From the Roots Up: An amazing recipe for leftover pumpkin

BY SUSAN LANE

Halloween has come and gone, and that usually means an abundance of pumpkins left over from the trip to the pumpkin patch or maybe even your own garden. Fall décor pumpkins adorn front porches and entryways. Pumpkins are a great fall food source, easy to prepare and the puree freezes well for winter use. 

In this day of rapidly rising prices, saving money on food purchases is one way to combat inflation. Waste not, want not used to be a common saying. So I am sharing a recipe on how to use those cute pumpkins to make some amazing recipes. 

Today I will share how to take the puree and make an amazing sauce to use over macaroni for a mac and cheese substitute, full of vegetable nutrients. First of all, you gotta get the pumpkin puree made. This is not as hard as it sounds. Wash your pumpkin first with clear cold water to remove any dirt before cutting it in half to bake. 

Cutting it in half is where a lot of people have trouble. The way I do it is I lay the pumpkin on its side then take a big sharp knife and stab the pumpkin in the middle to get your cut going. Pull the knife down towards the bottom of the pumpkin, remove the knife and stick it back in the middle and pull it towards the top towards the stem. Roll the pumpkin over and repeat bringing the cuts together at the bottom. After the last stab and cut towards the stem, simply cut the pumpkin around the stem to remove the stem and you have pumpkin halves.  

Now scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp, saving the seeds to roast. Place the pumpkin halves on a paper lined cookie sheet, one side down, brush some olive oil on the rind, pierce the rind with a fork, and bake at 325 for about an hour until the rind is soft and easily pierced with a fork. Remove from oven, cool a bit and scoop out the orange flesh insides, scraping as close to the rind as possible without getting any rind in your pumpkin. 

Puree this in your food processor and you have pumpkin puree. Divide by the cup amount and freeze any unused pumpkin for later use. I usually freeze in one-cup amounts, labeling as such so I don’t forget what it is. Now take one cup of that puree, add in ¼ cup of nutritional yeast, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder, ½ tsp. smoked paprika, ½ tsp. salt and 1 cup of milk. Blend together then heat until slowly, stirring constantly to prevent sticking or scorching.  When hot simply pour over some precooked macaroni pasta.  

You have an amazing side dish, full of nutritional value and you have saved a pumpkin from going to waste.