Wild Rice and Sausage Stuffed Pumpkin

Stuffed pumpkins rock!  I'm definitely one of those annoying people that look forward to everything-pumpkin in the fall.  I'd never stuffed a pumpkin until a few years ago and it's become one of my most favourite autumn dishes.

We have a recipe for a sweet Apple and Oats Stuffed Pumpkin, but we also enjoy doing savoury stuffed pumpkins, so I thought it was time to get a recipe up!  This stuffed pumpkin was so delicious.  While I chose wild rice and sausage, you can really put anything you like in one!  Change up the meat and use chicken or shredded beef.  Change up the grain and use barley or white rice.  Add nuts - try dried apricots instead of cranberries.  Try a theme - Mexican, Italian, Moroccan, Chinese...

How about The Hollowpoints - The Sickness.  -jen

WILD RICE AND SAUSAGE STUFFED PUMPKIN
Prep Time:  30 minutes
Bake Time:  60 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy to Medium
Serves:  about 6

• 1 pie pumpkin (like a Sugar Pumpkin or a Winter Luxury)
• 5 links maple sausage 
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil + 2 teaspoons, melted
• 1 small carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 medium onion, diced (about 3/4 cups)
• 1 large stalks of celery, diced (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 small green pepper or poblano, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 apple, diced (like a Gala or Fuji) (about 1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced (1 tbsp)
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced (1 tbsp)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (brown sugar would be a suitable substitute) + 1 teaspoon
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 teaspoon salt  + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper + a pinch
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1-2 cups cooked wild rice (recipe below)  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

Like carving a jack-o-lantern, cut the top of your pumpkin off and scoop the inside and the base of the lid clean.  (Save your seeds and make Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds!)   Discard the insides, keep your lid!  Make sure you get all those stringy pieces out... it's worth the extra effort to make it totally scraped clean.  Set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook sausages through.  Set aside.  In same skillet with the remaining sausage fat, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and the carrots, cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then add the onion, celery, and green pepper.  Saute about 5 minutes, until vegetables become tender.  Add the apples, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, cranberries, salt, pepper, curry powder, sage, cinnamon, marjoram, and red pepper flake.  Cook another 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.

Once cool, dice the sausages and add the sausage and the rice to the vegetable mixture.  Add 2 teaspoons of melted coconut oil, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1/4 tsp salt, pinch of pepper, 1/4 tsp curry powder and 1/4 tsp of sage to the inside of the pumpkin, .  Using your hands, massage oil and seasonings all over the inside of the pumpkin, as well as on the bottom of the lid. 

Stuff the pumpkin completely full with the stuffing.  Place the lid back on the pumpkin and place on a sheet
pan.  Cook at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour.  A sharp knife should slide easily through the skin and the flesh if the pumpkin is cooked thoroughly.  Remove and let rest for 5 minutes.

Place on a serving tray.  Remove lid.  Slice wedges and serve.  Don't forget to slice the pumpkin meat off of the lid, too!

If you have leftover stuffing you can serve it on the table with your stuffed pumpkin for folks who want extra.  You can make an egg scramble out of it (which we did!) or use it as a side dish for your dinner the next evening.

WILD RICE
Cook Time:  45-60 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 2 cups

• 1/2 cup wild rice
• 2 cups chicken broth (or water)
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage (optional)

In a large sauce pan, combine rice, broth and sage.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 45 minutes and check.  You'll want about half of the kernels to split open (they'll look lighter in colour)... could take up to 60 minutes.  If there's any remaining liquid, drain it off.  Fluff with a fork.

Note:  Wild rice will triple or quadruple once cooked.  1 cup may yield 3.5 - 4 cups.

Swiss-Almond Cheese Spread with Caramelized Onions

Clearly, I've been on a cheese spread kick.  Not only did I do the Cheddar Cheese Spread recipe, and Justin did Ina Garten's smoked salmon spread, but I also made a cream cheese, green olive and pecan spread that I remembered my mom stuffing celery sticks with for holidays when I was a kid.  After talking to my grandmother the other day,  come to find out, my great-great grandmother used to make the pecan-olive spread stuffed in celery.  100 year old family recipe!  Pretty cool to me!  One of my older brothers and I both had the urge to make it this year (without having talked about it) - must be feeling reminiscent.  I hope at least one of my nieces or nephews end up liking it too to carry on the tradition.

Anyway, this all actually started with me having the desire to do a Swiss-almond cheese spread.  I just hadn't gotten to it yet.  I was trying to think of something to do to it so it wasn't just Swiss-almond spread and I thought caramelized onions would be great with it... and they were.  I think this might be our favourite dip/spread yet.  The Swiss cheese is so mellow and mild... but the almonds give it a good crunch and the onions with it almost remind me of French-onion soup.  Really delicious!

