Halloween week. Caleb is a pumpkin. He is the most adorable pumpkin in the history of pumpkins and I say this with zero objectivity and complete confidence.
The base trunk-or-treat was Saturday. Caleb sat in his stroller in his pumpkin costume looking confused and delightful. He can't eat candy yet (eleven months, no teeth-based candy consumption) but he reached for the decorations with his grasping hands and babbled at every person who stopped to coo at him. Ryan carried him through the event like a trophy. 'This is my son. He's a pumpkin. He's perfect.'
Soo-Jin's daughter Mia went as a fairy and spent the entire event trying to sprinkle 'fairy dust' on Caleb, which was actually glitter, which is now embedded in every surface of our apartment and will be there when we PCS, guaranteed.
I brought food to the event (naturally): Mom's candy corn brownies, pumpkin muffins (my recipe — pumpkin purée, cinnamon, brown sugar, pecans on top), and Soo-Jin's hotteok because they're the best thing on any table and I've started making them myself. My hotteok aren't as good as Soo-Jin's, which aren't as good as her mother's, which probably aren't as good as her grandmother's. The tradition degrades with each generation. Or it evolves. Depends on your perspective.
The blog is at fifteen thousand total views across four posts. The 'Cooking Through Deployment' series is the biggest draw — the crockpot chicken post alone has been shared two thousand times. Two thousand shares. People are sending my writing to other people. Strangers are saying 'read this' to other strangers.
I'm writing the budget stir-fry post now. $5.50 for four servings. The recipe Mom invented during Dad's deployment when money was tight. I'm going to tell the story of the recipe — where it came from, why it matters, what it means to feed a family on nothing.
Mom sent a Halloween care package: her chocolate chip cookies, a small pumpkin 'for Caleb to look at' (he tried to eat it), and a note that said: 'The blog is wonderful. Your father reads every post. He won't tell you. I'm telling you.'
Dad reads every post. Kevin Abernathy, who communicates through eggs and gardening, reads every post his daughter publishes on the internet about the kitchen his wife built.
Halloween. Pumpkin baby. Candy corn brownies. A father who reads.
This is the good stuff. This right here.
After a week of pumpkin costumes, pumpkin muffins, and a small pumpkin Caleb tried to eat whole, it felt only right to keep the season going in the kitchen. The muffins went to the trunk-or-treat, but this — this rich, bubbling, ridiculously comforting baked gnocchi — came home with us. It’s the kind of recipe that turns a regular Tuesday into something worth sitting down for, and after a Halloween full of glitter and babbling and a note from Mom that wrecked me in the best way, I needed exactly that.
Pumpkin Goat Cheese Baked Gnocchi
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 (16 oz) package shelf-stable potato gnocchi
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 4 oz goat cheese, crumbled, divided
- 1 cup low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Fresh sage leaves or chopped parsley, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or a drizzle of olive oil.
- Make the sauce. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, broth, and heavy cream. Stir in the dried sage, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened.
- Add goat cheese. Remove the sauce from heat and stir in 3 oz of the crumbled goat cheese until mostly melted and smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Combine with gnocchi. Add the uncooked gnocchi directly to the baking dish. Pour the pumpkin sauce over the top and stir gently to coat every piece.
- Top and bake. Scatter the shredded mozzarella, remaining 1 oz of crumbled goat cheese, and grated Parmesan evenly over the top. Bake uncovered for 25–30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is golden in spots.
- Rest and serve. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh sage or parsley if desired. Serve straight from the baking dish.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 430 | Protein: 14g | Fat: 19g | Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 620mg
About the cook who shared this
Rachel Abernathy
Week 187 of Rachel’s 30-year story
· San Diego, California
Rachel is a twenty-eight-year-old Marine wife and mom of two who has moved five times in six years and learned to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with half her cookware still in boxes. She married young, survived postpartum depression, and feeds her family of four on a junior Marine's salary with a freezer full of pre-made meals and a crockpot that has never let her down. She writes for the military spouses who are cooking dinner alone in base housing and wondering if they're enough. You are.
