Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe

December 6, 2013 by 6 Comments

I’m so excited! I know people have been complaining about the “arctic” temperatures that Portland has had for the past few days- though being originally from Chicago, the temperatures felt right at home and a reason to wear the puffy coat I brought from Chicago winters when I moved here. The only thing I was hoping for was not a warm-up, but for snow! Holiday snow!

And it came today! Yay! (Imagine me running around with Kermit arms as the snow falls gently from the sky).

This kind of weather just makes you crave comfort food- hot, bubbling, warm you up from the inside food. For a while, I was receiving complimentary issues of Better Homes and Garden- I think it came from when I was renting from Budget they might have thrown in a few free issues for a quarter or 6 months. This pumpkin mac and cheese recipe is a $500 price award winning one from Susan Telleen of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Susan uses canned pumpkin, fresh sage and nuts to emphasize fall flavors, and the pumpkin flavor is subtle but adds creaminess so you can use less cheese.

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe: After making the cheese sauce, stir it into the pasta until well mixed, then pour into a baking dish Pechluck's Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe- uses less cheese because the pumpkin adds creaminess

I chose to use panko with the bread crumbs for more crunch. Despite the number of ingredients listed, it is only a 4 step recipe and yields 8 servings of the pumpkin mac and cheese, so enough for several meals, a great dish to bring to a potluck, to make for a dinner as you gaze at the snow outside, or in my case, a side that I had for Thanksgiving weekend!

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese on my plate at Thanksgiving

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups dried elbow macaroni (8 ounces)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 4 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded (1 cup)
  • 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
  • 1 tablespoon snipped fresh sage or 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf sage, crushed
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs or panko for topping- I used 1/4 cup of bread crumbs and 1/4 cup of panko
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping
  • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Sage leaves (optional)

Pechluck's Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe- uses less cheese because the pumpkin adds creaminess, and the toppings add great crunchy layer with the combination of panko and breadcrumbs, walnuts and parmesan

Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook pasta in a large pot following package directions. Drain cooked pasta, then return to pot. If you do this beforehand, I usually put a teaspoon or so of olive oil and stir this in so the pasta does not stick together.
    2. Ideally, while the water in the pot is preparing to boil before you put in the pasta, you are working on the cheese sauce. For cheese sauce, in a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Add whipping cream and milk all at once to make your white sauce from the roux. If you are looking for a gluten-free version of white sauce, instead of the flour use sweet rice flour/glutinous rice flour instead of your regular flour. Cook and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened and bubbly, it should be browned slightly. Stir in cheese, pumpkin, and sage until cheese is melted.
      Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe: After making the white sauce, stir in cheese, pumpkin, and sage until cheese is melted Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe: After making the white sauce, stir in cheese, pumpkin, and sage until cheese is melted. Yummy cheese sauce- actually it uses less cheese because the pumpkin also makes it creamy!
    3. Stir cheese sauce into pasta to coat. You can add more salt and pepper to taste at this point, and when the cheese sauce is incorporated into the pasta, transfer macaroni and cheese to an ungreased 2-quart baking dish.
      Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe: After making the cheese sauce, stir it into the pasta until well mixed, then pour into a baking dish Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe: After making the cheese sauce, stir it into the pasta until well mixed, then pour into a baking dish
    4. In a small bowl combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, walnuts, and oil; sprinkle over pasta as your mac and cheese topping! Now bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until bubbly and top is golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving or you will definitely burn your tongue! If desired, sprinkle with sage leaves.
      Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe: After making the cheese sauce, stir it into the pasta until well mixed, then pour into a baking dish and top with a mix of parmesan, walnut, panko and breadcrumbs Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe: After making the cheese sauce, stir it into the pasta until well mixed, then pour into a baking dish and top with a mix of parmesan, walnut, panko and breadcrumbs

Mmmm comforting mac and cheese hugs on the inside of my belly. Mac and cheese and ramen are my favorite foods when the weather outside is frightful (though I am actually finding it delightful now!), but I only make mac and cheese and get ramen at restaurants. What’s your favorite cold weather comfort food?
Pechluck's Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe- uses less cheese because the pumpkin adds creaminess, and the toppings add great crunchy layer with the combination of panko and breadcrumbs, walnuts and parmesan  Pechluck's Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe- uses less cheese because the pumpkin adds creaminess, and the toppings add great crunchy layer with the combination of panko and breadcrumbs, walnuts and parmesan

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Vegetarian Side Dishes: Corn Niblets in Butter, Roasted Carrots with Dill, Green Beans in Parmesan

December 3, 2013 by 6 Comments

I made all three of these vegetarian side dishes this past Thanksgiving, for the sake of nostalgia.

