This may have been asked before but I looked at the Superfoods list of foods again today and had forgotten about pumpkin. How does one eat pumpkin? Besides in a pie? I don't even like pumpkin pie. I guess I could add it to my morning breakfast smoothie but it makes me kind of gag to think about it. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Charlene

I'm brand new here and this is my first post but I had to because we LOVE pumpkin in my house. I put it in all kinds of things like cookies, bread, waffles. The waffles are the best. I use whole wheat flour and add pecans, flax seed meal, bran, shredded coconut, cinnamon, etc and my son loves them. He gets to use real maple syrup, I use apple butter (the no sugar kind!). We do a lot of smoothies but I can't say pumpkin in a smoothie appeals to me either. I don't know many savory pumpkin recipes so hopefully someone else will. I do a really yummy pumpkin carob chip cookie that I actually prefer to the Toll House variety (although my hubby heartily disagrees).

Janelle

The nice thing about the super foods book is that there are Super Foods - like pumpkin and their sidekicks - orange pepper, sweet potato, butternut squash, carrots, etc (he doesn't list mango, but I think it should be listed!). I have had no trouble getting the "pumpkin" super foods by just eating sidekicks.

I eat carrots nearly everyday, add sliced orange peppers to salads and stir fries and adore baked sweet potatoes. I also dice sweet potatoes, nuke them a bit and add them to stir fries or my black bean burritos. Butternut squash is also good in stir fries. I also have a great recipe for white bean, kale and roasted vegetable soup (including butternut squash) - PM me if you want the recipe! Tonight, I had some roasted butternut squash mixed with a tbs of pumpkin butter, it was fabulous.

I have used canned pumpkin (not pie filling) mixed with various things (cinnamon or a little maple syrup) and heated up as a treat.

What about pumpkin soup? Take a can of plain, unsweetened pumpkin (not pie filling), and cook with some chicken broth, cayenne, chili powder, and sage. Mix in some soy milk at the end for creaminess. Mmmm.

I mix pumpkin puree into spaghetti sauce and chili, too. You can't really taste it but all the nutrients are there.

Someone around here has a pumpkin chili recipe that sounded good. I think it was LindaT. Now we'll have to find it

heheh yes it was me. It's posted over in the Medieterranean forum as well as the Sonoma Forum. It's called Pumpkin Chili Mexicana and it's fabulous!

Another recipe I've made is called Pasta with Pumpkin and sausage. I used a turkey or chicken sausage, less pasta(and made sure it was whole wheat), subbed the cream with evap skim milk and shoved in some zucchini to make it more figure friendly.

You can go to a place like foodtv.com or allrecipes.com or receipezaar.com and just enter the word pumpkin in the search box and get tons of recipes.

We do a lot of pumpkin muffins and bread. I also do the pumpkin pudding recipe from the Superfoods book--basically pumpkin pie without the crust. I add pumpkin puree to yogurt with some spices and sweetener (sugar, honey, artificial, you pick). Finally, I make a homemade pumpkin butter and use like jelly or jam, about half puree and half honey, or whatever ratio works for you.

I've had pumpkin curry soup that I've liked before, but never made it myself. Finally if you have an actual pumpkin, you can roast it like any other hard squash and eat with salt, pepper, and a little butter or olive oil.

Anne

One of my favorite daily treats is pumpkin and cottage cheese.

I mix half 1% cottage cheese with half pumpkin puree. I add some pumpkin pie spice, mix and eat. I don't need any sweeteners for it and it is pretty good. I've also made pumpkin smoothies before and pumpkin/cottage cheese/oatmeal pancakes.

Thanks so much for all the tips! I wrote down the suggestions in a "pumpkin" file for future experimenting.

That Mexicana Chili recipe sounds good! The easy pumpkin soup recipe I'd like to try too. All the muffins, bread, waffles sound so yummy too but those are dangerous for me to have in the house as I loved baked goods too much.

I think I'll buy some canned unsweetened pumpkin this weekend and for fun sneak some into chili or stew and see if anyone notices.

I have been trying to eat the pumpkin sidekicks at least a few times a week.

We grew our own pumpkins this summer but after carving for Halloween and extracting the seeds for roasting we threw them in the compost pile. Next year I'll try something new with them.

Thanks again,
Charlene

I put pumpkin in oatmeal, with cinnamon and raisins. I call it "Thanksgiving Oatmeal". My son loves it and has eaten it since he was 3. Honey drizzeled over is a big hit too.

Oh thank you for the idea! I've been eating a bit of oatmeal lately and pumpkin sounds wonderful.

Oooh yes, I'll be trying that pumpkin oatmeal, too. Maybe even later today for a snack! Gawd, that sounds delish!

We always scrape the flesh out of the inside of our jack o lanterns before we carve them. Takes a bit of elbow grease but it is worth it in the end and there's no waste. Plus the light from the candle inside the thinned out pumpkin makes the whole thing glow so looks super cool. Then I just steam, puree, strain a bit and then freeze so I always have some on hand. It's really hard to find canned pumpkin here and whole pumpkins are only available at Halloween so I have to put up as much as I can! I only had one that I planted survive last year and wouldn't ya know it was one I apparently forgot to pinch the growing tip off of! It nearly took over the back garden but I got no fruit

I make really good pumpkin soup--even my husband who hates veggies LOVES it. Although we like butternut or acorn squash slightly better.

This is for a small-medium pumpkin or the larger can of pumpkin puree, or a butternut squash or 2 small acorn squash. It's pretty flexible--its a soup!

For fresh squash - cut in half, remove seeds and roast cut side down in a 400 degree oven. Add about 1/4 " of water to the roasting pan and tent with aluminum foil to steam/roast until tender (45-90 minutes depending on the size of the squash). Let cool and scoop out flesh. I usually do this in the morning, or the day before, or i do a bunch of it and freeze the puree.

1-2 stalks celery, preferably with leaves - chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 leeks sliced - white part plus ~2 inches of green OR 1 med sweet onion chopped

Saute veggies in small amount of canola or olive oil until aromatic and slightly softened. Add 1T-2T poultry RUB (not poultry spice - poultry rub has salt in it too. Paul Prudhomme and McCormicks are both good) and stir quickly to release aromatic oils, add just enough low sodium chicken broth, veggie broth or water to just cover the veggies.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat cover and simmer about 20 minutes until veggies are very soft.

Optional - add 1-2 cups frozen or fresh corn kernels during the last 5 minutes of simmering - this makes a sweeter soup - works best with acorn squash

Puree the soup using a blender or stick blender, add the squash and heat through. Add more broth to desired consistancy. Also good with leftover chicken or turkey added right before serving.

**spice rub - I usually start with 1T and then add more at the end for desired flavor.

Some GREAT pumpkin recipes!:

yum yum brownies:
http://www.hungry-girl.com/week/week...s.php?isid=614

peanut butter fudge:
http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chew...s.php?isid=978

pumpkinlicious veggie soup:http://www.hungry-girl.com/week/week...s.php?isid=976

Fat Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Cream Cheese
http://www.hungry-girl.com/gfgprevie...wsletterid=954

Peachy Keen Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins -80 calories each
http://www.hungry-girl.com/week/week...s.php?isid=983


crazy for pumpkin pancakes:
http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/ask...s.php?isid=938