Make It Monday: 20 Ways to Eat Pumpkin!

Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone but we still have plenty of time to feast on delicious pumpkin. If you're getting tired of the classic pie form, why not try something new! 

For your reading pleasure I've devised a list of 20 ways to eat a pumpkin. Enjoy!

(click any photo to take you to its recipe)

Roasted pumpkin tossed with fussili in a white sauce
Pumpkin soup with toasted pepitas
Pumpkin seed cookies

Pumpkin mudslides made with kaluha
Pumpkin seed granola
Pumpkin oatmeal

Pumpkin ice cream sandwiches

Pumpkin white hot chocolate

Pumpkin pancakes

Pumpkin butter brownies
Baked pumpkin "fries"

Pumpkin smoothie

Pumpkin cream cheese on a bagel

Pumpkin beer (Great Lakes Beer makes a great ale - I had it at Chancey Smith's last year, now called Gambrinus)
Pumpkin loaf french toast

Pumpkin bread
Pumpkin scones

Pumpkin salad dressing

Pumpkin salad

And lastly, pumpkin-raisin muffins.


What's your favourite way to eat pumpkin?

31 Days: Day 5

Alright, this is impossible. Some how unless my day involves very significant events I lose all ability to remember how I spent my hours by the next morning.

Yesterday... I know I made cranberry oatmeal for breakfast. I went for a long walk with Calvin and Oliver. Somewhere along the line we had tuna wraps for lunch. We checked the mail*. I drove Calvin to work and stopped at the police station for a criminal records check (I am going to be volunteering as a nutrition educator at the YMCA and would also like to start volunteering in my church's nursery). Then I hung out at my friend Megan's place, on Wortley Rd. Her son Kelan is 2 weeks older than Oliver so they became friends.

We had chai tea and bonded over countless similar experiences. I'm really glad to have her in my life. We walked down to Quarter Master because I had forgotten a bottle of mint chlorophyll in the staff fridge (Iron Man reminded me of this) and I got to visit with the old staff, plus some customers. Upon leaving to try and find my friend Alla I ran into her son who was also looking for her, and we began a journey of searching for her together. Once we did find her I went to the library (Canadian Living: Create, Update, Remake - DIY Projects for You, Your Family and Your Home) walked back to Megan's to get my car - ran into 3 friends working at burger joint extraordinaire, Relish - and then drove to get Cal. Then we went to East Side Mario's for my friend Ashley's 25th birthday. We chatted about mushrooms and baseball and buying condoms in a wheelchair. We forced Ashley to allow a Happy Birthday singing so that we could eat her cake. And I gave her a homemade present - 2 wood log coasters, tied in a grey yarn bracelet. With a homemade card that used rosemary as a tree in the design. After that we went to Calvin's parents' house to pick up a second hand breast pump that Jeff procured for me. (Was so hoping that his receptionist would blast JEFF YOUR BREAST PUMP IS HERE over the PA system - but no luck). Then I got really tired so we came home. I fell asleep reading "The Thrive Diet".

* In the mail was a free infant formula sample from Similac. Not only do I not know how they got my information, but I don't believe it's right to send unwanted samples to new moms. Dr. Sears says you're much more likely to "give up" breastfeeding if you have formula in the house. Think of the nursing relationships that could be saved if we met challenge with support instead of a way out. I understand that some people need formula and it saves lives, but it needs to be a last resort and not an easy decision. I plan to contact them about my discomfort with the situation and I might even drink the stuff myself since it's probably a decent meal replacement and I'm all for saving money :) What do you think?

Oatmeal Cookie Makeover

I like to find hiding places.

By this I mean, I enjoy sneaking healthy ingredients into otherwise perfectly mainstream things (although I also like finding places to hide too - the cardboard boxes at work are perfect.)

Here's an unrelated photo of a
spontaneous feather gathering party this summer.

When I first got married I went on a naughty smoothie kick. Every morning Calvin would be delighted to receive his yummy strawberry-banana smoothie. What he didn't know was that it also contained liquid vitamin D, omega 3 fish oils, a live probiotic dose and acacia fibre. Not soon after that, my mother-in-law shared her recipe for naughty pasta sauce which involves blending tomatoes with spinach, green peppers, carrots and broccoli. I have flawlessly devised and executed plans to swap 3/4 of the rice in a recipe for quinoa, serve two boys tempeh instead of chicken moments before an ice hockey game, convince my dad that soy is beef (okay, that was just funny), and make flaxmeal a wanted edition to every single thing I bake.

My latest freaking joy is oatmeal cookies. Oh my goodness, you can put anything in there. A quick peruse through my museum of weird stuff in jars (more commonly known as a baking pantry) will turn up 20 - 30 things that would willingly ride in a 1/2 cup measure directly into a bowl of oatmeal cookie dough only moments before being rolled, baked, digested and lastly, metabolized into the now healthy bloodstream of my latest victim.

Try this:

Preheat oven to 350. You know the drill.

Mix up a bit less than a cup of vegan margarine and a bit more than a cup of sucanat (fine, you can use sugar). Add a handful of ground flax and an equal amount of water. Put in a splash of vanilla.
On top of that pour just over a cup of flour (I used wheat because I know my family isn't coming over, but alternatives would probably work in this case), just less than a spoon of baking soda, some spices and 3 heaping cups of oats.

At this point you have oatmeal cookies. Feel free to roll and bake for 12 minutes, or...

Return to the previously mentioned museum of weird stuff in jars. How about you pour in some:

Shredded, unsweetened coconut
Dates
Carob chips
Puffed millet or amaranth
Chia seed
Sunflower seeds
Hemp
Walnuts
Molasses
Orange zest
Clove oil
Coconut flour

Can you see how this is just bordering on as exciting as discovering that you fit perfectly inside the packaging that your boss's new printer came in? Folks, yoga is always handy.