..but not a bite to eat. With the beginning of October, the grocery stores in my area seem to be overflowing with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. However, I'm a bit confused by the numerous pumpkins that are not recommended for eating. The small pumpkins in a large display by the store entrance are marked "for display only, do not eat!" and the pumpkins in the produce section are covered with stickers that read "great for painting!" Am I the only one who heads to the produce department looking for things to eat? So, stubborn as I am, I've become set on turning these decorative objects into food -- and hopefully something more interesting than the pie that everyone seems to be so set on this time of year.Scouring my selection of cookbooks, I found little of interest aside from pie and bread. Of course, pumpkin could be put in place of squash in any recipe, but why so few unique pumpkin recipes? At any rate, here are a few simple and non-pie uses of the pumpkin you may find yourself burdened with this October (and beyond!).- Even if you're making a jack-o-lantern, you can snag the seeds, rinse them, and roast them on an oiled cookie sheet at around 250F for an hour (salt if you'd like, don't if you'd rather not), stirring occasionally. (If you'd like, turn up the heat for the last 5 minutes of the cook time in order to get a nice golden brown.)
- If you've got a pie-sized pumpkin but no desire to make a pie, you can cut it into cubes and bake it (until soft) with butter and maple syrup.
- Pumpkin bread is a quick-bread, meaning you needn't need nor give it time to rise (read: easy to bake). Simply Recipes has a recipe for a spiced pumpkin bread that was transcribed from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook and is certainly a good one.
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