At this point, it might be known that I really really like pumpkin.

We had rice for dinner yesterday, and the day before, and I got so tired after a Zoom hangout with my colleagues (today is a full-meetings day.) I tried to come up with some quick and easy recipe, and as tempting as food delivery is, I tried to cut down on the expenses.

I grabbed a quarter of pumpkin (not sure about the size. It was pre-cut. Uhhh, 1/6 of pumpkin? I guess,) half of broccoli, and red bell pepper. Cut them up to small pieces, and mix them together in a deep dish pan (brownies pan) with olive oil and some veggies seasonings.

Put it in the oven for 30 minutes with 180°C in temperature.

I then cooked penne pasta — I don’t check the amount and I’m suck at it. One of my biggest problems is to calculate the amount of pasta to cook. I tried to cook for four people, okay, and I usually ended up with pasta enough to feed the whole Roman battalion.

Once the pasta is cooked, I sliced some garlic because it’s a must (I used 3-4 cloves.) Drained the pasta, then put olive oil in the pot. Heat the garlic, then I took a can of tuna and put it there too. I added a bit of pasta water to make the “sauce” then I added the pasta. I didn’t add a lot of salt because the pasta water is salty enough.

Serve the pasta with grilled veggies. I really like the mellow sweetness from the pumpkin combined with the salty tuna. I’m thinking of making the grilled veggies again because it’s that good.

I suddenly remembered one of my colleagues once asked this question: “Do you have any tips on how to combat post-lunch sleepiness?”

This is one of the tips.

Recently, I’ve been taking a liking to pumpkin and sweet potatoes. My favorite is steamed sweet pumpkin with soy sauce and a bit of white pepper.

Just now, I noticed we have a leftover from our Sunday lunch: Korean fried chicken with honey coating (by Kyochon 1991.) The chicken was on the fridge, so I went with my usual route: Add it on oatmeal porridge.

I took 4 pieces of chicken wings and pulled all the meat/deboned it. At the same time, I boiled a quarter of sweet pumpkin (the smaller variety.) Once the pumpkin is soft enough, I put them aside.

Then, I prepared for the porridge: Four tablespoons of oatmeal, water, and chopped green onions. As for the seasonings, I added garlic powder, MSG, and half package of instant noodles seasoning (Maggi noodles. My son once made a couple of Maggi noodles soup and he left one seasoning package so the noodles won’t be too salty.) I didn’t add any salt because the seasoning powder is salty enough.

As I stir the porridge, I put some of the chicken and the pumpkin into the porridge to add more flavor. I put aside some of them as toppings.

Once the porridge is ready, I put the rest of the chicken and the pumpkin as toppings. Garnish it with green onions.

This gets me through the afternoon without feeling lethargic and hangry. Highly recommended.