Name: Easy Pumpkin and Spinach Dinner
Prep time: 7 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 37 min
Ingredients: 1 tsp olive oil; 4-6 wedges slices of pumpkin; 2 medium onions; 4 cloves garlic; 1 tbsp spices mix of your choice; pinch of salt and pepper; piece of ginger; piece of fresh turmeric; 2 cloves garlic; 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 handful of fresh spinach; pinch of salt and pepper; 1/4 cup cream of your choice (optional but add cream of your choice); 1 tsp mustard seed sauce (optional but will add flavor)

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Enjoy this easy pumpkin and spinach dinner with your family. It's a high-fibre meal that's great for a light low carb dinner or as a side dish.

Last week during my brother's visit, I was faced with the challenge of cooking for many, I am used to cooking my regular anti-inflammatory recipes like this roasted spiced pumpkin with spinach which I normally adjust for my kids.

Coming from America, where the French cuisine is so glorified, my brother had one thing in mind, good cheese, a sweet flavored bottle of wine and of course, baguette, hahaha that resumes quite well the French in magazines…

Besides having hot freshly baked baguette from the bakery, I tried to make them taste some of my recipes. They were surprised by these brown rice+lentils pancakes. they loved them and promised to include them in their breakfast.

Pumpkins - Elephants LOVE This Food Back Home in Kenya!

My brother and I revisited our childhood memories, and we found we've so much in common. One of them is pumpkin.

We both disliked boiled pumpkins that we ate for breakfast back in our childhood. Something that had made us hate pumpkins for long years.

Pumpkins were in abundance in our countryside, my dad has a big farm where we grew a lot of veggies. But our memories held much on pumpkins.

There was something fascinating about pumpkins, they're loved by elephants, and I love elephants lol.

Huge, menacing elephants could enter our farm and spent the entire nights feasting on pumpkins.

They'd come every night till there were no more pumpkins left in the farm… as a child, I was always excited when we could go out at night to attempt to drive those elephants out of the farm.

Not that we really did or could, the only means of defense we had were saucepans that we had to beat to make the most noise possible. Elephants don't appreciate that much noise.

So they would either get out of the farm and stay just behind the bushes before returning upon our departure. Other times, they chased us instead and believe me when one of those giants starts speeding on your direction! you only have heaven at your mercies…

That's how we came to eat boiled tasteless pumpkins in the morning, they were plenty. I wish we knew how to roast pumpkins or even the use of spices.

Am happy today that we have both reconciled with pumpkins and we both now love them.

Roasted spiced pumpkins - My Daughter's surprise!

This roasted and spiced recipe is the perfect way to make your pumpkin and spinach dinner. And yes, pumpkins are still in the market around this time.

I love the way this pumpkin recipe is so simple yet very delicious. Guess what! It was the first time my daughter ate pumpkins without being forced to. I always hid them in soups or pancakes. When I added them to other dishes she'll just push them on the side of her plate.

She really loved these roasted even with spices and she was surprised with herself. When she asked me if the orange thing was carrots, I just smiled. You see, she doesn't like carrots either!

How to Prepare your Spinach for Dinner

These roasted spiced pumpkins go well with spinach. I had fresh but frozen spinach will also be delicious.
The only advantage of using fresh spinach is you don't have to cook them as long.

In order to preserve the vitamin C in the fresh spinach, cook your garlic, ginger, and turmeric in a little amount of olive for 3 minutes or so.
Clean and chop your spinach if you have long leaves, as I did.

Bring them into the pan, turn off the heat and mix well then cover. This is doable if you are not cooking a lot of fresh spinach. The heat of the saucepan will soften them without cooking them.

How to Roast Pumpkins in This Pumpkin and Spinach Recipe

What's awesome with these roasted pumpkins is that you can include them in your meal prep. They keep in the fridge for the next few days.

I used cilantro seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin, pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper. A pinch of salt and roasted them for 25 mins at 180°.

And even if my brother and I hated our childhood pumpkins, spiced roasted pumpkins are so so delicious for dinner and for breakfast too.

Is Pumpkin skin good for you?

In most parts of the world, pumpkins are available throughout the year. Enjoy them as much as you can because pumpkins are so good for your health.

Most people ignore that pumpkin's skin is edible, most pumpkins have edible skins, just clean your pumpkin well and whether you are boiling or roasting, eat the skin, it has fiber and vitamins.

Pumpkins come with a lot of health benefits, they're a good source of vitamins especially vitamin A. They're also very good for your skin. What about a pumpkin facial scrub?

Am looking forward to your comments on how you made your roasted spiced pumpkins with spinach. Just remember, feel free to use any spices at hand.

Besides, just rubbing garlic with some salt on your pumpkins will give them flavor too. Add olive oil after roasting and you'll start dancing hahaha...

Much love from me, be sweet, Githu.

Here are some more pumpkin recipes

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5 from 5 votes