10-Minute Winter Warmer Pumpkin Soup

I am in love with all kind of soups at this time of year, but this one in particular I keep coming back to. This is perfect for a filling lunch or a light dinner and only takes about 10 mins to put together, exactly what you need on chilly days. You can still find great eating pumpkins to buy, just make sure they have a firm dry flesh (carving pumpkins have too high a water content and have no flavour).
I cook or cut up the whole pumpkin in one go as it's much easier. I roast about 1/2 and then puree it and with the rest I cube or slice it and keep it in the freezer until needed. 

My recipe uses pureed pumpkin, but you could also use pureed butternut squash or sweet potatoes. I usually eyeball the amount of pumpkin I put in as it depends on how thin or thick I want it, usually 3 or 4 tablespoons is plenty.  For 2 people I use:

1 clove of garlic, grated
3 or 4 tablespoons of pureed pumpkin
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
Pinch of chilli
1/4 of a vegetable stock cube
600mls of water (or homemade stock)
Grating of nutmeg (optional)
Salt & pepper

All you have to do is gently cook the grated garlic in some olive oil in a pot, then add everything else in, bring it up to a boil and you're done. Get it to whatever consistency you like by adding more or less water/stock and serve it with some homemade garlic croutons or toasted bread and you're good to go!

Cinnamon and Raisin Swirl Bread

November has arrived and with it comes chilly mornings and long dark evenings. It's awful getting out of bed 1st thing in the morning, placing your warm toes onto a spine-tinglingly cold floor and leaving your cosy bed behind you. However knowing this gorgeous sweet treat awaits you will make getting out of bed that little bit easier. As this bakes, your whole house will smell amazing and it's very difficult not to go for seconds (and thirds!) of this bread.

I start off by making my favourite regular bread recipe and after it's 1st prove I knock it back and gently knead in about 1/2 a cup of raisins (or currants, or both). Using a rolling pin I flattened it out into a rough rectangular shape, brush it with a little bit of sunflower oil (or you could use melted butter) and scatter over some cinnamon sugar. I combined 1 tablespoon of soft brown sugar with 2 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, I love it really cinnamony!! Then roll it up like a swiss roll and place into a greased loaf tin to rise a 2nd time for 30-40 mins until it has risen above the sides of the tin. Because of the raisins it doesn't look like the smoothest or prettiest loaf on the outside but it makes up for that completely on the inside! So pretty!

Bake for about 35-40 mins at 200C until it sounds hollow when tapped and try with all your might to let it cool completely before cutting a slice into it (If you can wait that long, more power to you, I couldn't, about half an hour was fine!). This really doesn't need anything else on it, but if you wanted you could spread some butter or jam or marmalade on it. What a perfect weekend treat!

Pumpkin Everything!!

Lately there has been one vegetable above all else that I've been going back to again and again over the last month for both sweet and savoury dishes. Can you guess what it is? Yep, Pumpkin!! So I'm going to compile all a good few of the dishes I've been making into this post. 

 Pumpkin (and autumnal veg) & Bean Casserole

 Pumpkin Spice Latte

Pumpkin Buns

 Pumpkin Scones

Low-fat Pumpkin mini Cheesecakes

 Pumpkin Ravioli with Purple Basil Pesto

Pumpkin Pancakes & Orange Spice Yogurt

Pumpkin & Raisin Tea Loaf (totally forgot to take a picture of the actual loaf)

I've also been adding pumpkin pie spice to pretty much everything I can, to say I'm a little obsessed would be a bit of an understatement! I'm sure there will be many more pumpkin dishes to come, I've a big "to-cook" list of ideas so keep an eye out for more! If you haven't gone out and bought some beautiful organic local pumpkin and squashes, what are you waiting for? Go!

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Mix

I truly am addicted to this delicious warming spice mix at the moment! It's hugely popular and easily available in the US but not so much here sadly. However it's an absolute doddle to make, is the work of minutes and adds a gorgeous autumnal flavour to anything you add it too.

My perfect spice mix ratio is:

4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground all spice
1/2 teaspoon ground clove

Put everything into a little jar, gently mix and use to your hearts content! My favourites uses for it at the moment are on my porridge in the morning, on top of a coffee (think cappuccino), on rice pudding, a dusting over warm milk, cupcakes or buns, in a tea loaf, mini cheesecakes, scones, pancakes..the list is practically endless!! What are your favourite ways to use pumpkin spice?

