eat them plain, I did!

This whole meal was a total kid pleaser!  I fed five kids with this and every single one of them ate everything, some even asking for seconds.  Definitely a keeper.

Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
By Nancy Creative

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup plain yogurt 
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon molasses
1/2 Tablespoon honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8×8″ baking pan or line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and cornmeal (using a whisk to blend these ingredients works well); after blending ingredients well, set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs, then stir in the pumpkin puree, plain yogurt, canola oil, molasses, and honey.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. Pour batter into the greased 8×8″ baking pan, smoothing the top, OR spoon batter into 12 lined muffin cups (each cup should be about 2/3 full of batter).

Bake CORNBREAD (in 8×8″ pan) at 375 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or almost clean (be careful not to over-bake cornbread, or it will be too dry).

Bake CORNBREAD MUFFINS at 375 degrees for 14 to 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or almost clean (do not over-bake, or muffins will be too dry and may brown on the bottom).

Cooking with my Blog Friends

How are you east coasters doing so far?!  Right now my kids and I are hunkered down in the living room with flashlights strapped to our foreheads, waiting for the eye of the storm.  I've got a pile of blankets, a bunch of candles and two loaves of bread.  That's what they tell you to stock up on for huge tropical storms, right?  So far it's just pretty nasty and drizzly, and I'm hoping that it doesn't get worse than that.  Unfortunately, I think it's probably wishful thinking.

Speaking of storms, I've been a tornado in the kitchen lately.  My schedule has me at home a lot more, and to keep myself occupied, I've been tackling so many of the recipes all of you have been putting out.  Each and every one has been a complete hit in our home, and they are all perfect for fall, especially if you need something to distract you from oncoming hurricanes!

All of the pictures below belong to the blogger who posted them.  They are not mine.

Taste and Tell: Homemade Tator Tots (Perfect for your leftover mashed potatoes.)

Two Peas and Their Pod Apple Cinnamon Granola

Mel's Kitchen Cafe Pumpkin Blondies

Mel's Kitchen Cafe Baked Spaghetti Pie

Mel's Kitchen Cafe:  Ultimate Beef Stroganoff (As you may have noticed, I've currently got a bit of a  crush on Mel's blog.  She can do no wrong!)

Epicurian Mom:  Eggplant Parmesan

Gonna Want Seconds: Fresh Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze

Eats Well with Others: Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

Recipe Shoebox:  Pork Chops with Apple Butter

Recipe Shoebox:  Homemade Granola Bites

Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice: Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese 

Stay safe east coasters!  We'll get through this together!

Crockpot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili

Fall is quickly approaching (yay!), which means cooler weather, busier schedules, and more PUMPKIN in our diets.  At least that's what it means in our house.

I love pumpkin season.  I'm a bit of a pumpkin hoarder actually.  The second I see pumpkin on the shelves, I leave with half a cart load.  Consequently I've sat through a few interventions from my husband on the matter.

Most pumpkin recipes are things you're pulling out of the oven, things like cookies, muffins and pies.  This recipe doesn't require quite as much work, and also doesn't come with as much guilt either.

This is a Skinny Taste recipe that you make in the crockpot.  And before you raise your eyebrows at pumpkin in your chili, let me ease your mind.  The only thing the pumpkin does is add a velvety creaminess and richness to your chili.  You can't taste it.  If you have a picky eater at home, just don't tell them that there is pumpkin in it, they'll never know. 

I ate this when I was on my strict weight lifting diet.  It has plenty of protein and fiber and is absolutely delicious.  Be sure to enjoy a big comforting bowl when the weather cools!


Crockpot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili
From SkinnyTaste

Ingredients

cooking spray 
2 lb 99% lean ground turkey
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp chili powder, to taste
2 bay leaves
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 (15 oz cans) of white northern or navy beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
4.5 oz canned chopped green chile
2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
fat free sour cream for topping (optional)
chopped cilantro and chives for topping (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
 
Heat a large heavy saute pan over high heat and lightly spray with oil. Add meat and cook, breaking it up until white, about 5 minutes.  Add to crock pot.

Add oil to the saute pan, then onions, garlic, sauté about 3 - 4 minutes; add cumin and sauté another minute.
 
