Pumpkin Recipes!

Between last night and today, I have handled about as much pumpkin as I can stand... LOL who am I kidding? I LOVE pumpkin!!! =D Last night I started with getting out the seeds and cutting/peeling, but couldn't finish cuz I was getting picked up to go to the Robin Mark concert (which was AWESOME by the way, check out my pics on Facebook!), so I finished cutting it all up today. I boiled it, drained it - by the way, pumpkin holds on to a lot of water! I had to put it all through the sieve TWICE because even after pressing through the first time, there was still a lot of water in the bowl with the pumpkin! So anyways, I was super amazed at how easy the pumpkin mashed, it was sooo soft after boiling it, I pretty much just used a spoon to squish it lol...

So by the time I got the pumpkin ready to actually use, and everything was cleaned up, the kids were here (Monday afternoons kids come over after school to hang out with Debby for a couple hours, they're awesome!), and we usually feed them, so I made pumpkin pancakes and scrambled eggs for us all... They were really good, the girls that were here (there were only two that came today because the rest that usually come have H1N1) really liked them! =)

Side note: speaking of eggs, we get eggs from Winnipeg Harvest (unclaimed eggs where Debby works, so she's allowed to bring them home for us, woohoo!), and I cracked one open to use for the pancakes, AND THERE WERE TWO YOLKS IN IT! TWO! IN ONE SHELL!!! hahahaha I had never seen that before!

Okay, back to pumpkin... After the girls left, I made some pumpkin cheesecake! I haven't tried it yet because it has to be refrigerated for at least 4 hours before being sliced and it's only been 2... But even after the pancakes and cheesecake, I still had a full cup of pumpkin left, so I made cookies!!! =D I had to half the recipe cuz it called for 2 cups, but I still got 2.5 dozen, which is good! and they are DELICIOUS!!!!! =D they are a soft cookie, and you can really taste the pumpkin in them, it makes me happy =)

And because my friend Alison has requested recipes, here are the recipes I used tonight:

Pumpkin Pancakes
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup pumpkin (but I used a full cup)
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 whole wheat flour
Combine ingredients, mix until blended. I like to cook my pancakes in a frying pan, but I'm sure it'll work if you have an electric griddle or something...
Serves 2-4

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Mix and press into bottom and sides of pan. Bake 10 minutes @ 350F
Filling:
12 oz (1 1/2 pkgs) cream cheese
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups pumpkin
Beat cheese, sugar, and flour in large bowl until creamy. Beat in remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over crust. Bake until knife in center comes out clean (mine took about 1.5 hours). Refrigerate at least 4 hours before slicing. Keep refrigerated.

Pumpkin Cookies (this is the halved recipe that I used, I didn't add raisins or nuts)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 cup raisins (opt.)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (opt.)
Mix sugar, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together; add to moist mixture and stir until smooth. Blend in raisins/nuts. Drop by teaspoon on lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes.