We're Getting Ready

So, you know how Thanksgiving is coming up?

And, if you're one of the -- ahem -- lucky ducks out there who gets the privilege of cooking an excessively large meal for everyone you love, then you might have started making a list or two. You might be building a menu and a grocery list and now you're just waiting patiently for me to suggest the perfect thing to have as a hors d'oeuvre. If that is the case, then you are in luck! Here you go. You're welcome! (And even if you aren't even lifting a finger on Thanksgiving except to pop the tabs on a dozen PBRs, then you've now got access to the most seasonal dip on the block. You know, you could really impress the cook if you brought this along to Thanksgiving. I'm just saying.)

Bottom line, pumpkin hummus is here, my November friends. It's brilliant, really. The pumpkin's smoothness translates so well to hummus, since silkiness is, in my opinion, the most important feature of a really great hummus. The true magic, though? It's so incredibly easy you could do it in your sleep. So, you know, just get out these ingredients, close your eyes, and turn on the sharpest blade in the kitchen. Because, like deep-frying our turkeys indoors with little to no ventilation, that's how we do the holidays around here. On the edge, and with a very deep sense of delicious adventure. This is America, after all.

Pumpkin Hummus

1 can pumpkin
2 or 3 T tahini
1-2 t ground cumin
1/8 C olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice (optional)
pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Taste and adjust accordingly!

Notes:
If it's too thick, add a bit more olive oil. If you want it spicier, add more cayenne or red pepper flakes. Also, different folks have different limitations on tahini and cumin, so use the amounts that taste best to you. I love this hummus without the nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice, so try it without those things first to see what you think. Add pepitas to the top for serving.

This hummus is so versatile, just like regular old hummus. Apply to sandwiches, or just use with vegetables, apples, crackers, or chips. Vrooooom! Thanksgiving is here!

Dear Pumpkin,

Well, friends, the joke's on me. Remember my silly comments about all the pumpkin being gone and all then everyone being out of luck because I bought all the canned pumpkin? Okay, so it took me three grocery store trips to get my hands on one single can of pumpkin just so I could make this dreamy cake. Canned pumpkin is sold out EVERYWHERE. It's a hot mess. (And, as it turns out, it's NOT just my fault! There are actually other people out there who are trying to buy pumpkin! Appalling!)

Since I discovered this cake, I've made it twice. It's a big cake, so be prepared to have a lot of cake-loving someones to share it with! I usually find myself surrounded by a zillion pumpkin recipes at this time of year, including a great many breads and muffins and pies. This year, I have found this one, and it, I think, is better than all the rest, and I can say with confidence that this will be my go-to recipe for pumpkin sweets this season.

ROCKtober Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake
thanks to Jenna for this recipe, which I sort of mauled a bit
and thanks to Jason for inventing Rocktober

for cake:
1 C chopped pecans
3 C flour
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 T ground cinnamon
1 t ground nutmeg
½ t powdered ginger
¼ t ground cloves
1 C butter, softened
1 C brown sugar
2/3 C white sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 can (approx 16 oz.) pumpkin
1 t vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

for glaze:
¼ C butter
½ C white sugar
2 T water
2 T bourbon or rum

Make the cake!
•Grease bundt pan and sprinkle pecans over bottom.
•Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in medium bowl.
•Add eggs and beat well. Add pumpkin & vanilla and beat well.
•Add dry ingredients and mix well. Batter will be thick!
•Spoon batter into pan and drop from 6-8 inches onto a hard surface in order to get the air bubbles out.
•Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 60 minutes, or until a wooden pick comes out clean. (Watch
carefully, as this cake can dry out in the oven very quickly!)
•Allow cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Make the glaze!
•Melt butter in small saucepan, Stir in ½ C sugar and 2 T water, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. •Remove from heat and pour ½ of the glaze over cake.
•Let cake stand for 5 minutes and then invert onto serving plate.
•Make holes in top of the cake and pour on the remaining glaze.

