Pumpkins

Last week we got this tiny little pie pumpkin in our CSA box, and it’s been sitting on our windowsill ever since (please excuse the bad photo – I used my phone).

I actually love cooking with pumpkins, but this one seems so tiny that I’m not sure what to do with just one. Anyway, I thought today would be a good day to remind everyone of the nutritional benefits of pumpkin, and provide some ideas for ways to use it in recipes.

First of all, choose your pumpkins wisely. The big ones are great for carving or decorating, but the smaller ones pack more flavor and are much better for baking or cooking. Fresh pumpkins, just like any other food, are always the most nutritious and will give you the best taste in any recipe, but canned pumpkin is easy and available at any grocery store. Just beware of what you are buying: there is pure canned pumpkin, but there is also canned pumpkin pie filling, which includes spices and other ingredients. I recommend buying plain pumpkin and adding your own spices and flavors.

Nutritionally, pumpkins are great! This is good news, because they are so versatile and can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. The beta-carotene is what gives pumpkins its bright orange color, and this is a form of vitamin A that acts as a strong antioxidant. They also contain fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B3, potassium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, and calcium. In addition, pumpkins have a high water content. Many people consider pumpkin a superfood because of its high amounts of antioxidants. There are also 14 phytonutrients found in pumpkins. Phytonutrients are plant nutrients, and in the past 20 years many studies have linked consumption of phytonutrients to things such as protecting people from development of cancer and heart disease.

When cutting into a pumpkin, don’t forget to save the seeds! I’ve talked about pumpkin seeds before, but just to remind you, they are very highly concentrated in zinc. Many of us are likely zinc-deficient, due to the large number of things that contribute to zinc deficiency, including antibiotic use, birth control pills, blood pressure medication, antacids, alcohol, sugar consumption, stress, too much exercise, and more. Therefore, pumpkin seeds can be an important and necessary part of the diet. Pumpkin seeds have traditionally been used in the treatment of male prostate problems, mostly due to their high zinc content. They also contain protein, essential fats, iron, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, vitamin E, and some B vitamins. Read my easy method of roasting pumpkin seeds here.

Some other recipe ideas for pumpkin include:

• Bake pumpkin bread or muffins, using whole wheat flour, ground flax seed, walnuts, and instead of sugar use apples, banana, or something similar.

• Cut pumpkin into small cubes and coat with olive oil and other herbs or spices, such as cinnamon or sage, then roast.

• Roast or steam pumpkin to soften it, then puree it and add cream and spices to make a delicious pumpkin soup.

• Add chunks of roasted pumpkin to chili or stew.

• Steam the pumpkin and mash it into your family’s pancakes on Sunday morning. Add some cinnamon and walnuts and they will love it!

• My mom, always the healthy chef, started substituting pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving for a much healthier pumpkin custard. It is delicious and to be honest, after a huge meal, it’s the perfect dessert. I’m not sure what her secret recipe includes, but I imagine that she adds things like vanilla, spices and nuts. You can always find great recipes online – I may try this one!

I hope this helps inspire some of you to make some delicious fall pumpkin recipes. Your family will enjoy something new, and you’ll be doing them a favor by providing them with so many beneficial nutrients!

Banana Pumpkin Pear Muffins

Even though it’s been happening around the 15^th of every month since March, it still catches me by surprise. The doorbell rings, I rush to see who it is, and find a box. A box beautifully packaged and full of something delicious: fruit. Yes, Ed and I are members of the Harry & David Fruit-of-the-Month Club, thanks to a very generous wedding gift from our friends Ben and Abby!

Now, unlike the Beer-of-the-Month Club microbrews or Stonewall Kitchen-of-the-Month Club sauces and muffin mixes (both also wonderful wedding gifts!), with fruit we have to use it quickly before it becomes overripe. So each month I am faced with a new challenge. I’ve done pineapple skewers for a bbq we hosted; apple pie and apple crisp and homemade applesauce; we even had papaya smoothies once for a week straight!

November brought pears. And I love pears, because they are high in vitamin C and vitamin C is not only an antioxidant, but it also stimulates white blood cells to fight off infection and it kills bacteria. Pears are considered a hypoallergenic fruit and are a safe choice for infants. They are also a good source of fiber, copper and vitamin K.

I have had two small pie pumpkins sitting on my living room mantle for a couple of weeks, just begging to be baked. So I came up with this recipe myself, and it turned out very nicely. I used some ingredients that may not be readily available in your kitchen cabinets, so feel free to use the (alternative) ingredient instead.

Recipe

1 ½ cups almonds, ground to a meal in food processor (1 ½ cups any type of flour product)

1 ½ cups steel cut oats, ground to a flour in food processor (1 ½ cups any type of oats, unground is fine too)

1 cup spelt flour (1 cup any type of flour, or flax seed meal would work well too)

1 tsp grated ginger (can leave out if you don’t have it)

1 ¼ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

A few dashes of sea salt

1 ripe banana

2 pears, chopped

1 cup pureed fresh pumpkin (canned works well too)

1 egg

1 tbsp butter (optional)

1 tbsp unsulphured blackstrap molasses (1 tbsp raw honey)

¼ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins. Puree chopped pears and ripe banana in a food processor, blender or by hand. Ed gives this step a big thumbs up.

In large bowl, combine almond meal, oats, spelt flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt.

In separate bowl combine molasses, egg, butter, pumpkin, banana, pears, and milk.
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well. If batter is too dry or too wet, adjust with milk or flour accordingly.

Spoon into muffin tin and bake for 14-18 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Makes 18 muffins.

What is blackstrap molasses? I figured you’d ask.

Blackstrap molasses is the liquid byproduct

from the sugar refining process. It is one of

the few sweeteners that is actually good for you,

in that it boosts iron stores, is a good source of

calcium, and is full of the minerals copper,

magnesium, potassium and manganese. It does

contain sucrose so if you have blood sugar

problems you may want to avoid it.

These muffins are full of nutrients and make a great breakfast or snack. Ed and I had them this morning along with a mostly-veggie smoothie. And I’ll even let you in on a little secret: I added some chocolate chips to the last 6 muffins… and who can turn down muffins with chocolate chips???

Allison, if you’re reading this, yes, I saved you and Teddy some.

And before we officially enter the weekend, let me leave you with a few clues about Monday’s post, which could quite possibly be the best yet at Pierce Whole Nutrition:

1. I did not write it.

2. It’s funny. Very, very funny.

3. It will make you buzz over to your local market to buy the freshest raw honey available.

I am very excited about Monday’s guest blogger and you should be too. I promise she won’t let you down!

Pumpkin Seeds

But first, some things to note:

1. I have officially joined Facebook! I have created a page for Pierce Whole Nutrition and you can follow me by clicking on the pink Facebook icon on the top right. Become a fan and try out the Healthy Pumpkin Bread recipe I posted yesterday. It’s the perfect thing to make with your leftover pumpkin from the pumpkin apple pie in Tuesday’s post.

2. I had a few people ask about nutrition information for the pumpkin apple pie recipe. The reason why I did not include this is because I truly believe we all focus too much on counting calories or fat grams, and not enough on the actual quality of the food we are eating. If we can switch our focus to whole, fresh, unprocessed foods, and create recipes made from these foods, we can begin to change our perspective. We will see food for its nutrients and the benefits we are giving our bodies, rather than for its calorie or fat content. This will lead us to make more balanced choices about what we decide to put into our bodies. I will try to talk about the health benefits of certain foods when I do give you a recipe though.

Now onto pumpkin seeds…

Why do you carve? I do it for the seeds.

It’s fun to have bright, scary pumpkins at your door when trick-or-treaters come knocking. But I have to say that the best part about carving pumpkins each year is the seeds. Ed and I intentionally chose huge pumpkins just so we’d get the most seeds… and when Ted (brother) and his girlfriend Allison came over with their pumpkins, it was clear they had done the same.

