Halloween spirit is in the air and I feel it. As a kid, this feeling was the excitement of the pillow case full of candy and dressing up as my favorite care bear. As I get older, I still enjoy my chocolate and dress up, but now I look forward to parties with friends and passing out dried fruit to the neighborhood kids. Yes, I am one of THOSE people that refrain from giving out candy; and man, I hated people like me when I was a kid.

This year, I have started a new tradition; I have started cooking with pumpkins and seasonal squash. It’s so easy and tasty that I can’t believe I haven’t done it before. All I do it bake in the oven for 45 minutes and it’s ready. So far, I have made pumpkin soup, butternut squash curry with walnuts and acorn squash with leeks and quinoa. I also roasted by jack-o-lantern pumpkin seeds with cacao, cinnamon and nutmeg. I still want to do squash and apple with rice, as well as a pumpkin chili. I hope I can still make those, but the last time I was at Sprouts, the seasonal pumpkin and squash selection was getting slim.

Fortunately, the nutritional values of these winter vegetables aren’t slim. An article on Post-Tribune.com (based in Merrillville, IN) said pumpkins are an excellent source of beta-carotene and is low in calories, sodium, fat and saturated fat. They contain no cholesterol; they are high in fiber, and contain protein, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin  K, iron, calcium, folate, magnesium, potassium, niacin, zinc and other nutrients. That’s pretty impressive. While I couldn’t find a news article about the benefits of squash, NutritionData.com said all winter squash is low in saturated fat, and very low in cholesterol and sodium. They are also a good source of vitamin K, riboflavin, folate, potassium and copper, and a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and manganese.

With all those nutritional benefits, I wonder if there is someway I could pass out squash and pumpkins to the neighborhood kids…nah, I’d better stick to raisins.