• SELF LOVE & BODY IMAGE
  • MOTHERHOOD
    • Pregnancy
    • Babies
    • Kids
  • ADVENTURE
  • STYLE
    • Interiors
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
  • FOOD

Mother's Always Right

Mum life, body image, style

  • ABOUT
  • PRESS
  • Podcast
  • Public Speaking
  • YOUTUBE
  • WORK WITH ME
  • #FreeFromDiets campaign
You are here: Home / FOOD / Five easy pumpkin recipe ideas

Five easy pumpkin recipe ideas

October 27, 2014 by Molly 2 Comments

We are big fans of Halloween in this house. In fact, this time of year is one of our favourites – log fire burning, crisp autumn walks and cosy nights looking forward to Christmas. Halloween sort of signals the beginning of that delicious period of anticipation for us.

I’ve carved a pumpkin every year since Frog was tiny. In fact, even before she was born I used to buy a pumpkin and carve it, before lighting a candle inside and putting it in the window. The picture above was taken when Frog was around 15 or 16 months old (before anyone chastises me for leaving a baby near a lit candle – it was moved out of her reach as soon as this photo was taken).

Anyway, one thing I’ve learned over the years is that pumpkins have a lot of flesh. And, if you’re not careful, once you’ve carved your pumpkin you can end up throwing a heck of a lot of it away. In keeping with the Organix #NoJunk Challenge I thought I’d share some of our favourite recipes for the bits of the pumpkin that could end up in the bin. These are tasty, delicious and – most importantly – healthy. Plus, our four year old loves them as much as we do. 

1. Pumpkin soup

This is the time of year that homemade soup was invented for. The smell of it wafting through the house just ramps up the cosy factor. Pumpkin soup served with warm crusty bread makes a great weekend family lunch. Frog had her first taste of this as a baby and has loved it ever since.

I use this BBC Good Food recipe as a basis but put in less double cream and I use a mixture of vegetable stock and homemade chicken stock as I think it adds to the flavour. I also add a couple of cloves of crushed or garlic or a teaspoon of lazy garlic. I don’t bother with the croutons but serve it with fresh wholemeal crusty bread instead – to make it extra special heat the bread for a couple of minutes in the oven first.

2. Pumpkin curry

Pumpkin and coconut make a great partnership and this Sri Lankan curry is proof of that. Frog isn’t a huge fan of super spicy food so I tone this recipe down by only using one green chilli instead of three. The coconut adds a sweet element to the curry which is delicious. We eat it with boiled rice. Delicious.

3. Roasted pumpkin chips

Simple but tasty – if you’re short on time and want a healthy alternative to chips then roasted pumpkin chips make a great alternative. The trick with this is to cut your pumpkin into fairly thin strips. I sprinkle mine with a bit of cajun pepper for an added kick but Frog loves hers sprinkled with dessicated coconut for a fruity and sweet flavour. On its own pumpkin doesn’t taste of much, but roasted in olive oil and sprinkled with cajun pepper or coconut (or you could use paprika) and cooked for half an hour or so and it’s very tasty. If you like the sound of the coconut version then Capture By Lucy has a great recipe for these.

4. Roasted pumpkin seeds

Stuck in amongst the pulpy messy innards of the pumpkin, before you get to the flesh, are the pumpkin seeds. These are a good source of energy and make a brilliant snack companion if you’re trying to stay away from crisps and processed snacks high in salt. Or you could sprinkle them over salads to add some crunch instead of croutons. You’ll need to wash them thoroughly to get all the pulp off – this is actually quite a fun job for little ones. Frog loves the squidgy texture and has done ever since she was a toddler.

Once washed, scatter the seeds on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with pepper and paprika (you can add chilli powder too if your kids don’t mind a bit of spice) and bake in the oven on Gas Mark 6 for around 20 minutes. I’ve got a full recipe on my other blog for these which you may find useful.

5. Pumpkin loaf

I planned to make a pumpkin loaf but time ran away with me, so I’m determined to have a go this year instead. It’ll make a great snack when I’m on the go and I’m sure Frog will love it too. It uses brown sugar instead of caster sugar and gets lots of its flavour from the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. I quite like a bit of crunch so I’ll be adding chopped walnuts and some seeds when I make mine.

