Visions of Sugar Pumpkins Danced in Their Heads
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sugar Pumpkins and a Few Great Recipes:
Baby Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Sweet Pumpkin Bread with Cranberries, Raisins and Pecans
Roasted Pumpkin Squash & Apple Soup
Pumpkin, Lentil & Sausage Stew
Chilean Chicken & Pumpkin Soup with Chili & Lime

My Today show producer assigned me a segment on Sugar Pumpkins which means, YAY, I get to go back on the Today show!! I spent the better part of two weeks researching the subject. I met with pumpkin farmers at my local Farmers Market. I went through lots of my cookbooks gathering tidbits of information on how to buy, store and cook with pumpkins and I developed a few new recipes for you to enjoy!

1. How do you know which sugar pumpkins to buy? Look for smaller pumpkins, 1 1/2-2 1/2 pounds because that's a nice size for most recipes. You want small, compact pumpkins, firm pumpkins with brightly colored skins. Figure about one pound of pumpkin per guest.
   
   
2. How do I store the pumpkins? Pumpkins last about a month in a cool dark place. Pumpkin puree and peeled pumpkin chunks tightly wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator will last about a week. You may want to take advantage of pumpkin season by cooking a whole bunch of them and storing the puree in your freezer for soup, stews, ravioli filling, for pumpkin breads, cookies, muffins and pies.
   
   
3. How do I dice a raw pumpkin? Very carefully. Use a very sharp knife and a cutting board that has been secured with a wet towel underneath. Cut the pumpkin in half, scrape out the seeds. Use a sharp carrot peeler to peel off the outer skin and then cut the pumpkin into the size chunks you need.
   
   
4. How do I make easy pumpkin puree? Cut the pumpkin in half, place cut side down on microwave safe plastic wrap and cook 5-10 minutes on high or until mashed potato soft. Remove from microwave and when cool enough to handle, scrap and discard seeds. Scrape pumpkin meat from the skin into a bowl and proceed with your recipe.
   
   
5. How do I puree fresh cooked pumpkin? Place it in a large measuring cup and use an immersion blender to blend it smooth. 
   
   

Baby Pumpkin Cheesecakes
When my King Arthur Flour Catalog arrived it fell open to the page with the baby pumpkin cheesecakes. It was love at first site. I ordered the pan, ran out and got all the ingredients and like a little kid, waited for the mailman to show up every day for a week (I didn't choose the Express Delivery option).

Homemade Baby Pumpkin Cheesecake dessert day felt like Christmas in October. Well at least like the official kickoff of the holiday season. King Arthur Flour's cheesecake recipe is divine. The cheesecake came out very smooth and rich. It was creamy and dense, sweet but not too sweet. The spices were perfectly balanced. It was everything I wanted it to be and worth every minute of preparation.

Pumpkin Faces: To create the pumpkin's faces on the baby cheesecakes, the recipe calls for you to melt 3/4 ounces of semisweet chocolate and add it to 1/4 cup of the cheesecake batter and then pour it into a pastry bag. Once the cheese cake batter is divided among the cups in the cheesecake pan and before baking, the recipe calls for you to pipe the chocolate batter onto pumpkin faces. I found this to be time consuming and awkward. Admittedly, I'm not a pastry chef and I have little patience for these Martha Stewart-y kinds of projects. That said, the cheesecakes in their catalogs are lovely. And the technique is very doable.

Pumpkin Faces for Dummies: I tested the recipe a second time and decorated the pumpkin cheesecakes after they came out of the oven using store bought decorating frostings in the tube. It was a whole lot easier and is something you can do with your kids.

Note: You may have leftover crust filling. Store in freezer. Keeps well.

Difficulty: Medium Easy
Prep Time: 1 casual hour
Cook Time: 20 minutes to cook, 30 minutes to cool
Servings: 12 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients

Crust
1/2 cup graham cracker or chocolate cookie crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate, melted
1 cup fresh or canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, optional
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon allspice

• Pre-heat the oven to 325º Spray each cup of mini cheesecake pan with cooking spray or lightly grease with butter. Set aside.
• To prepare the crust: In a small bowl, mix together crumbs, sugar and butter. Place 1 tablespoon of crust filling into each cup. Using the handle of a whisk or spatula, pat crumbs down flat.
• Bake the crusts until set, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 300º.

