- Pumpkins aren't just for carving.

They're actually one of the best ingredients to incorporate into your cozy fall recipes.

Today, I'm going to share three of my all-time favorite pumpkin recipes that will have you covered for the season, whether you're making breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

(upbeat music) (popping noises) I've invited a very special guest and dear friend of mine to share one of her beloved family recipes.

This one doubles as a delicious autumnal breakfast, or it can be gifted as the perfect fall treat.

Are you looking for the best homemade granola recipe ever?

Today, we have a very special guest, my best friend, Peggy Hill.

And you have the best granola recipe around.

- [Peggy] Yes, obviously.

It's delicious.

- You introduced me to this granola and it quickly became one of my favorites too.

And I love that you can vary it.

So like add seasonal things, pumpkin seeds, whatever you want.

It also makes good gifts.

- It does.

- So let's get started.

So, "Grandma's Granola", where did it get the name?

- My mom, and I made it for my children.

So she was their grandmother.

So we called it "Grandma's Granola".

- So one thing I love about this recipe is it's all shelf-stable and just ingredients you usually have on-hand.

Let's start with the dry ingredients.

And we've got a lot of oats here.

- [Peggy] Yes, it's a pound of oats, which is about six cups.

- We have our combination of nuts.

- We have pecans.

We have sesame seeds.

And usually I use sunflower seeds, but today, we're going to use pumpkin seeds.

- I love using the seasonal nuts, especially like when pumpkin seeds are on the shelf.

And this is a great way if you want to roast those and season them up when you're carving pumpkins too.

You can always add them into the granola later.

I'm going to let you get the coconut.

- And then the coconuts.

That's our next dry.

There we go.

What is that, a cup and a half of coconut?

- It's about right.

Cup and a half.

Ding, ding, you won that one.

- You were quizzing me earlier.

And then we have a half cup of the brown sugar, right?

- Half cup brown sugar.

I love mixing this up with a rubber spatula too, because I feel like it really kind of gets down in there.

- See, I always use the wooden spoon.

- Doot.

(Peggy laughs) Use your preference, Peggy.

You're the guest.

- That's what I always use.

Oh, yeah.

See?

- And it's a really good mix, so you really just want to mix this up until it all kind of comes together.

I love the little bit of green color that the pumpkin seeds add.

- So now we'll do the wet ingredients.

And we're going to start off.

What we have here is we squeezed a lemon, and put some of the pulp and all the juice from one lemon, and then added enough water to bring that up to two thirds cup.

- [Trace] Two thirds of a cup.

- And then what oil did you use?

- So this is just a vegetable oil.

So the recipe calls for just a salad oil.

And I was going to ask you, have you ever used any coconut oil, or?

- That's what I usually use, because it has coconut in it, so it's a nice flavor for it.

- And I don't know if you do this, but when I'm making it, I usually kind of keep a little bit of oil in the background and kind of save it because sometimes, depending on the day, like you were talking about, it can be a little.

- A little wet.

- A little wet.

And we're not sure exactly why it varies, if it's the oats or what, but it definitely does vary.

So I leave just about a fourth of a cup of it in the cup and then add it in there if I need it later.

- [Peggy] If we need it.

- I'm going to give this a whisk.

And if you'll grab the honey there.

Of course, Peggy's husband's a beekeeper just like me, so we always love the fresh honey.

And this is just a cup of honey.

- And then a tablespoon of vanilla.

And then a tablespoon of salt, right?

- Yep.

Right into the wet ingredients.

That's the only dry ingredient.

That's the one thing about the recipe I think is funny.

It's like mix all the dry ingredients, except for the salt.

(slide whistle) Does that look sufficiently stirred up?

- [Peggy] That looks great.

Great.

- [Trace] I'm going to let you do the honor.

- [Peggy] All right.

- [Trace] And so you just pour that directly over your dry ingredients.

- I bet this is going to be enough liquid.

- I think so too.

And it's one of those things, how do you gauge it?

- Well, last time I just used, followed the recipe, and it was so wet it took forever to cook.

You just want it to be moistened, but not be drippy wet.

I think that's perfect.

- I think that's good.

I'm going to grab our pan.

(popping noises) All right.

So let's transfer into our baking sheet.

And this is one of those instances where I like to use multiple sheets.

I think you do the same thing.

- Yes.

It's way too much to put on one.

I think that's about enough for one.

- I think so too.

- It looks about half.

- And how do you gauge the thickness?

