Quinoa stuffed munchkin pumpkins, gluten free

I mentioned in my pumpkin post that I had stuffed a mini pumpkin – or munchkin, if you will.  It wasn’t the first time I’d had one of these beauties.  The flesh of these mini-pumpkins is denser and sweeter than those that you carve for halloween.

Pumpkin is wonderfully healthy – the orange flesh screams beta-carotene (vegetarian vitamin A) it’s also a good source of vitamins C, K, and E (good for the skin), and lots of minerals, including magnesium, potassium, and iron.  All for about 26 calories per 100g!

A week of…pumpkin

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:

Using up pumpkin: recipe roundup, vegan, gluten free

It’s October now so you might be considering buying and carving a pumpkin soon.  But what do you do with the leftover flesh?

For years when I was growing up it just went in the bin – I don’t ever remember cooking with it.

BUT, NO MORE!

Pumpkin is really good for you, as I outlined in my post on Marrow and Pumpkin Soup.

For a quick recap, here is the lowdown:

Healthy Food Guide October 2013

Or you could try carrot, pumpkin and coriander soup

carrot and coriander soup

But other than soup what can you make?

I had this uber-breakfast of pumpkin overnight oats and pumpkin eggs, with a dash of sriracha sauce

It kept me full for hours!

If overnight oats aren’t your thing, stir your pumpkin into your porridge.

Of course, there’s always the pumpkin smoothie if you like something lighter in the mornings

had to add a little flag

Or change up my marrow and pecan cake with pumpkin instead of marrow.

What’s your favourite way of using up pumpkin?

Carrot, pumpkin and coriander soup with vegan cheesy courgette; gluten free, vegan

I’ve seen lots of pumpkin posts coming up in my blog feed.  Particularly those bloggers from USA and Canada.  Living in the UK, pumpkin isn’t such a big thing, so I had no problem eating a pumpkin smoothie on the 4th July, and then again on my birthday 🙂

But now it’s starting to feel like autumn (but what’s with the heat???  Grey skies: check, drizzle; check 19C heat – what’s that all about, people were putting their heating on a couple of weeks ago)

Anyway, I was lulled into a false sense of autumn, so I made some soup.  I had some carrots, and some left over coriander, so I thought, perfect – carrot and coriander soup.

But, even better, I also had some pumpkin open (still on the tinned stuff I stocked up on when it was in on a special USA deal – what will I do when it is gone???)

I served my soup with nutritional yeast courgette crisps – which were great.  I wasn’t sure it would work, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The calories came out so low on this tasty soup, I was able to serve it with Breadshare bakery oatcakes that I got from Real Foods.  By the time I had finished, I was stuffed!  Healthy and satisfying – perfect!

carrot, pumpkin and coriander soup

For the purposes of a review – I really liked the oatcake.  It was flavoured with Irish Dulse.  I was impressed by the simple ingredients list: oatmeal, water, rapeseed oil, Seaveg seaweed (3%) and made with organic oats and rapeseed oil.  I would have just liked to know the nutritional information, as I had to find a comparable product in MyFitnessPal.  Because they are handmade, they vary in size, but I hope they will be able to get information for 100g for example.

The website states that the Irish dulse variety has a mild but distinctive taste – I would testify to that.  Ben didn’t like them, but as a lover of sea vegetables, I liked the taste, and the buttery crumbly texture.

Breadshare Bakery Oatcakes

Now to the soup:

Carrot, Pumpkin and Coriander Soup
Serves 1

• 100g carrots, peeled weight, chopped
• 100g canned pumpkin – use fresh if you have it
• 40g red onion – 1/2 small, 1/4 large, chopped
• 150ml unsweetened almond milk
• 10g fresh coriander
• 1 tsp coriander seeds

For the courgettes

• 80g courgette – or more if you want lots
• 10g nutritional yeast
• apple cider vinegar

1. I started by making the courgettes.  Preheat oven to 200C.  Sliced the courgettes into rounds about 1/4 cm thick.  You could use a mandoline to help you do this.
2. One at a time dip the courgettes first into the cider vinegar to make them wet, and then into the nutritional yeast to coat.  Place onto a baking tray, spaced out.  Repeat until all courgettes are coated.
3. Put in the oven for about 30 minutes until brown and crispy.
4. Meanwhile make the soup
5. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium hob.  Once it is warm add the coriander seeds. Toss them around for 1-2 minutes, or until they begin to look toasted and start to jump around in the frying pan.  Remove and crush in a pestle and mortar.
6. Add the onions to your pan, and allow to soften for 5-10 minutes.  Add a splash of water if they start to stick.
7. Add your chopped carrots and enough water to gently steam – about 1/2 on the bottom of the pan.
8. Once the carrots have softened, add the almond milk and pumpkin.  Stir back in the toasted coriander seeds.
9. Once everything is cooked blend the soup with a hand/stick blender – adding the fresh coriander at the end and giving it a good whizz.
10. Add stock if the soup is too thick for you.
11. Serve the soup topped with the courgette slices and with oatcakes.

What is your favourite winter soup?  I think Carrot and Coriander has got to be up there for me!

Marrow and Pumpkin Soup, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan option

I have been thinking of ways of using up my marrow that I bought from the Farmer’s market.  The first thing that jumped to mind was a stuffed marrow – but that is a lot of stuffed marrow for one Emily!

I found a recipe for a marrow cake, but had no one to help me eat it.

That left only one idea – soup!

It’s been getting a bit more autumnal here in the UK so a bit of soup was welcome!  You know what they say – “Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning”

sunrise

I’ve seen pumpkin recipes start to pop up on the blog-o-sphere so it seemed like the perfect combination.

I had an article on squashes/courgettes/marrows in my Healthy Food Guide.

Healthy Food Guide October 2013

Pumpkins are rich in carotenoids such as beta-carotene, beta-cyptoxanthin and alpha-carotene – basically vegetarian Vitamin A (sort of) which is good for maintaining a healthy immune system – perfect now the autumn sniffles are on the rise in the office.  They are also good for maintaining healthy skin and protecting against free radicals.

An interesting point raised in HFG is a research study that showed beta-carotene supplements increased the risk of lung cancer in smokers, but when packaged in real foods with other nutrients the same carotenoids protects health.

Nutritious and delicious, pumpkins and marrow are low in calories and fat but contain Vitamin A, C, E folate and potassium.

Marrow and Pumpkin Soup
Serves 1

• 100g marrow – skin removed
• 100g canned pumpkin (use fresh if it is in season)
• 40g red onion
• 60g haricot beans
• 10g nutritional yeast
• 20g babybel cheese (optional)
• garlic granules or fresh

1. Optional Step 1: grill the marrow and onion on a health food grill until soft.  If missing this step, soften in your pan.
2. Add all ingredients (except cheese) to a food processor – or blend in a pan with a stick/hand bender
3. Add water or stock to taste.
4. If using, serve with the cheese melted on top (optional)