Pumpkin

Now that thanksgiving is just around the corner the thought I have is... is pumpkin still a part of the thanksgiving menu and if so... what treatment of pumpkin do you currently use.

It is hard to think that thanksgiving will come and go without the traditional pumpkin pie but frankly I am a little tired of it these days. Also we have been moving away from traditional menus for the holidays as now that we are getting older our tastes and consumption amounts are changing. Two years ago I made a pumpkin custard dish to which I added a carmel topping. This makes a very nice looking dish but I do not have the energy this year.

I think we may try a pumpkin cheesecake from Trader Joe this year just for a change of pace.

So, are you still including pumpkin in your holiday menu...

What the heck, let me also include a question on the traditional green bean casserole dish. Does anybody include this or some variation of this dish... just curious I guess.

Tim

We still do good ole pumpkin pie, and usally an apple one too. For pumpkin we only use the pulp from Long Island Cheese Pumpkins. They look like a cheese and have the outside color of a Butternut Squash. Inside is a beautiful deep orange. Available from Johnny's Selected Seeds, courtesy of us. It's a long, long story.

Back in the dim dark ages when I used to make cakes more often, one of the recipes I liked was a chocolate cake made with pumpkin pulp.

I got the recipe out of a magazine, some time in the mid 1970s - must have been the Australian Women's Weekly or Woman's Day or some such, my mother used to get these regularly. I'd credit the authors and source properly if I could but I just scrawled out the recipe by hand and left it at that. Today's greater awareness of intellectual property was a long way off in those days.

This cake is very moist, and not temperamental in the oven. Also not over-sweet, and doesn't really need frosting. Possibly not suitable for Thanksgiving, though.

We don't have Thanksgiving over here. I've always thought it was a nice celebration.

DEEP SOUTH CHOCOLATE CAKE

Cream together:
4oz butter
1/2 cup caster sugar

Stir in:
1 cup mashed cooked pumpkin (cooled)

Beat in:
2 eggs
1 tablespoon golden syrup
grated rind of one large orange

Sift together:
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tsp vanilla custard powder
2 large heaped tablespoons of cocoa

Mix the sifted dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the juice of the orange

Pour into a greased pan lined with paper.

Bake in a moderate oven until cake begins to leave side of baking tin and a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

What about pumpkin soup? I've had a curried pumpkin soup in the past that I thought was quite tasty. It would seem to me that you could substitute pumpkin for butternut squash in a lot of recipes.

Mark Lipton

I always do a Smoky Pumpkin Soup and a pumpkin pie. Sometimes, I'll do the Chocolate Pumpkin Cake, too. (My "Pumpkin" likes pumpkin!)

Smoky pumpkin soup here, too, along with roasted seeds for garnish.

I do pumpkin pies, muffins, pancakes, and pumpkin pecan whole wheat waffles. I use pureed sugar pumpkin that I roast myself and then freeze in 2Cup blocks.

-mike

It would not be Thanksgiving without Pumpkin Pie (for me, at least.) I make enough so I can eat it for breakfast for the next few days after Thanksgiving. We also make an apple pie or crisp.
Has canned pumpkin been difficult for anyone to find? It has been for me. I guess they had trouble with crops again this year. I did find some at our health food store.

[Jenise]

We love pumpkin pie here. But we go all out--fresh sugar pumpkin with cream in the custard and butter in the crust. Quite decadent. Oh, and I must add: made with mace! I've noticed that mace has disappeared from the traditional Libby's recipe over the years because, I presume, it's not standard in most households and American agribusiness always caves to the lowest common denominator, but I'm here to tell you that it's not the same without mace. So there.

[Jenise]

I always do a Smoky Pumpkin Soup and a pumpkin pie. Sometimes, I'll do the Chocolate Pumpkin Cake, too. (My "Pumpkin" likes pumpkin!)

Cute!

I always do a Smoky Pumpkin Soup and a pumpkin pie. Sometimes, I'll do the Chocolate Pumpkin Cake, too. (My "Pumpkin" likes pumpkin!)

Cute!

Yes, he is.

As to mace, well, I couldn't even say how its taste differs from nutmeg.

We probably won't have pumpkin/squash for Thanksgiving. Sweet potatoes will be close enough.