Growing up, the corn I had were either on the cob (which we boiled/steamed) or Green Giant Corn Niblets frozen boxes. Essentially, it’s just corn niblets in butter, but the butter sauce is slightly thickened. When I grew up, I learned about grilling corn, and I gave up the processed Green Giant that uses the additive of xanthan gum because it just seemed unnecessary with the cornstarch- and what is enzyme modified butter and why do I need annatto extract color?

Corn Niblets in butter recipe

Sometimes though, I still want to remember the days when my family attempted an American style Thanksgiving, albeit that by high school it was Boston Market that was providing us our meal, after a lineage of various grocery stores’ precooked items (my favorite that I remember was Auchon, though I have never quite forgotten the soft rolls from Cub Foods). My family was not really a turkey family- we were all about honey ham. I vaguely remember one time my mom bought sliced ham, and we were roasting each slice in the oven on a baking sheet, and we brushed each side with some sort of honey mixture. We only did that once (apparently we discovered we could just buy partial pre-sliced hams- thanks HoneyBaked Hams), but I loved the motion of brushing each piece lovingly.

Instead of the Green Giant original, I now use this Food.com Green Giant Corn Niblts in Butter copycat recipe every time, and can pick local sweet corn and I can make more since I can eat a whole box of the frozen stuff by myself thanks.

Meanwhile, my main experience with carrots were in TV dinners in my childhood, thanks to Banquet. My family had almost all Asian food, with the once in a while exception of spaghetti, everything else was usually prepared (varying from Gordon’s fish sticks to Micromagic cheeseburgers) so it was thanks to Banquet that I learned about meat loaf, chicken parmigiana, Salisbury steak, and pot pies.

Roasted Carrots with Dill recipe

This recipe for roasted carrots brings back memories of those little super tender carrots in their little compartments with the little ridges, and the little inch long green beans cut in perfect tubes almost like pasta, but without the chance for mushiness for either (depending on how much you vented the TV tray!). I know it may not sound like an endorsement to say it brings back those nostalgia food of the 80s via TV Tray, but it is!! The recipe for the Sauteed Carrots are based from one from the Barefoot Contessa and the green beans from Sandra Lee’s Haricot Verts with Shaved Parmesan. Can you tell I was watching Food Network for a while?

All of these recipes yields enough for about 6 servings as a side dish.

Corn Niblets in Butter

Corn Niblets in Butter recipeCorn Niblets in Butter recipe
Ingredients:

  • 16 ounces of corn niblets (this equals about 1 bag of frozen corn, I like sweet corn but you can use any type you wish)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup butter, cut up
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon rosemary (optional)

Directions:

  1. Add corn to large sauce pan along with all ingredients except water and cornstarch.
  2. Stir corn mixture over medium heat until butter is melted.
  3. Combine water and cornstarch and stir until cornstarch is dissolved. Slowly add water to corn in sauce pan, stirring constantly.
  4. Reduce heat to simmer and stir occasionally, until corn is tender and sauce thickens. If you’d like, you can optionally add in a little ot of rosemary or other seasoning you’d like to additionally flavor the butter sauce.

Roasted Carrots with Dill

Roasted Carrots with Dill recipe
Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds (6 cups) of carrots
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt + more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper+ more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill + more to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. If you bought the whole carrots, peel the carrots and cut them diagonally in 1/4-inch slices. Or if you’re into a Thanksgiving where you are drinking wine and eating cheese instead of cutting carrots, buy baby carrots or my favorite, already crinkle cut carrots.
  3. Toss the carrots in a bowl with the olive oil, black pepper, and salt. On two foil covered baking sheets, place the carrots flat, try not to have them overlap too much so they can be touching the baking sheet, lying flat on 1 layer. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, turning them halfway through- you should be able to fit more flat because the carrots will shrink as they cook and brown. I admit I roasted mine for much longer because I was making mac and cheese and forgot what time I put them in, I just kept checking on them until they were as browned as I liked.
  4. Off the heat, toss with the dill. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve to taste.

Green Beans with Shaved Parmesan

Green Beans with Shaved Parmesan Green Beans with Shaved Parmesan
Ingredients:

  • 3/4 pound ready-to-cook haricots verts/green beans
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

  1. Place the haricots verts in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and drain, if necessary.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and lemon juice. Pour over the haricots verts and toss to coat. Serve immediately with shaved parmesan and freshly ground pepper. I totally admit I used much more than 1/4 cup of parmesan.

