What to Do With Leftover Pumpkin
I'm willing to bet that immediately after Thanksgiving, Google sees the number of searches for "leftover turkey" skyrocket. A comparable search for vegetarians would have to be "leftover pumpkin," though having half or two-thirds a can of leftover pumpkin after the holidays is certainly not a strictly vegetarian problem. Many recipes call for just a half or a whole cup of pureed pumpkin, but the standard can contains about 1 1/3 cups. I hate to think of all the pumpkin that goes into a storage container, then into the refrigerator, and finally into the garbage after a few days. It's needless waste since there's plenty you can do with that pumpkin once everyone's finished devouring your pumpkin cheesecake. Using Veg Blog Search, I've tracked down a wealth of recipes that use less than a can of pumpkin. So before that leftover pumpkin starts to grow a green coat, get up and put it to one of these good uses:
Bake it! Try pumpkin bread, biscuits, cookies, or scones. If you don't have quite enough pumpkin leftover, don't open another can; just top off what you have with some applesauce or mashed sweet potato.Stir a few spoonfuls into a bowl of oatmeal. Add some pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves) and maybe a few raisins, and you've got a breakfast that will brighten up your day.
Indulge in pumpkin waffles or pancakes. This recipe is good for either one, but you can also add a couple of tablespoons of pumpkin to your favorite recipe.Make ice cream. Or how about pumpkin pie wontons?
Get very ambitious and make pumpkin pasta or pretzels or gnocchi. I'm thinking that pumpkin sausage looks like a winner.
Make soup. Check out Toor Dal Pumpkin Soup, Hearty Pumpkin Soup, and Mexican Pumpkin Soup. Or just add it to your favorite vegetable soup recipe for an instantly thick and flavorful broth.Drink it! Try a nog or a smoothie.
Don't feel like eating it? Treat yourself to homemade pumpkin body butter or a pumpkin facial (veganized, of course).
Finally, if you're just plain sick of pumpkin, you can always freeze your leftovers until inspiration strikes. Of course, I've got at least a dozen pumpkin recipes right here on this blog that might stimulate your appetite for pumpkin!
What's your favorite use for leftover pumpkin?
Labels: holidays
posted by SusanV at 9:40 AM
46 Comments:
A very timely post. I like microwave pumpkin halwa..quick and delicious. http://purplesque.vox.com/library/post/pumpkin-halwa--the-microwave-version.html
Great tips!! I love using leftover pumpkin for baking my Pumpkin-Pecan-Raisin loaf :-)
Happy belated Thanksgiving, Susan!!
Leftover Pumpkin = Pumpkin Oatmeal!!! I eat it couple times a week and usually buy pumpkin just for that purpose! I also love it in pasta dishes and waffles. Mmm, pumpkin!
This is sort of on topic--I recently made Pumpkin Butter for the first time, and I find 2 Tbsp. of that, blended with some almond or soymilk, makes a fabulous smoothie/nog! (I can't get the Silk Pumpkin drink here, either, so had to become inventive) ;)
Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!
Mmm, fantastic compilation! Of course, pumpkin rarely goes to waste in my house - I'm obsessed. If we have extra, I'll make milkshakes, oatmeal, cookies, or if I'm not lazy, pumpkin sticky buns.
Pumpkin never goes to waste in this house -- I make some of my animals' food myself, and it almost always includes pumpkin! I buy pumpkin year-round.
However, I did make some pumpkin waffles this morning (hope to get photos up on my blog tomorrow). I love pumpkin muffins. I still have to make the chocolate pumpkin pie I didn't make for Thanksgiving.
Love your ideas!! I made pumpkin ice cream for the first time this year. Delicious!!
Bless you! I came to your site specifically looking for ways to use up my cooked pumpkin; I baked one for two pies and have a TON leftover. It is cubed in the freezer right now, awaiting a plan. Thanks SO much for all the great ideas. Your site is absolutely wonderful.
