A Different Kind of Pumpkin Soup

I use a spreadsheet to keep track of dinners and have at least 4-5 meals in a row planned out. I account for new items, restaurant dinners, and the using up of leftovers. But some nights I throw caution to the wind and change things up. Inspiration does that to you. Of course, that means  the spreadsheet must be altered to reflect the change. Friday's dinner was to be frittata; we have lots of eggs, and various odds and ends to add to them. But it was cold outside, which made me think of soup. I remembered that I had a couple of cans of pumpkin in the cupboard, and some Mexican chorizo in the freezer. Why not combine them to make something totally different?

Mr Minx will eat pumpkin soup--as long as it's not sweet. I ordinarily make a curried version, but the Mexican-style seasonings I had received from Spicewalla were calling my name. Spicewalla spices are always very fresh, and their blends are interesting and tasty. They have somewhat esoteric stuff like furikake, mignonette blend (for raw oysters, or dips and salad dressings), and golden milk spice mix, but also "everything bagel," and taco seasoning. And they come in the cutest little tins. The taco seasoning and another one I like a lot, Chilli Lime, were employed to season this particular batch of pumpkin soup, as I knew they would work with the Mexican chorizo. Both the spices and the chorizo contain chiles, so if you're a wimp when it comes to hot foods, you might want to cut back on the amounts of both, maybe up the brown sugar a bit. Or find another recipe--my feelings won't be hurt. Personally, I think the proportion of spice to pumpkin I used is just perfect. Hot enough to know that it's spicy, but not hot enough to burn anything important. YMMV, of course.

Cilantro is one of my favorite herbs, but if you don't like it, leave it out. The soup will be missing something, but the cilantro averse won't even notice. 

Pumpkin Spicewalla Soup

About 1/4 of a standard supermarket bunch of cilantro 
1 medium onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 poblano pepper, seeds removed, diced 

2 cloves garlic, minced

4-6 ounces Mexican-style pork chorizo (I used Cacique brand)

2 teaspoons EACH Spicewalla** Chilli Lime and Mom's Taco seasonings*

2 15-ounce cans pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)

1 quart of chicken stock

1 empty pumpkin can-full of water

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for garnish, optional

Cubed avocado for garnish, optional

Thoroughly wash the cilantro. Remove 3" - 4" of the stems and chop them coarsely. Set the leaves aside for garnish.

Add the vegetables, garlic, and chorizo (remove from casing, if any) to a 4- or 5-quart lidded pot. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until vegetables are wilted and chorizo is broken down into small particles and distributed evenly through the vegetables, about 12 minutes. Stir in the cilantro stems and the Spicewalla seasonings and cook 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin, chicken stock, and the water. Turn up the heat to bring to a boil. Turn down the heat until the soup is just simmering, cover the pot, and cook 30 minutes. Add the brown sugar. 

Taste for seasoning and add salt, or more of the Spicewalla seasoning blends. Ladle into bowls and garnish with pumpkin seeds, reserved cilantro leaves, and avocado, if desired.

Makes about 2 1/2 quarts

*If you don't want to splash out for new seasonings, then you can use a couple teaspoons of regular taco seasoning, or a combination of ground coriander and cumin. Most supermarket taco seasonings are muy salty, while individual spices are not salty at all, so you'll have to watch the balance there. 

** Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Pumpkin Spice Forever!

I don't own a pair of UGGs. (I think they are UGG-ly.) I do love a cardigan, but none of mine are oatmeal-colored or fisherman-style. I most definitely do not decorate the house for Halloween--in fact, Mr Minx, Minxdog, and I flee the neighborhood to avoid the little candy-grubbers on that holy fall holiday. I don't make a turkey feast on Thanksgiving because there are hundreds of things I'd much rather eat. So while I am a white American female human whose favorite season is autumn, I am perhaps slightly atypical. Except that I wholeheartedly embrace all things Pumpkin Spice. Well, perhaps not all things, but many. At least those items that are meant to be sweet and spicy (as I am).

Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Spice Milanos - real, or fake?