Have you got any great pumpkin recipe ideas to add to the list? 

 

This post is written in collaboration with Organix for the #NoJunk Challenge. To find out more head over to the website where you’ll find lots of inspiring recipes and tips to cut out the processed junk.  

Filed Under: FOOD Tagged With: Halloween, healthy eating, Pumpkin recipes, pumpkin soup, roasted pumpkin seeds

« The A-Z of Post-Birth Recovery
Sisters »

Comments

  1. Ghislaine Forbes says

    October 27, 2014 at 9:33 pm

    You’ve missed out the American pumkin pie. How on earth has this become an American staple when you have to puree the pumpkin? (i.e. ram a kilo of cooked pumkin through a sieve) Once tasted I’ll let you know whether it was worth all the effort. Love ma x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      October 28, 2014 at 8:25 pm

      Sounds like a bit of a faff to me. I’ll just eat yours instead…

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

THANK YOU ❤️ I’ve felt a bit flat the last w THANK YOU ❤️ I’ve felt a bit flat the last week, but after steeling myself to take a look at some reviews that flatness is easing. 
.
Maybe this feeling is normal? A post-publication day flatness... it’s familiar and kind of expected, I’ve felt it after any big thing. A kind of anti-climax, mixture of exhaustion and overwhelm maybe?
.
Publishing in a pandemic is tough and the fact I haven’t even been able to see my book in a bookshop doesn’t help. There’s been no celebration with friends and family, no fun launch event, no way to officially mark it as such - that’s all on hold. And self-promotion always feels a bit cringe, but I know it’s important - not just to get the book out in the world but also to show my daughters that as women we must be proud of our achievements. Particularly when we’re so often told to be quiet. 
.
So here I am sharing this bloody wonderful review for Body Happy Kids: How to help children and teens love the skin they’re in. It speaks for itself. And while I’m here I’m going to be super direct and get over myself, to ask YOU to please leave a review if you’ve read the book too. It really does make a difference. Apparently Good Reads is also important (thank you to my buddy and book cheer leader @giraffemilklady for that nugget of advice).
.
I’ve got a few cool bits of press coming up about the book but you can’t rely on media coverage of books - particularly when you’re not a celeb or have hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. So word of mouth really is more important than ever. THANK YOU ✨
#BodyHappyKids 
.
.
#bodyacceptance #bodyimage 
.
.
.
[Image description: a screenshot of a five star Amazon review of the book Body Happy Kids. Full text in Alt Text.]
Body Happy Kids has been out in the world for just Body Happy Kids has been out in the world for just over a week 🎉 It’s been wonderful and overwhelming to see people reading it all over the world. I’m so grateful for everyone tagging me in their posts and Stories, particularly as I haven’t been able to see the book in a real life book shop yet 😭 (publishing in a pandemic is tough 💔). 
.
If you’ve read the book I would be ever so grateful if you could leave it a review on Amazon. I’m told it makes a difference and can help some people decide whether to read it or not!
.
This is a tiny thread taken from the chapter about toys. There’s some fascinating research into the impact of toys on body image in kids, showing that what children plays with matters. It’s not a straightforward case of banning Barbie (my 6yo loves her Barbies) but more a case of being mindful of the impact of these toys, talking about them and making sure kids have a range of different types of toys to play with. There’s a toolkit at the end of the chapter to help with this.
.
As well as the research you’ll hear about in that chapter you’ll also hear from brilliant academics @christiaspearsbrown and @kopanoratele about the impact that gender stereotypes in toys have on the body image of children.
.
In the meantime, swipe through to read a bit more about Barbie (including Slumber Party Barbie from 1960s 😱)
.
.
.
.
.
[Full text in Alt Text]
I want to see more B roll photos. I want to see th I want to see more B roll photos. I want to see the deleted photos, lying forgotten deep at the bottom of the trash folder. The discarded selfies. The ones taken and hastily replaced with ten “better” ones. I want the perfect imperfection, the unglossy, unfiltered, messy, grainy slightly out of focus frazzled photos. 
.
Not because we’re making a point about Insta versus reality, or to show that “even the girl in the photo doesn’t look like the girl in the photo”, or as the punchline to a joke about angles and what other people see versus what our phone sees when we swipe up. Just because. 
