Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere.

I'm pretty sure that somewhere, in some high-rise conference room in some big city, there is some board of directors with a representative from every major food group. The job of that board of directors is to look at these food groups and answer one all-important question:

How can we put pumpkin in this?

This fall has been one of the most pumpkin-crazed ones in my memory. The number of new pumpkin-flavored, puumpkin-infused, pumpkin-based, or otherwise pumpkin-containing foods
(and even non-foods like beauty products and cleaners) is nothing short of insane. I don't know if too many pumpkin spice lattes have gone to their heads or what, but this board of directors needs to be put on a temporary leave of absence before the clock strikes midnight and they all start turning into pumpkins (It's a Cinderella reference, you get it? See, because the....Okay, it's a stretch but I deserve points for creativity on that joke).

Most of the pumpkin food items I see in stores are sweet, but the humble orange gourd has a strong presence in the savory realm as well. As I showed with my stuffed pumpkin a few blog posts ago, the mellow flavor of pumpkin goes quite nicely with a blend of savory flavors and spices. So I figured why not do more with it? Pureed pumpkin is cheap, easy to find, and I can just keep a can of it for whenever my inner basic Starbucks girl needs a fix. Speaking of Starbucks, It is now officially PEPPERMINT MOCHA season and I am all about that. It's one of my favorite flavor combinations in the entire world. So, while my coffee has crossed into the next season, my food can still be invaded by pumpkin. It's the most wonderful time of the year....

And thus, my recipe for this week. Pumpkin pasta sauce. It's a thing I never would have thought of myself, but after trying it, I'm a fan. Granted, it's pasta and I love my pasta, so it wasn't exactly a hard sell for me. The texture is really surprising in how creamy it is despite having no cream (though you could make it with cream and it would probably taste awesome). Don't let the "vegan" label scare you away from this one, you can make it with whatever dairy and add whatever meat your little heart desires (I recommend some grilled chicken). It's easy, it's tasty, and it's definitely worth trying during this pumpkin-obsessed season. The only ingredient you may have some difficulty obtaining is cashew butter. I've seen it with nut butters in various stores, so it should be at some supermarket somewhere (I got mine at Target) and it's not too expensive if you get the unflavored, no frills kind that's basically just pulverized cashews. Cashew butter is also something I recommend trying in general if you like cashews, it's an interesting change from peanut and almond butters and goes well with dark chocolate, sea salt, or caramel.

I had some with one of my brimstone bread rolls as a quick lunch. Nothing like homemade bread on a fall day.

This recipe makes a good weeknight meal or a side dish to other autumnal favorites. Here's what I started with:

Pumpkin Pasta

Sprinkles of Kim:
-I had green onions, so I used those instead of shallots
-Extra garlic until there was the amount I like (which is a lot)
-I used dried herbs because fresh herbs get expensive fast and when I'm only using one sprig at a time, it's not really worth it
-I put in some thyme to round out the flavors
-The vegetable broth I used is "Better than Bullion" base and I recommend it, it always works well in my recipes.

So, enjoy whatever seasonal flavors you love, I promise I'll start the Christmas stuff soon, fueling the month-long sugar high that is December. Until then, Happy November!