Once upon a time, the only pumpkin spice things to be found were variations on pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie, but it's special, to be consumed solely on and around Thanksgiving. Or so I once believed. The combination of pumpkin (or butternut squash, which comprises most canned pumpkin) with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, is both tasty and fragrant and can be a real mood-lifter. So why limit the consumption of this heavenly elixir to only one or two days a year? Why not dedicate a whole season (maybe a season and a half) to it? 

Blue Diamond Pumpkin Spice Almonds - real or fake?

We can probably blame the geniuses at Starbucks for making pumpkin spice everything a thing. They start serving their OG pumpkin spice latte on AUGUST 30, well before the barest whisper of chill in the air, while leaves are still green, and my cucumber plant is still producing obscenely large specimens. Dunkin' puts out their pumpkin coffee variants even earlier in that month. (I tried their pumpkin spice cold brew last year and still don't understand why people think Dunkin's coffee is good.) August is also the time for pumpkin-y items to start popping up on supermarket endcaps.

Starkist Tuna Creations Pumpkin Spice - real, or fake?

Literally everything from soup to nuts is flavored with pumpkin spice these days. And those two items make total sense. Pumpkin or winter squash makes a lovely creamy soup that can go totally savory or a bit sweet. (Wouldn't pumpkin+cumin+coriander+chiles still be considered "pumpkin spice?") And the thought of a squash-based soup seasoned with dashes of cinnamon and ginger and a wee splash of maple syrup is not at all controversial. The same goes for nuts, which are neutral enough to work well with sweet spices, or curry, chiles, etc. 

Cheetos Pumpkins - real, or fake?

A few years before regular supermarkets started tempting shoppers (well, some shoppers are tempted) with seasonal orange-hued packaging for every product imaginable, Trader Joe's was the king of Pumpkin Spice. I looked forward to their seasonal newsletter, as I imagine most basic white bitches do, and oohed and aahed over the myriad pumpkinified options, from cookies to salsa to body butter (which was usually sold out before I got to the store).

Pillsbury Grands! Pumpkin Spice Rolls - real or fake?

There are, however, some things that don't need to be tarted up with pumpkin spice just because 'tis the season. I'm not sure we need pumpkin spice salsa, or hummus. Or pumpkin ravioli, samosas, or raw vinegar (srsly?). Budweiser has created a pumpkin spice Bud Light Seltzer, and Nissin introduced pumpkin spice Cup-O-Noodles. No thanks.

Rachael Ray Nutrish Zero Grain Beef & Pumpkin Spice - real or fake?

There have been spicy pumpkin beers around for a few years now. Some taste like pumpkin, most don't. (I like Southern Tier Pumpking Imperial Ale. It's sweet and spicy and at 236 calories for a 12-ounce bottle, best sipped for dessert.)

Burt's Bees Pumpkin Fiber & Cinnamon Towelettes - real or fake?

Clearly, the pumpkin spice trend is lucrative. Consumers bought over half a billion $ of pumpkin spice whatnots in 2019. Starbucks sells about 31 million PSLs (pumpkin spice lattes) a year @ $6-ish a pop.

Secret Pumpkin Spice Deodorant - real or fake?

What do you think of the Pumpkin Spice Industrial Complex? Too much? Not enough? What products do you like and which do you think are ridiculous? Do you have any pumpkin spice in your house right now? (We currently have a bar of pumpkin spice-scented soap in the shower.) As always, please leave a comment!

