Tis the season for pumpkin.
And Halloween is the night when the pumpkin takes center stage, its glowing grin luring costumed children to doorsteps.
But you may think about moving that pumpkin from the porch to the dinner table after learning about these pumpkin recipes.
Pumpkins are loaded with beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the body, and also contain potassium, according to the University of Illinois. So adding a little pumpkin to everyday recipes is a healthy choice.
Soup and spaghetti:“I try different pumpkin recipes all the time,” said Heidi Tubbs of Twin Falls. “I’ve made muffins, soup, pumpkin cake.”
Tubbs said friends will give her a pumpkin recipe and she will change it up. With the pumpkin cake she adds nuts and ginger.
Sometime she even pours a little pumpkin into pancake or waffle batter — a favorite of her children. Tubbs also puts it into spaghetti sauce, without her children realizing it.
“It gets a fuller flavor and thickens it,” Tubbs said. “I even cut it up pieces and saute it with onions and peppers.”
She prefers the canned variety over the fresh one in her backyard. But that’s only because it takes so much time to peel, boil and mash. But that shell can be handy.
Tubbs said she often cleans out the seeds from the inside of a pumpkin like she is going to carve it, but instead loads it full of soup ingredients such as hamburger, onion and canned cream of chicken soup and bakes it. She said you can make any soup you like and when you scoop it out, pieces of warm pumpkin will also be part of the mix.
Baking and snackingFor Sharon Hildreth of Buhl, using canned pumpkin is not only easier but means you can utilize the fruit all year long. Her favorites are pumpkin pie and pumpkin cake.
“It’s really moist and it’s simple,” Hildreth said. “The cream cheese frosting is so yummy.”
Cathy Wilson of Buhl said she has a recipe for pumpkin cake that is simple and delicious but without all the fuss that comes with making a pumpkin roll.
Don’t know what to do with all those seeds after carving? Don’t throw them away. Wilson said they are a nutritious snack when roasted.
Middle Eastern taste Liyah Babayan of Twin Falls remembers her late grandmother cooking up a storm during what she called “the month of the pumpkin.” Babayan’s family is Armenian, and she didn’t grow up eating American casseroles, hamburgers or hot dogs.
But she does remember eating pumpkin, especially during this time of year when it’s prevalent in grocery stores and at pumpkin patches.
One of Babayan’s favorites was cubed pumpkin cooked with butter, onion, jasmine rice, saffron, dill and a little curry.
“It’s a fall-appropriate dish … a Middle Eastern pilaf,” Babayan said. “Pumpkin has a way of absorbing flavor.”
Though her grandmother’s recipes are not written, Babayan said she plans to write down as much as she remembers.
“We are very seasonal in our way of eating,” Babayan said. “She also cooked seasonal and she cooked according to the universe and the season and was in harmony with nature.”
And a ready-made option: Rena Davidson, a baker at From Seed to Store, said the Buhl store’s pumpkin muffins are a favorite with customers. On Oct. 19, the bakers were training new hires on how to make those pumpkin muffins. Another option at From Seed to Store: pumpkin sweet bread.
Magic Valley
