Pumpkin, Please!

Can we talk for a minute about pumpkin?  Everyone’s talking about it this time of year, right?!  But, I don’t mean in the pumpkin spice latte-crazed (although those are yummy!), fall-obsessed, pumpkin “flavored” everything kind of way – I mean in the context of REAL pumpkin and it’s low calorie, high nutrient density profile!  Pumpkin has a lot to offer, and obviously it’s tasty, so it’s understandable why everyone wants a piece of it ( I swear, no pie puns intended! 😉 this time of year.

Beta-Carotene

Pumpkins have beta-carotene to thank for their characteristic, bright orange hue.  Beta-carotene is converted to Vitamin A in the body, which then plays a major functional role in keeping our vision crisp and clear, our immune system fortified, and the repair and health of all the body’s cells  healthy (meaning it’s super important for keeping our skin pretty, too!).

Protein & Fiber

Fiber you may have guessed since most plants contain lots of it, but yes, pumpkins contain protein, too!  Good for digestion, good for pumping up those muscles.

Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, & Potassium

Calcium helps keep your bones and teeth healthy, strong, and fracture free.  Iron promotes the building of blood cells that keep oxygen flowing to your cells for energy and optimal functioning.  Muscle and nerve function, as well as over 300 other biochemical reactions in the human body are dependent upon magnesium.  Energy metabolism, bone strength, and bolstering the immune system are just a few others that rely on this mineral.  Potassium isn’t just a banana thing!  Potassium is also found in pumpkins, and keeps the heart healthy, and is especially important in the diet of athletes and active people since it’s lost through perspiration (sweating!).

Vitamin C & E

It hasn’t been proven, but Vitamin C is suspected to be useful in helping to pull through illness more quickly; it’s also essential for wound healing and collagen synthesis.  Vitamin E is also important to help protect the skin from UV damage and free radicals.  Additionally, there is some evidence to suggest it may help prevent prostate and bladder cancer and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

How to Use Pumpkin:

Fresh pumpkin is perfect cubed and thrown into stir fries, casseroles, or soups.  My favorite super simple, tasty way to enjoy it is to cube it, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your seasoning of choice, then roast it on a sheet pan in the oven!

Stir pumpkin puree it in to oatmeal with a dash of pumpkin pie spice and a splash of cold milk, mix it into quick bread and pancake batters, soups, obviously put it in a pie crust, or blend it up into this pumpkin pie-esque smoothie!  Any way you can add the real stuff (not the flavored syrup!) into your meals, you know you’re doing yourself a favor.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie {Gluten-free, Vegan}

(The awesome thing about smoothies is, you really can’t make a mistake!  Here, you have the option to add in any kind of milk you like, protein powder for a boost (or not, if you’re not feeling it!), and chia seeds, or ground flax for extra nutrition.  I love my smoothies not too sweet, but if you want more sweetness, just up the amount of maple syrup you add a little, or throw in another half banana.  Not exactlyyyyy like pumpkin pie, but you’ll get your fill of the real thing this season, so enjoy the lightened up flavor of pumpkin with this smoothie for awhile!)

Ingredients:

* 1 large banana, frozen

* 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

* 1/4-1/2 cup milk of choice (I used almond)

* 1 Tbsp chia seeds

* 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

* 1-2 Tbsp vanilla rice protein powder (optional)

* 1-2 Tbsp almond butter

* 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg)

* 3-4 cubes of ice (maybe a few more if your banana wasn’t frozen)

Directions:

Throw everything but the ice in a blender and blend on high until smooth.  Add in ice cubes one at a time until blended – unless you have a fancy Vitamix blender (I’m jealous, if you do!), and then you can probably just throw everything in at once and blend, blend, blend!

LooooooooooooooooVvveee!

If the last thing you want to see right now is a pumpkin pie, and the last thing you want to to do right now is follow a pumpkin pie recipe to make a pie…then turn away now!