To prepare the filling: in the bowl of an electric mixer, blend together the cream cheese and sugar. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and add the eggs one at a time, mixing until smooth.

If piping pumpkin faces out of filling: Remove 1/4 cup of batter and mix with the melted chocolate. Set aside. If not skip to next step.

Add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using) salt and allspice and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into a large measuring cup or container with a pour spout and divide among the cups to 3/4 full.

If piping pumpkin faces out of filling: Use pastry bag to pipe faces onto the cakes by placing the tip just below the surface of the filling.

Bake the cakes for 16 to 20 minutes or until set around the edges with a dime-sized middle that still looks soft. Remove from the oven, and cool for 30 minutes or so before refrigerating. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Unmold cheesecakes.

Sweet Pumpkin Bread With Raisins And Pecans
I've made this bread with every kind of sweet winter squash and sweet potato there is. I can't say that I have a preference. I'm a fan of the bread no matter what kind of squash I use with it. It's a wonderful breakfast bread and a delicious afternoon snack. It's also a nice treat to pack in school lunches.

Tip: To prepare your pumpkin, cut it in half lengthwise, do not remove the seeds. Place it cut side down on a microwave proof plate or on a piece of microwave plastic wrap and cook (seeds side down) for about 10 minutes or until completely mushy. When cool enough to handle, scrap out all seeds and discard. Scrape out remaining squash meat and set aside.

Tip: To up the whole grains, use half all purpose and half whole wheat pastry flour or if you're used to 100% whole wheat breads, use all whole wheat pastry flour.

Tip: The recipe calls for 1 whole egg and two egg whites, this cuts out a bunch of calories and cholesterol. You can use two whole eggs instead if this is your preference.

Confession: Sometimes I use more nuts and raisins than the recipe calls for. It just depends on how good I've been lately. If I need to lose a few pounds, I stick to the recipe and use all whole wheat pastry flour which yields a denser bread with a chewier bite.

Prep Time: Lazy 45 minutes
Cook Time: 60 – 80 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 large egg whites       
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups cooked sweet potatoes
1/4  cup vegetable oil or melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup dried raisins or currants
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 60 – 80 minutes
Yield: 16 servings

• Prepare a loaf pan with non-stick spray and preheat oven to 350°.
• Mix together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside. 
• Combine the eggs, egg whites, brown sugar, sweet potatoes, vegetable oil and the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the sweet potato mixture until well blended.  Add currants and pecans and mix thoroughly. 
• Pour your cake mixture  into the prepared loaf pan and place in the oven. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Every oven is different so baking times will vary.  This should take about 60 - 80 minutes. My personal home ovens, every one I've ever had, always seem to take longer, so if yours takes longer, don't fret. 
   

Roasted  Sweet Pumpkin and Apple Soup
Squash suppers leave me feeling like a prosperous cheater. The flavors and textures of the different squashes are so marvelous, the nutritious benefits are definitely a plus, but mostly squash is so darn simple to prepare. Roasted, steamed, baked or pureed into soup squash simply doesn't require much prep time and the results are just marvelous.

Shortcut chef: While someone else is cleaning up tonight's dinner dishes cook off the squash and make this tomorrow's dinner. If it's tonight's meal, cook off the squash after breakfast. Ten minutes here, ten minutes there and you're done before you know it. Lay out the rest of the ingredients and gather your tools.

From mom's lips to your ears: It's a lovely fall soup you can serve alone as a light meal or as part of larger entertaining menu.

Morph: Get ahead on tomorrow night's veggie side dishes; cook off an extra squash and reheat it in the microwave or add it to buttermilk mashed potatoes. Leftover squash puree is perfect for pumpkin and sweet potato bread.

If the Queen's coming for dinner: Swirl a little sour cream or crème fraiche into each serving if you want a devilishly good bowl of soup that will impress your guests. The white swirl in the center of the soup is very pretty.

