pumpkin

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are super soft and pillowy and packed with pumpkin pie flavor! Bonus: this recipe makes a BIG batch of cookies.

My mom has a saying about cooking / eating / observing an overly ambitious amount of dinner table food. “This could feed an army!” is the exclamation I’ve heard from her more than once in my life. It’s her way of noting how lucky we are, to live and enjoy such bounty with our family and friends.

It happens most every year when we cook to excess at Thanksgiving, or when I get a wild hair and decide I need to add just a bit more to the BBQ with a few more side dishes, plus another dessert, and oh heck, why not have hot dogs PLUS hamburgers. Just so nobody goes hungry.

These pillowy, cakey, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies fit that bill. This recipe is perfect. Especially if you’re baking for a crowd. Like for my mom’s invisible army. Or better yet, for a party! Now, that’s an idea I can get behind. Or better yet, I’ll lead the charge.

So hop to it soldier (I’m looking at you, Mom), and let’s get this cookie baking party started.continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

31 Pumpkin Recipes to Carve Into This Fall

This round up of 31 favorite sweet and savory pumpkin breakfast, pasta soup, and dessert recipes will get you in the fall spirit.

What ingredient is a better beacon of fall than the pumpkin? The seasonal return of this dimply, round squash is marked by PSL’s on coffee shop menus, and neat rows of Libby’s, prominently displayed on endcaps in groceries everywhere. It’s a sure sign that autumn is here, which means full-fledged pumpkin mania can now ensue.

Like stores racing to put out Valentine’s Day paraphernalia as soon as Christmas ends, hardcore pumpkin fanatics start tinkering with recipes in August, if not sooner. Pumpkin cinnamon rolls on a 90-degree day? That’s love. The general consensus seems to be that late September is when it’s socially acceptable to open up that can of pumpkin (in case you were asking for a friend).

While our Thanksgiving tables would be pretty lackluster without the appearance of that classic slice of whipped-cream dolloped pumpkin pie, there are so many more ways to enjoy pumpkin. We love roasting it for salads, puréeing it into soups, and baking it up into sweet morning treats.

Here are 31 sweet and savory ways to enjoy it this fall.

continue to the recipe… about 31 Pumpkin Recipes to Carve Into This Fall

My Favorite Pumpkin Roll Recipe

This pumpkin cake is a favorite you’ll make year after year. It’s easy to freeze and serve, or perfect for holiday neighbor gifts.

As if the world needed yet another Pumpkin Roll recipe.

But in this case, it really, truly does.

This is the second recipe that made me fall in love with pumpkin-flavored everything. The first of course being the classic pumpkin pie. I mean, what 8 year old doesn’t love pumpkin pie?

(*Note to self: Share pumpkin pie recipe on bloggity blog. Because yes, the world does need another pumpkin pie recipe, too.)

My mom always made this recipe to welcome in fall and it was a popular neighbor gift for the holidays. As soon as we could smell the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin wafting from the oven, we knew the leaves would soon begin falling from the trees.

My mother in law recently gave this recipe a try, too. She baked it without nuts (and you can too) and as you hope when mother in laws try anything of yours, she gave it her stamp of approval as well.

But then I knew she would. Because the world DOES need another pumpkin roll recipe.

continue to the recipe… about My Favorite Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Pumpkin Tiramisu

Who doesn’t love pie? I mean, Thanksgiving is right around the proverbial corner and that sends nearly every pie lover on earth into pie fantasy orbit complete with little pilgrim space helmets. But Pumpkin Tiramisu? In the shape of a pie? We’re talking Mayflower to Mars.

While I’m a fan of pies, particularly pumpkin pie which has ALWAYS been my favorite, sometimes I go stark raving off the typical Turkey-day-desires charts and crave something more. Well, maybe not more, just different. Like a pumpkin tiramisu shaped like a pie.

When the husband and I were carousing Costco in Las Vegas, doing a little boozey-perusing (Utah’s liquor laws don’t allow hard alcohol or wine to be sold in grocery stores—I know, don’t get me started), my little eye spied a pumpkin liqueur.

