We all know the scrumptious slice of pumpkin pie with a glob of whipped cream on top of it, but did you know you could use pumpkin for oodles of delicious dishes?
1. Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
1. Tease the seeds out of the pumpkin innards with your fingers and rinse them in a colander
2. Boil the seeds in a pot of well-salted water 1o minutes
3. Drain and spread on baking sheet
4. Toss with 1 tsp. olive oil
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the seeds are toasty brown
2. Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
1. In a large nonstick skillet, sauté several cloves of garlic and half a diced onion
2. Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups pumpkin puree and stir to combine
3. Add vegetable stock if needed to thin the sauce a bit
4. Add minced fresh sage or rosemary and serve over whole-wheat penne pasta
3. Pumpkin Ice Cream (Requires Ice Cream Maker!)
1. Add 1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin puree and add 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice to your favorite vanilla ice cream recipe
2. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions
4. Low-Fat Whole Grain Pumpkin Pancakes
1. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, .5 tsp ground nutmeg and .5 tsp ground ginger
2. In a separate bowl, mix together 1 egg yolk, 1 cup canned pumpkin, ¼ cup brown sugar, and 3 tbsp apple butter. Stir in 2 cups of skim milk until well-blended
3. All at once, add milk mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
4. In a medium bowl, beat 3 egg whites until light and fluffy (you can use a fork, whisk, or electric beater for this). Fold egg whites into batter
5. Ladle batter by 1/4 cup amounts onto a preheated nonstick griddle lightly sprayed with cooking spray, Cook until evenly browned on both sides
Recipe makes about 20 pancakes (when the 1/4 cup measure is used)
5. Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
1. In a blender, combine 1/2 cup ice, 1/2 cup vanilla nonfat yogurt, 1 tsp. honey, 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (add half a banana if you’d like)
2. Puree until icy and smooth
6. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread
1. Add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2. 2 Tbsp. sugar (or sugar substitute to taste)
3. 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice to 8 ounces of low-fat cream cheese
Pumpkin is an extremely versatile squash that works great as a fall decoration and tastes absolutely amazing in a variety dishes.