Roasting the seeds is simple – just spread a little oil on a cookie sheet (I used grapeseed oil because it maintains its nutrients at higher temperatures than other oils), sprinkle with some sea salt, and roast at 325 degrees. Roasting times will vary, but plan on it taking at least 20 minutes, and try to shuffle them a bit halfway through.

The seeds were delicious, and they taste even better when you know how nutritious they are. Pumpkins and their seeds are in the same family as cantaloupe, cucumbers and squash. They have high amounts of essential fatty acids, zinc, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, iron, copper and protein.

Pumpkin seeds have more magnesium than most other foods. Yesterday I wrote about vitamin D and its importance for calcium absorption. Magnesium is similar in that without it, calcium will not be properly absorbed. However, unlike vitamin D, magnesium cannot be obtained naturally. We must get it from foods such as seeds, lemon, grapefruit, nuts, green vegetables, apples and figs. Magnesium is found mainly in bones and muscles, and can help with muscle relaxation, bone strength and blood circulation.

Pumpkin seeds also are rich in phytosterols, which are plant compounds that can help reduce cholesterol in the blood (you want cholesterol in your cells, but too much can cause overflow to the blood, which can be harmful - more on that later), enhance the immune system, and even decrease risk of certain cancers. Other items containing phytosterols include sunflower seeds, pistachios and sesame seeds – all yummy snacks!

And the seeds weren’t the only thing that turned out great…



Happy carving!

(and yes, those are my slippers that Ed is wearing...)

Pumpkin Apple Pie: A Perfect Compromise

First of all, I want to thank all of you who visited my blog yesterday! I was truly overwhelmed! I had more readers for the first day than I ever could have wished for, so thank you. Your posted comments were very encouraging, and the emails I received were full of great questions and topics that I cannot wait to blog about!

Some of you asked about signing up for e-mail subscription to the blog. I have added a space on the sidebar where you can now do that. Hope it helps!

Now onto the recipe...

Whenever pie is offered at Thanksgiving, I am always torn between pumpkin or apple. So I thought I would try one that merged the two flavors and see how it turned out. My guinea pigs were Ed (loves apple pie), my brother Ted (loves pumpkin pie), and Ted’s girlfriend Allison (likes desserts with pumpkin and apple).

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

¾ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup steel cut oats

1 tbsp raw organic honey

½ tsp sea salt

½ cup cold organic butter, cut into small pieces

¼ cup cold water

Combine flour, oats and salt. Blend in butter and honey with mixer until mixture is lumpy. Blend in water slowly by hand, until mixture holds together. Shape dough into a round ball and place on floured piece of wax paper. Top with another piece of wax paper and roll it out to about 1/8-inch thickness. Press dough into pie plate.

Pumpkin Apple Pie Filling

1/3 cup brown sugar

½ cup raw organic honey

1 tbsp arrowroot

1 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp organic butter

2 apples (I used one Granny Smith and 1 Honeycrisp)

1 egg

¾ cup fresh (or canned) pumpkin

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp ground ginger

¾ cup lowfat milk

1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Core and thinly slice apples (I used the food processor – easiest way).

Mix brown sugar, arrowroot, 1 tbsp cinnamon, salt, water and butter into a pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mixture boils, add sliced apples. Toss for 4-5 minutes so that apples are coated in mixture. Remove from heat.

In separate bowl, mix together egg, honey, pumpkin, 1 tbsp cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and milk.

Pour apple mixture into pie crust. Spoon pumpkin mixture over the top.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and bake until filling is just set in the middle (it took me about 40 minutes). Let cool completely on a wire rack, and enjoy with vanilla gelato!

The verdict: Ed, Ted and Allison all loved the pie! I served it warm, with the gelato of course. I think this pie would be the perfect Thanksgiving dessert to impress your family and friends and satisfy all tastes!