So you don't want it too thin where it burns, because I've been there, done that before and then it's too crunchy.

And you don't want it too thick so it stays almost cakey.

So about half full, you said?

Is that right?

- [Peggy] I think that's good.

- Beautiful.

Well, I'm going to stick this one in the oven.

We've preheated our oven to 325.

Cooking time, tell me a little bit about that.

- About a half hour, depending on how much of the liquids you put in.

If you put in a lot of liquid and it's very wet, you're going to need to cook it longer.

You have to stir it about every 10 minutes.

And as you get toward the end of the cooking time, you need to stir it more often.

- [Trace] Okay.

- [Peggy] That's when you're going to run the risk of it burning.

- Yeah.

And usually I found that mine's between 30-45.

Rarely has it ever gone to 50.

That was when I really went gung-ho and too thick.

- Put too much oil.

- Too much oil.

(popping noises and crunchy apple bites) There's a lot of substitutions that can be made, and especially since your grandmother's time, there's a lot more varieties on the market.

- I switch out the salad oil for the coconut oil.

- Gotcha.

- I like the coconut oil better.

And I think it is a nice compliment to that coconut in there.

- So does the coconut oil tend to wet the dry ingredients as much, or does it more so coat them?

- I think it's very wet.

So I've been cutting down on the liquid when I use the coconut oil or even the salad oil.

- So you give it away as Christmas too.

That was one of the first times I think I had "Grandma's Granola" is you gave me some for Christmas.

- My sister came to visit for Christmas a couple years ago and I gave her a jar of "Grandma's Granola".

And she was over the moon over it because she hadn't had it since we were kids.

- It's like nostalgia in a jar that taste even better than the memories sometimes.

(popping noises and crunchy apple bites) So we just took our granola out of the oven and we've allowed it to cool for like, what, 20 minutes?

- That sounds good.

- [Trace] So your mom added raisins to it?

- Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

If we had them in the cabinet, maybe she would.

- I love a good raisin.

So added some raisins here.

It's one of those good old-timey recipes too that doesn't really give the amount of raisins.

So amount of raisins to taste.

- Whatever you like.

- [Trace] I'm going to give this a little bit of a stir.

- [Peggy] I love that green in there.

- I love the green with the pumpkin seeds too.

I love to put them in little jars and give them out as gifts, especially at Christmas.

- That's not enough for anybody.

- That's going to be enough today.

(Peggy laughs) Who would ever though I'm stingier than you?

- [Peggy] I know.

- Merry Christmas, Peggy.

- I want that one.

- I thought this was cute.

Whomever gets these gifts is going to be addicted to this granola.

That's what happened to me.

And then let's just tie it on our jar.

(upbeat music) Beautiful.

And there you have it.

"Grandma's Granola".

The best granola recipe that I've ever had.

Now this next recipe is just what you need to marry all of the savory flavors of fall with a tropical twist to carry us through the coming winter days.

To start this recipe, we need four cups of cooked or prepared pumpkins.

So canned is totally fine, but I love to use the flavors of fresh heirloom pumpkins like this candy pumpkin or a fairytale pumpkin because they really have a good sugary flesh.

So we are going to take a serrated knife and just slice the bottom of that pumpkin off and then slice it in half.

And then going to take a sturdy spoon and I'm just going to pull all of those guts out of there.

Save the seeds for toasting up later too.

It's the perfect little addition on top of the soup.

Take a little bit of olive oil and I'm going to just liberally pour that all over.

And I'm just going to season that with a little cumin and a little salt and pepper.

We're going to place this face side down right onto a cooking sheet or whatever kind of cooking vessel you have.

And we're going to put this in a 350 degree oven.

And we are going to cook that 20 to 30 minutes just until this flesh is easily pierced with a knife or a fork and will come out easily with a spoon.

(clock ticking) So our pumpkin has sufficiently cooked and has a really nice color to it here.

And I've let this just kind of get to room temperature.

I don't want to scald my hands, so don't grab onto that after taking it directly out of the oven.

Turn that over and we can see all the really nice flesh.

Use a sturdy spoon and just scoop the flesh right off of the pumpkin skin.

All right.

So that's our four cups of pumpkin.

So to our pumpkin mixture, we are going to add an onion, two cloves of garlic, and a teaspoon of ginger that I've just minced ever so slightly.

And I've just sauteed those onions together just until they're translucent and everything is fragrant and smells so good together.

Stir that in and incorporate it really well.

