Showing signs of fatigue, dark circles or puffiness, allergies, nasal congestion?
Then pumpkin is for you. It’s contains 245 % of the average person’s daily needs of Vitamin A, as well as antioxidants, alpha and beta-carotenes, and it’s a fantastic source of vitamins C, K, and E. Furthermore, it has magnesium, potassium, and iron, and fibre.
Being such a fantastic source of good nutrition, one has to wonder why the humble Pumpkin is so maligned? Children often turn up their noses at the thought of it and the Irish once considered it only good for pig food! Perhaps it is a little boring: after all, there is only so much roast Pumpkin one can eat.
Here are a few creative ways for incorporating Pumpkin into your diet.
Ways to Eat Pumpkin
- Once you roast it, leftover Roast Pumpkin goes well in a Spinach and Rocket Salad sprinkled with a bit of Feta and balsamic vinegar. Delicious!
- Incorporate it into a Roast Vegetable Frittata – Find that recipe here
- Add some diced Ham, Mushroom and Caramelised onion pieces to a Roast vegetable pie.
- Replace Pumpkin in any recipe that needs squash.
- Dice into small 1 inch pieces and roast with Rosemary and Thyme til crisp. Sprinkle with Sea salt and eat as a healthy alternative to Hot Chips.
- Pumpkin seeds called Pepitas can be used to make Crispbread, Salads, Muffins or as a healthy afternoon snack.
- Being a sweet vegetable it is great to use in Cakes, Scones or Pumpkin Pie.
When talking sweet Pumpkin recipes, my absolute favourite is Pumpkin Scones. Here is how I make them: –
Pumpkin Scones Recipe
Ingredients:
- I cup of mashed Pumpkin
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 2 tablespoon Sugar
- 1 Egg
- pinch of Salt
- 2 cups Self-raising Flour
Method
- Beat first three ingredients together.
- Add Egg, Salt and Flour and mix gently.
- Add a teaspoon or two of Milk*, enough to make a wet Scone Dough that you can easily roll out to a floured board. * Often it is already of a good consistency and no milk is needed.
- Roll out to 3/4 inch or 3 cm thickness on a floured board and cut into circles.
- Place on a greased tray and brush tops of Scones with a little dab of Milk.
- Bake in Hot Oven 250 degrees for 10 minutes
Hint:
To make Pumpkin puree to use in Scones:
Prepare to roast a whole Pumpkin by stabbing it with a knife once or twice to vent the steam, put the whole Pumpkin on a baking sheet, cook in a moderate oven at 175 C for an hour or so, until you can easily stick a knife into it. Cool, then scoop out the seeds and string middle or pull out with tongs.
Pumpkin Seeds
(Pepitas)
Pumpkin seeds, called Pepitas, are loaded with minerals, and it’s claimed they have an anti-inflammatory effect, as well as help to protect against prostate cancer and osteoporosis. A quarter cup of seeds has about 1.5 grams of fibre.
Hint: To prepare the seeds:
Let them dry on paper towels, then oil and salt them (add any other seasonings you want) and slow roast them in a 150 C oven until they smell good – about 45 to 60 minutes.
Stir them every 15 minutes or so. Cool and Store in an airtight jar.
Selection and Storage
- Choose a Pumpkin that has firm skin, (no wrinkles), and feels heavy for its size. Knock on it with your knuckles. If it sounds woody, it is ready to eat. Stay away from the larger pumpkin, as a smaller and denser is better, in this case.
- Whole Pumpkins should keep for up to 6 months, if kept in a cool, dry place.
- A sheet or two of newspaper underneath the Pumpkin will absorb any dampness.
- Once cut, Pumpkin will only keep for a few days, unless you remove the seeds and stringy centre and leave unwrapped in the lower part of your fridge.
- Cooked Pumpkin will keep in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
To read nutritional information about Pumpkin, click here.
Grow Your Own Pumpkin plants
The plant is a fast-growing vine, in my yard; it self-sows from my compost bin, creeping along the ground surface. But throw a few Pumpkin seeds in the garden and nature will do the rest for you. You may have to water them as the vines do get thirsty.
Pumpkin’s health benefits are Something we should all Ponder About
Roast pumpkin is as good as a holiday. I bake it in the oven after cutting it in cubes, sprinkle it with Moroccan spice and some nice olive oil. I also leave the skin on.
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Moroccan spice on pumpkin sounds really nice, Gerard. Spicy and healthy!! Which type of pumpkin do you generally use?
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We use Queensland blue pumpkin when available, otherwise the green and yellow spotted ones. Even pumpkin soup, we first bake the pumpkin to get that nice roasted taste.