It looked creamy, it looked dreamy and I immediately knew I had to cook with it. Funny that I didn’t even think about drinking it. But now I have, and trust me, it’s good for that too.

continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin Tiramisu

5 Ingredient Thai Pumpkin Soup

With just 5 simple ingredients, my Thai Pumpkin Soup delivers a curry and coconut flavor combination more often expected from a pumpkin soup recipe with far more ingredients than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bonus: It’s ready to eat in under 10 minutes.

My Smudge has been losing her mind this year with anticipation of Halloween, dressing up herself, the house and of course, the dogs. Oh those poor dogs.

She’s carved 172 pumpkins and has even planned out what container she’ll be storing her “free” candy in after she roots through her haul (these from OXO make her feel like she has a candy store right at home.) As long as that stash is close to me, I like her plan.

I love Halloween too. But man, when Halloween is on a weeknight, the rush of getting her home from school, then getting us all into costumes, rounding out the candy and then either hosting the annual Halloween party (woo-hoo I got a pass on that this year) or sailing off to one of her friends’ house to do the trick or treat routine (yea for friends!) takes TIME.

And time is always a precious commodity since its usually a rarity.

That’s why with just 5 ingredients as the sum total of deliciousness, my Thai Pumpkin Soup is the perfect last minute fare.

It’s a savory time saver. You don’t have to pay me extra for the jokes folks.continue to the recipe… about 5 Ingredient Thai Pumpkin Soup

White Bean and Pumpkin Pork Chili Recipe

Top buns. Ombre. Glasses that don’t really have lenses but make you look smart. It’s all about what’s hot at the moment. But don’t be fooled, fashion isn’t the only place trends make a statement. Food has its favorites too.

Take these two “it” ingredients of the moment: These days the mere mention of heart healthy pumpkin and superfood kale is nearly as buzz worthy as vampires or that funny cowboy dance to the Korean song I can’t sing along to because I don’t speak the language. But I can still move to the beat and do my best Rhinestone Cowboy impression while I do, much to the dismay and embarrassing looks from Smudge.continue to the recipe… about White Bean and Pumpkin Pork Chili Recipe

Friday Faves and Pumpkin Gruyere Gougeres

The time is drawing near as we will soon be gazing upon the backside of the great pumpkin Charlie Brown. Does that mean the plethora of pumpkin recipes will be waning as well? Maybe. Maybe not.

According to one of my favoritely designed magazine (yes, I make up words to possibly be even more descriptive), the number of pumpkin dishes in chain restaurants are at an all time high and pumpkin drinks have increased by 400 percent. Does this mean we will soon be enjoying a deep-fried Blooming Pumpkin or maybe a pumpkin McRib latte?

It very well could all be on the horizon.continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves and Pumpkin Gruyere Gougeres

Friday Faves and Pumpkin Manicotti

This week heralded a week of pumpkins featuring both a savory and a sweet recipe option. As it should! Eating local and in season gives a bump in stimulating the local farming economy and its also just being plain healthy. Keeping it simple and unprocessed as often as we can.

So to end out the punkin’ posts I’ll leave you with this tasty ditty of a recipe featuring my favorite orange orb all mashed up in my Pumpkin Manicotti. I know! Will I ever get tired of pumpkin and sage together? Bear with me friends because it’s highly doubtful.

0 from 0 votes

Pumpkin Manicotti

Ingredients

1 8 ounce package manicotti noodles
3 cups milk
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 tablespoons 1 stick butter, divided
1/8 cup fresh sage leaves thinly sliced
¼ cup flour
1 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoon salt divided
1 cup Mozzarella cheese shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions

Preheat oven at 350°F. Bring a large stock pot of water to boil. Once water comes to boil, add oil and salt water well and cook noodles for 5-8 minutes or until al dente. Drain and rinse noodles and set aside.
In a saucepan, bring milk to a boil, lower to simmer and add garlic. Simmer for 15 minutes until garlic flavor infuses milk. Remove garlic from mixture and discard.
In a separate small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter, add sage leaves and cook until crisp. Remove sage leaves from butter pan to drain and set aside. Add 6 tablespoons butter to remaining sage butter in pan, and melt over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add reserved garlic-infused milk mixture and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes, whisking so sauce does not stick or burn. Season with ½ teaspoon salt, remove from heat and let cool.
Layer a 13 X 9 inch pan with 1/2 cup of sauce.
In a large bowl, mix Ricotta, pumpkin puree, egg, nutmeg and salt. Add ½ cup Mozzarella and mix. Fill a large Ziploc freezer bag with pumpkin mixture, clip one corner with a ¼” cut and pipe manicotti tubes with Ricotta cheese mixture so a little bit overflows on ends.
Place manicotti tubes side by side in pan, repeating until you run out of shells and filling. Spoon remaining sauce on top of shells, top with remaining Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle sage leaves on top of cheese, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves and Pumpkin Manicotti

Pumpkin and Fried Sage Flatbread plus 5 Savory Pumpkin Recipes

Sometimes you just don’t have time to create a complicated meal. And sometimes you have the time and just don’t want to.

Today was one of those days.

Last week Smudge and I picked up a few sugar pumpkins at the farmer’s market, both for decoration and to cook with. She isn’t so sure she’s ready to relinquish her babies—Bob, Harry and Babycakes—to me and my menu making plans just. quite. yet.

So I had to be stealthy and cagey to sacrifice the pumpkins to the oven gods to create a roasted, creamy, orange base for the simplest pizza I’ve ever made.continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin and Fried Sage Flatbread plus 5 Savory Pumpkin Recipes

Mascarpone Pumpkin Mousse Cups Recipe

Like my Smudge, my nephew doesn’t care for birthday cake. Like her, he’d rather have pie with candles than a three tier, frosting laden, light and crumby old cake.

If you have one of those kind in your home, you need to check out my hybrid Yellow Cake Pie with Chocolate Mousse that was a rip-roaring success for Smudge’s birthday celebration. In fact it was so successful I’ve been commissioned by three of her 8-year old friends to make it for their 9-year-old birthdays.continue to the recipe… about Mascarpone Pumpkin Mousse Cups Recipe

Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Sage Plus 5 Seasonal Spins on Pumpkin Soup

Before we get to this beyond delicious recipe, I want to thank so many of you for your lovely words of anticipation for the launch date of FoodieCrush magazine’s deubut issue. I am beyond excited to share it with you, and all of the fab food bloggers featured within it. We’re hard at work—sleep, what’s sleep?—putting the final touches on the pages and the prettiness to the pictures.

I’ll be announcing the launch via e-mail to my subscriber list so please sign up at the top right of this page (so that’s what that subscribe dealio is all about) for the blue-light special alert of when we go live baby.

And now, back to the soup. I won’t waste a lot of time on why we had the soup, not that the big birthday wasn’t speeeecial, but because for me, the night got hijacked by the soup. Sorry babe, maybe next year.

This soup isn’t about pumpkin puree, or extra veggies to make it sweeter, or crunchy bits to make it more manly. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

It’s just that this soup is so killer. And so simple. Like 7 ingredients. Plus a slurp of cheese. Done and done.

A few weeks ago, some friends helped us celebrate my man’s belated birthday dinner at Park City’s Canyons Resort and their award-winning restaurant, The Farm. The menu meets and delivers on the hyper hot trend of farm to table, with all ingredients sourced within 50 miles for max freshness and keeping it local, local, local. And man, this place does deliver.continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Sage Plus 5 Seasonal Spins on Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Hazelnut Browned Butter and a Magazine Sneak Peek

So happy for the weekend, and wow. Just wow. This fall has been a gorgeous one. There’s almost nothing I love more than fall light–how does it actually warm you to the bones? It always inspires me to get my nesting on/in/done.

But fall is nearly in my rear view mirror, with the forecast of a winter storm set for Saturday. And while I watch those snowflakes fly, I’ll be working at my computer getting my little dream of launching Foodie Crush magazine all stitched together.

sneak peek photo > Britt Chudleigh

We’re in the midst of editing, layouts and photo editing for the debut issue of Foodie Crush magazine, an idea that’s been percolating in my brain for 2 years, that I finally threw myself into just a few short months ago.

I kind of can’t believe its actually happening.

continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin Gnocchi with Hazelnut Browned Butter and a Magazine Sneak Peek