pumpkin

Yes, I know it’s after Halloween, but tell me you’re not sick of pumpkin yet. Just hang in there for at least one more recipe…

I will confess that I have never been successful at mastering the technique of making creamy risotto stove top. I’ve given it a few tries over the years, and for all that standing and stirring, I don’t know… it just has been less than impressive. Yes, it’s very true that I should get back at it and give it another go (after all I am that much older and wiser now), but when I came across this recipe for baked risotto- my eyes lit right up!

First off I love using my Le Creuset Dutch Oven as often as I can. It just brings out the Julia Child in me, what can I say? There is something about heaving out the heavy artillery that makes cooking seem so REAL. It might be silly to be so attached to cooking implements, but I am sure I am not alone in this. If you’ve got one languishing somewhere, now is the time to pull it out.

The delightful thing about this recipe is that the time it takes to make this dish is considerably less- closer to 30 minutes from start to finish, most of which is hands off. I’ve even made this dish earlier in the evening, and just added a tad more stock and rewarmed it. Not culinary perfection, but when it comes to crowd pleasing, it worked like a charm.

The pumpkin is plain ol’ canned. Which also great when you need something special last minute. Feel free to substitute pureed butternut or any other winter squash. Pureed sweet potatoes would be divine too.

I also wanted to share some other news with y’all too. As many of you know I’ve been working on a new business called A Healthy Hunger. It’s an menu subscription service for Clean Eating or Diabetics. The site is primarily built and now I’m just fleshing it out and working out the technical kinks.

Creating healthy menus has turned out to be such a delight- more than I could have possible imagined. So many people talk to me about not knowing what to cook for their families, and when you have a diabetic to consider, even more so. I think we’ve all been there at one point or another.

Pulling these menus together, including shopping lists and nutritional information, just feels SO GOOD! So stay tuned for the big launch. Hopefully very very soon.

Baked Pumpkin Risotto

2013-11-01 10:21:58

Super easy to make risotto that requires none of the endless stirring.

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

332g

Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 399

Calories from Fat 144

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 16g

25%

Saturated Fat 7g

33%

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 8g

Cholesterol 24mg

Sodium 211mg

Total Carbohydrates 48g

16%

Dietary Fiber 2g

Sugars 3g

Protein 10g

Vitamin A

150%

Vitamin C

22%

Calcium

14%

Iron

11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Does this look wrong?

Ingredients

4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1.5 cups water
2 bay leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced
2 cups Arborio rice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine- chardonnay is wonderful here
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 12 oz can pumpkin puree
1 cup fresh parsley
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400˚
In a saucepan, warm the broth, water and bay leaves to a simmer and hold.
Warm the Dutch oven over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the onions and sautee until translucent. Then add the rice and stir until the edges become slightly translucent- about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add the wine and cook, while stirring until all the liquid is absorbed.
Remove the bay leaves and pour the broth over the rice. Place a piece of aluminum foil over the rice to within an inch off the surface of the rice. Place the lid on top of the dish and place into the center of the oven.
Bake for 15-20, or until the rice is tender and creamy and the liquid is absorbed.

While the rice is baking make the parsley oil

Place the parsley and oil in a blender and puree until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Remove from the oven and stir in the pumpkin and parmesan cheese.
Divide between 8 bowls and serve with a drizzle of parsley oil.

By Gail Watson

Adapted from Cook's Country

beta

calories

399

fat

16g

protein

10g

carbs

48g

Adapted from Cook's Country

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Earlier this year I resolutely put my foot down about not preparing Thanksgiving dinner. I have since had to pick that foot right back up. My initial reaction was to groan- but it did not take long for me to get excited about pulling together a meal for my dear ones.

The challenge really is to host 8 adults in my teeny NYC apartment with my teeny NYC apartment kitchen. It will work. I’ll borrow chairs, rearrange my office and use my desk (which is a dining table), and have a “barn raising” of a holiday table. There is space in my living room/dining room/kitchen to set up the table in advance- but then there would be a literal elephant in the room which we can do without for the entire evening.

Nah, we’ll hang around my coffee table, the kitchen is open to the entire place (thankfully) and we can commune and visit and cook together. When the bird is ready, I’ll enlist everyone’s help to pull in the table, set china and linens and start the feast. I’m sure the Indians kept house in just this way when the Pilgrims arrived. The family huddled around the fire, while the women bustled about- something like that… Anyway, it’s what I’ve got. I’m lucky, my family all likes each other.

I know that the internet is groaning with cranberry sauce recipes, pumpkin pie, turkey etc- Nothing wrong with any of that. It’s just that breakfast that morning tends to get lost in the sauce. It’s tricky right? You’re hungry and all, but you know you’ve got some serious eats heading your way soon- and you don’t want to get in trouble for opening the fridge too many times…

Enter my healthy pumpkin oat cookies. At the ready for all lazy wakers. Just get that coffee going, set out the plate and there you go. All holiday like with it’s pumpkin and spice, and hearty and healthy to get the day off to a good start. You can make them in advance too. They freeze nicely so you don’t need to be mixing and baking first thing.

Happy Thanksgiving all. Much to be grateful for these days- and still so many that need grace and support.

Keep those home fires burning.

Healthy Pumpkin Oat Breakfast Cookies

You can add into this an array of different things. Switch the nuts for raisins or dried cranberries etc.

Makes 12-14 cookies

.5c canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

1 large egg

1t vanilla

3T vegetable oil

2T molasses

.5c white sugar

.75c white flour

1.5c rolled oats

.25t baking powder

1.5t baking soda

.5t salt

1.5t ground cinnamon

.25t ground nutmeg

1c toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350˚ and prepare 2 cookie sheets.

In a medium sized bowl combine the pumpkin, egg, vanilla, oil, molasses and sugar. Stir to combine.

In a larger bowl sift together the flour, bp, bs, salt and spices. Add the oats and stir.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir well. It will make a stiff batter. Gently add the nuts.

Drop large spoonfuls of the batter onto the baking sheet and spread into a flat-ish disk.

I had some leftover pumpkin seeds that I put on top, but you can omit these.

Bake in the center of the oven for approximately 12 minutes. Test by gently pressing on the cookies. They should feel firm to the touch.

Allow to cool before diving in.

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