When life hands you pumpkins…

Sometimes life hands you lemons. Other times life hands you an additional pumpkin when you only ordered one.

This happened to me the other day. I was packing away our groceries that were delivered to our door. As I emptied the bags, I first spotted two packs of salmon filets. And then I pulled out a bag with two Hokkaido pumpkins, instead of one.

I shook my head, wondering if I had been so distracted while I was ordering groceries that I unintentionally had clicked home two salmons and two pumpkins, when I only wanted one of each. It seemed rather wasteful to buy more than I needed, so I felt a slight nagging in the back of my mind. I checked my order, and no, the mistake was not mine.

Feeling a little guilty, having received more than I’d paid for, I contacted the grocery store. It was overly eager warehouse people that had unintentionally packed me a couple of extra products. Of course, I was not to pay for items I hadn’t initially wanted, the customer service person informed me, so it was just to keep it and enjoy it, no extra cost. So, this week life indeed handed me extra pumpkins (and fish filet, but let’s focus on the pumpkins, shall we?), which is a nice diversity from the usual ol’ lemons, don’t you think?

Initially, I had ordered the Hokkaido pumpkin to try it as a side dish for dinner. I have been going through a food rut lately, and have been wanting to try something new. Roasted pumpkins seemed to fit the bill as something exotic and tasteful to test out. But now, with an additional surprise pumpkin in my pantry, the reality of pumpkin pie also seemed to present itself.

I remember fondly last years “Ladies’ Christmas Party” held by a couple of friends and the delicious pumpkin pie we had for dessert. Surely, it had to be possible to make a sugar-free, low carb-ish option? Google is my friend, as usual, and I came across several recipes for sugar-free, low carb pumpkin pie. Now, I only have to sort out which one I’ll try… I suppose Chris will not mind if I take a shot at some homemade pumpkin pie. He’s getting to eat half of it, after all. If it turns out edible, that is.

But what else can you make from pumpkins, I began to wonder. Now that its autumn and pumpkin season, I thought maybe to make this the year I tried out every thing pumpkin. With some research I found a few intriguing recipes.

Things to make from pumpkins

• Roasted pumpkins, as a savory side dish.
• Pumpkin pie, even sugar-free if desired.
  
• Pumpkin soup, for chilly autumn days.
• Baked and stuffed Hokkaido pumpkin, as a savory comfort meal.
• And a whole bunch of other things, just for kicks.

Ok, so I am totally ready for filling my autumn with everything pumpkin (in terms of food, that is). It also puts me in the Halloween / Thanksgiving spirit, even if that’s still a couple of months away. The trees in downtown Oslo haven’t even turned yellow yet… Autumn, where are you? I did practice my Christmas carols on guitar yesterday, so I guess I skipped a few beats already. I mean, practicing in December is too late, isn’t it? Anyway. Autumn, please come! You’re very much welcome.

(Thank you, grocery store, for unintentionally gifting me an extra pumpkin! These photos would not have turned out as nice with only one, that’s for sure.)

And how about you, did I inflict you with some serious pumpkin craving with all of my non-stop pumpkin ramblings? What recipe would you like to try?