Ode to Pumpkin

Pumpkin! Oh how I love thee... Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Bread (with chocolate chips of course), Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Pumpkin Soup, toasted Pumpkin Seeds, and don't forget the Pumpkin Pie!

One of my favorite Halloween traditions is watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown - I've watched it just about every year for as long as I can remember... ABC is airing it on Tuesday Oct. 28th 8/7c so set your DVRs! I'm sure I'll catch some edited for TV scary movies as well. Gotta love the classics like Halloween I, II, III (actually there are 9, yes NINE!), and my absolute favorite - Beetle Juice!

Here are some fun facts about pumpkin you might not have known, courtesy of The Pumpkin Patch.

• Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.
• Pumpkin flowers are edible.
• The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.
• In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.
• The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.
• The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin.
• Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
• Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October.
• Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
• Native Americans called pumpkins "isqoutm squash."
• Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine.