31 Days of Flashbacks: 24 Cans of Pumpkin

 I started this post before we left Syracuse. Flashback month seemed an appropriate month to finally post it with a few edits and and my favorite pumpkin recipe at the end.

On Monday, January 16 I went to Price Chopper and bought 24 cans of pumpkin. They were the big cans and they were on clearance for only 50 cents. I couldn't resist. I realized that there could be a problem. That is a lot of pumpkin and we were moving in only 2.5 months. It is possible to move cans though (which we did). They are shelf stable. I put a plea out on facebook to ask for recipe suggestions. Today (I am not sure which day "today" was) I am using the first can I decided to start a blog post to record what we do with the pumpkin.

Can #1. Pumpkin Soup. My friend Shannon emailed me a pumpkin soup recipe. I used it with some tweaks that I got from a couple of other recipes I found online. We had it with grilled cheese tonight (1/18) for Wednesday Soup Night. The kids tell me it's not their favorite. I've always wanted to try Pumpkin Soup though so... I guess Glenn & I'll be eating the last 3 servings of left overs for the next couple of days ;)

Can #2. Pumpkin Biscotti and Pumpkin Pancakes. I made Pumpkin Biscotti Friday night (1/20). The biscotti was good. I love biscotti and it is so much cheaper to make it than to buy it! The biscotti recipe only called for 1/4 C of pumpkin so I had a lot of pumpkin left over and I used it to make Pumpkin Pancakes on Saturday morning. They were pretty good. I like normal pancakes and these were different. They weren't very sweet. (I don't know that my normal recipe is very sweet either but I think that with the addition of pumpkin I thought the pancakes should have been sweeter.)

Can #3. Pumpkin Crap. I know that I was given several copies of a recipe for the pumpkin dessert that you used cake mix on top that we affectionately refer to as Pumpkin Crap but I couldn't find any of them so I looked around online (I couldn't find a recipe for what I was looking for titled "pumpkin crap" but there was a recipe for Pumpkin Crap Cookies that I may just have to try!) There were various recipes called Pumpkin Crunch Cake or something like that so I made some today to take to a friend's house for dessert. There were two complicating factors: 1. Most recipes called for some type of nut on the top and I had none so I omitted that part. 2. The cake mix I had was one that I bought off the Halloween clearance at Aldi. Most of the time in funfetti cake mix boxes the sprinkles are in a separate little plastic bag. Unfortunately, this time, they were not hence the orange and black sprinkles :)

Can #4. Pumpkin Crap Cookies. Yumminess.Who would have thought that butterscotch chips would taste good with pumpkin. Not me but they sure do :)

That is where the blog post ended... I got busy. We moved. I never actually tried the Pumpkin Chili recipe that someone recommended that sounded so good or many of the other fabulous recommended recipes. It is "pumpkin time of the year" again so... there is hope that I will use them the rest of my cans of pumpkin before we move our of this house in a few months.  I saw a pumpkin scone recipe this morning that sounded good and I've book marked a few recipes... maybe I'll add to this pumpkin post after all.

You see, I must report that there are still 11 cans of pumpkin in my cupboard. (Please disregard the big #10 can of pumpkin that I still have in my cupboard that I had before I purchased the aforementioned 24 cans of pumpkin. No, I don't have a food hording problem. Why do you ask?)

Most of cans #5 to #13 were used, I am sure, for my favorite pumpkin recipe....

 Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
This is another recipe I got from my dear mother-in-love. They are a family favorite so I am including the recipe as well.
Combine:
1C pumpkin
1/2C oil
1 egg
Add and mix just until moist:
1 1/2C flour
1 1/2C oatmeal
3/4C sugar
1/4C powdered milk (this is a substitute for 1/4C of the sugar. If you don't have powdered milk on hand feel free to use sugar here)
1t baking powder
1t baking soda
1t cinnamon
1/4t salt

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes at 375.
I often make mini muffins and back them for about 12 minutes instead.
You can also use this recipe to make mini or full sized breads instead adjust the time accordingly.

Yum. I love pumpkin!

What's your favorite pumpkin recipe?