pumpkin potluck

I’m usually really good about writing recipes into the future (thank you, scheduled post option!), but really, really terrible about updating about my life in a timely manner. Luckily, med school is a great scapegoat to blame everything on and most people completely understand, so I’m in the clear! :]

Several weeks ago, one of the first years had a pumpkin potluck to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Volunteers signed up to make some kind of a dish/dessert with pumpkin in it, and there were raffles for different donated items. Anyone who paid $5 at the door would get to eat all they wanted. This may seem counter-intuitive for trying to raise money for diabetes research, but food fundraisers tend to go pretty well here, mostly because no one knows how to cook/has time to cook, so they jump at whatever chance they can get for homemade food.

There were pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice rice crispy treats, pumpkin sticky buns, pumpkin swirl brownies, pumpkin oreo cheesecakes, vegan pumpkin walnut bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin risotto with fresh parsley + goat cheese, pumpkin lasagna, pumpkin mini meatloaf balls, sausage + pumpkin cornbread stuffing, pumpkin coconut soup, pumpkin bisque, pumpkin cornbread, pumpkin pasta, pumpkin chili (2 types!), mashed pumpkin, pumpkin ginger snaps, cape malay curried winter squash, gluten-free buttercream stuffed pumpkin cookies…

In short, it was glorious.

My favorite dessert (this is saying a lot because there were about 2.5 tables filled with desserts) was the gluten-free buttercream-stuffed pumpkin cookies. The wife of one of the first years is a magical cook and he said her cheesecake alone was enough for him to want to marry her. I need to try this cheesecake (I’m in the process of trying to obtain the recipes for basically everything she makes). :O

The event raised $320! :] Not bad for a $5 admission, yes yes?