Battle 15 - Pumpkin and Bulgur

Things seem to be getting back to normal here, with all 6 competitors putting up awesome dishes. This is our first battle ever that all the competitors went vegetarian! Usually someone slips some meat in there somewhere. You guys made me really hungry, I think I am going to steal some pumpkins from peoples porches and get cooking.

Here are the submissions.

Cook Teen – Pumpkin and Bulgur Pancakes

Dust Bath – Bulgur Balls with Pumpkin Lime Soup

Good Food, Good Wine, Bad Girl – Bulgur Shortcakes with Pumpkin Preserves

Mango and Tomato – Indian Styled Pumpkin Bulgur and Lentil Side Dish

Silly Tater Tot – Vegan Pumpkin Bulgur Beer Bread

Wallflower Wonderland – Pumpkin Bulgur Burgers

The Judges this week are last week’s winner Peggy from My Boyfriend Likes it, So it Must Be Good, and Shanna from Food Loves Writing.

Everyone be sure to check out your favorites, then come back here and vote!

Results

Great battle everyone! As usual, I did not predict the winner at all! Both judges were in agreement, but the popular vote went to someone else.

Judging

Shanna from Food Loves Writing

Winner: Bulgur Shortcakes with Pumpkin Preserves from Good Food, Good Wine, Bad Girl (+300)

Runner-Up: Pumpkin/Bulgur Pancakes from Cook Teen (+100)

Cook Teen | Pumpkin/Bulgur Pancakes: It’s hard not to love a 16-year-old girl whose attempt to make pancakes yields her all the exact same reactions I had the first time—it is so hard not to flip them too soon, right, Chelsey? These had my mouth watering even before I saw the homemade pumpkin spice butter on top, but once I did, oh, wow. Pretty sure that’s what I wish I had for breakfast today (or, who are we kidding, for lunch or dinner).

Dust Bath | Bulgur Balls with Pumpkin Lime Soup: Exotic, fascinating and creative: that’s what this recipe is. As someone who’s never tried bulgur before, I am so intrigued that other people grew up eating it! Catalina really embraced these ingredients, and she got me curious not just about the tastes but also the nutritional content.

Good Food, Good Wine, Bad Girl | Bulgur Shortcakes with Pumpkin Preserves: Bottom line, I would order these shortcakes in a restaurant, and not just because the photos are so incredibly amazing. Using bulgur in a sweet, scone-inspired shortcake was brilliant, but sandwiching those shortcakes around pumpkin preserves knocked my socks off.

Mango and Tomato | Indian-Styled Pumpkin Bulgur and Lentil Side Dish: Love that this challenge got Olga to try pumpkin for the first time (even buying half a pumpkin at Whole Foods, ha!) and that she very smartly looked at it the way she’d approach any other winter squash. Combining pumpkin with bulgur and lentils turned this into a very approachable and interesting recipe that looks like a great side dish!

Silly Tater Tot | Vegan Pumpkin Bulgur Beer Bread: Wow, Katy didn’t just make bread; she also made bread, muffins and cake! While I’ll be the first to admit I’d never have thought to put pumpkin and bulgur and beer into a bread together, this looks excellent. Plus, bonus: it’s vegan!

Wallflower Wonderland | Pumpkin Bulgur Burgers: I laughed when I read Kristine was worried about seeming uncreative with brownies and so opted for these burgers— girl, this was about as inventive as it gets! Love that she was able to take pumpkin and bulgur and create something akin to a veggie burger.

Peggy from My BF Likes it, so it Must Be Good

First of all, I’m extremely excited that we finally have a battle where all 6 competitors submitted an entry! I was beginning to think the thrill of creativity was gone or lost, but this battle showed me wrong! Everyone had great entries and I don’t know if I could be as creative with these ingredients as you all were!

CookTeen – I love the pancake idea. Breakfast was needing a makeover and you certainly gave it one. I love how you’re one of the youngest competitors I’ve seen (maybe the youngest period??), but you have the culinary maturity of a 30 year old woman. I love the bloopers at the end of the post. You weren’t afraid to show that you’re not perfect and that it takes for than 1 try to get something right. Bravo.

Dust Bath – The flavors in your dish intrigue and puzzle me at the same time. It’s one of those things I think I’d eat and be like hmm… I don’t know why I like this, but I do. The colors were bright and you incorporated the ingredients very well.

Good Food, Good Wine, Bad Girl – this was definitely a fresh approach on a dessert classic. this looked like something I would eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, AND dessert. Loved the concept and thought you put into every element. I know with bulgar, it’s a hard ingredient to get people to like or accept, and I think you really accomplished this.

Mango & Tomato – I absolutely love Indian food, and this definitely sounds like something I would love to have with some chicken curry. You really let the Indian flavors infiltrate the given ingredients, and yet the ingredients were still your main focus, so I really liked that aspect.

Silly Tater Tot – I want to say I love your blog. You’re fun, whitty, and highly motivational. The bread idea was great. Beer bread is one of my favorite things, and to have your own brew incorporated in your entry, was ingenious. I immediately thought that I’d want to make a PBJ out of it, although I don’t know that that would be any good, but you sold me on how good the bread was. =)

Wallflower Wonderland – I have to admit. At first glance of your picture, I thought this was a chicken sandwich and it made me want a chicken sandwich. Then come to find out it wasn’t a chicken sandwich, but a pumpkin/bulgar burger, now that just got me interested on what it would taste like. Great creativity on your part.

All in all, everyone’s dish was a winner to me. Nobody had anything remotely like the other person (well, with the exception that you all used the same 2 ingredients). Everyone was a creative genius here. But when it comes down to it, I think the one thing that I would love to just gobble up right now is Good Food, Good Wine, Bad Girl’s Bulgar Shortcakes w/ Pumpkin Preserves. It just sounds amazing, and I’m definitely going to try it soon. (+300)

My second favorite thing would probably be the pancakes. I loved the post as a whole and I’m pretty sure this would be one of the most fantastic breakfast ideas I’ve seen in a long time. (+100)

Great job everyone!

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Popular Vote

Who won Battle Pumpkin Bulgur?(polls)

Results

Winner! Good Food, Good Wine, Bad Girl – Bulgur Shortcakes with Pumpkin Preserves (300+300+33 = 633)

Cook Teen – Pumpkin and Bulgur Pancakes (100+100+38 = 238)

Mango and Tomato – Indian Styled Pumpkin Bulgur and Lentil Side Dish (25)

Dust Bath – Bulgur Balls with Pumpkin Lime Soup (11)

Silly Tater Tot – Vegan Pumpkin Bulgur Beer Bread (11)

Wallflower Wonderland – Pumpkin Bulgur Burgers (9)

Congrats to everyone! As always, you can check out the overall rankings in the Hall of Fame that will be updated in a few minutes. Think you could do better? Signup for next weeks battle!