Now let's add the spices.

So we've got a teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of coriander, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, and just a fourth a teaspoon of nutmeg, right in there.

Give that a good stir.

And now let's add our coconut milk.

This is just one 15 ounce can of coconut milk.

Going to really add that creaminess we're looking for in the soup too.

And then three cups of chicken broth.

Give that a good stir.

And then let's put this on our stove top and let's bring this to a boil over medium-high heat just until everything meshes together, a good 12 to 15 minutes.

(popping noises and crunchy apple bites) So this pumpkin soup is a great option for you if you are completely bored with all the pumpkin dishes out there this holiday season.

So I love using coconut because it has that really creamy effect to the soup that we all expect from pumpkin soup.

But it's also light in flavor and it has that really good sweet punch too that's so unexpected.

Also with that little bit of heat in the pumpkin soup from the addition of the red pepper flakes goes really well with the coconut.

(popping noises and crunchy apple bites) Now comes the time for the equipment.

If you have an immersion blender, just take an immersion blender and go directly into that pot.

If you don't, just use a blender.

Just right before I'm done, I'm going to squeeze the juice of one lime in there too.

All right, that's all nice and smooth and ready for a bowl.

It's got a really pretty color too.

It even just smells tropical.

I feel like I'm on a beach, eating soup.

My dream's come true.

Plate that up, just like that.

I'm going to put just a little bit of cilantro on top and just a little bit of some roasted seeds from our pumpkin there.

Almost forgot the red pepper flakes.

I love a little spice there on top of it.

There's pumpkin here, pumpkin there and pumpkin everywhere, including soup.

It's like eating soup on a beach.

(harp glissando) (upbeat music) Mm.

Cozy soup on a beach.

(upbeat music) Give those gourds the gourmet treatment with this indulgent recipe.

I call this one "Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good".

♪ Let's give them pumpkin to talk about ♪ (popping noises) Today, we are not carving this pumpkin up into a jack-o'-lantern, but we're stuffing it with everything good instead.

So give your pumpkin a good thorough wash and a dry.

And be sure if you're using pumpkins off your porch, you're not using any that have had any kind of varnish, or a bleach bath, or anything like that.

You're not also limited to just traditional yellow pie pumpkins either.

Go for any kind of fun squashes, Casper pumpkins, mini pumpkins, acorn squashes.

They're all perfectly good candidates to stuff.

We're going to approach these pumpkins just like we would a traditional jack-o'-lantern, and we're going to remove the top first.

I prefer, especially if I'm cooking with a pumpkin, you really want a good, even cut on the top because we're going to save that lid to put on our beautiful pumpkin later.

It's really a showstopper.

I use a serrated knife for this and I'm not going to dive into it normally like you would with a jack-o'-lantern.

I'm going to go in about two and a half or three inches from the top just to give us a good top that's not going to dry out in the oven.

It's also going to give us a good, large cavity so we can stuff all of our ingredients into it.

Once you make your initial cut into the pumpkin, it's going to be a lot easier, but just be sure and watch your fingers.

You don't want to add an extra digit to the everything good inside.

(upbeat music) Beautiful.

So now comes the time that we'll scoop all the contents of our pumpkin out and throw them into a bowl.

I like to use a really good, sturdy spoon to go ahead and lift all of those guts out.

Take your spoon and go around the inside of the pumpkin and just barely scrape the walls.

You can see that the contents kind of ball up on the inside and that makes it super easy just to flop out into a bowl.

(upbeat music) You'll have a few stragglers in there too, and that's when your hands come in really handy.

Now the pumpkin seeds are absolutely perfect to roast up or feed to your chickens.

And when you're using pie pumpkins, you don't necessarily have to worry about having any residual strings left because they're going to cook up and become really tender in the oven.

You can omit the top, but I suggest you cook it in the oven alongside your pumpkin.

Everything needs a little hat when it goes to the table.

So I'm going to do the same thing with our little Casper pumpkin here, and I'm just going to cut it just above halfway.

And the reason I'm doing that is because you want enough depth in your miniature pumpkin so that your filling's not falling out.

These small pumpkins are super fun because they look really good on individual plates and they're perfect with a side salad or even as an appetizer.

Now, the smaller pumpkins are just a little bit harder to hollow out.

So I'm going to go in first with my hands and just kind of pull the contents out here.

And then I'm just going to take a small pairing knife, sit that down, and I'm just going to widen our circumference here.

And just use a sturdy spoon and just scoop those contents out.