Check out my video in for more info and how to make my perfect pumpkin puree (delicious in my homemade pumpkin spice lattes!).

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Latte

So we all know the hugely popular version of this drink, which I have to admit that I've never actually tried, however I LOVE the sound of it. I'm really not a fan of that coffee chain and I wanted to make my own version healthier and with all natural ingredients. If you can find a good quality canned organic pumpkin puree I'd use that however if you can't, making your own is very easy. Just put a 1/4 of a small pumpkin cut-side down on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 mins until totally soft. Then scoop out the flesh and blend it until totally smooth.

Ingredients:
250ml of milk (or milk alternative)
1 or 2 tbl of maple syrup or honey
1 tbl of pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 shot of espresso

I've used both oat milk and cow's milk for this recipe, and they both turned out great, so use whatever kind of milk you'd prefer. This is how I like mine, but if you want it sweeter, spicier or more pumpkiny just up the quantities to your taste. If you have a milk steamer to heat everything together that would be amazing, however I don't, so I heated the milk and pumpkin puree in a saucepan before tipping everything into a blender and whizzing it up for about 30 seconds until the milk became frothy. Top with a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice and enjoy! It's as easy as that.

Baked Wild Mushroom Tagliatelle

This is one of those perfect autumnal dishes that warms your bones and leaves you in a contented slump on the couch. This is not a light, pretty or delicate kind of dish, it's deep, earthy and totally comforting. I've adapted this recipe from Simon Hopkinson's version and I think it turned out fantastically. At the first mouthful Isaac and I exclaimed a loud "Mmmmmm" in unison and barely said a word until we squabbled over seconds! 

You start off with 500ml of milk in a saucepan (I used low fat cows milk but if you wanted to make it with a milk alternative I'd use a light and unsweetened version as otherwise it would be far too heavy) and 15g of dried wild mushrooms. I used a combination of Italian porcini and dried French wild mushrooms but whatever you can get your hands on is perfect. Poach the mushrooms for about 10 mins on a low heat making sure the milk doesn't boil but that the mushrooms become soft. Turn off the heat and leave it to sit for another 10 mins with the lid on.

   

During this time I sauteed 2 large field mushrooms in a pan with some thyme and a bit of garlic and set aside. Strain the mushrooms from the milk but make sure to catch all the liquid in a bowl. With a bit of flour and butter (I used a vegan substitute) make a roux and whisk in the still warm milk and seasoning until thick and glossy. I cooked enough tagliatelle for 2 for about 8 mins before adding it to the white sauce and mushrooms. 

To finish it off I sprinkled garlic and herb breadcrumbs (you could use cheese if you wanted) over the top and baked it in hot oven for 20 mins until golden brown. This is such a delicious meal and I'm positive I'll be making it again on those cold, autumnal nights when nothing else could hit the spot.

Lemon, Yogurt & Poppy Seed Buns

Hey all, I'm really sorry for my almost month-long absence from blogging, but don't worry, I'm back and kicking things off again with some delicious lemon, yogurt and poppy seed buns! I opened my kitchen cupboard recently and saw a big tub of lovely organic blue Turkish poppy seeds that have sadly not been used in a while, and felt that lemony-yogurty buns just had to be made. With a big cup of tea and a pair of fluffy socks they're a perfect treat for a chilly, early-autumn afternoon.

I love simple bun recipes, where you premix all of the wet and dry ingredients separately before combing them. No faffing about creaming or beating things together, just bung it all in!

Starting off with the dry, I used Dove's Farm organic white spelt flour, dark brown sugar, baking powder, pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds. And for the wet I used, 2 organic eggs, a good dollop of vanilla bean paste, low fat organic natural yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest (unwaxed) and sunflower oil.

The recipe makes 12 buns and they bake in 18-20 mins. The smell of the lemon and vanilla filled the house with such a gorgeous aroma that I was barely able to wait for them to cool down before brewing up a nice strong cup of tea and tucking in. Because I used sunflower oil instead of butter they had a lovely light texture with a great crumb structure. I don't like overly sweet bakes so I reduced the amount of sugar by a good bit, and thought they were perfect. I'm not one for icing either so I just have them as they are, but a pretty lemony swirl of icing would look very pretty. They should last about 3 days in an airtight container but realistically that won't happen! They're too good to resist!