meal in a pumpkin

one of my favorite things to cook in the fall! meal-in-a-pumpkin

be forewarned, after halloween all the grocery stores throw away their pumpkins and the pumpkin patches are basically cleaned out by then. so plan accordingly. 

you want a pumpkin for eating, not carving. sometimes the pumpkins are labeled as such. 

you want a pumpkin thats 'medium sized'. what does that mean? god only knows. 

basically it needs to be small enough to fit in your oven, 

but big enough to get a large skillet of meat/veggies in it. 

heres what i love about this recipe: there isnt really one! 

you can make it however youd like with whatever veggies/meat* you like! 

if you google it, you will find lots of recipes that are simple and kinda boring. 

heres the basic 'how to':

1 medium pumpkin
1.25-1.5 lbs ground meat
veggies - water chestnuts
soy sauce
olive oil
brwn sugar/honey
seasonings/spices
yogurt or broth
rice/quinoa

1. cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin. this becomes your lid. best to cut it an an angle \  / cuz as the squash bakes it will shrink and your lid might fall right into the middle if you have cut it straight |  | .
scoop out the innards. do what you wish with the seeds.
place the pumpkin in a pot or wide baking dish, cuz its really hard to pull it out of the oven when its done and soft.

2. brown meat of choice in a large skillet. i like turkey. add seasonings of choice.
today i used a garam masala blend i bought in india. its sweet with a hint of savory.

3. add your veggies to the meat. today i used: yellow beets, turnip, kalamata olives, garlic, asparagus, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and spinach.

grnd turkey with turnip, bamboo, yellow beets, garlic

i was excited to be able to use some of my thrive foods! +
i decided against the carrots, since i was using turnips. and i decided to use my beet greens in a different dish.

my thrive foods - chopped spinach, mushrooms and cut asparagus

other veggie suggestions: onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers, red beets, rutabaga, black olives, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, jalapeno. GET CREATIVE!
the water chestnuts add a nice crunch. i decided plenty of my veggies were al dante enough to not warrant adding the water chestnuts today.

if you start your onions and garlic in butter before adding the meat, they will be that much more delish.

dont forget to add addtl seasonings/spices to your skillet now that the veggies are in there too. i added crushed red pepper flakes to add some pazazz to my sweeter garam masala spices.

gorgeous! 

4. add olive oil and soy sauce. how ever many splashes you want to. compliment the seasonings/spices you put in the skillet. go light with the soy if you already added a lot of salt.
add the sweet - the brown sugar/honey. again to compliment your flavors of veggies.

5. the original recipes for this concoction of pumpkin delight calls for a can of campbells cream of something soup. BARF right!?
so i usually use chicken or beef broth.
today i decided to try using my homemade almond milk yogurt.
FANTASTIC! it added just enough creamy to my meat/veggies but didn't leave a sloshy soupy mess in its wake.
i used several heaping scoops of yogurt.

6. scoop everything from the skillet into your cleaned out pumpkin. place lid on top and place in the oven on the 2nd to last rack.

7. bake at 350'F for about an hour, until the squash forks easily. check it at about 45 mins. today mine cooked for 1 hr 10 mins.

8. scoop out the inside of the pumpkin being sure to scoop out the cooked squash with the rest of the yumminess.
note - even though your meat/veggie mix doesnt fill the pumpkin, it will yield A LOT of food!

this particular pumpkin flesh resembles spaghetti squash and has a nice al dante texture

9. serve on rice or quinoa. add any addtl seasonings if needed.

*leave out the meat for a vegetarian meal.
+interested in the thrive products, learning more about how the system works and why you would benefit greatly? contact Natalie at tatymsmammy at gmail dot com

skip to the bottom to see what i actually did, the recipe is a lil fancy schmansy if you ask me....
**quinoa is a gluten free grain**

Spicy Quinoa, Cucumber and Tomato Salad

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

This refreshing summer salad can sit in the refrigerator for a few hours without deteriorating, so it makes a great choice for bringing to work or to a summer picnic.

1 cup quinoa

3 cups water

Salt to taste

2 cups diced cucumber

1 small red onion, finely minced (optional)

2 cups finely diced tomatoes

1 to 2 jalapeño or serrano peppers (to taste), seeded if desired and finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus several sprigs for garnish

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 avocado, sliced, for garnish

1. Place the quinoa in a bowl, and cover with cold water. Let sit for five minutes. Drain through a strainer, and rinse until the water runs clear. Bring the 3 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add salt (1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon) and the quinoa. Bring back to a boil, and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes or until the quinoa is tender and translucent; each grain should have a little thread. Drain off the water in the pan through a strainer, and return the quinoa to the pan. Cover the pan with a clean dishtowel, replace the lid and allow to sit for 10 minutes. If making for the freezer, uncover and allow to cool, then place in plastic bags. Flatten the bags and seal.

