Saturday, 1 September 2012

Start of September…Back to Pumpkin

Am I ready for the end of Summer – both the school holidays and the sunny weather? No.

Am I, nevertheless, starting to look forward to Autumn? Maybe.

I was doing a bit of online window shopping last night and, instead of bikinis or cute summer dresses, I found myself lusting after hoodies and chunky jumpers.

And I may have opened one of my (many) tins of pumpkin that has been lurking in my larder since last Autumn. I actually opened it on the 31st August, but shhh, we’ll keep pretending that my taste buds are super in tune with the seasons!!

So on Friday I made a Oh She Glow’s pumpkin gingerbread smoothie – one of my favourites from last year.

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Delicious, but too strongly spiced for Toby, and perhaps a bit too fall-like for me just yet.

So this morning I cut out the spices and molasses, added in the all important peanut butter (!), and made a mellowed down pumpkin smoothie that is perfect for adult and children taste buds alike!

Peanut Pumpkin Smoothie
(makes 2 large portions)
  • half a tin of pumpkin (200g)
  • 2 frozen bananas, chopped before freezing
  • 500ml milk (I used organic cows but you could use non-dairy if you want this to be vegan)
  • 50g oats
  • one huge heaping tbsp smooth peanut butter (prob about 60g?)
  1. Put the milk, oats and pumpkin into the blender jar, and leave in the fridge for a few hours/overnight. This isn't essential, but will help you get a smoother result.
  2. Add the bananas and peanut butter when you are ready to eat, and blend until smooth and creamy.
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I prepped this first thing this morning and put it in the fridge whilst Izzy and I went swimming. Exactly what we wanted when we got home a few hours later Smile

Thumbs up from Izzy (despite the face, ha, I think she still had a mouth full of smoothie!!)…

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And Toby gave it his version of a thumbs up too…

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Divine. I think I possibly even prefer this version to the spiced one – it has a lighter flavour whilst still being super thick and creamy. Definitely more “appropriate” while the sun is still shining…the perfect transition into pumpkin season!! Open-mouthed smile

Are you ready for Summer to be over yet? Thought about eating pumpkin? I love summer, especially the recent (for England) heat we’ve been having – beach, iced lattes, sunbathing etc are my idea of bliss. I’m also sad that schools start back next week, however it is never too early to start eating pumpkin!! I’m pretty sure I was still eating it into Spring this year, but I have seemingly now had a long enough break from it to start wanting it again! I might stick to this smoothie for now though – pumpkin oats can start happening when the weather gets cooler again, which wont be long I’m sure!

14 comments:

  1. I love summer but I don't actually feel like we have had one in Ireland, due to the bad weather! I am looking forward to autumn though, need to get my hands on some tinned pumpkin again soon!

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    1. Yeah our summer's been a bit patchy - it seems to have rained whenever Liam's had time off work, but been sunny inbetween!!

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  2. I love summer- I don't want it to end just yet! The 6 weeks always go by so fast and that Sunday night feeling is just amplified on the day before term starts. Ah well.
    I have about 8 tins of pumpkin in my cupboard- I kept ordering them last year and hardly using them, and I saw some lovely looking pumpkin bread on holiday which made me think about all the lovely pumpkin recipes- I am sure it won't be long. In fact before I went away I made tea bread with some pumpkin puree in there, so I used some up in August.

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    1. Haha, pumpkin recipes do get addictive! I still need to perfect the pumpkin bread I tried to make last year so will keep an eye out for you trying any recipes :)

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  3. I'm so ready to give up on Summer, it feels somewhat more justifiable given we had such a pants one weather wise!

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    1. I know, could've done with more sunshine! Almost hot chocolate weather again now though, I need to buy some whipped cream! :)

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  4. Mmm im loving recipes that contain pumpkin at the moment - but i can never find tinned pumpkin for a reasonable price so have to sub for squash. Where do you get yours?

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    1. I get mine from Waitrose. They used to only sell it in Autumn, but my local store now sells it year-round! :)

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  5. I've never tried pumpkin, not sure if I would like it, what does it taste like? Is the tinned stuff sweet?

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    1. No, it's not sweet, you need to add sugar or bananas/pb etc for sweet recipes. Tbh it doesn't have a huge flavour on its own, which I guess is why people tend to add spices etc. It's a great thickener in smoothies though, as well as getting in extra veg. I made this smoothie without the pumpkin the following day, to save opening another tin, and it was nowhere near as nice/thick. Give it a try! :)

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