Pumpkin puree

daphne on November 12, 2008

Pumpkin puree is a great way to get a dose of beta-carotene while substituting out the fat in many recipes (use in place of the oil.) My favorite recipe using pumpkin is these yummy muffins. Perfect for school lunches and afternoon snacks.

Here’s how it’s done:

  • Microwave a whole pumpkin for a couple of minutes. This is not necessary, but it makes it a whole lot easier to cut in half.
  • Cut the pumpkin in half, and remove as much of the seeds and strings as you can.
  • Tip them cut-side down into a non-glass baking dish with about an inch or two of water.
  • Roast in a 425° oven for about 45 minutes, or until the flesh is very mushy. If the water evaporates before the pumpkins soften, add more water to the pan.
  • When they are mushy, remove and allow to cool. Put into a food processor in small chunks and blend until smooth.

Use right away, or freeze for later.

To freeze for easy use in recipes later on, measure out the puree in 1 cup heaps and place on a wax-paper covered cooking sheet. Once frozen, remove and put in a ziploc or other container for storage in the freezer.

Strike Two, Cauliflower’s Outta Here

daphne on October 27, 2008

Ok, Ok, I’ll give cauliflower another chance. Geez, I had no idea the cauliflower lobby had so many activists. You guys really love the stuff.  Apparently you’ll go to the ends of the garden to make some converts (or at least leave me a comment…thanks!)

Our final CSA delivery featured this royalty of the cauliflower family, lovely in shades of lavender.

So fancy did it seem that I decided I would try one of the many delicious-sounding recipes that flooded my inbox (does sarcasm come through online?)  No, really, I’m a grown-up and the mature thing to do is to take my medicine eat my vegetables like an adult.

This royal purple variety did present an opportunity to test the uncanny ability of the girls to identify the category of a food item simply by hearing its name:  Present them with tiramisu, and they’re in, foreign language or no;  though fois gras will send them screaming.  Bon bons? Oh yes, yes.  You get my drift?

Which brings me back to the cauliflower:  I boiled, blended and whipped that lavender bouquet into mashed cauliflower, all the while using my happy fairy thoughts to devise the perfect name. The color was extraordinary, like something out of Neverland.  Perhaps a plop of purple passion?  The girls would be on board, for sure.  It’s all in the name…

I sat in the kitchen, mashing and pondering, when Acadia come in.

What’s that Mom? Cauliflower?

Damn!  That child is quick.  I hastily revised my plan, figuring I’d sell them on taste, an angle best known historically for its total lack of success.

I scooped up a spoonful, brought it to my smiling mouth, and prepared to be blown away.  And blown away I was as I hit a major, deal-breaking snag: it was yucky. Really, really yucky.  I know, I know and I am sorry. Truly I am. But what was I supposed to do? It was just that yucky.

The girls didn’t know what to do with themselves at dinner. Not only did mom not make them taste the cauliflower but she’s wasn’t pushing the broccoli either.  They were on to me.  Something was rotten in the state of the kitchen.

(And considering the smell, I’m blaming the cauliflower.)