Pumpkin kugel

With Hanukkah coming so close on the heels of Thanksgiving, I am happily changing gears to decorate the house tomorrow. I also have made the transition from thinking about a juicy turkey to crispy latkes. While there are no visions of sugar plums in this house, but I did entertain a somewhat festive take on kugel today, thanks to an abundance of canned pumpkin in the cupboard.

I have to credit Bittman with the inspiration (No. 35), but I wound up making essentially the same kugel I make every holiday, only substituting a can of pumpkin for the more traditional jar of apricot preserves. There were a few other tweaks, too, like some brown sugar, nutmeg and orange zest.

1 16 oz bag egg noodles
3 eggs, beaten
1 24 oz container low-fat cottage cheese (such as Light 'N Lively)
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1 cup 2% milk
1 15 oz can pure pumpkin
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
zest of one small orange
4 cups corn flakes, crushed
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook egg noodles to al dente in a large pot of salted water. Drain and rinse lightly to cool.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream and pumpkin; stir well to combine. Add milk, stir until smooth. Mix in brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and zest.

Add noddles, stirring well to combine. Coat 9x13 casserole lightly with vegetable oil spray and pour mix into dish. Top with crushed corn flakes and dot with butter.

Bakes 45 minutes or until set. Cool about 10 minutes before serving.