Now That's Using Your Pumpkin!

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

It seems in the last few months, I’ve had such a variety of dishes that featured pumpkin: pumpkin soup, a pumpkin sauce to accompany lobster in the Virgin Islands, roasted pumpkin and squash at our first and last dinner party at our apartment. However, nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a straight up pumpkin pie. A Thanksgiving staple, at least in our house.

My favorite way to have pumpkin pie is the morning after Thanksgiving, cold from the fridge. In my family, we would always “claim” our slices before the pie went into the fridge after Thanksgiving dinner. Otherwise, someone might eat more than their share!!

When I was on a health food kick, I experimented making pumpkin pies with soy milk, honey, and whole wheat crusts. They're quite tasty, but so were the store-bought ones, with crusts made of perfect little domes and a thick, melting dollop of whip cream. Another delicious way to use pumpkin is to make pumpkin and walnut cookies. They are like a bite-size version of pumpkin pie.

The best way to make pumpkin pie is with a fresh pumpkin. Here’s why. The flesh is usually darker and more flavorful than what you get out of a can. And, I just recently found out that most canned pumpkin isn’t necessarily pumpkin. The United States Department of Agriculture has given the okay for pumpkin canners to use other types of squash, like butternut, and still pass it off as pumpkin. Not that I have a beef against the United States Department of Agriculture (I didn’t even knew they existed until yesterday), but I do strongly recommend baking your own pumpkin, at least one time.

It’s easy. Split the pumpkin in half, scrape out the seeds and pulp, and bake the pumpkin halves for 1 hour at 400°. Peel the pumpkin skin off. Place the pumpkin flesh in the blender; add tablespoons of water and blend until smooth.

Pumpkin seeds make a delicious and addicting snack, as my mom and I discovered one Thanksgiving. We roasted a rather large pumpkin to make pies with, and decided to toast the seeds with some salt and pepper (In case you are so adventurous, roast them in a 325° oven for 30-40 minutes). We spent the rest of the day just casually snacking on the pumpkin seeds. It wasn’t until that evening, after we had both eaten probably a cup of seeds each, that we did some research and found out that one cup of pumpkin seeds was 750 calories and 63 grams of fat. I’ve learned to ration my pumpkin seed intake after that incident.


This version of pumpkin pie doesn’t use a crust, but it’s still delicious and creamy. The fabulous thing about making this in a slow cooker is that you can start it first thing in the morning while cooking your Thanksgiving meal, and just forget about it until it’s time to serve it up. It’s great all by itself, or with a dollop of whipped topping or ice cream.

Serves/Makes: 8

• 2 cups solid pack pumpkin (or fresh baked pumpkin), not pie filling
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• whipped cream or ice cream (optional)