 Add to crock pot. Add beans, pumpkin puree, green chilis, broth, chili powder, oregano, and bay leaves. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup

Usually I'm not super excited about eating leftovers. Even if I enjoy it for dinner, I'm ready to move on. So when I tell you that I've eaten this soup three other times after making it, you know that it's good!

My friend introduced me to this soup as a bit of an experiment shortly after doing our pumpkin food group. Always being one for an adventure, I dove right in. I don't know what it is about this soup, but it is so good that even thinking about it makes me want some now. The pumpkin is flavored so well, it's warm, filling and just so dang comforting. And the best part is that it's SO healthy. There's very little fat in it and pumpkin is chock full of fiber, potassium and all sorts of vitamins. My advice is to make Dinner in a Pumpkin and then use the pumpkin for this soup, killing two birds with one...pumpkin!


Pumpkin Chipotle Soup

Ingredients

1 t. cumin
1 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
1 1/2 c. diced onion
2 t. minced, seeded serrano or jalapeno pepper (I used jalapeno)
5 c. chicken stock or canned, low sodium chicken broth
5 c. diced (1/2") fresh pumpkin such as Sugar Pie or Cinderella, or butternut squash
1/2 T. chipotle pepper puree (I actually didn't use this, yes I realize it's what gives the pumpkin soup it's name, but I liked it just as much without it)
1/4 c. chopped scallion
Salt
any type of cheese for garnish, I loved Parmesan
Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions

1. Combine oil and butter in skillet, cook over medium heat until butter melts. Add onion and cook until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Add chili pepper (jalapenos) and ground cumin and cook, stirring, 1 minute; set aside.

2. Bring stock to boil in large sauce pan or soup pot. Add onion mixture and pumpkin/squash, cover, and cook until pumpkin/squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes (since I already roasted the pumpkin I don't cook for very long). Stir in chipotle puree, scallion, and 2 t. salt. Ladle hot soup into bowls and garnish each with heaping tablespoon of cheese and cilantro leaves.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

She's alive! Wow, admittedly that was a longer break then I intended. In all honestly I wasn't sure if I was going to make it back, but I missed you guys too much! And thank you for all of your sweet comments and emails. Each of them really made my day. I'm going to do my best to get caught up with all of you too, I have no doubt that I have missed out on a lot.

I recently joined a food group with some of the girls out here. Each month a special ingredient is picked, and we all try to contribute to a big meal with that ingredient. The theme for October was pumpkin, and while I usually think of baked goods when it comes to pumpkin, there was a surprising amount of savory dishes there. Who knew pumpkin could be so versatile!

Since I've been excited to try different kinds of ravioli, I thought it would be fun to make a pumpkin ravioli with a pungent blue cheese sauce. It turned out delicious with wonderfully contrasting flavors, but I'll be honest, they were a pill to make! Since the pumpkin is the thinnest filling I've ever used, it made the ravioli tough to seal, so a lot of them ruptured during boiling. Luckily I finally got the hang of it and ended up with a good batch. It was well worth the work, they turned out delicious.

If you'd like to check out the blog to our food group, click here. Enjoy!


Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

For Pasta:
1 cup semolina flour
1 cup white flour
2 eggs
1 tsp oil
1 tsp water

Combine flours and make a well. Beat eggs, oil and water, pour into center of well. Mix and knead until a stiff dough. Add more water if needed. Wrap in plastic wrap and rest in fridge for at least 30 minutes (I do it over night to save time).

For filling:
1 1/2 pound pumpkin
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 F. To make the filling; quarter the pumpkin, removing the strings and seeds and place, flesh side down, on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes, or until tender. Peel and puree flesh. Add egg yolk, cheese, sage, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

To make ravioli, divide dough into eight pieces. Roll two pieces into 1/8 inch strips, or on the setting of 5 on your pasta roller. Lay out one strip of dough on cutting board, place 1 tsp filling on dough about an inch apart (you'll make about four to five raviolis per strip of dough). Brush water around the outside of the filling, lay second strip of dough on top and seal, forcing out any air bubbles. Using a knife, or pasta roller, cut out ravioli. Allow ravioli to dry for 10 minutes before boiling.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous amount of salt. Gently place ravioli in water, cook for 10 minutes. Drain.