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Infesting that you roast it before turning out into soup. That is a good tip, Gerard. I too like the Qld blue for taste and roasting a whole pumpkin first is easier than cutting through that tough Qld blue skin!
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I am getting My food bag, which is a weekly bag/box with fresh vegetables, herbs, spices and 4 recipes for the week. They also cook/bake pumpkin different ways. We also don’t peel any veggies.
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A great way to preserve all the nutrients possible, Ineke! What herbs do they combine with roast pumpkin?
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They usually only season it wit bit of salt and before it is baked they put other veggies like broccoli and or spinach with it the last 5 minutes. It is mostly made in a salad
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I love eating pumpkin! There are so many ways that you can prepare it. Here is my sister’s recipe for pumpkin fritters!
https://nowathome.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/pumpkin-fritters/
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Pumpkin fritters! Yum. I am going to give that a try! Thanks, Aletta!
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It is devine!
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Good to know. We add pumpkin seeds to almost everything here. Amanda
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I guess there are many dishes one could add pepitas to. Granola, muesli, salads, pies, casseroles. Any others, Dai?
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Chicken curry, fried rice, instant noodles
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Pepitas with noodles? Wow, that is a excellent idea, Dai! Thanks!
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No wonder I love pumpkin.
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What is your favorite way of preparing it?
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What is your favourite way to prepare it, Peggy?
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Roasted pumpkin served almost any way. In salads, on toast with feta and nuts, with a roast…
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On toast? That is a new one! I am going to try that. So glad I posted about this, I have got some great new ideas!
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One of my favourite vegies. That scone recipe looks great Amanda.X
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Have you made Pumpkin scones, Lorelle?
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No Amanda, never. That will be my next task!! Xx
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I hope you like them. I’d love to know how they turn out!
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I will surely let you know when I attempt them. Hope all is well with you guys. X
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Thanks Lorelle. We have a full house now. Mitch is back home again!!
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It’s lovely to have them back home. Enjoy this time together ❤️
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Lorelle, I can’t see the photos in this post on my mobile device. Almost all were added via flikr. Can you see them?
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Hi Amanda
Yes
I can see all the pics on my mobile 👍🏼😊
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Great thank you!
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Learned something new today. I used to give my dog a spoon full of pumpkin daily for her digestion. Should have been taking it myself. I make a very spicy pumpkin bread at the holidays but not the rest of the year. Your pumpkin scones are going on the list of “must try this”. I have never roasted a pumpkin. Another “must try” Thanks for all the good information here.
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I have never roasted a whole pumpkin, Marlene but cut roasted pumpkin is delicious and so versatile. Just add rosemary and salt and bit of butter/oil…..
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Pumpkin rice. That’s what we like!
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Ooo. That sounds different. Have you shared a recipe on WordPress, Mel and Suan?
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Nah, we don’t write about food recipes… heheh… just write about eating them! lol
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Yoi could write a guest post on my blog?
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Heheh…. no content to come up with! lol
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Not even a post about pumpkin rice that you spoke of?
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Heheh… we only ate it… lol don’t even know how it was made!
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So we will have to experiment!!
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What a great post – so much information. We eat pepitas with our breakfast yogurt most mornings, and we eat roast pumpkin often. I know leftovers are good in salads – but I’ve not used that way yet. I’ve never thought of roasting my own pepitas. And that looks like a great pumpkin scone recipe. A friend has just given me half of a big pumpkin – guess what’s going to be one of the first things I’ll make when my kitchen is back together.
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I am so glad to hear that you are going to make use of that pumpkin, Chris. And it is no guilt scones!!! Gosh most of the mix i pumpkin anyway! But really it is so good for you. Try it in a salad with baby spinach, rocket, radichio, or even cos/iceberg, Sprinkle in some feta or roasted pine nuts and cucumber… yum!! My mouth is watering, it is nearly lunchtime!!! Let me know how you go with that.
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My favorite way of preparing pumpkin/winter squash is making a Indian or Thai pumpkin curry with coconut milk. A while back I roasted an entire turban squash, then hollowed it out and stuffed it with a ratatouille. Delish! 😋 I’ll have to bookmark the scone recipe!
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What a great way to serve Ratatouille!! The curry also sounds nice butI wonder if you or the pumpkin or add it in diced chunks?
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For the pumpkin curry I peel the winter squash and then cut it into bite size chunks. It’s really delicious! 😋
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That does sound nice!! Thanks for the advice
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😊
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thanks for sharing
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My pleasure!!
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Reblogged this on SEO.
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Thank you for the re blog!!
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Thank you for the re-blog
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