This is the leftovers using leftovers recipe! On Sunday, I had made a cream cheese dip by using an 8-oz package of cream cheese with some leftover cranberry jelly from Thankgiving.  Isn't it pretty? 

But it has still not been consumed entirely, so for brunch today I made a fig, procuitto and cranberry pizza on a naan bread.  Yummo!

Ingredients:
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil – really good with rosemary olive oil
1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
 
Instructions:  Place the beans, garlic, lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, and parsley in thebowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the bean puree to a small bowl.

Ingredients:
2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée 
1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon 
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
1 pie crust

Instructions:  Preheat oven to 425°F.  Mix sugars, salt, and spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the
eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin purée. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated. 
Pour into pie shell and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.  Serve with whipped cream.

This tastes JUST like a pumpkin pie, maybe even better!

Ingredients:
2 pie crusts
2 cups finely grated and cooked carrots
1 cup sugar
1 t  cinnamon
½ t ground ginger
½ t salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups  milk

Instructions:  
After finely shredding the carrots, steam them. Gently press them into the bottom of a colander to express excess moisture.

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Bake the pie crusts at 400°F for 12-15 minutes, or until the outer edges start to brown slightly. Remove pie crusts from oven. Set aside to cool. Keep the oven set to 400°F. 
 
To prepare filling, combine carrots, sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, eggs, and milk in a large bowl. Divide filling between the two pre-baked pie crusts, cover edges of pie crust with foil or a pie crust shield to prevent crust from over-browning. Bake at 400°F for 45-50 minutes, or until the center of the pie has set. Remove from oven and let cool at room temperature for 1 hour.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts 
1/2 lb rigatoni pasta
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup 2% low-fat milk 
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter 
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons fresh grated parmesan cheese 
PInch teaspoon white or black pepper
1/8 cup prepared pesto sauce 
Pinch teaspoon red pepper flakes 
1 garlic clove, crushed 
1/2 tablespoon olive oil 
Salt to taste

Instructions:
Cook the rigatoni according to package directions, boiling the carrots with the rigatoni. Drain, place back in the pot, and stir in the olive oil (to avoid sticking).

Grill the chicken breasts on an indoor grill, 6 minutes per side or until juices run clear. Cut into strips. 
 
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Slowly whisk in the flour  until smooth and the consistency of wet sand.   Add milk gradually, whisking well after each small addition, then until no clumps can be seen.  Heat over medium, whisking constantly, until heated and thick (sauce will thicken the more you cook it).
 
Add the pesto sauce and mix well.  Sprinkle the parmesan in, and whisk. Add the crushed garlic, pepper, and
red pepper flakes.  Remove from heat, and add salt to taste. 
 
Pour over rigatoni and carrots, mix and serve.

Since we didn't carve our pumpkins, we were able to use the pumpkins for these delish recipes.
  

The amount of flour you need to make the dough will vary depending on how moist your pumpkin or winter squash is. 

Ingredients:
1 cup of puréed cooked pumpkin 
1 cup ricotta 
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
3-4 cups cake flour

Instructions:  
 
Mix the pumpkin puree, ricotta, parmesan, eggs and salt together in a large bowl. Add 2 cups of the flour and mix well with your hands. The dough should be very sticky, impossible to work with. Add another half cup of flour and mix that in — you want the dough to still be pretty sticky, but pliable enough to shape into a large log. If it's not, keep adding a little flour at a time until you can get a soft dough that will be able to be rolled into a log. It should never require more than 4 cups of flour. Cover the dough with a damp towel.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add enough salt to it so that the water tastes salty. Let this simmer while you make the gnocchi.

To make the gnocchi, spread some flour on a large work surface and have more flour ready. Cut the dough log into four equal pieces. Take one piece and cut it in half. Roll the piece of dough into a snake about a half inch thick, and then cut it into pieces about the thickness of a fork.

Dust the gnocchi with a little flour, and then use one finger to push the dumpling up onto the tines of a fork.  Let the gnocchi drop back to the work surface. This makes the dumpling a little thinner and lighter, and it creates depressions and ridges that sauce can hold onto.

Repeat this process with the other pieces of dough and then, using a metal spatula, gently pick up a few gnocchi at a time and drop them into the water. Increase the heat to a rolling boil. Boil these gnocchi until they float, then remove them with a slotted spoon or spider skimmer. Lay the cooked gnocchi on a baking sheet and toss with a little olive oil so they don't stick together.

It is important to boil gnocchi in small batches so they don't stick to each other.

Ingredients:
1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt, strained
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions:  Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl until completely combined.  Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker for a few minutes until it is a smooth, cool consistency. Alternatively, place the bowl in the freezer and stir mixture every half hour until it reaches desired consistency.

Ingredients:  
Pumpkins, rinsed and dried
Salt

Instructions: 
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.  

Slice a small piece of skin off the one side of the pumpkin so when laid on its side, the pumpkin will lay flat without rolling. Remove the stem and split the pumpkin in half from top to bottom, using a large cleaver and a mallet. Scoop out the seeds and fiber with a large metal spoon or ice cream scoop. Cut the fibers with kitchen sissors if necessary.  Reserve seeds for another use.

Sprinkle the flesh with kosher salt and lay the halves, flesh side down, on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Roast until a paring knife can be easily inserted and removed from the pumpkin, 35 to 45 minutes. Test in several places to ensure doneness.  Remove the sheet pan to a cooling rack and cool the pumpkin for 1 hour.

Using a large spoon, remove the roasted flesh of the pumpkin from the skin to the bowl of a food processor. Process until the flesh is smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months

I freeze my puree in muffin tins, as they are about 1/2 cup each.  This makes it easy to get just the amount I need for all the pumpkin recipes.  Then I pull the muffin tray out of the freezer, let sit for about five minutes, 
 and I use a plastic knife to easily pry the muffin-shaped frozen pumpkin out..  I freeze in freezer bags.

Ingredients: 
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 c. buttermilk
1/3 c. butter, melted
1 tbsp. molasses
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 c. chopped pistachios, divided

Instructions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 24 muffin pan cups. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices. Beat together eggs, buttermilk, butter, molasses, vanilla, sugar and pumpkin. Add dry ingredients all at once, stirring just to moisten.  Fold in HALF of the pistachios. Fill muffin cups almost to top. Top with remaining pistachios.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from cups and cool on rack.