The 5 Best Gluten-Free Things I Ate in October: Pumpkin Edition

Without all the Halloween candy floating around to binge on (and thank goodness for that!), I like to keep October eating focused on seasonal greatness: Pumpkins! Ever since moving to Germany and discovering that pumpkin-flavored food must come from a real vegetable and not a can (#expatproblems), I can't roast, mash and freeze the stuff fast enough. Pumpkin waffles and pumpkin soup quickly lead to expanding my pumpkin repertoire to pumpkin pizza and pumpkin risotto - both of which are regular dinner staples for us. Yes, we ate both last month, again, but I wanted to share some new things I don't rave about every week on my Instagram.




1. Pumpkin Brown Butter Cakes from Cannelle et Vanille

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned these before, but somehow, I hadn't made them again since the first time a year ago. Sure, I've been lazy, not wanting to make another batch of brown sugar (more #expatproblems)... but I've since realized recipes that require separate wet and dry ingredient mixing means sugar goes in with the dry, molasses goes in with the wet and voilà! Long story short, I've found a shortcut that means I'll be making these babies even more. Oh yeah, and my husband declared them the best gluten-free thing I've baked in the two years since my since celiac diagnosis. So there's that.




2. Thai Pumpkin Soup

This is one those recipes I found when I first 'discovered' cooking from scratch about six years ago, and it still holds up. It's easy, pretty quick (once you have the pumpkin mash on hand) and is a lighter, refreshing take on an ingredient that so often can feel heavy and dense after a season of eating it. Just don't forget those toasted pumpkin seeds on top!




3. Pumpkin Latte Doughnuts from PaleOMG

I saw this pumpkin-focused month very quickly getting away from me with too many baked goods packed with sugar, so I wanted to put something sweet in the mix that was not-so-bad-for-you-sweet. Of course I turned to PaleOMG, as Juli's recipes consistently make me feel I'm eating legit food, and not something that's attempting to be fill-in-the-blank-here but fail miserably because they're paleo. Anyway, this recipe was just what I was looking for, satisfying my sweet tooth without the gut bomb/sugar high I get with my usual doughnut recipe (adapted with gf flour, of course). Still very paleo in texture - I'm a bit of a baking traditionalist, what can I say - the flavors of coffee and pumpkin were killer. Now if only I can figure out how she got hers looking so good...




4. Brown Butter Pumpkin Fettuccini Alfredo with Fried Cheese from Half Baked Harvest

Ever since Tieghan posted this recipe, I've had it bookmarked, eagerly awaiting when we'd make it. Once I found some fancy gluten-free fettuccini (harder than it would seem, considering our proximity to Italy), I knew the time had come. I can't tell you the last time I had fettuccini alfredo, let alone one with pumpkin, sage and fried cheese. Now I remember why. Man, was that decadent. But so, so good.




5. Pumpkin Spice Pancakes (recipe coming soon!)

Wanting to try something other than my go-to pumpkin pancake recipe, I decided to whip up pancakes a little more simple and seasonal feeling. After a couple of tries, I think I landed on just the right combination of ingredients, which I will share just as soon as I am able to take a decent pancake photo. Okay, that could be never, but better ones at least. I swear pancakes are the most delicious of the least-photogenic foods out there. Stay tuned...