Add pumpkin to your pasta. This delicious
baked ziti recipe uses sausage and spinach as
well. Photo courtesy Libby’s.

Not to mention pumpkin brownies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin crème brulee, pumpkin crème caramel, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin fudge and chocolate truffles, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin mousse, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pudding, pumpkin tarts and pumpkin waffles.

(Are you ready to start cooking? See our recipe resources below.)

But pumpkin flesh, also called pumpkin meat, can—and should—be used for more than desserts and sweet treats. See how many different savory pumpkin dishes you can put on the table this season.

“Pumpkin season” doesn’t end with Thanksgiving dinner, either. This nutritious* vegetable is available through the winter. And it’s only 49 calories per cup, steamed or boiled. (Keep the calories down and the cholesterol away by seasoning with salt, pepper and your favorite spices (from cinnamon to chipotle), and using olive oil instead of butter.)

Pumpkin can be baked, boiled, microwaved, roasted, steamed, stir-fried and stuffed.

 
 
SOURCED FOR PUMPKIN RECIPES

 
See the different types of squash in our Squash Glossary.

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*Pumpkin is fat-free, cholesterol-free and an excellent source of vitamin A. The orange pigment is beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant that converts to vitamin A in the body. A diet rich in beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer, and offers protection against heart disease and other diseases, including some degenerative aspects of aging. Pumpkins are also a good source of vitamin C, a second powerful antioxidant, and deliver calcium and dietary fiber.

Need help teaching table manners to kids?

It can be trying, or it can be fun.

Golly Gee-pers! Table Manners Cards choose the fun way—one that eliminates nagging and prodding.

And you can get them just in time to impress relatives and friends at upcoming holiday dinners.

These easy-to-use “manners cards” make sure that kids are on their best behavior during every dining experience—at home, at other people’s homes and at restaurants. Children learn proper manners via fun games.

The funny-yet-respectful cards depict 14 different table manners, proper and improper, designated with a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. Kids and adults alike compete for Ready To Dine Out awards.

Extra blank thumbs-up and thumbs-down cards can be used to address specific age groups, cultures, family rules, etc.

And surprise: adults will improve their table manners in the process, too.

Get your Golly Gee-pers! and have fun learning how to eat genteelly.

See how easy it is to turn your family into a class act at the table.
  

How about some “eyeball” nibbles with your Halloween cocktails?

This healthy hors d’oeuvre or snack uses a radish base for the white and “veins” of the eyeball. The pupil and iris are a pimento-stuffed olive. All you have to do is peel the radishes and insert the olives (buy large radishes and small olives).

Fun to look at, crunchy radish eyeballs are a low-calorie and healthy food. (Yes, fun, delicious and healthy do co-exist!) Serving ideas:

 
Add your ideas to this list!

The video below uses a blueberry to create the iris, but we prefer a pimento-stuffed olive, as shown in the photo above.