Oatmeal Pumpkin Bars for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of Gina DePalma, author of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen and Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy, Jenn of The Leftover Queen, and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are asking you to donate to the:

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund

and then, out of the goodness of your hearts and to be eligible for the OFoods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Contest, please do the following:

1. Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato) and include this entire text box in the post;

   OR

2. If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word about the event and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

   AND

3. Then send your post url [along with a photo (100 x 100) if you’ve made a recipe] to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on September 30, 2008.

We will post a roundup and announce prize winners on October 3.

Prizes:

• 1 Recipe Prize for best “O food” concoction: $50 gift certificate to Amazon;
• 1 Awareness Prize for only publicizing event: Copy of Dolce Italiano cookbook.

———

From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

• Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
• The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. in 2008 and about 15,520 women will die from the disease.
• The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose. There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
• In spite of this patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
• When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

Please donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund
and help spread the word!

Oatmeal Pumpkin Bars
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup white all purpose flour (you can use 1 cup white flour instead of the whole wheat flour)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup oats
1/2 cup butter softened
3/4 cup Pumpkin Butter (recipe follows)
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 8 inch square pan, and line with greased foil.

Combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats. Rub in the butter using your hands or a pastry blender to form a crumbly mixture. Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the pumpkin butter to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture and pumpkin seeds over the top, and lightly press it into the pumpkin butter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

Pumpkin Butter
Recipe adapted from Recipezaar.com

1 (15 ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin
1 cup applesauce
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp all spice

In a small saucepan combine pumpkin, applesauce, sugar and spices.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring often to prevent burning. Do this for 45 minutes or until mixtures becomes very thick.

Stir in lemon juice.

Let cool and store in air tight container in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

(Kid Approved!)