It's October. Bring on the Pumpkins!

Although in truth, Gentle Reader, you don't have to wait until October to get your pumpkin on. The boy and I bought a pair of pumpkins the last Friday of September. I'm crossing my fingers the weather doesn't linger too long in the low 90s lest our pumpkins go bad waiting to be carved.

Canned pumpkin, on the other hand, doesn't go bad--at least not to my knowledge, so long as the can is not damaged. I've had two cans of Libby pure pumpkin mush sitting forlornly in the pantry for almost a year now, waiting until the weather turned cooler and the adult human denizens of Chez Boeckman-Walker had a hankering for faux pumpkin mousse. That won't happen for several weeks yet, but I did find a way to put one can to use. And boy oh boy, Gentle Reader, was this going to be a culinary experiment!

Pumpkin Turkey Chili1 T vegetable oil
1 C chopped onion
1/2 C chopped green bell pepper
1/2 C chopped yellow bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. ground turkey
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
2 C pumpkin puree
1 1/2 T chili powder
1/2 t ground black pepper
1 dash salt
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 C sour cream

1. Saute the onion, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and garlic until tender.
2. Stir in the turkey, cook until evenly brown, the drain
   
3. Mix in tomatoes and pumpkin.
   
4. Season with chili powder, pepper and salt.
   
5. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 20 min.
   
6. Serve topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream.

Yield: 6 servings of unknown size

Nutritional Info
Calories: 303
Fat: 18.1 g
Protein: 21.3 g
Carbs: 14.9 g
Fiber: 5.7 g
Sodium: 336 mg
Cholesterol: 76 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
This bizarre little recipe came with Thursday's dispatch from AllRecipes.com, and it seemed simple and straightforward enough to compel me to make it. Of course, before stepping foot into my kitchen to begin its preparation, I spent several minutes perusing the reviews attached. It's something I've learned to do in advance for any recipe I get from AllRecipes.com because these suckers are submitted by users at will (well, aside from those submitted by advertisers, but they're kindly labeled as such). Given the countless hours of amusement the user-submitted photos of their dreadful concoctions have given me, I know well to check what luck other people had with a recipe before I try it.

Several reviews noted that the recipe as written produced a pretty bland chili, so I jotted down some notes about what others had done to give the dish some flavor. Others noted they threw in additional ingredients to either bulk up the content or make it more fluid. I also learned that some folks ::shudder:: use peanut butter to thicken their chili. What the hell kind of blasphemy is that, Gentle Reader?

Armed with my notes and a strong sense of adventure, I entered the kitchen and got to futzing.

• I used olive oil in lieu of veggie oil, and I used probably half the amount called for.
  
• I'm not sure if I had a full cup of chopped onion. I chopped half a medium-size yellow onion, and it looked like a good enough quantity.
  
• Yellow bell peppers have no flavor to me. Since I already had a red bell on hand, I picked up a green to go along with it. I used all the red, which was probably a full cup, then added half of the smallish green. By the time they were in the pot along with the pumpkin and diced tomatoes, the dish was quite bright and enticing.
  
• The Libby canned pumpkin was 15 ounces, which is 1 ounce less than 2 cups. Oh well.
  
• I don't own chili powder, and I didn't want to go to the trouble of mixing up a batch, primarily because its components I'd already identified from the reviews as "must add for real flavor" ingredients. Therefore, I got down my tub of ground red chile pepper and tossed in a tablespoon of the stuff. If this doesn't give it a kick, I thought at the time, I don't know what will.
  
• Speaking of those "must add for real flavor" ingredients, I tossed in a quarter-teaspoon of cayenne, a teaspoon of cumin and half a teaspoon of oregano. I'd given much thought to mincing some fresh cilantro to toss in before serving, but I wanted to avoid giving the boy one reason right off the bat to not eat the finished product.
  
• I didn't drain the turkey et al after browning. The turkey I used was 99% fat-free, so I didn't have a lot of fat in the pot, and I certainly didn't want to get rid of the olive oil because it has some nice, healthful properties.

Once I got the basic ingredients--the turkey, pumpkin, peppers, tomatoes, tablespoon of red chili powder, black pepper and salt--into the pot and was sure it was pretty well blended, I took a taste and a good long gander at what I'd wrought:

Lovely, yes, but this needs improvement.

I added a half-teaspoon of cumin, then the cayenne and oregano, stirred gratuitously, tasted, then added another half-teaspoon of cumin. Not pleased with the thick consistency and concerned about the...somewhat small quantity, I not only whipped out the fat-free chicken broth and added about a quarter of the 32-ounce container but also set to quick-soaking about three-fourths of a cup of chickpeas. If reviewers found it worthwhile to add corn (::shudder::) and black beans (a possibility I keenly considered but had to rule out since only one of the boys will eat them, and it's a sad thing to watch your 33-year-old husband pick out beans as if he were 6 years old again), I figured chickpeas could be a worthy addition and would probably match the flavors well since what I'd put into the pot, aside from the oregano, has all been put into some Indian recipe or another with chickpeas.

After all my futzing, I added just about half of the container of chicken broth. Forgive me, Gentle Reader, for not precisely measuring the amount, but I just poured a little at a time. I will say this about pumpkin puree: It doesn't hold moisture well. That is to say, after 5 minutes or so of just resting, the liquid would separate from the pumpkin mush and not look entirely appealing. However, a simple stir would blend things back together.

Because I was so satisfied with the result in the pot after adding all the chicken broth, I didn't throw in the chickpeas. That's not to say I was unsure they wouldn't work well with the chili. After inhaling my first bowl of the stuff sans extra legumes, I added some to my second serving. The first bite of it confirmed my hunch: Chickpeas are an entirely suitable addition and, in my uncultured opinion, would be a great substitute for the ground turkey.

Stay tuned, Gentle Reader, for the next installment in which I regale you with some baking adventures for this culinary experiment.