OT---I knew it was good!!!

We love pumpkin. Mostly canned, because it keeps in the hall pantry without any fuss. I make the yummiest pumpkin muffins ever. Whole wheat, oat and amaranth flours, the normal stuff to make it rise, a bit of sugar, cup of pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, 2 eggs, milk, molasses, raisins and walnuts if you're so inclined. They don't last long. I make them several times a week during the winter. Sometimes I use apple sauce instead of the pumpkin. Or grated up carrots. Or squash. But pumpkin is the house favorite.

I have a really good pumpkin soup recipe, but nobody in the house but me likes it. Sigh.

Sunny

Hey Sunny! Let me know when you are having it, & I'll come over & help ya ta eat it!!

Nana

risotto is also great with pumpkin and what-have-ya. has become one of my favourite dishes here in season. that said, we also have other seasonal vege in our risotto. right now there is asparagus popping in it occasionally. feta cheese chunks also fit in it now and again. i just didnt realize it is considered one of the superfoods. who knew. j.

"Roberta" wrote ... DH, who loathes pumpk>

I love love love Pumkin soup! and pie, and bread and cookies and muffins. anything Pumpkin! Sunny, you make it and i'll be over with Nana to help you eat it!! amy in CNY

I cannot have any milk products and I have not found a way in which to make a custard pie (e.g., pumpkin pie) with soy or other ersatz milks. I was told this is because the ersatz milks have less protein than regular milk.

Has anyone found a solution to this?

Thanks, Bev in TX

Recently I came across a chili which has pumpkin as one of the ingredients. I tried it today (slightly changed, because I had a little beef, rather than turkey). You can find that recipe at:

cooked it on the stove because I did not have enough time to do itin a slow-cooker. It was good enough to save the recipe to make itagain later.

Bev in TX

Thanks! I'll look for something similar here and try it out. I've seen recipes for making a soy whipped cream using tofu, but I've never made it.

Bev in TX

we often put other things into chili here. chickpeas (which i hated as a kid but love now, specially hummus), carrots, pumpkin, zuchini(courgette for those who know it by the french name), broccoli, cauliflower et al. amazing if you've enough of the spices that other vegetables work into the dish. works for us. now i'm off to check out that recipe. yup, that looks a delicious one to try too. will point it out to dh. ta muchly. j.

"Bev in TX" wrote ... Recently I came across a chili which has pumpkin as one of the ingredients. I tried it today (slightly changed, because I had a little beef, rather than turkey). You can find that recipe at:

cooked it on the stove because I did not have enough time to do itin a slow-cooker. It was good enough to save the recipe to make itagain later.

Bev >

love it when there is a whole range of pumpkin recipes in one place. i've got a few other sites but hadnt found this one yet. thanks for that one, Bev. off to read the almond topped pumpkin cheesecake recipe and others now. ta again, j.

"Bev in TX" wrote ... Recently I came across a chili which has pumpkin as one of the ingredients. I tried it today (slightly changed, because I had a little beef, rather than turkey). You can find that recipe at:

cooked it on the stove because I did not have enough time to do itin a slow-cooker. It was good enough to save the recipe to make itagain later.

"J*" wrote:

there is a pumpkin risotto to impress anyone.gotta love that presentation. my goodness.j.

We often put corn and carrots in chili; my husband is more adventuresome and adds other things as well. I would never have thought of putting a can of pumpkin in it. We had the chili reheated for dinner tonight and it was even better than the first time around.

Bev in TX

oops, sorry, no we dont have canned pumpkin here. we put in chunks of fresh pumpkin. i cant imagine the pureed stuff. would be too weird a texture that way. sorry, i forget to clarify somethings i say that dont translate into american ways. j.

"Bev > we often put other things into chili here.

