Joy Bauer's 1-Minute Pumpkin Pudding

I'm a little bit obsessed with pumpkin. I eat it all year round—pumpkin oatmeal and pumpkin risotto are a few favorites. I also have some pumpkin ravioli in my freezer right now (thanks, mom!). I saw this video posted on Self Magazine's Healthy Bites blog and wanted to share it with you. I haven't tried it yet, but it's definitely on the to-do list!

Recipe Modification

As you can probably guess by reading this blog, I love to cook. I also happen to have quite a few people in my life with various food allergies and sensitivities and preferences, so I often find myself modifying recipes so that everyone can eat what I make. I am also fascinated by the science of it—using the properties of the ingredients to predict how they will react with each other under various cooking techniques is so much more fun to me than the stuff in my chemistry textbook! I'd rather talk about food than methane.

For a school project, I recently had to adapt a recipe to make it appropriate for someone following the TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Change) diet to lower the risk of chronic heart conditions. I chose pumpkin pie, as it's one of my seasonal favorites. But who am I kidding? I would eat pumpkin pie in July.

I found the easiest way to lower the saturated fat and cholesterol in the pie was to make it vegan, and then I remembered that my friend Leah, who is vegan and sensitive to gluten, was having a birthday celebration today and that I had offered to cook some vegan, gluten-free goods.

Hence, a gluten-free, vegan pumpkin pie! Chris suggested the pecans on top—beautiful!

Experimentation

Chris works a lot of nights, so it's not unusual for me to end up on my own for dinner a couple times a week. Though cooking for one can be a wee bit lonely sometimes, it does give me a chance to experiment and try out new recipe ideas. 

The other night, I added pumpkin ravioli with pumpkin curry sauce to my list of weird-but-good. 

I'd bought a can of pumpkin earlier in the day because I'd had a craving for pumpkin oatmeal (you just mix a half-cup of pumpkin in with the water and oats then cook and add cinnamon—amazing) and figured I should use some of the extra pumpkin. I also happened to be in the mood for curry but didn't feel like having rice or potatoes or tofu or any of the usual curry accoutrements. 

And then I remembered the pumpkin ravioli in the freezer...

It was just crazy enough to work—masaman curry paste with a little light coconut milk, sauteed onion, and pureed pumpkin all cooked together with some steamed broccoli. I poured the sauce over the cooked ravioli and added a little grated parmesan. 

I'd been worried the curry would overpower the vaguely sweet mellowness of the ravioli, but they actually blended pretty nicely. The one thing I'd change would be the broccoli—squash would probably work a little better. Still, I'd make this again if I happened to have all those ingredients just lying around.

Note to self: Must get better at taking food photos. I definitely don't do that dish justice there...

What kinds of things do you like to make when you're just playing around or testing new stuff?