I blame the holidays for my cream cheese extravaganza.  And I've definitely been in a holiday mood - I am guilty of being one of those dreaded people who loves Christmas music.  Justin suggested a song from Bad Religion's Christmas Songs, but I couldn't decide on one.  And Christmas only comes one a year, so I thought I'd share a link to the whole album.  -jen

SWISS-ALMOND CHEESE SPREAD WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS
Time:  25-30 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 2 cups

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, 1/4" slices (on the thin side)
• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 8oz finely shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika 
• salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1/2-3/4 cup finely chopped almonds

In a large skillet over a low heat, melt butter and add olive oil.  Add sliced onions and let cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Onions will be soft, dark and sweet.  Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, in a food processor (or with a fork), combine cream cheese, shredded Swiss, mayonnaise, paprika, a pinch of salt and a few cranks of fresh ground pepper; blend until creamy and smooth.  Add caramelized onions and pulse (or fork) until combined.  Fold in chopped almonds by hand.  Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.

Serve chilled or slightly softened to room temp.

Cheddar Cheese Spread

I haven't had as much time this year to make anything amazing or grand for the holidays like I'd hoped.  But I made this for no reason at all this morning (okay, I made it because I've been in a cream cheese mood) and I thought, "This would be so fantastic for any holiday party and so easy!"  So in a way, this recipe is perfect for the holidays which makes it both amazing and grand!

I'm a huge fan of crackers and cheese spread.  Grew up with the store-bought kind, you know the ones... port wine, cheddar & bacon, Swiss almond.  I actually don't see a lot of them in the stores anymore.  Maybe it's a passé appetizer... or maybe we just live behind the Redwood Curtain and don't get a lot of selection at our stores.  I try not to eat a lot of crackers anymore, but we have some crackers left over from a company Christmas party (where Justin made his own take on Ina Garten's Smoked Salmon dip, which was excellent, made with some fresh-caught, home-smoked salmon a friend gave us!) and we also have a ton of cheese in our house because my dad always sends a box of cheese and sausage from Wisconsin for Christmas - we look forward to it every year!  So I was itching for a cheese spread and decided to make one.  I don't think I will ever buy another store-bought cheese spread again!  This was just so easy to make and the different ideas for what I could put in them seems endless!  Beer, wine, garlic, onion, horseradish, bacon, herbs, roasted peppers.... you could put anything you liked into it!  Whatever cheese you want to use (I'd really like to make a Swiss-almond one!)  Like I said, I just used what I had at home and it came out fantastic!

I just heard this song for the first time the other day and I think it might be one of my new favourite Christmas songs.  I've always loved Cyndi Lauper.  Here she is with The Hives doing A Christmas Duel.  -jen

CHEDDAR CHEESE SPREAD
Time:  10 minutes
Difficulty:  So ridiculously easy
Makes:  about 2 cups

• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 8oz medium or sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (optional, but helps it spread better)
• 2 teaspoons dried chives (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (or to taste)

In a food processor (or with a fork), combine all ingredients and mix until well blended.  Serve immediately or chill for later.  Really, you can choose whatever cheese you want and put whatever seasonings you like in it, that's just what I chose.  Be creative!

Pumpkin Custard Crumble

I dove into this recipe with good, healthy intentions.  "Oh... I could do a crust-less pumpkin pie... low sugar, low fat, low carbs..."  Totally had the intention of leaving flour out of the topping and going light on the sugar.  Then... then it turned into something evil and decadent and delicious.  Still went lighter on the sugar than most pumpkin pie recipes would call for but... I crunched the numbers (because I have a sick love of spreadsheets) and they weren't pretty.  Per slice:  230 calories; 8 grams of fat; 31 net carbs; 6g of protein.  Still, healthier for you than a Snickers bar, and better tasting!  Not exactly diet-dessert, but probably a little better for you than most.  I got a ton of sugar pumpkins from a friend, so I made my own puree.  Can't speak for the outcome if you use canned... but I'm sure it'd be fine.

Since Halloween is in less than a week, I've really been getting into the spirit.  We hit up the pumpkin patch today because I love carving jack-o-lanterns.  And I did a last practice run on my Dia de los Muertos calavera (sugar skull) makeup!  So I felt like a song in the graveyard spirit might be in order.  Koffin Kats doing "Graveyard Tree".  -jen

PUMPKIN CUSTARD CRUMBLE  
Prep:  15 minutes
Cook Time:  55-60 minutes

Preparing to roast sugar pie pumpkins.

Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  12 servings

Topping:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts of choice (almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc)

Filling:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon dried, ground ginger 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 3 cups fresh pumpkin puree (or 24oz canned puree)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 can (12oz) evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Generously coat a 2-quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a food processor, combine all of the topping ingredients and pulse.  If you don't have a food processor, cut the butter into the flour, then add the remaining ingredients.  Set aside.

In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, clove, baking powder and salt.  In a separate bowl using an electric mixer, beat together pumpkin, brown sugar and eggs.  Add evaporated milk until blended.  Add dry ingredients just until combined. 

Pour batter into prepared baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.  Carefully remove from oven and use a spoon to sprinkle the topping over the top to your desired thickness.  (You can use the back of the spoon to gently pat it into the filling if it looks like it's just resting on a skin.)  Bake an additional 20-25 minutes.  Crust should be golden-brown and a knife inserted into the center should come out clean.  Let cool on a wire cooling rack for an hour.  Refrigerate for storage.