Yield:   4 Servings

• Preheat oven to 375°. Cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds.
• Peel, core and cut the apples into quarters. Brush cut surfaces of pumpkin and apples with one teaspoon of olive oil. Season with coarse grained salt and cracked black pepper. Set apples aside.
• Place pumpkin on a cookie sheet, tuck the garlic and one sprig of thyme in the cavity of each half. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes.
• Place apples on cookie sheet with squash and continue baking until pumpkin and apples are completely soft and tender about 15-20 minutes more.
• When the pumpkin is just cool enough to handle, scrape the meat from the skin, place in a medium sauce pot along with the apples and cooked garlic, discard the thyme sprig.
• Pour only enough chicken broth to achieve desired consistency. For a thinner soup use more stock, for a thicker heartier version, use less stock.
• Heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly until soup comes to a boil. Taste and adjust seasonings. If you desire a very smooth soup, place pot of soup in sink (to avoid being splashed with hot soup), place immersion blender in pot and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.
  
  

Italian Sausage, Lentil & Pumpkin Stew
This is one of those hearty suppers that fill you up without filling you out.  When I'm in the mood for something really substantial, this recipe does the trick. There's something about sausage that makes me think I'm getting more to eat than I really am.

Soup season marks the beginning of the holiday season. Now is the time to start thinking about how you're going to avoid gaining weight over the winter. Building hearty, yet substantial and lean meals around flavorful, power foods like lentils, onions, garlic and leeks is how I lost 75 pounds and it's how I've kept the weight off for over 15 years.

Tip: Do some of the prep the night before while you're watching your favorite TV shows.

Prep Time: a lazy half hour
Cook Time: about 1 hour

Ingredients
5 ounces low fat Italian fennel sausage
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 cup sweet pumpkin cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 leeks, white and light green parts, cut into 1 inch rings
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4 – 1 inch chunks
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1 small celery rib with leaves
3 sprigs parsley
2 bay leaves
2 1/2  quarts water
coarse salt and black pepper to taste
4 small potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

• Heat large soup pot over medium high, remove sausage from casing and add to pot. You shouldn't need to add any oil but if the sausage is just too dry, add a teaspoon or so of oil.
• Add onion and pumpkin and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the leeks, garlic and tomato and cook for three minutes more.
• Add the lentils, the celery, parsley, bay leaves and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and cooked through. Just before serving, remove the celery, parsley and bay leaves.
  
  

Chilean Chicken & Pumpkin Soup with Chili & Lime
Every spoonful of this soup is a hug. If you're in the mood for a cozy, supper, this meal is worth the time it will take to make. It's not a super quick soup recipe, but it's simple and some of the ingredients can come from the freezer section of your grocery store if you like.

Prep Ahead: Cut the pumpkin and the potatoes the night before while you're watching T.V.

Free Private Chef: Frequent a grocer that truly serves your needs. Use frozen vegetables such as lima beans, green beans and peas. If you don't like the idea of frozen veggies, go to a salad bar and buy pre-cut green beans, shell beans and fresh peas.

If the Queen's Coming to Dinner: This is really lovely served over soft polenta. Spoon polenta into large shallow soup bowls. Divide vegetables over polenta. Spoon broth over vegetables. Garnish with cilantro, scallions, jalapeno and lime wedges.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 3-4 pound chicken cut into 12 -14 pieces
course salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1 large onion cut into 8 pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 pound sweet pumpkin, cut into 1-inch cubes
5 cups of water
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
3/4 cup fresh or frozen shelling beans such as fava, pinto, lima or cranberry beans
1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
2 ears of corn, cut into cobettes (1 inch slices)
1/2 cup finely minced fresh cilantro
1/2 cup finely minced scallions
1 jalapeno, minced
4- 6 lime wedges

• Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Place as many chicken pieces as possible in a single layer, skin side down, season to taste with salt and pepper and cook three to four minutes per side or until golden. Remove to a platter.
• Add onions, garlic, oregano and pumpkin to the pan and cook, stirring often until onions and pumpkin begin to soften and brown a little, about 4-5 minutes.
• Add the water, the chicken, the potatoes and the fresh shell beans (if using) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until vegetables are soft and potatoes are cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Add the beans, peas and corn cobettes and cook for 2 minutes more. Turn off heat.
• Divide the soup among serving bowls. Put a loose tablespoon of scallions and cilantro over each bowl of soup. Garnish with minced jalapeno to taste. Squeeze a fresh lime into each bowl and serve immediately. Optional: Serve over polenta with fresh sprigs of cilantro.

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