Pumpkin: Fall's festive favorite! My 2 favorite recipes to make with pumpkin.

I love this time of year, pumpkins are indicative of the holiday season approaching. The bright orange color screams antioxidants and the fleshy innards are full of gooey fibrous vitamin filled fun. This time of year you will see pumpkin flavored cookies, muffins, coffee, teas and even IPA beers! But if you are afraid of tackling the traditional pumpkin, reconsider this year and try these easy ideas to incorporate the bountiful gourd into your holiday, unrefined, cooking.

Roast the pumpkin whole (yes, that is right, don't cut it open on the top) just preheat the oven to 350 degrees, pierce the pumpkin in a few places with slits and roast for 1 hour. Let the pumpkin cool, cut it open and scoop out the seeds and strings out. Soak the scooped innards in cold water. You want to keep the seeds and roast them later. Cut open the remainder of the pumpkin and scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin. This part can be used to make pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie and mixed into any baked goods.

There are 2 favorite recipes that I love to make with pumpkin: Spicy pumpkin penne pasta and Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Here are the recipes.

Penne Pumpkin Pasta

1 pound penne pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic

2 cups vegetable broth

1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin pure

1 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce or red pepper flakes

1 tsp nutmeg

Parmesan cheese

From store to table:

Boil salted water in a large pot.Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until softened. Stir in the vegetable broth, pumpkin, cream, hot sauce or pepper flakes and nutmeg. Lower the heat to simmer and cook for 8 minutes. Add the uncooked pasta to the boiling water. Drain pasta. Toss the pasta sauce with the cooked pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese. Serves 4. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from FoodNetwork.com

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups dark chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper. Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Slowly beat in the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookies off with a spatula and cool on wire racks. 

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Lackadaisical Lucy- Laid back and lucky feeding style

Through the years I have seen many parenting types when it comes to feeding children. There is Lackadaisical Lucy, Chelsea Choice, Erin the Enforcer, Wanda the Whining Worrier , Betty Briber and Hilda Hide It. It is not to say that any one of these types of parents are wrong in their techniques in my belief everyone has an ultimate goal, that which is to feed the children the healthiest way they feel best. Today we will look at Lucy, maybe you will find some similarities with your feeding techniques and hers.

Lackadaisical Lucy 

Lucy likes it laid back and quiet without any turmoil or disruption. She has educated herself on healthy foods and enjoys trying new things. Her approach is to cook what she will eat and let her kids try it as they will. She refuses to be a short order cook.

Here are the positive attributes of Lucy:
1. She instills nutrition education. Each time they eat she casually mentions the benefits of the food that she is eating.
2.She involves the children with cooking and shopping and she lets them help pick out key ingredients for meals.
3. She is less stressed when it comes to meal times.

Some days I wish I could be like Lucy. Not really thinking too much about what a child eats and has the attitude that eventually he or she will be a good enough eater to get by. Lucy offers the child what she eats but does not dwell on the fact that the child has not eaten anything for 2 meals or only ate donuts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The negative attributes of Lucy are that, in a way she is waging her bets on whether or not the child will turn out to be a good eater or not. I personally, am not a gambler and can't stand thriller movies so watching and waiting doesn't work for me, but for Lucy it does.

What do you think? Are you like Lucy?

If you want to read more about a culture that does not stress about feeding their children I recommend reading: French Kids Eat Everything by Karen LeBillon. This book tells the story about how a family moved to France and "cured picky eating, banned snacking and discovered 10 simple rules for raising happy healthy eaters".