Freezer Cooking Day Final Results

Lots of Pumpkin seeds (I don't freeze these)
6 cups of pureed pumpkin for the freezer
2 cups of pureed pumpkin for baby food
2 dozen Spice Cake Cupcakes
24 Pumpkin Pancakes
24 Pumpkin Waffles
2 Large (8 serving) pans of Lasagna

Not bad for a few hours worth of work! But boy am I tired!

Pumpkin Sausage Lasagna

I finished the Pumpkin and Sausage Lasagna and it was a hit!







Up next...the final tally!

Waffles, Pancakes, & Cupcakes Ready for the Freezer

The Waffles, Pancakes, & Cupcakes are ready for the freezer and now I am off to make the last of my freezer cooking day tasks...the Pumpkin Sausage Lasagna.

Here is the Recipe it is from Rachel Ray's show:

Sausage and Pumpkin Lasagna
Ingredients
2 pounds butternut squash or pumpkin halved and seeded
EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for liberal drizzling
Salt and pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons honey
2 pounds sweet Italian sausage
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 quart whole milk
10-12 leaves fresh sage, very thinly sliced
2 boxes no boil, flat edged lasagna sheets
2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Yields: Serves 6
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Drizzle squash with a little EVOO and season with salt, pepper and a little freshly grated nutmeg. Roast cut-side down until tender, about 40 minutes. Let cool enough to handle, then scoop flesh out of skin and add to food processor. Puree squash with stock and honey, in 2 batches if necessary, and reserve.
Heat a drizzle of EVOO in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and brown the sausage, crumbling it into very small bits as it cooks, about 7-8 minutes.

While the sausage cooks, heat a pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, whisk in flour, cook 1 minute then whisk in milk. Season with salt, pepper, a little freshly grated nutmeg and sage. Cook until thickened, about 7-8 minutes, whisking occasionally.
Dot some pumpkin puree in the bottom of a casserole dish then add a layer of pasta. Top with 1/3 of the cooked sausage and cover lightly with pumpkin puree. Cover with another layer of pasta, 1/3 of the béchamel sauce and 1/2 cup Parmigiano. Repeat with 2 more layers, ending each with béchamel sauce and using all of the remaining cheese for the top layer. Sprinkle parsley across the top, cover and bake lasagna 30 minutes. Uncover and cook 15 minutes more to brown the top.

I will be modifying it to make it healthier by using turkey sausage (I had some in the freezer that I got a great price on recently). And I will be using 1% milk.

I will be doubling the recipe so we have some for tonight, and leftovers this week, plus a big pan to freeze.

I will update with a picture and the verdict on the taste after dinner!

Pumpkin Waffles and Pumpkin Pancakes

There is really no secret recipe to tell...my trick, to use a Rachel Ray phrase, is that I "take a little help from the store." I use a box pancake mix, and follow the directions on the box, except I omit the oil completely and replace it with pumpkin. I also replace about 1/2 cup-1 cup (depending on how big a batch I am making) of the milk or water called for in the recipe with pumpkin. If you prefer a favorite pancake or waffle recipe rather than a box mix, you can do the same substitution using that recipe. I also add a pinch of cinnamon to my pumpkin waffles.

I freeze the waffles in groups of twos and the pancakes in groups of threes and you can pop them in the microwave or the toaster just like the ones from the freezer section from the grocery store. Only they are much healthier.

Next...I need to package them for the freezer.

Spice Cake Cupcakes

I have been trying out the Weight Watchers program for a while now and this is a recipe I learned about in a meeting, although there are several different variations I have tried.

You take a box of spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree mix it with a hand mixer (the mixture will be too stiff to do it well by hand). Do not add anything else, no eggs, oil, water, etc. Spoon the mixture into a cupcake pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. One box will make 12 cupcakes and they are 4 WW points each. This could not be easier. It can be done with a white cake mix, carrot cake mix, and chocolate cake mix. (The chocolate cake mix is actually a Hungry Girl recipe). I have tried all except the carrot cake and I have liked all that I have tried.

The only thing I did differently is that I used my own pureed pumpkin rather than the canned and I doubled the recipe. I think cupcakes are a fun baking activity to get the little ones involved in! They turned out great as usual!








Up next... Pumpkin Pancakes and Pumpkin Waffles

Freezer Cooking Day

If you have not heard about it already Money Saving Mom and FishMama are hosting a live-blogging and tweeting Freezer Cooking Day that includes more than 250 other women around the country who are participating. I got a late start since I did not have time to join in yesterday, but I have been cooking away this morning!

I started with cutting, gutting, and roasting of the 10 pumpkins! (If you don't know why I have 10 pumpkins see this post).




Then I pureed all the pumpkin and divided it into the bowls and containers based on my plans for the recipes. And roasted the pumpkin seeds (lots of pumpkin seeds)!



I ended up with:

1 1/2 cups for Pumpkin Pancakes
1 1/2 cups for Pumpkin Waffles
3 1/2 cups for Spice Cake Cupcakes
3 1/2 cups for Sausage Pumpkin Lasagna
2 cups for Baby Food
6 cups to Freeze for use later
Lots of pumpkin seeds

Recipes for each will follow!

Up first...Spice Cake Cupcakes...