2. Meanwhile, place the finely diced cucumber in a colander, and sprinkle with salt. Toss and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Rinse the cucumber with cold water, and drain on paper towels. If using the onion, place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let sit for five minutes, then drain, rinse with cold water and drain on paper towels.

3. Combine the tomatoes, chiles, cilantro, vinegar, lime juice and olive oil in a bowl. Add the cucumber and onion, season to taste with salt, and add the quinoa and cilantro. Toss together, and taste and adjust seasonings. Serve garnished with sliced avocado and cilantro sprigs.

Yield: Serves six.

Advance preparation: The quinoa freezes well, and the assembled salad will keep for a day in the refrigerator. The leftovers will be good for a couple of days.

Nutritional information per serving: 236 calories; 14 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 25 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 12 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during cooking); 6 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ive never cooked with quinoa before so i did, for the most part, follow the instructions about soaking and yes, i even placed a dish cloth btwn the quinoa and the lid. i did not however use the amts called for in all the rest of the ingredients. i dont like cucumber or tomato but they both have nutritional benefits and ever since ive returned from Turkey i find myself craving it - weird, i know.  so i used half of a cuc and half a tom. i used red pepper flakes cuz i dont like biting into jalapeno or serrano pieces. i dont take the time to measure stuff when i cook, so i splashed in some white and apple cider vinegar (thats what was in my cupboard) and squeezed out half a juicy lime into the bowl. i used scallions instead of onions, cuz im not a fan of red onion and i dont really like uncooked white onions. i used the entire avocado in the salad, i didnt garnish anything (why bother, its just for me tonight and school lunch tomorrow). i added chicken (hormel foods natural choice grilled carved chicken breast- cuz im lazy!) for some added protein. because i used less cuc and tom i needed only about 2/3 (if even that) of the cooked quinoa to make a nice grain/veggie ratio. i didnt follow the instructions as far as what-to-add-to-the-bowl-when, i dumped everything in and let it marinate while the quinoa simmered. (i did try the soaking of cucs in salt but did not drain them on towels or anything) My version didnt look nearly as elegant as pictured above. 

it all kinda clumped together into a goolash. I tried to fluff it rather than stir it when i added the quinoa to everything else. 

but it tasted super yummy, fresh, crisp and was quite filling. if i were to make it again id add garlic (i love garlic, you just cant go wrong with garlic) and something orange, maybe orange bell pepper or carrots, doesnt it look like it needs orange? id also add bacon if i was feeling really ambitious and wanted to take the time to make it as well. kalamata olives and some feta cheese would make it a very Mediterranean style dish. 

of course organic veggies/products and all natural hormone/nitrate free meats are the best way to go! enjoy! and id love to hear your additions/deletions/modifications if you get creative! 

i wouldnt have found this if it wasnt for my friend jon

german pancakes - easy, fast and DELISH

ok heres the deal. im in naturopathic medical school so i sometimes eat a little bit differently than the majority of everyone else out there. so ill give you the original recipe and then my naturopathicly modified recipe!

1C milk
1C preferred pancake flour/mix
1/2 tsp salt
6 eggs

beat ingredients.
melt 6 Tblspns of butter and pour into 9x 13 pan, fully coating the bottom.
pour in batter.
bake at 450 degree oven for 20 min or until golden brown.
*pancakes will get really poofy in the oven and then collapse when you pull it out to serve, be careful to not let poofed up edges burn
serve with favorite pancake toppings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deshas 'healthy' version:

1C rice milk
1C gluten and corn free pancake mix/flour (large selection easily found at any whole foods/new seasons type of grocery store)
1/4 tsp sea salt
8 free range brown eggs

beat ingredients.
evenly coat 9x 13 pan with organic olive oil cooking spray
melt 3 Tblspns of organic butter and pour into pan evenly coating the bottom
pour in batter
bake in 450 degree oven for about 15 min or until golden brown
*pancakes will get really poofy in the oven and then collapse when you pull it out to serve, be careful to not let poofed up edges burn

i like to eat mine with unsweetened organic applesauce, agave syrup, various organic fresh fruit, vanilla goat yogurt and/or sodium/nitrate free bacon

If you take a recipe--Leave one too

I have had several people ask for some recipes lately and so I decided to create this blog. It will be an open author blog. This way we can all leave recipes for eachother. At the end of 6 months if we've gotten enough I will make a book from all these recipes. There will be tags/labels for each different cattegory:

Main Dish
-chicken
-pork
-beef
-vegetarian
-seafood

Side Dish

Dessert

Drinks

Miscellaneous

So please label them when you are posting so that it will be easier to navigate later on down the road. If you want to get on the author list just let me know!

Hope this works out as well as I hope :)

you can email me birthmothers4adoption@gmail.com with questions or if you want an invite!

BON APETIT!!