Suzanne Graham

When I first started eating pumpkin as a vegetable, I seasoned it like pumpkin pie, just without any sweetening. I'd add ghee, cinnamon, ginger, and occasionally a little all spice or cloves. It was delicious. I ate it happily just like that for 4 1/2 years.

Then DD started eating pumpkin with me. She liked the pumpkin pie version, but one day she suggested adding nuts. Another day she said how about a little dried fruit. We now have a variety of pumpkin recipes that are all delicious.

We always start with a can of 100% pure pumpkin. We always add ghee, 1 tsp ginger juice and 1 tsp cinnamon. Then the fun begins. Here are three of our favorite combinations:

chopped pecans and dried cranberry
chopped walnuts and dried pineapple
chopped walnuts and dried cherries

Warm together until the flavors have a chance to blend.

While I may think of pumpkin as a vegetable, grocers disagree. Canned pumpkin seems to always be placed on the isle near the cake mixes. It would be easy to miss if you were looking for a tasty beneficial vegetable.