Hey There, Pumpkin: 4 Frugal Fall Feasts

By the author of The Ultimate Guide to Frugal Living and The Flat Broke Cookbook

If you like to carve your Jack’O’Lantern just before Halloween so you can enjoy that pumpkin-y goodness, do we have some ideas for you! Check out these tasty pumpkin recipes to put them front and center on your table. Think of it as the Whole Buffalo Theory of Jack O’Lanterns.

All of these recipes use pumpkin that you have pre-cooked and mashed or pureed. (You can substitute one 15-ounce can of pumpkin for 2 cups of fresh pumpkin.)

Pumpkin Parmesan Soup

Ingredients

• 2 cups of cooked pumpkin
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup of white wine (you can sub vegetable or chicken broth)
• 1/2 cup of milk (any kind)
• Parmesan cheese to taste
• Optional Garnishes: Sage, basil, pumpkin seeds

Directions

1. Finely chop onion and garlic.
2. Heat the butter in a saucepan and saute your onion and garlic until fragrant.
3. Turn down the heat and add a splash of dry white wine
4. Put in 2 cups of pumpkin and 1//2 cup of milk. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Finely dice sage and/or basil and stir it in.
6. Add parmesan cheese to taste and continue to heat it up until the cheese is melted.

Serve this with some crusty sourdough bread.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

• 2 cups of cooked pumpkin
• 1 ½ cup flour
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients and knead well. You want a sticky and fluffy dough
2. Roll the dough into a log and cut it into quarters.
3. Roll the quarters into smaller logs,
4. Slice the logs into  ½ inch pieces, press with a fork, and put them into a pot of salted boiling water until they float.

For an extra delicious texture, fry the cooked gnocchi with butter and sage. We like to serve this with poultry.

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cups of cooked pumpkin
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup of white wine or veggie broth
• Salt, pepper, and crushed red chilis to taste
• 1-4 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Heat up the butter then add your garlic and saute it until it’s fragrant.
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and allow it to simmer with the lid off for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in some Parmesan cheese to taste to help thicken it up.

Toss the sauce with your favorite pasta and serve it with bread and salad.

Pumpkin Pie Dip

This is the only dessert-y one in the mix, but I love how lazy it is. My kids enjoyed it far more than pumpkin pie.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of cooked pumpkin puree
• 1 container of whipped cream cheese
• ½ cup brown sugar
• Pumpkin pie spice to taste

Directions

1. Pop all the ingredients into a food processor or use a mixer to combine them well.
2. Let the mixture sit in the fridge until serving time.

Serve with graham crackers or nilla wafers for dipping.

Looking for more pumpkin-y goodness?

Check out our other recipes:

• Jack-o-Lantern Pie: Frugal, Egg-Free Pumpkin Pie Filling
• 6 Delicious Ways to Make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds: Frugal Recipe
• Make Fall More Frugal with DIY Pumpkin Spice Creamer
• Jamaican Pumpkin Soup: Frugal Recipe
• Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
• Every Thrifty Thing to Know About Cooking and Preserving Pumpkin

Are you a pumpkin fan?

Do you look forward to pumpkin season every year? What are your favorite ways to enjoy pumpkins? Bonus points if it’s thrifty! Let’s talk about it in the comments.

About Daisy

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites.  1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2)  The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.

Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.