I have a theory on that. I have tried cooking with various milk substitutes and where milk is just the fluid component of a baked dish or in a gravy, soup, or etc., about ninety five percent of the time the substitutes are perfectly fine. However in custards, creams, and your assorted dairy dishes like that, the substitutes just don't cut it. I am pretty sure it is not the fat, for you can use powdered milk in most of those and it comes out fine. I am also pretty certain it is not the protien for most of the substitutes are as high or higher in protien than regular milk, and as for the quality of the protien I am currently using a whey based dairy replacer that has all the protien of regular milk, and it is no better than the others for these dishes. I have found that you can reduce the amount of water that you make the powdered varieties of substitute with, and it will make the resultant custard or cream thicker, but it still does not set.

I think that those few dairy dishes that just don't work with the dairy substitutes need casien to set up right. Casien is the one thing they all lack. If you look it up, you will figure out why that could be the thing.

Pumpkin pie has enough other stuff in it that if you have the right recipe it will forgive the lack. It is a matter of finding the right recipe is all. The one I have always used is the one on the back of the Lakeshore Pumpkin can. In the past I have used evaporated milk in it. Improvising evaporated milk from the substitute, I have doubled the powder, and added a few tablespoons of egggwhite powder. The pie comes out different, but acceptable to the household.

You can find a lot of non-dairy recipes on the vegan websites. We mostly look at the regular vegetarian sites. There are a fair few vegan recipes on those as well as assorted recipes with either no milk or no eggs.

My problem is that Ash is Dairy Boy. He loves dairy products best, and I am trying to cut casien out of his diet (look up autism versus casien and gluten). I don't know if the theory is correct, but trying it is just an inconvienience not a disaster. Cheese is going to be the hard part.

NightMist

A long time ago I contacted one of the major soy milk mfgs, and they were the ones who told me that it was a protein issue. From what you say, it sounds like it is more than just proteins in general, but a particular protein -- casein. I probably can have casein, as I am not allergic to milk, just severely lactose intolerant. For example, I can eat vegetarian cheeses that contain casein, though I think that their texture is like plastic, rather than cheese. I'm wondering if it's possible to get casein (I haven't looked yet)? If so, I might try it out. It would be lovely to have a pumpkin pie with a custardy texture.

Bev in TX

Well I know you can buy casien granules at a good art supply store, and I know some folk render their own out of skim milk using vinegar and baking soda (it is coagulated and then precipitated). I do not know though if it would be useful in cooking.

Artists use it to make a paint base, or to make glue. Being as most artists who go to the bother of such things tend to be very fussy about it I don't doubt the purity of the casien. I do wonder if in that form it would be at all useful in the kitchen. You might need to ask a food science chemist or some suchlike person.

NightMist

are you intolerant to yogurt? cuz it digests itself so often folks with lactose intolerance can still eat yogurt. you can make that into a cheese of sorts. dump a large container of plain yogurt into a sieve lined with paper coffee filters or cheesecloth, put it back into the fridge and see how thick it gets overnight. if you want it thicker, leave it another day. when it is thick enough for you add things to it. parsley, garlic, spices, herbs, whatever taste you fancy. you can also make it into a sweet spread by adding honey or maple syrup even. do what you like to it. use it how you like. keeps in the fridge for as long as yogurt normally would. i call it yogurt cheese. a google search will no doubt give you more ideas. makes a great spread on breads, english muffins etc. also can be rolled into a cheese ball, coated in chopped nuts/parsley. might work for pumpkin pie, i've not tried that. if thick enough it works in cheesecake recipes tho with some fiddling with flavours, of course. just another thot that might or might not work for you. fwiw, j.

"Bev in TX" wrote... A long time ago I contacted one of the major soy milk mfgs, and they were the ones who told me that it was a protein issue. From what you say, it sounds like it is more than just proteins in general, but a particular protein -- casein. I probably can have casein, as I am not allergic to milk, just severely lactose intolerant. For example, I can eat vegetarian cheeses that contain casein, though I think that their texture is like plastic, rather than cheese. I'm wondering if it's possible to get casein (I haven't looked yet)? If so, I might try it out. It would be lovely to have a pumpkin pie with a custardy texture.

Bev in TX

You made my mouth water, as I used to make/eat yogurt cheese and it is delicious. Unfortunately, I am now too severely lactose intolerant to handle yogurt. I even have to be careful about medications (including prescriptions) that contain lactose.

Bev in TX