It literally causes me pain to see rotting jack-o-lanterns on the curb. I cannot handle it. Call me thrifty, call me cheap, but do not call me wasteful. Last year, Hubby and I rescued 16 abandoned pumpkins. And we ate them. All of them. Pumpkins are such a gigantic, yummy, nutritious food that it's a shame to throw away them away just because you've carved a face on them. Because of our fanatical pumpkin beliefs I have accumulated quite the collection of pumpkin recipes. So, the day after Halloween our beloved Jeffrey the Jack-o-lantern was unceremoniously hacked to 1-inch pieces and frozen to await his rebirth as our future meals. One of those meals is our family favorite, the "Vegetable Cobbler."
Basically, it's a bunch of roasted veggies with some gravy and a crumbly topping. So, Buttercup had her first taste of pumpkin. She's always been a big fan of squash in general, and pumpkin proved no exception. She gobbled it up, begged for more, and ate that, too.
Sidenote: do not give your infant pumpkin seeds. They require much chewing with molars. I thought that seemed obvious, but I was actually asked on a forum a few weeks ago if it was a good snack for babies. Uh, no.
PROS: great texture and nutrition
CONS: labor-intensive, especially if you buy big pumpkins.
I've heard that the pumpkins ideal for carving jack-o-lanterns aren't great for eating. I thought the smaller sweet pumpkins were the ones to cook with? Hmm...maybe you can share a recipe or two with us for a carving pumpkin. I'm assuming it requires more sugar?
ReplyDeleteNope. No sugar required. "Sugar pumpkins" are considered ideal for making pumpkin pies, but any pumpkin is as edible as any other winter squash. In fact, I use jack-o-lantern pumpkin in place of butternut squash for many recipes.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to my recipe for vegetable cobbler (though I change a few things to suit my tastes - I can't ever leave any recipe alone!):
http://www.grouprecipes.com/102115/vegetable-cobbler.html
Cubed pumpkin makes great finger foods for babies exploring the world of self-feeding. Pumpkin is an excellent source of nutrition, and I love using it as an ingredient in many homemade baby food recipes.
ReplyDeletehealthy children's recipes
I thought eating carved pumpkins was advised against due to risk of some sort of black mold?
ReplyDeleteIf you use the pumpkin right away there are no problems at all.
ReplyDelete