If you’re still on board with the whole make more pie since the pie from Thanksgiving was so amazing idea, however, then you’ve come to the right place!

As I mentioned before in my Thanksgiving Recap, pie was abundant, but didn’t include much in the way of pumpkin until the next morning.  My brother’s fiancee, Becky, is obviously pretty die hard, even during the holidays- she had to go in to work on Black Friday, while most of the rest of the world was either fighting off crowds at Best Buy, or continuing to digest Thanksgiving dinner from the night before.  Before she left, though, she whipped up this classic pumpkin pie!
There’s nothing much new about this particular pumpkin pie since the filling is the result of the tried and true Libby’s recipe on the back of the pumpkin puree cans, but a pie is always set apart by its crust, which she made from scratch.  It was basically a hit, so here it is!

Libby’s Classic Pumpkin Pie

This recipe is for one pie, with a single, bottom crust.  The recipe on the Libby’s canned pumpkin is for 2 pies.
Probably one of the simplest of all pies, but always a Thanksgiving favorite, for sure!  I bet if you’re a pumpkin purist you could use your own stewed pumpkin, or you could probably use this recipe with canned butternut squash or sweet potato puree even, if that’s what you have on hand!

Ingredients:

* 3/4 Cup Sugar
* 1/2 tsp Salt
* 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
* 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
* 2 Large Eggs
* 1/2 of a 29 oz can of Libby’s Canned Pumpkin
* 1 Can Evaporated Milk
* 1 Store bought, or Homemade pie crust (see below for crust ingredients + how-to)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425*F.

For the crust-

1.5 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 cup shortening, 1/4 cup butter and 2-4 tbsp of cold water.

Mix flour and salt, blend in the fats with a pastry cutter, then add water until the dough just forms a ball (don’t add too much H20 and don’t overwork the dough once the water is in. Otherwise the pie crust will be tough.)  Roll out the dough on a floured surface until slightly larger than the size of your pie pan.  An easy way to transfer the dough to the pan is to roll it up on your rolling pin, lift it up, and unroll it over the pan- voila!  Now use your fingers to crimp the edges and make it pretty (or if it’s not quite perfect, do what I do and call it rustic 😉

For the Filling-

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl.
Beat eggs together in a separate bowl, and stir in the pumpkin and sugar and spice mixture.
Slowly stir in the evaporated milk.

Pour into your pie shell, and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350*F and bake for another 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack thoroughly. Serve at room temperature, or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Flaky crust + custardy pumpkin = fall.  There, I said it.  Pumpkin pie doesn’t JUST have to be for Thanksgiving anymore…you can make it any time you want, I promise!

It’s actually pretty nice featuring someone else’s recipe for a change and not having to do the work…thanks, Becky!! =)

…Any chance I can get guest posts out of anyone else?!  Just asking 😉

I feel like I’m guest-blogging for my own blog today, which makes no sense.

In actuality, I’m just writing from a different computer since apparently, yet unbeknownst to me, I managed to get the spontaneous combustion feature on my laptop and had to send it in for repair the SECOND time in two years. Now, don’t get me wrong, in the winter it’s nice to have a built-in lap-warmer…to a point, but when it starts to rev its processor with the force and sound of what I can only describe as a jet engine rather than a melodic hum, and the smell of melting plastic fills the air, it’s pretty much a different story altogether.

Needless to say, I’ve been without my computer for a week now, during what is without a doubt the busiest time of the school quarter, and I can only hope Dell gets it together this time and sends my computer back fresh and new!