Look how cute that is.

It just don't get any cuter than a miniature pumpkin.

In addition to pumpkins, I also love to stuff squash.

This kabocha squash is a great option because it has this really pretty green exterior and it has this really pretty orange flesh.

And the kabocha squash are rather hard.

So instead of cutting off the top, I like to cut them in half and then scoop the contents out.

Now that we've got all of our contents out, I'm going to take my serrated knife again, if I can find it, and I'm just going to remove a tiny portion of the bottom so that when we cook our half squash, it's not going to be rolling around in the pan.

And when you're removing the bottom, just be sure and not cut all the way down into the cavity.

We're really just wanting a little small section that will be flat for when we cook our pumpkin.

And voila, it sits perfect, just like magic.

(popping noises) Next, I'm going to pour some heavy cream into a bowl.

And this is what's going to just marry together and bring all of our ingredients to just simmer like a stuffing inside of the pumpkin.

I'm going to put just a pinch of nutmeg into our heavy cream there.

I'm also going to do some ground sage, so you kind of get the flavors of the season.

Give that a good whisk and allow that to come to room temperature.

Next, I'm going to take just a little bit of olive oil, just the tiniest amount, and I'm going to pour it into our pumpkins.

And I'm going to brush it up the sides and just along the top.

That's really going to hold our seasonings in, and it's going to give our pumpkin a really pretty color as it cooks.

I'm going to do the tops too.

Now that we've got our pumpkins all nice and greased up ready for the oven, let's start making our filling.

And you're going to recognize a lot of these ingredients because they are that kind of traditional stuffing ingredients that you kind of want and crave during the fall season.

First things first to go into our stuffing will be some toasted walnuts.

Any kind of nuts that you have on hand will be perfect too.

That's kind of the beauty of this recipe is you can kind of tailor it to your own taste preferences.

If you have a certain stuffing ingredient you want to put in there, throw it on in.

Toasted walnuts, right into the bowl.

I have some sausage that I've went ahead and browned up and cooked thoroughly.

I'm using a mild sausage today, but if you like hot stuff, by all means, burn those taste buds with the hot.

I'm going to throw in some bacon that I've already browned up on the stove.

However, I didn't brown this bacon up to where it's super, super crispy.

I kind of left it at that kind of almost chewy state because it's going to continue to cook inside the pumpkin, and I really want some of that bacon flavor to impart itself into our stuffing.

Throw in some apples.

It 'tis apple season after all.

And now comes the best part, a fourth of a pound of cheese.

You can use any kind of cheese that you want.

Today, I'm using a combo of white cheddar and just regular sharp cheddar.

If you have smoked Gouda on hand, that would be great too.

Any kind of cheese preference that you like, throw the cheese in.

You can never have too much cheese.

This stuffing recipe also is going to vary on the size of your pumpkin.

I typically go for pumpkins that are three and a half to four pounds.

It's really going to depend on the amount of people that you're feeding.

Some French bread that is a couple days old.

And if you don't have French bread that's a couple days old, let it sit out on your counter and then cut it up to throw into your stuffing.

If you throw in fresh bread, it's just going to turn into bread clods in there and we don't want that.

Some mushrooms.

Some sauteed onion and bell pepper that I did in that bacon grease, you know, just because I'm from Alabama and we like clogged arteries.

(slide whistle) Some green onion.

I have a combination of herbs here.

A little rosemary, a little parsley, and some fresh chopped thyme.

I chop them all together just as a beautiful blend of herbs, and I'm going to go ahead and just throw all of that in there.

And last but not least, some garlic.

I'm using four cloves today.

You can use as much garlic as you like to.

And now we just mix our stuffing together.

The great thing about this stuffing is, I'm going to ditch the spoon too because it's just best to go ahead and get on in there.

When you're stuffing stuff, you usually have to use your hands anyway.

So this stuffing can be made up a few days in advance and stored in an airlock container in your refrigerator or a plastic bag.

You can also freeze this stuffing too.

But don't pre-stuff your pumpkins and then store them for long periods in the refrigerator.

We just don't want any kind of gookiness to happen in there.

When you're chopping your stuff too, just kind of bear in mind that you want your apples, your onions, everything to kind of be at the same chop, just so that it all cooks at the same time and evenly inside the pumpkin.

Now let's stuff them, the best part.

I'm going to take a little bit of salt and I'm just going to go ahead and salt our pumpkins, just a tiny bit.

