Pumpkin Emergency

If the canned pumpkin stores and factories all run out of canned pumpkin this month, it will definitely be my fault.

The thing is, once October strikes, I just really want to consume pumpkin every single day. September? Nope, too early. November? Totally sick of it by then. So it will make sense to you that I have found a way to consume pumpkin five times within the past five days. Ah, pumpkin! Dog-safe, child-friendly, and ridiculously useful. What could be finer?

I wish I was the kind of person who could say she makes and cans her own pumpkin puree, but that will just never be me. While I tend to go above and beyond the call of duty perhaps a bit too frequently, pumpkin is not one of the areas in which I overachieve. I made my own pumpkin puree just once, and I swore I would never do it again. I mean, come on! Buy pumpkin, carry heavy pumpkin home, clean pumpkin, cut pumpkin, remove innards from pumpkin, bake pumpkin, cool pumpkin, scoop out pumpkin, puree pumpkin. Damn! And all of this for a mere two cups of pumpkin, maybe three if I'm very lucky, which will inevitably become moldy in the refrigerator before I can use it all. So. I make time for lots of absurd and seemingly unnecessary activities, but not for this one.

So this brings us to the pumpkin activity of the day. When I came home yesterday, while (naturally) wearing the pumpkin sticker I applied to myself at school, I made pumpkin smoothies, which is basically a liquified pumpkin pie without the obscene amounts of sugar (necessitated by the fact that I made a pumpkin pie the day before, and we were rendered quite sugared).

It's a darling little recipe, and when I made it, I was reminded how pumpkin is so odd because, by itself, it really doesn't taste like much of anything at all. It's that addition of spices and sugar that makes us think that pumpkin tastes a certain way. Sneaky pumpkins, indeed! So, if I don't manage to use up the world's pumpkin supply after all, and you find yourself with a can of pumpkin, I would recommend poking your spoon in and conducting this blandness experiment. Then, round up your spices and turn that convenient, glorious mush into something amazing!

Pumpkin Smoothies
serves 2

1/2 C pumpkin puree
4 ice cubes
3/4 C vanilla yogurt
1/4 C milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 T maple syrup

Process in blender, adding extra milk if it gets too thick or refuses to blend. Also, toy around with the amounts of everything so that the taste is to your liking, and make sure you don't overdo it with the spices or it'll taste bitter! Top with whipped cream, of course.