October With A Spoon

Don't be frightened. Don't be skeptical. There is pumpkin in this chili and it's good. That, and it's easy enough to put together on a weeknight, but also such a fun project that you'll want to make it on a weekend. And did I mention how incredibly autumnal, how amazingly seasonal it is? And how it's perfect for Halloween? And how children will eat it? And how you can freeze it? And how you can serve it to your traditionalist friends who will just think it's so delicious because once they taste it, they will forget all about the presence of fruit and lamb? This chili really benefits from the creaminess of the pumpkin -- it instantly adds texture and thickness that you can typically only get from the refrigeration process, and we all know that you're going to eat this well before it goes into the fridge! 

I like to top this chili with sour cream and cilantro, and serve with either crackers, tortilla chips, or a grilled cheese -- specifically a brie and pear grilled cheese, although any kind of grilled cheese is the perfect grilled cheese. If the pumpkin pie spice in the chili makes you nervous, then don't worry! You can leave it out and just make the chili with the canned pumpkin to start with. I also love this chili with ras el hanout, which is an incredible, surprisingly versatile Moroccan spice blend. Now off you go! Make this chili, call in your bear cubs, and feed them all!

PUMPKIN CHILI
1 pound ground lamb (you could also use beef or turkey!)
1 large onion, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1 jalapeño, minced
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (16-ounce) can kidney beans or pinto beans, drained
1 (16-ounce) can chili beans
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper

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In a large dutch oven or soup pot, sauté the onions in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Cook until the onions are to your liking -- I tend to cook onions for a quite awhile because I love the caramelized onion flair in EVERYTHING. If onions stick to the pot, add water in small amounts and scrape the bottom of the pot. Add the meat and brown it, chopping it up with a metal spatula as much as you can as it cooks. Add the spices and stir until meat is coated and spices are fragrant. Add remaining ingredients and stir well to mix. Cook, simmering, until chili thickens to your liking. 

Pumpkin Emergency

If the canned pumpkin stores and factories all run out of canned pumpkin this month, it will definitely be my fault.

The thing is, once October strikes, I just really want to consume pumpkin every single day. September? Nope, too early. November? Totally sick of it by then. So it will make sense to you that I have found a way to consume pumpkin five times within the past five days. Ah, pumpkin! Dog-safe, child-friendly, and ridiculously useful. What could be finer?

I wish I was the kind of person who could say she makes and cans her own pumpkin puree, but that will just never be me. While I tend to go above and beyond the call of duty perhaps a bit too frequently, pumpkin is not one of the areas in which I overachieve. I made my own pumpkin puree just once, and I swore I would never do it again. I mean, come on! Buy pumpkin, carry heavy pumpkin home, clean pumpkin, cut pumpkin, remove innards from pumpkin, bake pumpkin, cool pumpkin, scoop out pumpkin, puree pumpkin. Damn! And all of this for a mere two cups of pumpkin, maybe three if I'm very lucky, which will inevitably become moldy in the refrigerator before I can use it all. So. I make time for lots of absurd and seemingly unnecessary activities, but not for this one.

So this brings us to the pumpkin activity of the day. When I came home yesterday, while (naturally) wearing the pumpkin sticker I applied to myself at school, I made pumpkin smoothies, which is basically a liquified pumpkin pie without the obscene amounts of sugar (necessitated by the fact that I made a pumpkin pie the day before, and we were rendered quite sugared).

It's a darling little recipe, and when I made it, I was reminded how pumpkin is so odd because, by itself, it really doesn't taste like much of anything at all. It's that addition of spices and sugar that makes us think that pumpkin tastes a certain way. Sneaky pumpkins, indeed! So, if I don't manage to use up the world's pumpkin supply after all, and you find yourself with a can of pumpkin, I would recommend poking your spoon in and conducting this blandness experiment. Then, round up your spices and turn that convenient, glorious mush into something amazing!

Pumpkin Smoothies
serves 2

1/2 C pumpkin puree
4 ice cubes
3/4 C vanilla yogurt
1/4 C milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 T maple syrup

Process in blender, adding extra milk if it gets too thick or refuses to blend. Also, toy around with the amounts of everything so that the taste is to your liking, and make sure you don't overdo it with the spices or it'll taste bitter! Top with whipped cream, of course.