Pumpkin Saag

One small pumpkin, tons of garlic, a section of fresh ginger that needs to be used up, and what seems to be acres upon acres of chard... What's a woman to make?

Rainbow chard. It's pretty and grows & grows & grows...

I decided to focus on the pumpkin and searched through a few cookbooks for inspiration, finally alighting on Moskowitz & Romero's Veganomicon.  Their recipe for Pumpkin Saag was easily adapted to assist me with my I-have-so-much-chard-I-could-scream situation.

Pumpkin Saag

3 pounds sugar pumpkin

3 Tbls oil [the recipe calls for peanut oil, but due to daughter's allergy I used olive]

1 large onion, diced finely

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala 

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1 cup water

1-inch cube fresh ginger, peeled

2 bunches fresh spinach chard greens, washed well and chopped coarsely

juice of 1/2 lime [I used the cheater plastic-lime kind]

First they have you cut the pumpkin in half (clean out the stringy insides and the seeds) and bake the two halves cut-side-down on a cookie sheet at 350 F for about 45 mins. Then you let the pumpkin cool completely and, once cool, you peel off the tough skin and chop the pumpkin up into 1 inch cubes.

Next you saute the onions in oil for a few minutes, then add the garlic and saute for a few more minutes.

Once the onions and garlic are lightly browned, you add the pumpkin and cook until heated (about 3 mins). Add the spices and salt and ginger. Add the water and cook for 5 minutes, mixing often. Finally, add the greens in batches, mixing well after each addition.

Cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring often. Add the lime. Adjust the salt. Allow to sit for a bit before serving.

The cookbook suggests pairing this with basmati rice, chutney and flat bread, which would have been good, but we kept it simple and served it atop brown rice.

It was delish, and made for tasty, beautifully aromatic leftovers to take to work.

Pumpkin Seeds

Last year I tried to roast pumpkin seeds. The charred, inedible remains of that attempt were in my mind today when I had the guts of a pumpkin spread out before me.

Could I carry on alone? 

No. I needed professional help. 

I looked through four or five different cookbooks before I found directions for roasting the seeds. (I believe most cookbook authors have written recipes based on the premise that their readers can figure out basic one or two ingredient recipes--as in, pumpkin seeds and salt--on their own. They apparently didn't know I'd be one of their readers.)

I was grateful to find Didi Emmons didn't overestimate my cooking abilities. Her Vegetarian Planet includes directions for roasting pumpkin seeds. And if you're like me and lack all culinary skill, perhaps you'll appreciate this as much as I: 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

To prepare the seeds, put them with the attached strings into a colander, and separate the strings from the seeds under cold running water. Spread the seeds on a baking sheet, and bake them at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil, some ground black pepper, and salt. Bake the seeds 40 minutes more, stirring from time to time.

My oven tends to run hot, so my seeds were a bit scorched when I checked on them at the 20 minute mark. I turned the dial down to 300 and only cooked them for 20 more minutes.

Not just edible, totally delicious!

Pump[kin] up the Muffins!

So you want a healthy[ish] breakfast bread that's sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth but not covered in chocolate chips or granulated sugar like my normal breakfast a coffee shop muffin?

Enter another winner from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe:

Pumpkin Muffins

nonstick spray
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (rounded)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
3 to 4 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp chopped orange zest
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 cup mashed pumpkin
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Lightly spray 8 standard muffin cups with nonstick spray.
   
   
2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, spices, granulated sugar, and orange zest in a med-size bowl. Crumble in the brown sugar and mix with a fork or your fingers until blended.
   
   
3. Measure the pumpkin into a second med-sized bowl. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat with a fork or a whisk until smooth.
   
   
4. Slowly pour this mixture, along with the melted butter, into the dry ingredients. Using a spoon or rubber spatula, stir from the bottom of the bowl until the dry ingredients are all moistened. Don't overmix; a few lumps are okay.
   
   
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. For smaller muffins, fill them up about four-fifths full. For larger muffins, fill them up to the top. If you have extra batter, spray one or two additional muffin cups with non-stick spray and fill with the remaining batter.
   
   
6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven, then remove the muffins from the pan and place them on a rack to cool. Wait at least 30 minutes before serving.
   
   

It's not perfectly wholesome goodness with that 1/3 of a cup (plus 4 Tbls) of refined sugars, but it's not all that bad.

Best of all, the baby girl loved them! So, score!

And, of course, not necessarily just for breakfast. They'd be too sweet (imo) to serve with soup or salad, but they'd be great for dessert. It wouldn't be, like, a wildly sumptuous decadent dessert, but a sweet ending to a meal nevertheless.