Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (Take 2)

Though my husband was satisfied with the previous incarnation of these pumpkin oatmeal bars, I thought they could be better, and they are. In this version, I wanted to increase the moisture by adding applesauce, reduce the oil, and increase the spices both in terms of variety and amount. The change in spices was motivated by a desire to make this more pumpkin pie like in flavor, and I think it worked. That being said, I think that this might be better yet in a third modification. Next time, I'm going to use a full cup of pumpkin puree and omit the milk to see if I can boost the pumpkin flavor without affecting the moisture balance.

This did turn out very well though, and is better than the previous version both in texture and in flavor.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (Take 2)

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 granular Splenda (or use white sugar)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup low-fat milk (or use whole milk)
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/3 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C. Grease and flour a loaf pan. 


Mix all ingredients except the baking powder, flour, and oatmeal together. After all of these ingredients are mixed, add the oats and sprinkle the flour and baking powder over the oatmeal. Stir with a spoon until completely mixed.

Lightly beat the egg in a medium-size bowl. Add the Splenda (or sugar), pumpkin puree, milk, oil, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the oatmeal, flour and baking powder until evenly mixed. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes until set. I baked mine for 40 minutes and that worked well.


entire loaf: 837 calories
6 servings: 140 calories per bar

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

My husband got some discouraging numbers back from a blood test which compelled him to make some changes to his diet. To that end, I'm trying to prepare food that he will enjoy that is lower in calories and doesn't spike blood sugar. Oatmeal is usually considered the breakfast of choice for its relatively low glucose index and decent protein numbers for a grain, but my husband doesn't like oatmeal as it is conventionally prepared.

In order to make oatmeal more palatable (and easier to eat than cooking it up on the spot), I modified an Amish baked oatmeal bar recipe. There are tons of these recipes out there, and I lost track of the one that I changed. Mainly, I replaced the sugar, cut the amount of milk and replaced it with pumpkin, removed the raisins, reduced the oil, and added in pumpkin pie spices. Here's an example of one of the Amish baked oatmeal recipes, though this isn't the one I modified.


Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal:

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 granular Splenda (or use white sugar)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup low-fat milk (or use whole milk)
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Lightly beat the egg in a medium-size bowl. Add the Splenda (or sugar), pumpkin puree, milk, oil, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the oatmeal, flour and baking powder until evenly mixed. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-35 minutes until set.

I could tell by the color of the top that it was evenly cooked. When it was dark orange, it wasn't quite finished. I cooked mine for 35 minutes in a glass loaf pan, which may have been about 5 minutes too long. I'd recommend using a toothpick inserted into the center to check for doneness and using a shorter time if you have a metal pan.

This was much better than I expected. It's a little crumbly, and not exceptionally moist, but still like an oat cookie or bar. For a moister result, I think adding 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce should do the trick. Since my husband was happy with this as is, and apple would increase the carb profile of this, I am not likely to add it to mine, but I think it'd work well in general. I'm going to try some variations on this recipe soon including a peanut butter version and a blueberry version.

The total calories for the whole loaf was 840. I cut mine into 6 servings of 140 calories each.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Pasta with Japanese Pumpkin, Pine Nuts, and Parmesan

I don't know how something that starts out orange (note the color of the pumpkin on top) can turn so green. Both the garnish and sauce are cooked so it's not the cooking or exposure to air.

I'm not a big fan of pasta, or any kind of noodle for that matter. I could never have been one of those college students who subsisted on things like "Top Ramen." Of course, I'm convinced that ramen is evil. Shawn's one and only MacBook was destroyed when a bowl of ramen lept from his hand and splattered itself on the keyboard. Well, either that or he carelessly held the bowl over the keyboard and dropped it. Either way, you just can't trust noodles!

Despite the fact that I would never leave a noodle alone with my wallet, I did decide to try a pasta dish. My motivation was less a love of noodles than a desire to use some of the kaboucha, or Japanese pumpkin, that I'd cooked up for something other than stuffing it into my greedy maw as delicious chunks of squash heaven. I've eaten plenty of kaboucha, but never used it for much of anything else as I tend to use American pumpkin puree when I cook with pumpkin. It's not as sweet and is more flexible (not to mention cheaper). If you don't have access to kaboucha and want to try this, you can use butternut or acorn squash.

I chose to make a sauce for pasta because I thought that Parmesan cheese and pine nuts would pair well with the pumpkin flavor and I frankly can't think of anything other than pasta that goes well with both of those ingredients. Here is what I came up with:

Japanese Pumpkin Sauce:

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 small cloves of garlic (or 1 big one)
• 1/2 large onion (or 1 whole small one) diced
• 320 grams of Japanese pumpkin (kaboucha) cooked and cubed
• 1/2 cup low fat milk
• 1/2 tsp. sage
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat. Add butter and when it has completely melted, saute the onions and garlic cloves. Cook until the onions are softened and slightly browned. Remove 6 (smallish) cubes of the pumpkin for garnish and add the rest of the pumpkin to the onions, garlic, and butter. Stir and mash the pumpkin roughly to mix with the onion mixture. Add the sage, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes. Add milk, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 10 minutes. If it seems too thick, add more milk as needed. When the mixture is cooked, puree it in a small bowl food processor or an immersion blender.

Serve over warm pasta, top with toasted pine nuts, Parmesan, and garnish with reserved pumpkin pieces.

My feeling about this was that it was good and I really liked the flavor, but I wasn't really pleased with the mix of textures. I think the sauce was too thick and could have used some more milk. I also wasn't wild about the mixture of pasta with pumpkin in terms of texture. I was quite pleased, however, with the mixture of Parmesan, pine nuts, sage, and the pumpkin sauce.

I wasn't over the moon about this, but I'm likely to try it again some day with some variations. I think more milk would be a good idea, and it might possibly go well over rice for that matter. If you care about calories, this recipe makes 3 servings and the sauce is about 415 calories for the whole batch.

by Shari (Orchid64)