The healthy food and lifestyle blog
Good morning, and Happy weekend!
I was wondering what to cover in my ‘a week of…’ posts this week, and as I made a huge batch of pumpkin puree last week, I thought I would demonstrate how I used up the pumpkin. It was in full flow with Thanksgiving in the week – even though we don’t celebrate in the UK, I made the effort to make a Thanksgiving themed dinner for Ben and I
So how else does a ‘girl from the UK’ use up pumpkin…read on to find out:
This is just a quick snapshot of what we ate on Thanksgiving – you’ll have to check back on Wednesday for the full post, but here goes:
Wherever you are from…what did you enjoy for dinner last night?
Ok, I’m from the UK and I’m as English/Devonshire as it gets so I feel a bit of an imposter! I follow a lot of American and Canadian blogs so I’ve not been able to escape the excitement around this holiday.
Having said that, I went to University in Plymouth, where the Mayflower set off from, so maybe I’m not so disconnected after all.
I used to enjoy Harvest service at Primary School, which I suppose is the same principle – giving thanks for the Harvest. We would bring in something for assembly, and our collective efforts would be delivered to the ‘needy’ (ok usually the older generations) in the locality.
I have a friend who always does Thankful Thursday on Facebook and adds a post for something she is thankful for each Thursday. I think it is a great practice to stop and count your blessings regularly, but one I don’t do enough!
So as it is American Thanksgiving – I am today giving thanks for the food on my table, and the fact that I can enjoy exciting foods, so much so that here I am writing a blog about it! I am also thankfyl for my family and my friends who are a source of joy (and sometimes frustration) in my life.
And as this is a food blog, and there are so many yummy pumpkin recipes out there, I am sharing my pumpkin crumble flapjack slices:
So I suggested last week that we have a takeover, so today I hand over my blog to my lovely husband. I was away this weekend so I left him to it – with strict instructions to let me know if he was using up anything so I could replace it. So what did he get up to…?
I was going to save this recipe for later in the week, but as it had lots of interest when I posted it on Facebook, I thought I had better get on with it 🙂 AND it’s NATIONAL CAKE DAY!!!!
I had lots of egg white still to use up in the fridge, alongside some cottage cheese which I bought and hadn’t used yet. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of lots of cottage cheese egg white omelettes, so I had a bit of a Google.
If you type in “using up egg white” the BBC Food page dedicated to egg white recipes pops up high on the search. A quick glance over their ideas, and WIN a low fat chocolate cake recipe pops up – awesome!
A slice of gooey cake
So that takes care of the egg white – what about the cottage cheese – well, a chocolate cheesecake icing of course.
The recipe called for grated apple, I didn’t have any, but I did have a courgette in the fridge which needed using – fab, a low fat chocolate and courgette cake with chocolate cheesecake icing, what more could a girl want?
Well, actually, umm, if I’m being picky, I don’t really want to make a cake with refined white flour. Oh, look, there’s some wholegrain khorasan kamut flour in the cupboard, so now it’s going to be low fat, wholegrain, wheat free, chocolate and courgette cake with chocolate cheesecake icing – whoop whoop!
I bought Ben a treat from our town’s Farmer’
s Market when I passed this week. It’s a different market to the one I usually report from.
Farmer’s Market chocolate cake
As I bought him a present, I thought I should buy one for myself too 🙂
giant pumpkin
Pumpkin is nutritious:
“[pumpkin] is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.”
Having said that – I got my order from Real Foods, so that’s like getting a present – YAY!
Real Foods order
It’s Sunday so let’s enjoy something sweet: chocolate cookies – YUM!
Enjoy your Sunday Roast at lunchtime, and then serve these for a delicious afternoon tea:
There they are! Sandwiched together with vanilla icing.
Happy weekend! Yay!
When I started the week I had every intention on bringing you some delicious snack ideas. It all started so well, but I found myself the victim of the squiggly line effect.
I love Kath’s explanation of the squiggly line effect, but when you think about it – it really is common sense. For weight maintenance you have to balance your days of excess with days of restriction.
In the past I was living a life of restriction, so the odd day of excess didn’t have much effect. Now I am eating more to my body’s calorie requirements and those little bits here and there add up.
So to nip this in the bud before the ‘silly season’ (I won’t say the ‘C’ word yet – NO NOT THAT ‘C’ WORD!!!!) I took to a few days of restriction, meaning I cut back a bit on snacks and relied on my meals to keep me going.
How do you fancy a bit of DIY for a Friday? Since we bought a new house we have been learning a bit about DIY. Mostly that we’re not very good at it.
When I was using Pinterest to come up with some ideas for kitchens, I came across the idea of using chalkboard paint to create noticeboards. In the flat I would often leave a post-it note stuck to the corner of the dining room table with a reminder or note for Ben.
I thought this would be a good project to start on – not too difficult, and build ourselves up from there.
I considered painting some of the cupboards doors, Ben vetoed that idea. It may well have been too dark.
I then considered doing a large chalk board – but worried it would be too much black.
So, inspired by Peas and Crayons and Oh She Glows I went with a gallery wall idea.
I bought a packet of Dragon Rice Flour Pancakes back in the summer. I’d seen them on Deliciously Ella and thought I would give it a go. They sat in a cupboard until we moved house – then they were moved to a new cupboard.
It sounded good – gluten free and light, but in practice I was concerned that as they are made from rice flour and tapioca starch, they would be high GI – not sustaining and with a blood sugar peak and crash. True to my concerns they have no fibre, but they are gluten free and vegan, so worth a shot with the right filling.
I went for a filling of quinoa, chickpeas, tempeh and vegetables – possibly not my best idea to date 🙂
a little overfilled perhaps?
it comes naturally blog 