4 Smashing Recipes (Starring Pumpkin)

Boo! Get ready for the spookiest time of the year—that’s right; Halloween is almost here. And what says “Happy Halloween” better than pumpkin, especially when it's on your plate!

Earlier, we covered how to prep and cook a pumpkin. If you missed it, head over to Jerry Baker Home, Health, and Garden on Facebook. (And while you’re there, don’t forget to like, follow, and share our page, too!)

Now that your pumpkin is out of the oven and pureed, you can pop it into containers and freeze it for later use, or you can enjoy it right away in one of these four tasty and amazing ways:

• Savory Pumpkin Mash: Stir your mashed pumpkin with a little margarine, ground cinnamon, and skim milk, and eat it instead of plain old mashed potatoes. It goes perfectly with grilled poultry!
• Sweet Pumpkin Puree: Sprinkle your pumpkin puree with pumpkin pie spice and chopped toasted pecans. Serve it with pork tenderloin for a delicious Fall dinner.
• Pumpkin Pot Roast: Add a little salt and pepper to your pureed pumpkin, then pour it over lean pot roast like a gravy. So easy, so quick, and so yummy.
• Berry Good Pumpkin Bowl: Season a bowl of warm pumpkin with ground ginger, and stir in some raisins or dried cranberries. Top with slices of baked chicken, and dig in!

Don’t worry, we’re not done yet—we’ve also got the best pumpkin seed recipe ever! These tiny treats are the perfect snack to munch on this season. And they’re also a good, concentrated source of zinc, a critical virus-fighter! Here’s how to make ‘em:

• The Tastiest Toasted Pumpkin Seeds: Separate the seeds from any remaining pumpkin pulp by running them under water. Then, spread the seeds out on a cooking sheet in a single layer. Coat them with non-stick cooking spray, and sprinkle them lightly with salt (or garlic salt, if you’d like). Bake at 325°F for about 25 minutes or so, until toasted. Then gobble ‘em up!

We hope you enjoy these Fall Favorites! And for more tummy tempting ideas that’ll keep you in the pink of health, check out our bestselling book, Homemade Health. You can even try it FREE for 21 days with our Free Preview!

Pumpkin Seeds: Nutrition with Crunch!

Happy Halloween to all you trick-or-treaters out there!

If you’re responsible for handing out goodies to the ghosts, monsters, pirates, and princesses who come to your door, I’ve got an easy trick for you so you don’t dip into the treats yourself: snack on pumpkin seeds instead!

Halloween is the perfect time to scoop these big, slimy seeds from the heart of a jack-o-lantern. But they’re a tasty snack any time of year. And you can use them to dodge some common health threats, too, like:

Say “BOO” to B.O. Pumpkin seeds provide a good, concentrated supply of the mineral zinc, a deficiency of which can lead to body odor.

Don’t be a zombie. Make pumpkin seeds part of your mid-day snack — their protein will keep you energized.

Cramps haunting you? Pumpkin seeds are loaded with fatty acids that lower levels of body chemicals responsible for muscle aches and menstrual cramps.

Dr. Frankenstein should have known about this… The minerals in pumpkin seeds, especially zinc, will help your body heal when you have a cut or other injury and especially after surgery.

Here’s the easy how-to for tasty pumpkin seeds that’ll make you forget all about that fun-size Snickers bar:

STEP 1. Rinse the seeds and separate them from the stringy flesh.

STEP 2. Add the seeds to a big pot of saltwater (2 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of salt for every ½-cup of pumpkin seeds). Boil for 10 minutes.

STEP 3. Remove from heat and drain.

STEP 4. Spread the seeds in one layer on a baking sheet, and brush them with olive oil.

STEP 5. If you want a little extra flavor, season the seeds with your choice of flavors: garlic salt, cayenne pepper, Cajun spices, or whatever you like.

STEP 6. Preheat your oven to 350°F and bake the seeds for 45 minutes or so. Shake the pan every 10 minutes to keep them from burning.

Enjoy!