For Sauce:
1/4 cup heavy cream (I used fat-free half and half)
4 oz Gorgonzola
1/8 cup chicken broth
1 garlic clove

Over a double boiler, place Gorgonzola, allow to melt partially. Whisk in cream and broth and garlic clove whole. Cook for 3-4 minutes, remove garlic clove. Toss over pasta and serve immediately. I added toasted pine nuts as well.

Pumpkin Roll

Well, since the consensus from last post is that nobody is getting sick of pumpkin, then I'm not going to feel too bad about posting two very similar things in a row! I actually did make this because I had SO much cream cheese frosting left over from the cake, that I desperately needed something to do with it. I had never made a pumpkin roll before, and in all honesty, they totally intimidated me with all the steps. I was so worried that I was going to put in all the work and then end up with a total disaster on my hands (it's happened once, or twice before!)

But, really it ended up being a pretty easy, I think following the directions well and not getting impatient is the key. If I was as thoughtful as many of you out there, I would have pictures of the whole process for you, but my brain isn't quite that forward thinking yet, I'll get there! My cake did crack just a bit on the top, but after it was sliced, it wasn't even noticeable. Once again, the thing that makes this roll so dang good is that cream cheese frosting, it's the perfect compliment to the pumpkin!

Pumpkin Roll
By Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
confectioners' sugar for dusting

1 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper. Grease and flour the paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high for five minutes. Gradually add white sugar and pumpkin. Add flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Spread batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle walnuts evenly on top.

3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately turn out onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners sugar. Peel off paper and roll cake up in the towel, starting with the short end. Cool.

4. To Make Filling: Mix confectioners sugar, vanilla, butter or margarine, and cream cheese together till smooth.

5. Carefully unroll the cake. Spread filling over cake to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up again. Cover and chill until serving. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Have we gotten sick of pumpkin yet? I hope not, because I sure haven't! The thing I love about pumpkin is how versatile it is. I've seen it in just about everything, including chili! It's fantastic, and good for you.

I liked this cake for it's "semi-homemade" quality. A boxed spice cake, and a few other ingredients, and you're made in the shade. It's a very soft, velvety cake which is the perfect canvas for that sinfully rich cream cheese frosting. Eat up!

Pumpkin Spice Cake
By Taste of Home Baking Book

Ingredients

1 package spice cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 package instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used almonds, but I think pecans would be better)
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the dry cake mix, eggs, pumpkin, water, oil, pudding mix and cinnamon. Beat on medium speed for 5 minutes. Stir in pecans.

2. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Cook for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost cake or serve with whipped cream. Store in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
5-6 cups powdered sugar

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar. Store in fridge.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know that pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are pretty common, especially this time of year, but I wanted to share this recipe anyway. Rather then being a dense cookie, these are such soft, melt-in-your mouth fall treats. I've already made them a few times, and I need to stop because I can't stop sneaking them!

I'm so glad it's Friday! I'm particularly exhausted today, so I am very much looking forward to a nice, quiet weekend. Between that and the cool weather, snuggling with a warm blanket and a good movie sounds perfect! I hope you all have a wonderful, and relaxing weekend!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Found in Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and pumpkin until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; stir into the pumpkin mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips. Stir in the walnuts if desired. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Sauce

I know that the season for pumpkin has passed, but please, is there really ever a bad time for pumpkin baked goods? I didn't think so. I loved this recipe because the cake itself literally takes five minutes to throw together and have in the oven, but then you make the caramel sauce right before serving it and you feel like you are serving up a very fancy dessert. The caramel sauce is a bit thinner, and tastes more like a "brown sugar sauce," that soaks into your cake, but I liked it a lot because it gave the cake a very old fashioned taste, very moist and full of flavor. If I was more of a forward thinking person, I would have had whipped cream, or vanilla bean ice cream to serve it with, but even by itself, it was delicious!

Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Sauce

Found in Taste of Home, Baking Book

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil

Caramel Sauce:
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
Dash salt
1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs, pumpkin and oil until smooth; add to the dry ingredients. Mix until well blended, about 1 minute.

2. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

3. For sauce, combine the brown sugar, flour and salt into saucepan. Stir in water and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cut cake into squares and serve with warm sauce.

