You Know it’s Autumn When…

…you eat pumpkin at every meal. Or practically every meal. That’s what it’s been like around here lately, not that I’m complaining! I love pumpkin. And I will miss it when it’s gone for the winter… sniff sniff.

Pumpkin is definitely not reserved for pumpkin pies anymore. It seems like every year, people discover new things they can do with pumpkins: muffins, waffles, pancakes, pies, custard, pudding, mousse, the list goes on and on. You may have noticed most items on that list were desserts, but pumpkin is not even reserved for the dessert tray anymore. It has become the featured star in a number of entrees and side dishes for the dinner table.

Because of my DH’s colitis, he cannot have any highly acidic foods, including tomatoes and tomato sauce. (On a side note, he can have ketchup, which is odd, but I guess that’s because the life has been boiled out of the poor tomato by the time it becomes ketchup!) As you can imagine, that eliminates a lot of Italian food, especially that standard busy-mom classic: spaghetti. Nope, no spaghetti around here. When we have pasta, I have to get creative with sauces, which is actually not a bad thing, because I like to be creative.

So when I found this recipe for pumpkin pasta sauce in my January 2009 Woman’s Day, I was super excited! I was skeptical, to be honest, but variations of Alfredo sauce get old and I was ready to try something new. I was mostly nervous that my DH would hate it, but fortunately, that fear did not come true: he actually loved it! The first time I made it almost exactly as the recipe requires, including the sausage, the sugar and the sweet spices (the alliteration was not intentional, by the way!). I left out the broccoli because that is yet one more thing DH cannot have, but it was great anyway.

This time around, I did not have sausage and I wanted the pasta to be a side dish, not the main meal. So I eliminated the sausage, sugar and sweet spices (there goes that alliteration again) and made it a savory pumpkin sauce instead. Can I just say: YUM! My DH even said that it reminded him of mac ‘n’ cheese, which, as my sister says, is high praise from him, seeing that mac ‘n’ cheese is pretty much his all-time favorite food ever. Even though I used fresh pureed pumpkin, it wasn’t a real strong flavor, which is good if you’re not a huge pumpkin fan. The dish basically tasted like creamy noodles with a slightly spicy flavor.

Savory Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
1 lb pasta noodles (I used elbow macaroni; any short sturdy noodle will work)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
dash of paprika
1 TBSP freshly grated parmesan

Cook the pasta noodles according to the directions on the package. While the noodles are boiling, mix heavy cream, whole milk (you can use 1 1/4 cups half and half to replace those two ingredients) and pumpkin in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until smooth, and bring to a boil, stirring often so the milk doesn’t burn. Allow to simmer for several minutes, stirring often, until mixture is slightly thickened. Add spices and stir to blend well. Drain noodles and dump them into a serving bowl. Pour sauce over noodles and stir to cover them completely. Sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan cheese over noodles and serve.

Optional: Because I was using fresh pumpkin and it was still somewhat stringy, I put the sauce in the blender and pulsed it a few times before mixing it with the noodles. If you’re using canned pumpkin, this step is unnecessary, although I did find that it made the sauce thicker and creamier.

Also, you can adjust the amount of spices to your taste: I have to be careful, again because of my DH, but if you like things a little spicier, by all means, spice it up!

This is one of the QUICKest of QUICK recipes! I know sometimes my idea of “quick” isn’t the same as someone else’s, but I dont’ think anyone will quibble with me over this one! It’s pretty much just as fast as heating up a jar of spaghetti sauce – and much tastier, too!

This is even EASY-er than a white sauce or the mock Alfredo sauce I often make (I’ll have to blog about that recipe one of these days). Dump in the pan, mix and heat: easy!

CHEAP, more or less. Here’s what I paid for mine:
1/2 cup of heavy cream @ $2.85/quart: $0.35
3/4 cup whole milk @ $2.99/half-gallon: $0.28
1 cup of pumpkin @ $1.50/whole pumpkin: $0.75
1 box pasta @ I have no idea how much I spent, let’s say: $0.75 (I try to pay less than $1)
TOTAL: $2.13 (not including spices)
Not bad, especially since one whole box of pasta feeds us for several meals!

Pumpkin is a super-food, so yes, this recipe is very HEALTHY. Even the heavy cream and whole milk are healthy! As long as you’re not taking in too many calories throughout the day, fats like this are not going to make you fat.