Pumpkin Perfection.

Today we got around to preparing our baking pumpkins.  I had eleven in my pumpkin patch.  Earlier we had used a couple to make pumpkin bars and bread.  Today, we made puree and measured 1 cup servings into freezer bags.  I am hoping I get to make the pie for Thanksgiving!  Here is how we prepared our pumpkins...we washed them, cut the stem off, sliced them in half, scooped out the guts, and put them cut side down in about a half inch of water on a baking sheet.  We baked them for an hour at 400 degrees.  We let let them cool and scooped out the flesh.  We finished by using the food process to puree it.  I plan to have a baking pumpkin patch again, it has been a very rewarding plant!  In fact, I tried a new recipe today and we both LOVE it!

Pumpkin Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bars

I originally got this recipe from the Weight Watchers website which claims it to be just a couple points a slice.  Mine is slightly higher and I did change the recipe from what was on the Weight Watchers site.  I think mine is higher because of the cranberries I used...the nutrition on the packages seem to be twice as high as what most websites site it should be.  In fact my chocolate chips were lower in calories than the cranberries were!  The Weight Watchers website did not use chocolate chips.  They used buttermilk and I used regular milk.  The final product is a cake like bar that has sweet chocolate accenting sour cranberries in a soft pumpkin confection.  It really is delicious!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Brown Sugar (I used dark)

4 Tbsp. Margarine (Mine was 60% vegetable oil)

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree (You can certainly use canned, that's what the original recipe calls for)

1 Large Egg

1 Egg White

1/3 Cup Fat Free Milk

1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 1/2 Cups Uncooked Old Fashioned Oats

1 Tbsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice (I used Apple Pie Spice, because that's what I had on hand)

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Table Salt

2 oz. Craisins or other Dried Cranberries (I used 2-100 calorie packs of Craisins)

1 oz. Miniature Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour dust a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  In a large bowl cream brown sugar and margarine.  Beat in egg and egg white, pumpkin, and milk.  Mine looked very granular or almost slightly separated at this step, which concerned my slightly, but by the time it gets to the pan it will be mixed nicely.  In a separate medium-sized bowl combine flour, oats, pie spice, baking soda, and table salt. Stir in pumpkin mixture just until moistened.  Fold in cranberries and chocolate chips.  Spread evenly in baking pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely and cut into 18 rectangles.  Enjoy with a tall glass of milk or hot cup of tea or coffee.

Each bar has around 174 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1 gram of fiber, 10 grams of carbohydrates, 8 grams of protein, 154 mg of sodium, and 384 mg of calcium.  This calculated out to 4 Weight Watchers Points per bar.  This is a great snack or could be a nice breakfast bar!