Welcome to another Ingredient of the Week. Today is all about pumpkin, one of the most-loved food blog ubiquities.

This time of year, it’s hard to  avoid all the pumpkin-themed food porn floating around the internet, but for a good reason: This fruit (yes, pumpkin in a fruit) is both delicious and nutritious.

In one half-cup serving of pumpkin puree, you get:

• 40 Calories
• 0.5 g Fat
• 10 g Carbohydrate
• 3 g Fiber
• 4 g sugar
• 1 g protein
• 380% your daily Vitamin A
• 8% Vitamin C
• 8% your daily iron needs

My friend Lauren recently asked if I wanted to partake in a “30 squash recipes in 30 days” challenge, and while I haven’t been officially taking part, pumpkin does count as squash, and the past few days have definitely included that.

Some of my favorite pumpkin uses include oatmeal…

…black bean and pumpkin soup…

…smoothies…

cheesy kitchen pic

and in brownies…

Take one box of brownie mix (I used Trader Joe’s Chocolate Truffle Brownie Mix) and one 15-oz can of pumpkin puree, and you mix them together. Bake as indicated on the box minus 5 minutes. You end up with perfectly moist, chocolatey brownies that oddly don’t even taste like pumpkin.

I’ve also been wanting to experiment with a pumpkin-based macaroni-and-cheese dish, mostly to see what happens.

While I can’t say I  like to condone “hiding” fruits and vegetables, these kinds of recipes are a great way to up the nutrient profile in a treat without feeling like you’re “healthifying” it too much.

What’s your favorite way to eat pumpkin?