No Waste Pumpkin Ideas
According to The Woodland Trust a whooping 18 thousand tonnes of pumpkin gets thrown away in the UK after Halloween each year. That’s a huge amount of waste, so why not do your bit this year and feed your family or help wildlife with your family’s spooky leftovers?
If your pumpkin is fresh it’s a great ingredient for soups and stews and cakes. Pumpkins are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Just 80g of pumpkin counts as 1 of your 5 a day. They may be small, but pumpkin seeds are little powerhouses of nutrients and health benefits.
So this year why not try one of these delicious recipes ?
Toasted pumpkin seed recipes:
If you fancy having a snack yourself, why not rustle up these tasty toasted pumpkin seeds with cinnamon (courtesy of The Woodland Trust)?
- Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan and add clean pumpkin seeds.
- Add cinnamon and sugar and mix well.
- Spread the seeds on a baking tray and pop in an oven preheated to 180C/gas 4.
- Bake for around twenty minutes, let cool and enjoy!
Or, just cover in olive oil and some salt and roast until ready (we like them burnt around the edges for extra flavour!).
Halloween Pumpkin Cake (recipe courtesy of the Abergavenny Market Pumpkin Lady !):
300g Self Raising Flour
300g Light Muscavado Sugar
3tsp Mixed Spice
2tsp Bicarb of soda
175g Sultanas
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs beaten
200g butter, melted
Zest 1 orange or 2 satsumas
1 tsp orange or satsuma juice
500g peeled pumpkin or butternut squash flesh, grated
Heat Oven to 180/fan 160/gas 4. Butter and line a 30 x 20cm baking or roasting tin with parchment. Put all dry ingredients plus sultanas in a bowl and mix. Beat eggs into the melted butter and add the citrus, then mix with the dry ingredients until combined. Stir in the pumpkin. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch. Decorate with icing or frosting of your choice. Also delicious with custard !
Creamy Pumpkin & Lentil Soup (recipe courtesy of the Abergavenny Market Pumpkin Lady !)::
1 tbsp & 1 tsp Olive Oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Approx. 800g chopped pumpkin flesh.
100g red split lentils
a few sprigs of time leaves or sage
1 litre hot veg stock
pinch of salt and sugar
50g creme fraiche or cream
Heat the tbsp of oil in a large pan. Fry onions until soft and golden. Stir in garlic, pumpkin, lentils and herbs. Add the stock, season well and simmer for 20-25 mins until tender. Whiz with a stick blender or liquidizer until smooth, add creme fraiche or cream and whiz again. Season to taste. Serve with roasted pumpkin seeds on top.
Don't fancy cooking with your pumpkin? Or like us have too many to cook with this year, try one of these wildlife ideas:
Leave out for squirrels, mice and other critters to enjoy. Chickens in particular also love a pumpkin to peck at !!
Or, chop your pumpkin into chunks and bury them about 25cm deep in your garden. Don’t forget to remove any seeds unless you’d like your own pumpkin harvest next year! Insects and worms will feed on the pumpkin and recycle its nutrients into the soil, making it extra fertile.
Make a pumpkin bird feeder - This works as a hanging feeder or you can place it on your bird table.
- Take off the lid of your jack-o'-lantern. If you have a fresh pumpkin, cut the top off and scoop out the insides.
- To make a hanging feeder, make some holes in your pumpkin and push strong sticks through so they jut out either side. These will become perches for birds.
- Tie a piece of string of each stick, the tie all the lengths of string above the pumpkin.
- Hang your feeder from a sturdy branch.
- Fill the pumpkin with bird seed and watch to see if you get any hungry visitors.
Remember to clean out the feeder every few days and put the pumpkin on the compost heap once it starts to rot, otherwise it could harm the birds.
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