Pumpkin and chicken along with simple black beans dress up this hearty stew with the flavors of the southwest.

Pumpkin Stew with Chicken and Black Beans

By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

Welcome  to Pumpkin Week! I  guess that means autumn and October have officially arrived and I  have to stop giving  the evil side-eye to homes that have (at least in my mind) prematurely decorated for Halloween. Actually, I haven’t seen that many, plus the weather has been blazingly hot the last few weeks, I almost thought  it was  July.

And out today I stopped at the bookstore, so there were the first of the Christmas and Holiday food magazines. I ended up buying a few to browse  the photos: BH&G Flavor &  Spice, BH&G Baking with Dorie, and the latest issue of Bake From Scratch Holiday Cookies. So I guess I leapt into it in a very big way. The cashier was drooling over  the Holiday Cookies  issue, and  was telling  me about a cookie his Mom used to make with raspberries. By the time he had finished talking  about it, I was just about drooling too. And as I carried my clutch of periodicals out of the store, my brain was already busy at work  figuring  out how I was going to make the mysterious raspberry cookie. Bloggers are like that.

As well, bloggers like to get  together and post on similar  topics for fun (sometimes for profit). And all week long we will be posting pumpkin recipes (just when you  thought it was safe to go  into the water!) For today, I am posting a pumpkin recipe for stew which was inspired by  an old recipe for chipotle chicken chowder that I posted at Recipezaar many moons ago. Occasionally I like to  have something southwest flavored, and pumpkin can easily be one of those things.

But other than that, I wonder if I might come up a little short on words talking about it, leaving my post a little too short. At that point, I could go into some spiel about my dog, if I had one. But then again, it’s like Anthony Bourdain has said on one  of his shows “There are only so  many adjectives one  can use about food.” Or dogs.

He describes himself now as a simple eater. I know, he once seemed the culinary bad boy. But I understand his point. One can be high brow and yet still enjoy simple tastes and flavors  of everyday living.

Soups, to me, can be the epitome of simple living, since they are very easy to make and forgiving if you have  to make ingredient changes. They also seem to nourish my soul as a very simple meal, no other courses needed. But I have always been like that.
Join me tomorrow when I post my recipe for Old-Fashioned pumpkin bread (quick bread loaf) the way I have always liked it. I often find  I end up eating way too much. So my recipients of bonus-baking might find themselves in luck. Instead of being stingy and hiding it as a stash for myself, I might end up stuffing them until  they explode, but I have always been like that as well.

Feed the world and you will feed your soul. Moms know it.

Here are today’s #PumpkinWeek recipes:

Pumpkin Drink Recipes:

Pumpkin Pie Moscow Mule from Love and Confections.

Savory Pumpkin Recipes:

Goat Cheese and Sage Pizza with Pumpkin Crust from The Spiffy Cookie
Pickled Pumpkin with Sage and Autumn Spices from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Pumpkin Beer Bread from Forking Up
Pumpkin Beer Cheese Soup with Herbed Croutons from The Crumby Kitchen
Pumpkin Chili from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
Pumpkin Corn Chowder with Shrimp from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
Pumpkin Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce from Hardly A Goddess
Pumpkin Focaccia Bread from Cookaholic Wife
Pumpkin Ravioli with Parmesan Sage Cream Sauce from Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
Pumpkin Rosemary Hummus with Sizzled Garlic from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Pumpkin Stew with Chicken and Black Beans from Palatable Pastime
Spicy Pumpkin Soup from The Chef Next Door

Sweet Pumpkin Recipes:

Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from The Redhead Baker
Cheesecake Stuffed Pumpkin Bundt Cake from Cooking with Carlee
Easy Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake from Daily Dish Recipes
Jumbo Pumpkin spice Muffins with Pecan Streusel Topping from Family Around The Table
Kaddo Bowrani (Afghan Pumpkin with Yoghurt Sauce) from Caroline’s Cooking
Pumpkin Blondies from It Bakes Me Happy
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars from The Bitter Side of Sweet
Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal Bars from The Nifty Foodie
Pumpkin Madeleines from Mildly Meandering
Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites from Making Miracles
Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal from Seduction in the Kitchen
Pumpkin Pie Tassies from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
Pumpkin Scones from The Freshman Cook
Pumpkin Spice Donuts from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Pumpkin Spice Donuts from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
Pumpkin Zucchini Bread from Feeding Big
Pumpkin Zucchini Streusel Bread from An Affair from the Heart
Ridiculously Good Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cake from Bacon Fatte