.
I want my daughters (when they’re old enough to have phones), to feel able to show up with a make-up free, unfiltered face without feeling like they need to do so with a caveat or an apology. I want them to be able to exist online just as they are, without being hailed as “so brave” just for putting up an image of them living their life that hasn’t been taken under perfect lighting or with on-fleek brows or posed just-so. 
.
We live in an age where we are all judging others and ourselves based on our appearance more than ever. Defining other peoples’ bodies. Deciding who is worthy or not worthy, who gets to speak, who gets our attention, based on what they look like. And looking at ourselves through the glare of a camera phone or zoom filter for hours every day. Living outside of our bodies and our faces. It’s. So. Boring.
.
Talk to me about what you saw today, what you read, who you spoke to, what made you laugh, what made you think, that TV show that made you sob, the art that gave you tingles, the chat with your mate that left you aching to hug them. 
.
Show me the B roll photos, the messy, accidental, fuzzy, real moments of unposed, unselfconscious LIFE. I’m here for it. Here’s mine.
.
.
.
[Image description in comments.]
Today the Women and Equalities Commission released Today the Women and Equalities Commission released a big report into body image, with a whole raft of recommendations for the government to implement. The report included the findings of a large survey they did last year which found 66% of children suffer with negative feelings about their bodies most of the time. 
.
There are a number of recommendations in the report, including scrapping the use of BMI as a measurement of health, getting rid of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) that sees children being weighed in school, and encouraging the Department of Education to take a whole school approach to body image (as well as regularly reviewing the RSHE curriculum). 
.
Doing this job often feels like pushing water up a hill. It’s frustrating, anxiety inducing and regularly leaves me burned out. But there is no alternative because we MUST have change. Our children deserve better. We ALL deserve better. Today’s report is some welcome news and now it’s on all of us to continue the work and show we care about these issues. The more the government realises it’s an issue that people want prioritised, the more seriously they will take the findings and recommendations in the report. 
.
They have eight weeks to respond. We mustn’t stop talking about this. 
.
Parents, teachers, youth leaders: follow @bodyhappyorg (the social enterprise I founded to promote positive body image in children and teens) for more support in this area. 
.
I’m sharing what we offer here on my own account as I know there are some new people following me since the publication of my book last week and I want to let you know what resources and support we can offer in this area. I work with a brilliant team of people at @bodyhappyorg who are all equally committed to these issues. Hopefully this post will be useful - if you’re a parent we have support for you too. Check out the links in my bio or the @bodyhappyorg bio ❤️
.
.
[Full text in Alt Text]
Last night I posted a reel about saying no to diet Last night I posted a reel about saying no to diet culture and someone commented that it wasn’t so dramatic as a straight-sized white woman. They were right, it’s not. Hopefully this post explains why, but I want to make it super clear where I stand because this stuff is important. 
.
Also, a gentle reminder: it’s never OK to comment on or define someone else’s body without their consent. Holding people to account is important and appreciated. But piling in with comments about someone’s body as if they’re not there is rude and crosses a boundary I hold for my own body, and the bodies of others. 
.
Thank you for being here ❤️
.
.
.
.
[Full text in Alt Text]
No you’re crying. Can’t express how much this No you’re crying. Can’t express how much this means to me. 😭 #BodyHappyKids
.
.
.
.
[Image description: A yellow square with a screenshot of a DM overlaid which reads “I’ve only read one chapter and I’m finding it so moving. There is not a moment of the day when I don’t worry about my 9 year old and how as a bigger child he may be stigmatised. I feel so empowered to have this book. We did the affirmations this morning and even the 2.5 year old joined in. Both my boys demeanour changed and when discussing ways in which the eldest thought his body was amazing was incredibly empowering. Thank you.”]
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 · Mothers Always Right. Design by Stacey Corrin

This site uses cookies: Find out more.