But we definitely eat one or two a week all throughout the fall/winter. I'm not a huge fan, but it's what's available. Simply roasted is the standby. Pumpkin risotto is another core dish.

I always do a Smoky Pumpkin Soup and a pumpkin pie. Sometimes, I'll do the Chocolate Pumpkin Cake, too. (My "Pumpkin" likes pumpkin!)

Cute!

Yes, he is.

As to mace, well, I couldn't even say how its taste differs from nutmeg.

Please, can we forgo this type of comment... keep your personal preferences to yourself.

Tim

Please, can we forgo this type of comment... keep your personal preferences to yourself.

Tim

Nope. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Preference for what?

As far as I can see, Jeff did not take a stance on nutmeg vs. mace. And even if he had, that is exactly the type of topic to discuss in the FLDG.

[Jenise]

Tim, if you mean what I think you mean, then consider this an official warning: your comment crosses a line you won't be allowed to cross twice. This is an open-minded forum in which we not only accept we embrace people of all orientations, colors and faiths. In fact, the only thing we don't tolerate is bigotry.

[Robin Garr]

Preference for what?

As far as I can see, Jeff did not take a stance on nutmeg vs. mace. And even if he had, that is exactly the type of topic to discuss in the FLDG.

I agree. Some people love mace. Some people love nutmeg. Some people love both. It's all good.

Tim, if you mean what I think you mean, then consider this an official warning: your comment crosses a line you won't be allowed to cross twice. This is an open-minded forum in which we not only accept we embrace people of all orientations, colors and faiths. In fact, the only thing we don't tolerate is bigotry.

Jenise, Jenise, Jenise

I live by a set of values as I am sure that you do also. Your values do not take precedence over my values. For you to flat out call me a bigot for my values, I think, crosses the line.

However, you do set the rules for this forum. I have a lot of items on my To Do List that I care about and need to focus on so I need to give some thought as to whether or not I care to tiptoe around you on this forum.

Tim

[Robin Garr]

However, you do set the rules for this forum. I have a lot of items on my To Do List that I care about and need to focus on so I need to give some thought as to whether or not I care to tiptoe around you on this forum.

Tim, if you are suggesting that homophobia is a moral good, you're going to have to tiptoe around me, too. Bigotry comes in many forms.

Jenise, Jenise, Jenise

I live by a set of values as I am sure that you do also. Your values do not take precedence over my values. For you to flat out call me a bigot for my values, I think, crosses the line.

However, you do set the rules for this forum. I have a lot of items on my To Do List that I care about and need to focus on so I need to give some thought as to whether or not I care to tiptoe around you on this forum.

Tim

Tim -

As a point of reference, there are many occasions in which people here talk about their wives or girlfriends. When that happens, no one here is allowed to tell them to keep their personal preferences to themselves, whatever their values are. If that means they have to "tiptoe around" others on the forum, so be it.

Your values do not take precedence over my values.

Ditto.

[Jenise]

I live by a set of values as I am sure that you do also. Your values do not take precedence over my values. For you to flat out call me a bigot for my values, I think, crosses the line.

Tim, you thought your values took precedence over Jeff's; so how do you reconcile telling me that? More to the point though, my personal values are not the issue here, yours are.

As for my use of the word "bigotry", if you believe that word applies only to race you're wrong. Check the dictionary: the word 'bigot' refers to anyone who shows intolerance or hatred to another group. That's what you did, and it's not tolerated in this forum.

However, you do set the rules for this forum. I have a lot of items on my To Do List that I care about and need to focus on so I need to give some thought as to whether or not I care to tiptoe around you on this forum.

Tim, if you are suggesting that homophobia is a moral good, you're going to have to tiptoe around me, too. Bigotry comes in many forms.

Robin,

I take exception to the tone in your comment and what you infer without actually stating it. Both you and Jenise are way out of line. My original comment was mild and worded very carefully. Did you not notice that my comment sailed right by you and everyone else on the board. Jeff was the only one who got my meaning. He then stated his opinion and that should have been the end of it. Instead, Jenise felt compelled to make a point and now here we are.

Stop foaming at the mouth when you post.

Tim

[Robin Garr]

I take exception to the tone in your comment and what you infer without actually stating it.

Tim, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be indirect. If you, sir, are expressing homophobic attitudes here, then you, sir, are a bigot. I apologize for my failure to make myself 100 percent clear.