Do you have simple side dishes like this that you make, thinking back to microwavable food memories?

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Thanksgiving Menus

November 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

For the past few years, every Thanksgiving I put together a silly looking Thanksgiving menu. Here’s a look at the Thanksgiving Menus that have been made the past few years, starting 2010 until this year…



I know, the Thanksgiving Menus are a bit ridiculous.

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Cornbread Stuffing – Veggie Version

November 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

It’s time for the Thanksgiving 2012 recipe roundup! The best cornbread stuffing I’ve made so far was from a whim 2 years ago. I modified a recipe I had seen by Michael Symon on Food Network. For some reason I had watched him make this in an episode- unusual because I don’t watch him at all but his show happened to be on and my TV still on Food Network. But, what I saw was so intriguing for a stuffing I looked it up online to print his recipe, and used that as my cornbread stuffing inspiration.

The cornbread is one that I made from a mix the day before thanks to Trader Joe’s. When it came to the smoked ham in his recipe I substituted a smoked veggie version, and of course vegetable stock for chicken stock. Meanwhile for the vegetables I replaced his call for red peppers with Thai red chilis (though in less quantity because I did want to keep my stomach lining). I used Thai red chilis because I had them in my herb garden, but you can easily substitute any other diced pepper you would like, or even spicy seasoning instead.

I also changed out the corn because I thought there was enough corn in the cornbread which had kernels already in it. I also used diced carrots, making use of a classic mirepoix as the base then of this stuffing. I’m not a fan of parsley and cilantro, so I went with dill, sage, and rosemary as my seasoning herbs.

The stuffing turned out visually quite pretty, and was even better the next day as a leftover. The “ham” even in the veggie version gave it a hint of smokiness, and the Thai red chilis a bit of extra zing of heat now and then.

Ingredients (serves 6):

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups chopped yellow onions
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup choped carrots
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 package of diced smoked vegetarian ham- I used Tofurky Hickory Smoked flavor deli meat, but Yves or Lightlife could work as well
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons chopped sage
  • 2 tablespoons dill
  • 2 tablespoons of diced Thai chili pepper, but you can use any other pepper but adjust based on the heat you want
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 8 cups cubed and toasted cornbread – I used Trader Joe’s cornbread mix and prepared per directions on the box. I think TJ’s mix is the best mix out there in terms of taste and texture

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Melt butter and sweat the celery, onions, and garlic until tender. Add ham and cook
    over low heat for 2 more minutes. Set aside to slightly cool.
  3. Whisk together eggs, stock, cream and herbs and chilis, and season with salt and pepper
    to taste. Combine all items, including cornbread, in a 4 quart pan.
  4. Cook covered for 30 minutes. Then uncover and cook for additional 20
    minutes or until crusty on top.
  5. Optionally, since when I picked the peppers I had some extra left I also sprinkled a bit more on top before serving the dish to make it look nice- you can do the same with extra herbs also.
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A Taste of Thanksgiving

November 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Whole Foods: A Taste of Thanksgiving.

For the price of two donated canned goods to benefit a local non-profit, we were able to sample from a buffet of holiday menu items that they offer to help build your Thanksgiving menu. Here, from the bread and going clockwise you see

  • sauteed wild mushrooms appetizer;
  • a sample of classic cranberry relish with a dark meat helping of Organic Oven Roasted Diestel Turkey;
  • Wild Rice Stuffing that is available as part of their Vegan Holiday dinner;
  • Green Beans with Shallots and Herbs with Olive Oil;
  • Vegan Mashed Potatoes with Vegan Mushroom Gravy;
  • the surprisingly tastiest dish of the plate the Wild Rice, Yam and Pear Roast which is the main course for the Vegan Holiday Dinner!
  • On the small plate by the free sample of Bergstrom Wine are some cheeses and fancy crackers
  • not pictured is the sample of Salmon Roast stuffed with goat cheese and spinach
  • not pictured is the the mini Caramelized Cranberry and Walnut Tart dessert
  • we also each received a free Whole Body bar of soap
  • we departed sipping some Allegro Celebration Blend coffee as we then started our grocery shopping

Thanks Whole Foods for the sampling of what you are dishing up for the holidays while contributing to a good cause! It was a preview that made me excited for upcoming holiday.

Check out the Whole Foods online store to find a location near you and clicking on that location, then shop online to look at their various catering and holiday options and build or add to your Thanksgiving menu with prepared or semi-prepared options! Their holiday meal planning site also provides lots of helpful advice.

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