It’s that time again! Whether you are having a traditional family gathering with lots of old favorites, or a funky gourmet “Friendsgiving” – I hope that you find some inspiration here. Happy Thanksgiving, my lovelies!
It’s time for a seasonal post from the Secret Recipe Club! Our theme was Fall Dishes and I was assigned Things I Make (For Dinner). This blog is written by Sarah who, in addition to my name, shares my love of cooking, travel, and sleeping.
These custards are made with pumpkin, cream, milk, maple syrup, egg yolks, and spices. Simple and delicious. After the base is made, it is poured into ramekins and baked in a water bath, much like creme brulee. (more…)
Here’s a quick little semi-homemade cold weather meal, perfect for weeknights. I took some store-bought fresh spinach fettuccine and thick sliced roasted turkey from the deli counter, and tossed them with a homemade pumpkin goat cheese alfredo. It’s interesting enough to not be boring, but it’s easy enough to not cause a headache.
The homemade part is the decadent sauce, which involves butter, garlic, cream, pumpkin, goat cheese, sage, and pumpkin pie spice. I wanted to do something a little different, which is why I went with turkey, but chicken would work just as well. And I like how the spinach pasta brought a little color to the table.
Pumpkin Goat Cheese Alfredo
adapted from Closet Kitchen
serves 2
8 oz pasta of choice (I used fresh spinach fettuccine from the refrigerated section), cooked
8 oz cooked turkey or chicken, diced or shredded
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
4 oz goat cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1 tbsp sage, sliced thinly (or dried)
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
salt and pepper to taste
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the cream, pumpkin puree, goat cheese, Parmesan, sage, and pumpkin pie spice and simmer until the cheese has melted.
Add in the poultry and allow to warm through. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
I feel like I constantly need some form of cheesy winter squash pasta on hand at all times. It’s kind of a problem. I saw a recipe for shells with pumpkin and ricotta that sounded good, but the comments all said it came out dry and bland. So instead of using that recipe, I decided to make a pumpkin version of my Spring Shells and Cheese.
So instead of ricotta, I made a bechamel with sage, pumpkin, Gruyere, and Parmesan. Then I added in some sauteed spinach and shallots, for health and color.
Because adding spinach totally makes up for all the cheese and pasta, right? I mean, I did use whole wheat shells…
Anyway, I added in some pecans for crunch. Nuts are healthy, too, right? (more…)
This post got lost and forgotten somewhere, so it’s not very seasonal and I apologize. But you can look forward to making it next Fall.
And you should look forward to it. Sweet, caramelized pumpkin with spices, creamy yogurt, and tangy tomato sauce? Yes, please. This is one of my favorite Afghan dishes, called kadu bouranee.
And these delicious Moroccan inspired meat pies made with phyllo, ground beef, and spices are the perfect main to complement the pumpkin. You could also make the Afghan meat dumplings called mantu, of course, but they require a little bit more work. (more…)
We are finally getting into some Spring weather here but I am way behind on my posts, so I’m sorry if the cold weather stuff drags on a bit! I actually made this Pumpkin Cream Cheese Loaf all the way back in October – yikes! Put it uses canned pumpkin, so you can make it whenever that is available. I found this recipe through Pinterest which advertized only 500 calories for a WHOLE LOAF!(!!!) Oh-em-gee! Can it be true? Delicious and healthy? The unicorn of pumpkin loafs?! EDIT – Well, no in short – it is not. It actually has more than 1000 calories per loaf and it doesn’t taste that great. But I will leave it on here in case someone has a use for it. EDIT
Okay, I wouldn’t really call it healthy. It’s low calorie and low fat due to the use of low-fat cream cheese, egg whites vs whole eggs, and applesauce vs oil. And it uses half fake sugar and half real sugar, but I’d still call that a sugary snack.
As for deliciousness? I’d call it okay. You can definitely taste the fake sugar and it isn’t as dense and luxurious as the real thing, but it’s a pretty good substitute. So all-in-all I’m going to call this decent but not amazeballs. (more…)
I’ve been playing with combining squash and pasta for comforting Fall/Winter dishes. Like last weeks White Lasagna or the Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells from the beginning of the month. And now I have a few more, starting with this Butternut Squash and Leek Pasta Sauce.
This is simple and delicious – pureed squash, leeks, garlic, butter, sage, and Parmesan form a rich and creamy sauce to perfectly coat spaghetti.
Next up is Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese with Amaretti Crumbles.
Roasted pumpkin combined with noodles, cheesy bechamel, and sage.
‘Then topped with delicious almond cookies and baked. Yum! So comforting in cold weather. (more…)
I saw this recipe on the Food Network while getting my nails done and immediately wanted to make it. We didn’t have any plans for Halloween night, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. It turned out to be a pretty fortunate decision, because Jasper came up with the idea to invite some friends over to play a horror board game at the last minute (read 5PM Halloween night). I had already started making the chili and I knew it would be great for a crowd. Funny thing was, we hadn’t seen each other in so long that we wound up talking all night and never getting to the board game! (more…)
