I’ll have a venti pumpkin spiced latte, please. Oh and a pumpkin cream cheese muffin. No wait, make that the pumpkin scone, please and thank you.

AND YUM!!

Go ahead have at it. It is October so of course it’s time for pumpkins. And to top it off, today is National Pumpkin Day.
Give me the scone and the muffin, I’m diving in to this national holiday full throttle.

In honor of the day, I’m not going to complain about the price retailers are charging this year.

It should be a federal holiday and we should all have the day off to visit the local pumpkin patch. After all we need to get those jack-o-laterns carved out in time for Halloween (which should also be a federal holiday. But that is another story).

Pumpkins are cultivars of squash plants and are native to North America. The United States is one of the biggest producers of pumpkins at 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins produced each year.
Of course there is the ever-favorite pumpkin pie. You can’t live in the South during the fall and winter and not have a slice (or the whole pie in one sitting like me — not judging. You know you’ve done it too). Add some whipped cream on top and cinnamon flavored coffee and the dessert is set.

My all-time favorite use of pumpkins and most of the squash cultivars is in a soup. I like to make a chunky style veggie pumpkin and the classic puree style soup during the cold days.

A pureed butternut squash soup is my favorite. But most soups start with the same basic staples. I use celery, onions, chicken stock, carrots and assorted herbs and spices. If it’s chunky style, I use chunk cuts of pumpkin and potatoes. I’ll let that cook slow and low for a few hours until all the flavors marry.

If I plan to make it puree I prefer to leave the potatoes out and use an immersion blender to break down the soup into a smooth puree and then maybe add some whole cream.
And when the pumpkins are plentiful, like they are right now, I prefer to use fresh instead of the canned variety for soups, pasta dishes and vegetable roasts.

There is yet another practical use for the versatile pumpkin. One that is perfect after a hard day at work or when you just feel the need of letting out your frustrations:

Pumpkin chucking

Wait, you’ve never heard of pumpkin chucking?
Where have you been? It is the best sport ever created for those of us who can’t do sports!!
This an actual competitive sport in which teams build various devices which will throw (OK, think launch) the pumpkin as far as possible. And they take this sport seriously. I’ve seen air powered catapults toss a pumpkin the length of a football field.

Or if you can’t launch the pumpkin, then the next best sport is smashing pumpkins (the sport not the band). I have a two pound sledge hammer that does well in that respect.

Seriously though. You should check out just how creative these pumpkin launching devices are. Go grab a slice of pumpkin pie and visit their official page at: https://www.punkinchunkin.com.