Canned Pumpkin Uses???
 

I was at the store yesterday and decided to buy some canned pumpkin. The problem is I bought it without knowing what to use it for. I decided that it would be a good way to add fiber and vitimans to my diet but need some suggestions of uses.

Ooh, canned pumpkin. Let's see... you can stir it into your oatmeal, along with some cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and the sweetener of your choice to have pumpkin spice oatmeal. I just tried Meg's recipe for Baked Pumpkin Custard that was absolutely delicious. There's also the possibility of stirring a little into your spaghetti sauce or other pasta sauce (maybe a savory creamy pumpkin sauce?).

You could also spice it up and stuff it into fresh pasta for ravioli.

I bake mine into whole wheat pumpkin cakes...pumpkin makes a wonderful fat/egg substitute in baked goods.

I've made chocolate muffins, using a devil's food cake mix and a can of pumpkin (a recipe I found on Hungry Girl), and bake according to the box. The batter is really thick, but the muffins turn out great.

A friend told me she adds it to chili to thicken. I want to try this, but haven't yet.

As long as it's an unflavored, and not a pie spiced pumpkin, I've used it as a substitute for squash. Just heat and serve with light butter or drizzled with bacon onion topping as a side dish. Not a fan of "sweet" vegetables, my mom would dice onion and bacon and put the mixture in the hollow of a squash such as acorn and bake. Not diet friendly because she used one whole bacon strip per serving. The trick to diet-friendly squash this way is to use only one slice of bacon, dice it very, very finely use a lot of onion and saute it first, then sprinkle it sparingly on the whole dish (several servings) of cooked pumpkin or squash (cooked from fresh or canned).

1 box low-fat brownie mix, 1 can pumpkin, mix well, add nothing else (no egg, no water, no oil) and bake according to the package instructions.

1 large box ff sf vanilla pudding, one can of pumpkin, 1 cup ff cool whip, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp cinammon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg). Mix together and chill.

I stir it in with beans, diced tomatoes, garlic, onions, tomato sauce and some spices for a chili like dish.

1 can of pumpkin mixed with a spice cake mix makes great muffins. I add a little water because the batter is really thick. Bake as directed on the box.

I love canned pumpkin. I have a terrific recipe for a bundt cake (and I would be happy to share if anyone wants) it but unfortunately, it is very calorie rich. Per the original recipe, one slice has whopping 385 calories, although I am sure mine has less because I use a lot less oil and a lot less sugar (I am doing it pretty mch with every recipe because I don't like overly sweet stuff). I also use more dried fruit and a lot more pumpkin than what the recipe calls for.

Also, you can use canned pumpkin for pumpkin soup - one of my favourites.

I've been getting the Hungry Girl newsletters for 4 years now :lol: and she loves using canned pumpkin in all sorts of recipes, so that's the first thing I thought of. You could search hungry-girl.com for "canned pumpkin." Click here and check out the second half of the page, there are links to a few of her recipes... that page has mostly healthier versions of desserts.

LindsayLou -- there is a GREAT recipe on the foodnetwork website that can be "healthified" very very easily. Search pumpkin sausage pasta. SO DELICIOUS I almost died when I made it. I used the entire can of pumpkin, TJs whole grain pasta, less cream, and some more spices. So. freaking. delicious.

Artsnsmarts, that's just the kind of recipe I was imagining! It sounds wonderful. I might have to try it this week when I'll be cooking dinner for both of my brothers.