Since, in Indian cooking (at least my kind), pumpkin is always used in savoury dishes I will have to check out your links.
And we get fresh pumpkin which is sold, freshly cut and weighed as we want it, so there's rarely left overs.:)
I make a cheesecake filling sort of thing with tofu, cashews, pumpkin, and spices, sweetened with erythritol and topped with a sprinkle of pecans. It only takes a minute in the blender. Since I'm a recently diagnosed diabetic keeping my blood sugar down by a low-carb diet, it's often the only dessert I can get away with.
We also freeze solid-pack, plain canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) in ice cube trays. Whenever one of our three cats gets constipation (and wouldn't you, if you ate what a cat eats), we thaw a cube and mix it with half a can of wet food. It usually takes less than three meals of this for things to clear up. Seriously, a vet told me this.
im in the uk, and i have never seen canned pumpkin. is there a special way to prepare pumpkin to use in recipes where the canned stuff is called for?
bryony
Bryony, the easiest way is to cut your pumpkin into equal-sized pieces and steam it until tender. Remove the peel (it comes off easy after cooking) and mash. To get it to have approximately the same water content as canned pumpkin, it's best to line a strainer or colander with cheesecloth and put the mashed pumpkin in it to drain over a bowl or sink. Once it's stopped dripping, you should have pumpkin that is the same consistency as canned.
If you have a cat, a tablespoon of pumpkin makes a great nutritious treat and helps with hairballs, too!
I love pumpkin oatmeal with lots of spice, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, and a drizzle of maple syrup. Yum!
Oh--and pumpkin pancakes.
I made butternut squash risotto the other day. I bet pumpkin would work just fine as well. Huzzah for beta carotene! ;)
I use or should I say sneak Pumpkin in many foods at home. Sneaking it in adds more nutrition that the kids don't have to know about. I mix it in the ketchup bottle, soups, pasta sauces, enchilada sauce. I do love the pupkin pancakes,waffles,pies & muffins.
Susan, we absolutely Love your GF immpossible pumpkin pie recipe! I thought I could never have Pumpkin pie again because of gluten until your recipe..awesome. I made it with sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving and it worked out well also.
Thanks!
Melissa in Tennessee
Leftover pumpkin? Not a problem here. I usually make yeasted pumpkin rolls, pumpkin raviolis, pumpkin gnocchies.
I am definately going to have to try the toor dal pumpkin soup though! And the facial looks good. But I do not have any honey. Did not like it before becoming vegan anyway.
Cheers!
I totally love the idea of making my own beauty products. I am totally going to try the body butter...yum! (for my skin, of coourse, heh)
FYI...do not visit the link in the first comment (purplesque) it will directly to a site that installs adware and potentially viruses!
My answer is... Make more cheesecake!
I can't help it.
The absolute best is pumpkin french toast! Add it in to your regular mix with pumpkin pie spice and vanilla and rip up the bread pieces. Pour it all onto the skillet and you have yummy bite size pieces!
Mmm. I also added it to a thai curry, thus being able to thicken it a little without too much coconut milk. It worked beautifully.
On halloween, I wanted to make a warm, festive breakfast for my partner. I took some leftover pumpkin and mixed it with some agave nectar, vanilla, and soy milk in a sauce pan. Then, I mixed that into oatmeal.
pumpkin oatmeal is by far my favorite thing to use leftover pumpkin-ness in.
If only I could have leftover pumpkin...But it's impossible to find canned pumpkin here in France...:'(
Good tips for lefover pumpkin. Thks
Great suggestions. I love making baked pumpkin doughnuts with my leftover pumpkin.
Great ideas!! BTW I made your double layer pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and my family LOVED it!! Thanks so much for the recipe :-)
I love the ideas! I was actually trying to think of something to make with my pumpkin. I've decided on a pumpkin sage sauce for some pasta. It sounds good, but I've never had pumpkin as a savory dish.
Dear Susan,
Greeting!!
