Fresh pumpkin or canned: 5 reasons to serve pumpkin year round.

Pumpkins are more than pie or fall decorations!

From the peeling to seed, cooked and raw, the value is immeasurable. Here are 5 reasons to serve pumpkin year round plus scrumptious recipe ideas and links for more!

#1 Tremendous health benefits.
Pumpkin is high in Vitamins A, B12, C; rich in potassium; low in calories. Its antioxidants may boost immune systems, lower risk of certain cancers and promote heart health. Click healthline.com for more nutrition information. 

#2. Fat Replacer in Recipes.
Instead of replacing butter or oil with applesauce, try pumpkin! Try it in bran muffins, chocolate cake or cornbread; you will be amazed at the flavor!

#3. Versatile kitchen staple.
Add cooked pumpkin to yogurt, oatmeal, pancakes, toast (with drizzle of honey), lentils or legume dishes, sour cream for soups and tacos, soups, chili, stew … and the list goes on! Get creative. Learning to use more pumpkin means getting more nutrition and less fats and sugars into your families’ meals.

#4. Often over-looked snack item.
Don’t toss the seeds! Roasted pumpkin seeds are quite tasty. Remove fleshy parts from seeds you scooped out. Toss in extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. Bake at 300 for 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

Raw pumpkin cubes have a hearty, rich flavor for some; others may find them a bit chewy and difficult to digest. Note: cooking does improve its nutritional quality.

#5. Easy to store
Whether you cook your own pumpkin or buy canned, plan to freeze excess in ice cube trays and save in ziplock bags ready to use all year. When using canned pumpkin, grab plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mixtures containing spices and sugar.

About those recipe ideas, here are a few teasers

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce: saute’ garlic and onion, add pumpkin puree and herbs such as sage or rosemary; serve over penne pasta.

Pumpkin Cheese Spread: 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 2 Tbsp. sugar or sugar substitute to taste, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 8 ounces of cream cheese. Bring on the crackers!

You won’t believe what they’ve done with pumpkin on this website … don’t miss it! Click …

Have fun and let me hear from you.

Hugs,

For some amazing ideas, follow this link and let me know what you try. Click here.