Savory Stuffed Pumpkin

It's Halloween and if you are like me, you bought way too many pumpkins at the farmers market than you know what to do with. But luckily, pumpkins aren't just for carving (and then subsequently rotting on your porch). They are ghoulishly good and make for a great meal too!

And they are very nutritious. One cup of plain cooked pumpkin has less than 50 calories and it is full of antioxidants, fiber, potassium and Vitamin A (which is good for vision, healthy skin, and immune function)

If you want to use pumpkins for cooking, you have to make sure to buy the right kind. If you get the regular, big fatty pumpkins at the grocery store, it won’t work. They are way too big and the flesh will be too tough and stringy.

Look for sugar or pie pumpkins. They are smaller and are usually a darker shade of orange. Typically they weigh anywhere from one to five pounds.

This recipe utilizes the shape of the pumpkin, using the skin as a serving dish. Be careful cutting and preparing this decorative dish. If done right, it will look very bootiful. It just ghost to show you that you can use pumpkins for just about anything.

I hope you enjoy this spooktacular stuffed pumpkin!


Stuffed pumpkin
Ingredients

• 2 lb pie pumpkin
• 2 tsp of butter (or butter spray)
  
• 1 cup of wild rice
• Chicken stock or two chicken bouillon cubes
  
• 1 diced onion
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, diced
  
• 5 strips of turkey bacon
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
  
• 1/2 cup of diced apple
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 3 fresh sage leaves chopped

Directions

• Cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop out seeds. Remember, the pumpkin is part of the presentation, so make sure you cut neatly.
• Rub 1 tsp butter (or use I can’t believe it’s not butter) on the inside of the pumpkin (save 1 tsp of butter for later).
• Place the pumpkin on an ungreased cookie sheet and cook at 350 for about 45 minutes.
• While the pumpkin is cooking, cook the wild rice on the stove per recipe directions (but use chicken stock or chicken bouillon cubes instead of water).
  
• In a separate skillet, cook diced onion, garlic and celery with 1 tsp of butter on med/high heat until brown. Then bring temperature to low.
  
• When the pumpkin is done cooking, let it cool and then remove the flesh from the skin. . Be careful not to tear the skin of the pumpkin because it will be used as your bowl later.
• Add the cooked pumpkin, apple, dried cranberries, cinnamon, salt, pepper and sage to onion mixture. Cook until heated thoroughly.
• Once the rice is prepared, add it to the pumpkin mixture.
• Then carefully add the entire mixture into the pumpkin.
  

Serve!

Whole Wheat Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins

“Honey, wake up. It’s snowing.”

“Umf,” I groaned throwing a blanket over my head.
“Seriously. Look!”
“What? Oh crap! My squash!”

Oh the joys of living in Iowa. Yes, it’s early October and we had our first snow. Wasn't it almost 70 degrees yesterday?

I jetted out of bed. Slipped on my flip-flops, threw on my bathrobe, grabbed some scissors (no Mom, not the special gardening cutter-thingies, oops) and raced outside.

I cursed myself for not harvesting my squash sooner. Since the day I planted them, these damn squash have been terrorizing my life.

In spring I decided I would plant my first garden. I picked all the veggies and flowers that I liked best and put them all in the ground (in a space that is about 6 feet long and two feet wide-if that).

Well, I guess I should have done more research and planning on gardens, because apparently squash need a lot of room. And by a lot, I mean A LOT. Oh yeah, and they are vines. Didn't know that either.

The stupid thing grew up the side of the house, up the giant tree in my yard, and it strangled my poor dahlia (planted only 12 inches away from the squash). Yup, I'm officially a garden idiot-no doubt about that one.

If you look close, you can see the squash leaves above the telephone
lines near the top of the tree and also underneath it growing into my driveway.

Meanwhile, back in my bathrobe, I raced to rescue my poor veggies from the thick, prickly dying vine and the snow that gently freckled the ground.

After my frenzied, freezing harvest, I managed to collect eight butternut squash, one tiny spaghetti squash (it dropped from the top of the tree!), two habanero peppers, and seven banana peppers.

With the extra butternuts cluttering my already minimal counter space, I've been racking my brain on how to use them.

As a busy student, a healthy and fast breakfast has been quite a challenge for me and frequently I go without. Since the start of the semester I've been on a muffin kick: banana muffins, zucchini muffins, apple muffins, bran muffins and now, you guessed it, butternut squash muffins.

I had never had them before, but I thought why not? I'm sure glad I did, because these suckers are good! And good for you too.

Butternut squash has minimal calories (only 82 calories per cup!) and it is a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fiber.

Hope you like them.

Whole Wheat Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cooked butternut squash
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2/3 cups of brown sugar substitute (I use Sugar Hill. If sugar substitute is too sweet for you, use less to taste or regular sugar)
• 1 overripe banana or 1/3 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (for topping)
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar (for topping)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Half one butternut squash and scoop out the seeds.
• Place the squash skin side up on an ungreased cookie sheet and cook for 45-50 minutes.
• In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients (except 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and brown sugar).
• In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients.
• When squash is done cooking it should look a little charred and wrinkled. Pierce it with a fork to check that it is soft.
• Let it cool (I put mine in the freezer to cool faster).
• Scoop out one cup (save the rest for another batch or eat it with a little bit of butter-yum!) and stir it into the wet ingredients.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Slowly, mix in small quantities all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients until all of it is incorporated.
  
• If your mixture is too dry, add more applesauce. If it is too runny, add more flour. It should have the consistency of thick cake batter.
• Next, fill a greased muffin pan with your muffin mixture.
• In a small bowl mix 1/2 tsp of brown sugar and cinnamon.
• Sprinkle the tops of the uncooked muffins with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
• Cook muffins for 15-20 minutes.
• Makes 12 muffins.

Nutritional information

62 calories
.2 grams of fat
1.6 grams of dietary fiber