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Everything Pumpkin: Tips for Using the Delicious Vegetable this Fall

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I love everything about fall!  I’m excited to share this guest post with you from Victoria Candland!  She has some great ideas on using pumpkins for food, crafting and decorating!
 
Pumpkin is autumn’s staple vegetable and it’s used in virtually everything from décor for Halloween and Thanksgiving to desserts to savory dishes to crafts. We all know the traditional ways of using pumpkin—pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread—so maybe you should change it up this fall and try incorporating pumpkin in new and exciting ways.
Here are some great recipes, and craft and décor ideas that will let you use the delectable vegetable in unique ways:
Food
Pumpkin is the shining star of fall desserts, but you can also use it in your savory dishes:
  • Pumpkin chili is delicious using pumpkin puree mixed with garbanzo beans and black beans.
  • You could also make healthy pumpkin muffins with flax seed and tofu for a more natural-eating fall season.
  • For a healthy treat, make a snack out of the pumpkin seeds by roasting them and incorporating them into a brittle full of almonds, cashews, and dried cranberries.
  • Try roasted pumpkin pieces on goat cheese and arugula salad—doesn’t that just make your mouth water?
But, of course, you can’t skimp on pumpkin desserts:
  • Make homemade pumpkin frozen yogurt you can eat if there happens to be an Indian summer before the frost settles in.
  • Try pumpkin waffles, or pumpkin and ginger trifle with whipped cream.
  • You could make chai pumpkin spice thumbprint cookies with pumpkin Hershey’s kisses.
  • Everyone has heard of the pumpkin latte that people wait in line for at the beginning of fall, but have you thought of making a pumpkin smoothie? Blend pumpkin puree, ripe banana, soymilk or coconut milk, honey, vanilla extract, pumpkin spice and some ice and you’ll be sipping on heaven.
  • If you’re into more intricate desserts, try your hand at pumpkin truffles covered in dark chocolate. You can surprise your friends with these little treats on their doorstep or bring them to work and have all your coworkers marvel at your baking skills.
And give these fun ideas a try too:
  • Make pumpkin butter by mixing together pumpkin puree, apple juice, ginger, cloves, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. You can spread it on your signature homemade rolls you make for Thanksgiving. Put the butter in mason jars and give it to your guests as a Thanksgiving feast party favor.
  • Don’t forget to make pumpkin dog biscuits for man’s best friend. Use pumpkin puree with dry milk and flour, cut out the dough in dog treat shapes, then put them in the oven and presto! Your dog can enjoy the fall season just as much as you do with these yummy treats.
Crafts and Décor
Decorating your home and yard with pumpkins can easily become cliché. But, you can make your home one-of-a-kind for fall with many different pumpkin ideas.
Have fun with spray paint when decorating for Halloween this year:
  • Spray paint your pumpkin pink or another fun color and then put a glitter monogram on it of your family’s last name.
  • You could also spray paint it black and write “Trick or Treat” with a silver metallic sharpie and “Smell My Feet” on another one with a gold sharpie.
  • Try painting chevron stripes on the pumpkins—this pumpkin-styling is perfect for both fall holidays.
  • You could also wrap your pumpkin in one leg of an old pair of fish net tights topped with a large black bow.
  • For more Halloween-styled pumpkins, you could paint 5 or 6 of them green with red spots and line them in a row. Then put eyes and a mouth on the first one and you’ll have made a pumpkin caterpillar!
Or try one of these creative ideas:
  • If your kids just adore the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, carve out a pumpkin and carve the shape of a mouth opened wide. Then paint the pumpkin blue and put googly eyes on it. At your Halloween party, bake cookies and have them coming out of Cookie Monster’s mouth. Your little ones will be ecstatic when they see it.
  • For another kid-friendly pumpkin craft, carve out a scary jack-o-lantern face and then let your kids water color the rest of the pumpkin so it will look like a hippie version of Jack the Pumpkin King from Nightmare Before Christmas.
There are so many ways you can carve or paint a pumpkin. But, what’s the fall season without the wonderful smells? Bring the warm and rich fragrances of pumpkin into your home with some high-quality pumpkin spice candles—and try a candle that includes organic materials like this one. You could also consider other smells like cloves or nutmeg when shopping at your local candle store.
Whatever you choose, take advantage of the pumpkin this fall season and delight your senses.