After baking oatmeal in a pumpkin last weekend, I've found myself with a lot of pureed pumpkin on my hands. If it were just the proceeds of this one pumpkin, I would pretty easily manage to use it all. However, I've got another large knobby pumpkin waiting in the basement and 4 butternut squashes waiting in the wings. I tend to use pumpkin and butternut squash interchangeably, so it just seems like there's a lot of pumpkin to use.
Thankfully, some of it can be pretty easily frozen for use throughout the season and the pumpkin and squash that haven't been cracked yet will keep fairly well for a while. This makes my challenge simply to come up with a lot of great recipes that use pumpkin or butternut squash. I know, I know. First world problems! Still, I want to be able to find ways to really enjoy the bounty before me. Here's a look of some of my to-do list:
- Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup
- Sour Cream Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Pull-Apart French Toast
- Pumpkin Pie Croissants
- Praline Pumpkin Crepes
- No-Bake Pecan Pumpkin Cheesecake
As you may have noticed, there's a lot of baked breakfasts and sweets on this list. While I adore stuff like this (there's a reason it's on the list), I would like to expand my horizons (if not my waistline) to include some savory dishes as well. I've added some pureed pumpkin to things like chili or spaghetti sauce, but it's mostly sneaking something healthy into a dish and not really making it the star of the show. The major exception is my forays into ravioli-making and a fantastic Pumpkin Ravioli with Garlic-Butter Sauce. I'd like to get some ideas about how to make pumpkin shine in other savory dishes like that. So ... if you have some ideas, please share! Who knows? It might become the inspiration for my newest favorite recipe!