My name is Patric Shih, and I am running a vegetarian website, VegTomato,
http://www.vegtomato.org, with my vegetarian friends to advocate
vegetarianism/veganism among Chinese community around the world. It is a non-
profit unofficial website, which update monthly, and all of us are
volunteers.
Just come across your wonderful blog with so many well made vegan recipes, I
don’t know if it is possible to get permission from you to translate some
of the recipes into Chinese and post in my website for sharing? The credit
is yours and I will link back for reference.
Thank you for taking time to read this message and looking forward to
hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
Patric Shih
VegTomato
http://www.vegtomato.org/
You've given some great suggestions. My favorite thing to do with leftover pumpkin is make curry pumpkin fritters. So delicious warm and oddly enough, they taste great dipped in soy yogurt or an onion and garlic dip of silken tofu. I think I'll make some this weekend!
-bonbon
Recently I used 1/2 a can of leftover pumpkin in a soup I created. It was delicious. It's definitely one of my new favorite ways to use pumpkin. I like using pumpkin in anything though-desserts, breakfast, soup, you name it.
Pumpkin Dip!
So yummy.
I think you take 1/2 c. pumpkin 1/2 c. tofu cream cheese, 1/3 c. brown sugar. Mix well with mixer still smooth. Then add 1 Tbs. maple syrup and 1 tsp. cinnamon and mix in well.
Serve with green apple wedges or ginger snap cookies.
Wow! Great pumpkin ideas. I have baked pumpkin pudding for breakfast (canned pumpkin, silk pumpkin spice soy milk, pumpkin pie spice, and a small amount of brown sugar). Right now I am re heating stuffed pumpkin with a small amount of ff onion gravy. It is a year round staple in my kitchen. Yummy!
Who would have thought pumpkin was such a versatile ingredient? I like these ideas.
UM i saw this, got all excited b/c my recipes on there, then didn't comment?? What was I thinking?!
:)
my favorite thing to do with pumpkin is cookies or scones... Can you tell I'm in a baking sort of mood lately?
Teddy
right you are!
see: google trends
One of my favorite things to do with leftover pumpkin is to make a great recipe from Vegan Family Favorites, "Broccoli Soba with Peanut-Pumpkin Sauce". Basically, you make the sauce for the soba noodles and broccoli by adding peanut butter, water, and soy sauce to the pumpkin. I've used all kinds of nut butter and it makes the most delicious, surprisingly creamy sauce. Yum!
Hi! I'm a new vegan who lives in north Louisiana and I just found your blog. What a surprise to find a vegan with an awesome and helpful blog in Jackson. I'll certainly be linking to this one.
Great tips here! I love your blog, If you have time will you drop by at Foodista ? We are building an online food and cooking encyclopedia ala wikipedia. You can also just browse along the recipes we have featured in the past :) Thanks!
I made vegan, whole wheat, pumpkin walnut bread. Here's the recipe I made up: http://www.livingwithoutmeat.com/homemade-whole-wheat-pumpkin-bread/
My leftover pumpkin was leftover from making pumpkin pancakes!
I just stir it into some vanilla yogurt for a yummy breakfast.
I am a little late on this one, but my vote is definitely with pumpkin waffles! Muffins usually make it onto the leftover pumpkin agenda too.
I also did a post on leftover pumpkin - chickpea stew!
http://veganathome.blogspot.com/2008/12/another-use-for-leftover-pumpkin.html
Will have to check out some of the many ideas with the pumpkin I had leftover from making cupcakes. For the leftover roasted, stuffed pumpkins I made I found that dicing up the leftovers and adding to quinoa is delicious (http://pdxvegancookingclub.blogspot.com/2008/12/pumpkin-quinoa.html)
I love pumpkin, pumpkin soup is my favorite. I never tried making a pumpkin cupcakes but I will now:-)
Thanks for good post....
Thanks for good tips I will try as soon as possible
Pumpkins are healthy and delicious food. Thanks for sharing this great recipe:-)
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