Eating Pumpkin - a Happy Expirement!

Not what you'd imagine when somebody says the word 'pumpkin'. These little guys are about the size of an acorn squash but are much sweeter.  They grow here year-round and make a wonderful side dish to many entree meats. For the environmentally consious culinarian, using pumpkin lays little to waste as the seeds are edible too.

I've tried them many ways and all experiments were successful. Some, I'm listing below:

Roasted Pumpkin with Stuffing

1  link spicy portugese sausage, chopped into bits

1 cup finely chopped white onion

1 finely chopped celery stalk with leaves

1 cup prepared white rice (or 1 cup prepared instant stuffing mix - I use pork flavor)

Mix above ingredients in large mixing bowl (I do this by hand) and set aside.

Take 2 pumpkins about 5-6 inches in diameter and cut the tops off.  Empty seeds into a colander for rinsing and baking later :)  Fill the empty pumkins with the stuffing mixture and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Voila! Instant dinner for 2!

Roasted Pumpkin (without stuffing)

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

2 tblsp. olive oil

Take 2 pumpkins about 5-6 inches in diameter and cut in half. Empty the insides into a colander for rinsing and baking the seeds later. Sprinkle open halves with above spices and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake face-down at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. This serves 4 and makes a great side dish to roast pork, chicken or beef.

Stove-top Pumpkin Cooked with Cornish Game Hen

1 cornish hen, halved

1 5-6 inch pumpkin, quartered and cleaned

2 tblsp olive oil

1/2 cup water

Ground sage

Sea salt

Black pepper

Celery seed

Add olive oil to a 10 inch deep skillet and brown the cornish hen halves on all sides.  Place hen halves with skin side up and surround with quarters of pumpkin. Add water and sprinkle spices over dish. Cover and cook on med/med-hi for about 40 minutes, or until squash is tender. Makes an easy one-pot dinner for two!

Baked Pumpkin Seeds

After rinsing seeds clean from remaining pumpkin flesh, place in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees until they make a "popping" sound (10-20 minutes more or less). Sprinkle with popcorn salt and serve warm.