Packing the Protein Punch with Pepitas

 This luscious meal is brought to you by the letter "P." P for Pumpkin Seeds.  P for Pepita.  P for protein.  P for Pretty-darn-tasty.

My craving for pumpkin seeds started during the crazy heat wave that we suffered through earlier this month.  It was too hot to eat anything cooked, and for some reason the only thing that appealed to me was a trail mix that I had gotten in the bulk section that was loaded with crunchy little pumpkin seeds.  I soon started to eat just the pumpkin seeds, and then decided that buying just pepitas in bulk would be a delicious idea.  I ate them by the handful.  I sprinkled them on top of yogurt.  They accompanied my cucumber salads and soon started to be integrated into all of my meals.

I did some research on these little green guys, curious as to why I was craving them so much.  I knew they are a great source of good fats and protein, but then I learned that they also had the minerals magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, iron, copper and zinc. A quarter cup of pumpkin seeds gives you 27% of your iron needs for the day.  As someone who is always looking for sources of iron, I was happy to find this out about the pepita.

Then I decided that a pumpkin seed butter sounded really great.  It sounded even better when I saw that I was out of almond butter.  I whipped out my blender and set to work, melting 2 tablespoons of ghee over low heat while I added 1 cup of pumpkin seeds into the blender.  As the blender made a heck of a lot of noise, I poured in the melted ghee and added some obligatory ginger.  After about 10 minutes of blending, I had a smooth and delicious raw seed butter.  It's a pretty versatile butter -- not overwhelming in taste and compliments just about everything I've tried it with.  Which brings me to the best dinner I've had all week -- Local Veggies with Pepita Butter Chickpeas.

Local Veggies with Pepita Butter Chickpeas

• 3 cups chickpeas (I soaked mine overnight and then cooked it in the crock pot during the day, but you can used canned as well!)
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, sliced 
• The stems from one bunch of rainbow chard, chopped
• 3 leaves of rainbow chard, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 4 tablespoons pumpkin seed butter

In a large saucier pan or stir fry pan, melt the ghee over low heat.  Add the onions and stir until translucent and soft.  Add 1/4 cup of water and the vegetables.  Cook until everything is tender.  Stir in the pre-cooked chickpeas, and add the spices.  Once the chickpeas have warmed up, stir in the pumpkin seed butter.  Serves 2 hungry people ready for some vegetarian protein goodness.