Fall Recipes

Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

By Patty Brennan

1½ cups whole wheat baking flour
½ cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons wheat germ (optional nutritional boost)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (ditto)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup honey
½ cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, blend the pumpkin, egg, milk and honey. Mix all the ingredients together with the raisins. Coat the muffin tins thoroughly with butter. Spoon the mixture into the tins. Cook for 20–25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 1 dozen muffins

Pumpkin Pie Rice Pudding

By Beth Barbeau

Getting any kind of orange vegetable into one of my sons is a real challenge, but this dish does it every time! So far he hasn’t noticed that my “Pumpkin Pie Rice Pudding” breakfast always follows the nights he refuses squash at dinner. For best results, act chagrined and tell the kids that you made this for dessert for later, but since time is now too short to make breakfast, they “have to” eat the dessert for breakfast!

3 eggs
2 cups milk (as you wish—rice, almond, goat, raw cow’s milk)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons vanilla
¼ cup maple syrup or honey
2 cups left-over baked pumpkin (or squash—butternut, acorn, yams)—mashed in any combination (added butter or salt okay, but avoid putting pepper on it the night before as it really doesn’t go with pumpkin pie)
1–2 cups leftover cooked brown rice (less makes it more like custard, more makes it thicker and primarily rice)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a mixer or whisk, whip the eggs in a nice big bowl. Add the milk, then everything else but the rice. Lastly, stir in the rice. Pour into a buttered baking dish. A 9×9” casserole dish usually works fine. If you need it done faster, or to look more like fancy dessert, use buttered ramekins instead. Cook until a knife inserted comes out clean, about 15–20 minutes for the ramekins or 40–50 minutes for the baking dish. Serve plain, or with milk, maple syrup, whipped cream, warm honey, etc.

Serves 8–10

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

By Patty Brennan

Don’t throw out the guts of your pumpkin. Let the kids help you harvest the seeds and prepare them for consumption.

pumpkin seeds
1 cup water, or enough to cover
1½ teaspoons salt

Remove the pumpkin seeds from your pumpkin and clean off the strings the best you can. Wash the seeds and soak them overnight in salted water. Drain and spread the seeds out in a low baking pan and bake in a 300-degree pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Using a spatula, flip the seeds and re-distribute them on the cookie sheet halfway through your cooking time. You can eat them with the shells on. They’re delicious!

Pumpkin Apple Dip

By Stephanie Schaldenbrand

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
½ cup pumpkin
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons maple syrup
Apple slices (any kind)
1 lemon, juiced (optional)

Beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Add pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, and maple syrup. Mix well. Chill for one hour. Serve with fresh-cut apple slices. If making apple slices ahead of time, toss with a bit of fresh lemon juice, just to coat, and then sprinkle with cinnamon.

Makes 1½ cups

Hot Apple Cobbler Drink

By Sarah Hashimoto

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons apple butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 pinches cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients and heat over medium heat until steaming. Garnish with cinnamon sticks and a thin apple slice.

Serves 2