Thanksgiving 2019

Each year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, my son in law's aunt hosts a cooking competition similar to 'Chopped'; with a few exceptions.
Invitees are given a list of four ingredients 4-6 weeks before the date.
This year's ingredients were pumpkins/squashes, potato chips, cumin, and candy cane!
After much thought, research and selection, my grandson and I teamed up to invent a baked pumpkin dish.   A pie pumpkin was cut, the insides scooped out, smeared with olive oil, salt, and pepper and baked empty for 25 mins.  We then filled it with a mixture of cooked quinoa and Thai pumpkin curry
(to which the jeera/cumin and crushed candy cane had been added).  It was baked for 30-45 mins (till a knife could pierce the skin).
While the filling was made up by me the baking of the pumpkin and Thai curry was based on facts gathered from different web sites.
What was left was re-purposing the potato chips.  Finally, the night before the competition I came across a recipe that made cups with potato strips and baked to resemble chips.  A muffin pan was lined with the strips.  I followed the recipe here:  http://yummilyyours.com/baked-potato-chip-cups/
My only advice is the cups need to be removed from the pan, turned upside down and baked for another 3-5 mins to crisp up the bottom.
At the bottom of each cup, we placed a small bit of a crisp chip and a tiny bit of candy cane to accentuate the flavor.  Just before eating people filled their own cups and ate it.
The cups were a cute idea and they baked up like little flowers (I did 3-4 thin strips crisscrossed in each pan letting a bit hang over the edge) but do not add fillings till the last minute as the cup becomes soggy.

I sent my entry in as I could not attend but we did not win.
We did get an honorable mention according to my daughter (or maybe she just said that to cheer me up!)
My daughter won with macaroon pumpkin samosas with mint chutney and macaroons filled with homemade pumpkin pie filling.