˙ǝɯ ʎq sǝʞɐɟ doɥsoʇoɥԀ ǝɹɐ ʇuɐɹopoǝp puɐ 'sǝʇʇǝlǝʍoʇ 'pooɟ ƃop 'soʇǝǝɥƆ 'ɐunʇ ʇnq 'lɐǝɹ ǝɹɐ spuɐɹפ 'spuoɯlɐ 'souɐlᴉW

 
* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Gluten-free Pumpkin Spicewalla Chai Masala Streusel Muffins

One of the most important things in my kitchen is my collection of herbs and spices. Without them, food would be bland and uninteresting. I have never been brand-loyal--I buy everyday spices that are the most affordable, but once in a while I splash out for a blend that seems too delicious to pass up. I'm always open to trying new things, so I was pretty pleased when Spicewalla offered to send me a selection of their spices to play with. Four were savory blends, but I cracked into the two sweeter items right away. The first thing I did was to make golden milk with their Golden Milk blend (Turmeric, Cinnamon, Ginger, Black pepper, Nutmeg, Roasted Coriander) warm hemp milk, and a dash of maple syrup for sweetness. I like to make a base mixture first, combining a few heaping teaspoons of spices with non-dairy milk to make a very runny paste and keeping that in the fridge. Then when I want a bit of warm golden milk before bedtime, I mix a few spoonsful of the paste into about half a cup of hemp milk and warm it in the microwave, adding a bit of maple for sweetness. (A half cup is plenty, as I don't want to drink too much liquid before going to bed at night.) Spicewalla's blend has all the right elements for a tasty and soothing sweet-savory beverage.

The other spice I used right away was the Chai Masala blend, though not to make chai. (Did you know that since "chai" means tea, saying "chai tea" is like saying "tea tea?") I thought it would be perfect as the spice in some pumpkin muffins. And damn if I wasn't absolutely right! Spicewalla's freshly-ground small-batch blend of ginger, cinnamon, green cardamom, black pepper, clove, and allspice was the perfect seasoning for these ultra-moist muffins. Like pumpkin spice, but with a little bit extra. While plain muffins are nice, muffins topped with streusel are even nicer, texture-wise. I also added chopped walnuts to the batter. Chopped, toasted, pecans or almonds would work as well, or you can omit both the streusel and the nuts. Up to you. 

Did you catch the words "gluten-free" in the title of this post? Since 2019, I've been on a mostly gluten-free diet, which I have found is a big help in losing weight. Sometimes, though, I crave a sweet treat that's not a piece of chocolate (though nothing is wrong with that!), like a cookie, cupcake, or muffin. There are several good gluten-free flour blends on the market, but I am not particularly crazy about the texture of ones that are primarily rice flour; I find it to be gritty. Almond flour makes a tasty wheat flour substitute, but I find that makes things too dense. A combination of GF flour and almond flour is just perfect, and what I used in this recipe. (If you're ok with gluten, you may substitute 1 3/4 all purpose white flour for the GF and almond flours.)

I know, enough talking. Here's the recipe.

Gluten-free Pumpkin Spicewalla Chai Masala Streusel Muffins 

For the muffins:

3 large eggs

1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée

1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, only if your flour blend doesn't already include xanthan gum)

3/4 cup finely ground almond flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Spicewalla Chai Masala spices

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts, optional

For the streusel:

1/4 cup Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon Spicewalla Chai Masala spices

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

To make the muffins:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease one 12-well or two 6-well standard-size muffin tins.

Whisk together the eggs and pumpkin purée. Set aside.

Whisk together the gluten-free flour (with additional xanthan gum, if needed), almond flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, and Spicewalla Chai Masala spices.

Using a hand or stand mixer, whip the butter until fluffy. Add in the flour mixture and combine until it looks like wet sand. Add the egg/pumpkin mixture a bit at a time, beating well after each addition. The final mixture should be light and fluffy. Stir in the walnuts, if using.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, filling each cup to the top. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

To make the streusel:

Combine all of the ingredients until it forms crumbs. Sprinkle about a tablespoon onto each muffin, pressing it in so it sticks. 

Bake the streusel-topped muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, until the middle springs back when lightly touched. Let rest for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the pan. 

12 servings

Posted on Minxeats.com.

I received a collection of spices from Spicewalla, including the Chai Masala spices, but I am not being otherwise compensated for this post.

