KMB Nutrition

Surprise. Surprise. The food of the month for November is pumpkin. When I spot fresh pie pumpkins at the supermarkets in the fall, I typically buy at least five because I know that I can not only make all sorts of delicious healthy foods with them but they keep well and are decorative until we eat them.

Here are my three top reasons to love Pumpkin:

1. Pumpkin is delicious. There is a reason that pumpkin pops up everywhere in the fall from the ubiquitous lattes to savory soups and lasagnes to sweet pies, cheesecakes and breads. As a bonus, the sight of the vibrant orange color of the skin and flesh is nourishing to the eyes. 
2. It is inexpensive and very easy to prepare. Canned pumpkin is $2-3 per can and a whole pie pumpkin is just $2.29 at Trader Joe’s. $2.29! That’s an incredible deal! If you’ve never done it before, roasting a whole pie pumpkin makes at least the equivalent of 2 cans of puree and tastes significantly better. It’s also extremely easy to do – see how in the notes below. 
3. Pumpkin is nutrient dense. It’s very high vitamin A content made up of carotenoids, including the well-known antioxidant beta-carotene, supports skin health, strong immunity, healthy eyesight and proper cell growth along with potentially protecting against cancer and fighting inflammation. Pumpkin also has a low glycemic load and contains 3 grams of fiber in a one-cup serving. This means that it can support healthy blood sugar when used in savory preparations. 

Pumpkin is also obviously the main ingredient in my favorite just-sweet-enough pumpkin pie recipe. It may technically be a tart since I make it in a tart pan. It could even be technically classified as a pumpkin goat cheese tart since it includes goat cheese. Call it what you want – it is just sweet enough to be a dessert but not too sweet to be breakfast and it is delicious. If your sweet tooth is strong, you might want to serve it with a sweet whipped cream. See how to make this fabulous pumpkin tart-pie-cheesecake below.

Just-Sweet-Enough Pumpkin Cheesecake Tart with a Pecan Amaranth Crust 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9-inch tart pan with coconut oil. Put the pan on aluminum foil and fold up the edges so that the oil doesn’t seep out when you bake it later.
2. Process 1 cup of pecans to a very coarse meal in blender or food processor. 
3. Mix pecans with:

• 3/4 cup amaranth flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1/4 cup golden flax seeds (yes, you’ve got to use golden here, the brown ones taste too strongly)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt

1. Press into tart pan and bake for 10 minutes. 
2. Blend (or mix very well): 

• 2 cups pumpkin puree (if using canned, you could probably go with just one can)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar (I like to use coconut sugar here. Also if you are used to very sweet desserts, you might want to add 2-3 extra tablespoons here.)
• 1/4 cup goat cheese
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• .5 tsp ginger
• .5 tsp nutmeg
• .25 tsp salt

1. Bake about 45 minutes. 
2. Cool to room temperature.
3. Refrigerate overnight. ENJOY! (Maybe even for breakfast…) 

Note: If you can find cheap pie pumpkins, it is worthwhile to bake them. Roasting and blending a pie pumpkin is much more delicious than the canned stuff at the store. Baking a pie pumpkin is wildly easy:

1. Preheat the oven. 
2. Wash the pumpkin.
3. Maybe poke it a few times. I never do, but it is commonly recommended.
4. Bake for 45 min -1 hour. 
5. Once it is cool, remove seeds, blend it and you’ve got pumpkin puree.