Spiced Pumpkin Pie Rice Pudding

I have to thank Picky Palate (link in side bar), for this wonderful recipe. This was another one of those experiences where I happened to have a ridiculous amount of brown rice in my fridge, as well as about a cup of pumpkin, I have weird leftovers. Anyway, I was so excited to find this recipe because it looks like the epitome of a comforting fall treat, as well as a great way to spare my leftovers from going to waste, one of my biggest pet peeves! I was a little apprehensive to use brown rice in a rice pudding, but it actually plumped up great and did the job. Of course, that isn't to say that the jasmine rice wouldn't be so much creamier and delicious! If you are a fan of rice pudding, you must try this recipe.

Spiced Pumpkin Pie Rice Pudding

Ingredients

3 Cups cooked jasmine rice
2 ½ Cups 2% milk
¾ Cup prepared pumpkin puree, such as Libby’s
½ Cup granulated sugar
¼ Cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
3 inch cinnamon stick (I didn't have and it turned out fine)
1 fresh vanilla bean (I just added a tsp vanilla extract)

Directions
1. Place cooked rice, milk, pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and cinnamon stick into a medium dutch oven or heavy bottom pan over medium low heat. Stir to combine. Split vanilla bean in half length wise and scrape out the seeds with the back of the knife. Add seeds and split bean into rice mixture; stir to combine. Let rice simmer for 15-20 minutes or until thick and creamy. Before serving discard vanilla bean halves and cinnamon stick. Sprinkle tops of each bowl with brown sugar if desired.
6 servings

Pumpkin Spice Biscuits with Cinnamon Butter

I found this recipe in the November issue of Cooking Light (can't say enough about Cooking Light, I always get my money's worth out of that magazine). I was expecting them to be a little more sweet, but they were delicious the way they were. They are only sweetened with honey, so there is a tiny hint of sweetness, but you still get the rich pumpkin spice flavor, and they are wonderfully aromatic. I tried smearing honey on them, as I usually do with biscuits, but it drowned out the pumpkin taste. So I made a very simple cinnamon-sugar (Splenda) butter to go with them, which was a perfect compliment. My kids snarfed these down, my husband loved them and the best news, if you are on WW, only three points a biscuit (or one if you made them teeny-tiny like I did!)

Ingredients

9 oz all purpose flour (about two cups)

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

5 TB chilled butter, cut into small pieces (the smaller the pieces, the easier it will be to combine with flour)

1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk

3 TB honey

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles a course meal. Chill 10 minutes.

3. Combine buttermilk, honey and pumpkin, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.

4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly four times. Roll dough into a (1/2-inch thick) 9x5 inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds (as if folding a piece of paper to fit into an envelope, this will give your biscuit it's flaky layers). Reroll dough into a (1/2 inch thick) 9x5 inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds; gently roll or pat to a 3/4 inch thickness. Cut dough with a 1 3/4 inch biscuit cutter to form 14 dough rounds. Place dough rounds, 1 inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 or until golden (my tiny biscuits only needed seven minutes). Remove from pan; cool two minutes on wire racks. Serve warm.

14 Servings

Serving Size: 1 biscuit

121cal, 4.2g fat, 2.4g prot, 18.4g carb, 0.5g fib, 11mg chol

3 points per serving

Cinnamon Butter

3-4 TB low cal butter

1-2 TB Splenda

1-2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients, add more or less to taste

1/2 tsp=1 pt

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Being new to this whole food blog experience, it has dawned on me now that this is probably one of those things that I should have posted about a month ago, and not after Halloween. Forgive the rookie? Anyway, this is one of those dishes that is full of nostalgia for me because my mom has made this every Halloween for as long as I can remember. I know it seems weird to eat something that was cooked in a pumpkin, but it is so delicious and very comforting. Plus, if you like winter squash, then you will love the soft cooked pumpkin on the inside, mmm. It's like a cross between spaghetti squash and butternut squash, and now that I'm an adult, it's probably my favorite part. You should really try this at least once, it won't disappoint.

Ingredients:

1 small-medium pumpkin

1 onion chopped

1 lb hamburger

2 TB soy sauce

2 TB brown sugar

1 can cream of chicken soup

1-2 cups of cooked rice

1 can sliced water chestnuts

Directions:

Cut off top of pumpkin and clean. Saute meat and onions until cooked-drain. Add soy sauce, brown sugar and soup. Simmer 10 minutes. Add rice adn water chestnuts. Spoon into pumpkin and replace top. Place pumpkin on cookie sheet. Bake one hour or until tender.