With Halloween way behind us (or way ahead of us depending on your point of view), pumpkins may be the last thing on your mind. Pumpkins and their winter squash cousins (gourds, melons, squash, and cucumbers are all in the Cucurbit family) are so versatile and provide a ton of nutrients your body can utilize to bolster your immune system. Yet for some reason, we scarcely give them a thought. Before the days of refrigeration and airplane-fresh produce, pumpkins and winter squashes provided nutrients that simply couldn’t be found in other foods in the frigid winter months, like Beta-carotine, vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, selenium and folic acid. And, they’re delicious!

For the most part, pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash, turban squash, and the like can all be used interchangeably and complement each other well. You can steam them, but I prefer to roast them in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. If you plan on mashing them, leave them in their skins and simply spoon out the soft fl esh when they’ve had a moment to cool. If you plan on serving large pieces of roast squash or pumpkin, take the time to peel it before roasting, but be careful! A vegetable peeler won’t do much on a thick-skinned squash, so get out your sharp knife and watch those fi ngers. Once peeled, cut the pieces into roughly the same size so that they will roast evenly in the oven.

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for roast squash or pumpkin, or both! Feel free to spice it up any way you like.

4 cups pumpkin and/or winter squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
2 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
1 tablespoon roasted pumpkinseed oil (optional, but delicious!)
1 tablespoon honey or molasses
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
pinch of cayenne or white pepper

Simply toss all the ingredients together until each piece of pumpkin/squash is coated, and place on a roasting pan lined with parchment paper or foil. Roast at 400 degrees until just knife tender, about 15-20 minutes depending on the variety of pumpkin/squash you use. Any leftovers can be made into a simple soup or mashed and served as a side dish. Enjoy!

Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow

Never trust a skinny chef, right? Well, our food editor, Hans Rueffert, has proven time and again that he’s the exception to that old rule. In his fi rst cookbook, Hans combines his lifelong relationship with food with a rare insight on food that only a cancer survivor could have. More than simply a collection of recipes, Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow educates, entertains and inspires, each page embellished with glorious photographs. You can purchase the book directly from Hans’ Web site at: www.hanscooks.com.

Photography by Amy Rueffert, story by Cherokee Living food editor and host of Hans Cooks the South, Hans Rueffert. Watch for the debut of Hans Cooks the South in March on GPTV.