On that note, Thanksgiving week is upon us! I’m usually pretty amazed and envious that some working folk get not just Wednesday, but the ENTIRE week off! That’s something I’m absolutely not used to, since I’m usually plugging away in non-canceled classes up until Wednesday evening, just in time to head home and hit inevitable, massive amounts of holiday traffic. However, I lucked out this year, and come Tuesday evening, I’ll be home free, ready to prepare for the arrival of Turkey Claus =)

In the mean time, I’ve continued the pumpkin theme with none other than pumpkin spice granola, because let’s face it, nothing says fall quite like pumpkin. And spices. And granola? Go with it. It’s a super yummy, tweaked up version of my Half-Marathon Training Granola (which, by the way, I still haven’t put to marathon training use yet! I know…), and it makes your kitchen smell better than any of those holiday scented spray thingies ever could! Done deal.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Ingredients:

Dry
* 4 Cups Old-fashioned oats
* 2 Cups Rice Crispies
* 1 Cup Raw Spanish Peanuts
* 1 Cup Pecans, roughly chopped
* 1/4 Cup Golden flax seeds
* 1/4 Cup Shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
* 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
* 1 tsp Salt
* 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
* 1 Cup dried cranberries, raisins, or whatever you like
Wet
* 3/4 Cup Pumpkin puree (from a can)
* 1/2 Cup Maple syrup
* 2/3 Cup Packed brown sugar
* 4 Tbsp Olive oil
* 2 Tbsp Peanut butter (or almond butter would work!)
* 1 Tbsp Vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325*F and line a baking sheet with parchments paper or a silpat.

Combine all of the dry ingredients, except for the cranberries, in a large bowl.

Stir together all of the wet ingredients, except for the vanilla extract, in a separate, microwave safe bowl. Microwave about a minute, then stir, and heat 2-4 more minutes until bubbly, depending on the strength of your microwave. Mine took about 5 minutes total.
Stir in the vanilla extract.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture, and stir, stir, stir! Combine well, and then pour the mixture onto prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and move browner, edge areas inward. If you like crumbly granola, you can stir it all up on the pan. If you like chunks of granola like I do, try to only move the brown edges and leave the rest of it in tact. Bake another 10-20 minutes, checking at 5 minute intervals so it doesn’t burn! Remove and let cool FULLY. At this point, if you stirred the whole pan, you will have loose granola, and if you didn’t stir it, break it up into large chunks.

Stir in the dried cranberries. Store in an airtight container, probably for about a week…maybe two? I have no idea if it will keep beyond about 5 days, actually, haha 😉

Cat tested, cat approved!

On the other hand, someone is caged this morning, and clearly NOT amused… =p

I hope your short work/school week kicks off with a great Monday!

Despite the fact that it’s still hovering around the 80 degree mark during the day and staying fairly warm into the evening around these parts, I decided to open my first can of pumpkin of the year at the beginning of the month. I think I did a pretty good job of holding off until the season really hit, even while being tempted by food blog recipes featuring fall ingredients back in September and even August (!!!) I try not to burn myself out on seasonal foods toooooo early on (apples are a different story altogether – I’m looking at you, yet-to-be-posted apple galette!).

I did the usual pumpkin oats first and foremost, but really wanted to get myself knee-deep in pumpkin with these cookies! I couldn’t find a recipe online that I really liked the looks of, so obviously I improvised. These are my basic recipe with a few tweaks here and there, and for my first try, I think they came out pretty well. Not overpoweringly pumpkin-y…to be honest, I think they SMELL more pumpkin-spicey-fall-ish than anything! They’re a bit cakey, but I wouldn’t call them a cakey cookie; as far as I’m concerned, no one wants a cakey cookie. If I wanted a cakey cookie I’d probably just make cake. Or a cupcake. Or something else bready, duh.  It’s all about the chewy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1 cup bread flour
* 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1/4 cup cornstarch
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp salt
* 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
* 3/4 cup margarine or butter flavored shortening
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
* 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (not the pie filling)
* 2 eggs
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Cream together the margarine or shortening and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in eggs one at a time, mixing between. Add the vanilla extract and canned pumpkin, and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture slowly, mixing between additions until well incorporated.

Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Drop golfball sized dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake about 11-12 minutes until just golden brown on top.

Still to do this month: World-record-holding corn maze! Maybe pumpkin carving.
Bring on the fall! =) What’s everyone doing for Halloween?