Cottage Cheesecake

Cottage Cheese. You all know what I'm talking about. No, not the unattractive dimply stuff in our thighs. Rather, the stuff diner menus include in what they inexplicably refer to as a "diet plate," along with a bare hamburger patty and some iceberg lettuce. Or the white lumpy stuff that my mother-in-law ate on matzoh crackers with a touch of apple butter. Cottage cheese was once a popular food, but these days, the salty curds-and-cream substance seems more like punishment. The last time I tried supermarket cottage cheese, I gagged.

Of course, I once felt the same way about yogurt, and now I eat a ton of it.

Earlier in the year, at the Fancy Food Show, I tasted a new brand of cottage cheese. I'll try anything once, even camel milk and tortilla chips made with cricket flour. Expecting the same chalky curds in mucus-y sauce that I had eaten in my youth, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the curds were tender and the sauce binding them together was more like sweet cream. It was tasty. I liked it.

So when I received an e-mail from Muuna Cottage Cheese, asking if I'd be willing to try their products and write about them, I said, "sure." As it turned out, I had seen Muuna at the local grocery store just that week and had purchased the mango flavor. It was tasty. I liked it.

Muuna sent us a great box of cottage cheese goodness - 5.3-ounce cups of all five flavors (blueberry, strawberry, peach, mango, and pineapple) plus a cup of the lowfat plain. I tucked into the flavored stuff immediately, and found that while pineapple and mango were pretty good, blueberry and strawberry were even better. However, I wasn't sure I was ready to eat the plain lowfat cottage cheese on its own. So I made cheesecake with it. Pumpkin cheesecake. Because fall. Oh, and since I only had 5 ounces of cottage cheese to work with, I made minis.

There was still a bit of trepidation involved. I am a fan of smooth cheesecakes. I don't like the oddly dry texture of ricotta cheesecake, and I have never liked the old Baltimore favorite smearcase, which was commonly made with cottage cheese. So I popped the Muuna into the mini prep and gave it a whirl.

The result was an incredibly smooth cream, the texture of my favorite Australian-style yogurt. I added cream cheese, pumpkin, and spices, poured the mixture into graham cracker crusts, and popped them in the oven.

They were incredible. Seriously. I like smooth-textured cheesecakes that aren't overly-cheesy. These little babies were perfect, IMHO. Very pumpkin-y, very smooth, not too dense or cheesy. One 4-inch cheesecake was the perfect size to split with Mr Minx.

I was so pleased with the results and the texture of the blended cottage cheese, I think I might try a version without using any cream cheese at all. Maybe even a smearcase-style cake. Maybe.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes for Two
I call for a mini prep to whiz the cottage cheese because it seems silly to dirty a big food processor with this ridiculously small amount of batter. If that's all you have, however, then use it. A blender would work, too. I find the Cuisinart Mini-Prep's 3-cup size is just perfect for small jobs like hummus and pesto, and it's small enough to leave on the counter at all times. Amazon has it for around $35, and I have more than gotten my money's worth.

For the crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used crushed Teddy Grahams)
2 heaped tablespoons toasted unsalted pumpkin seeds (pepitas), ground in a mini prep or with a mortar and pestle if you're old fashioned
Pinch brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted

For the filling:
1 (5.3 ounce) container of Muuna lowfat plain cottage cheese
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 egg

To make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place the crust ingredients in a zip-top sandwich bag. Close the bag and squish the ingredients around until everything is coated with the butter. Dump the bag into two 4-inch springform pans and pat into an even layer, coming a little up the sides. Bake for 7 minutes, then remove and allow to cool to room temperature.

To make the filling: Put the cottage cheese in the bowl of a mini-prep food processor and pulse until the cheese has been pureed. Add the pumpkin, sugar, spices, salt, and vanilla and blend well. Scrape mixture into a bowl and stir in the softened cream cheese, then beat in the egg until everything is well combined.

Pour filling into prepared pans and bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes, or until puffed and set. The middle might jiggle a wee bit but should not be liquidy. If it is, bake it for an additional 5 minutes. Cool cakes on a rack. When cool, loosen the edges with a knife before releasing the sides of the pan. Wrap and foil and refrigerate until cold.

Serve topped with whipped cream.

Serves 4

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $ at no cost to you! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.