You don't want to over season the pumpkins, or you don't want to over season the filling either because there's a ton of flavors inside this and we don't want it to be too salty, too sweet, too savory.

It's just the perfect taste.

I'm going to go with the squash first.

You want to be sure and stuff your pumpkins and squash abundantly.

The reason being is because as this cooks, the stuffing's just going to naturally kind of settle down into the pumpkin.

So it's always best to start off with a good mound of overfilling stuffing.

I always like it when it comes off and kind of spills over the side too.

And those little crunchy bits that are on top like the bread, the cheese, that's my favorite part.

I've preheated my oven to 350 degrees.

So when we put these into the oven, you don't want to put them into an overly hot oven.

Low and slow.

You can't rush good stuffed pumpkins.

(gentle music) So now that our pumpkins are all stuffed up and ready to go, I'm going to put them on a foil-lined baking sheet.

And you want to stuff your pumpkins on a board beforehand instead of doing it over your baking sheet, just simply because you don't want those bits that fall over to burn while they're cooking.

I'm going to ladle our cream over our pumpkin here.

And take your time when you're doing this.

And if the cream runs over, don't worry about that.

It's just going to make it prettier.

And you want to pour enough cream into your pumpkins there to where you can just start seeing it come up to the top of the cavity.

So you want to cook these uncovered because we really want the pumpkin skin to brown.

We want all the bits and pieces of our stuffing to brown up and crisp up on top, and it's just going to be beautiful.

I'm going to throw on our little pumpkin tops here.

And if you're cooking a variety of sizes of pumpkins on the same baking sheet, just kind of check that throughout the cooking process, just so someone's not cooking a little faster than the other.

These pumpkins are going to take, depending on the size, about an hour, an hour and a half.

You can't rush a good pumpkin, so, be patient.

It'll be worth it in the end.

I'm going to pop these into our 350 degree oven.

And be sure and set a timer too.

If not, you'll be coming in and finding a burnt stink bomb and you'll be really sad.

Been there, done that.

(turkeys gobble) (gentle music) (popping noises and crunchy apple bites) What I really like about this dish is, you know, it's a showstopper with, you know, very minimal effort.

It's a dish that can be the main course, just simply add a side salad to it, a little bit of bread.

And other than, you know, other than cooking the bacon and the sausage, you know, all you have to do really is just chop a few ingredients, and that's really the hardest part.

I like to go ahead and just have everything chopped beforehand, already prepped, and then you can just throw it in a bowl, and mix it together, and you're ready to roll.

And I think most of the time now we just think of them as decor for our porches, for, you know, our fall scenes, but they actually are edible and they're incredible.

Just really envelops that whole idea of fall when you see a cooked pumpkin on your table.

(popping noises and crunchy apple bites) Our gourmet gourds are out of the oven and plattered up.

They've had just a little bit of time to cool down, not all the way to room temperature, just slightly warm.

You don't want to dive in and cut one of these when they're super, super hot just because you'll end up burning yourself and it's going to cut prettier when they've sat just a little bit.

Let's cut into this.

So I'm going to take our top off there.

And you just want to cut into your pumpkin through the flesh.

And you want to think about like you're almost cutting a pie.

Cut all the way through the bottom and then just use a spoon to lift it right out.

I like to kind of serve them on their side like that so you can see all of that wonderful filling.

If you have any that slips out there, be sure and add that onto the serving too.

Just for a little extra prettiness too, just throw a little sprig of rosemary.

If you have some extra chopped herbs, of course, throw those on there too.

And now comes the best part, and I hate that none of you are here.

You'll have to make it at home so you can get all that delicious goodness.

I want like a good piece of bread that's crunchy.

Mm.

And they're so rich.

It's so comforting.

It's everything you want in the season.

Mm.

I think that's a good time to cut.

Mouthful and happy fall, y'all.

(upbeat music) Like I always say, gourd big or go home.

I hope you enjoy these cozy pumpkin recipes all season long.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next time on Garden Party.

(upbeat music) The gourmet treatment.

(staff laughs) It almost looks like mango sherbet or something.

(Peggy laughs) Sorry, I got caught on the rug.

(Peggy laughs) This gourd, the gourmet treatment.

- All right.

- Cheers to "Grandma's Granola".

I love these things.

This gourd, the gourmet treatment.

Okay.

Let's see if I can get that out.

I look like a witch.

We sound like dumb and dumber up here.

(Peggy laughs) Okay, now we can cut.

(gentle music)