Halloween is all about candy, but is it? It’s also about ghosts, zombies, dress up, and… pumpkins! We all now the sugar rash that accompanies the Halloween eveing, and I am not about to tell you to ban candy. I will myself get some candy from my daughter’s bucket and eat it in hiding 😉
But! Okasana from Nutrition Right proposes to use Halloween to make pumpkin more present on kids’ plates, and to include them in meals preps! Are you in? I now leave you in caring hands of Oksana.
We all want our kids to eat our vegetables & we, parents try so hard to incorporate the healthy veggies into daily diets of our little darlings. There are however moments, where instead of happily eating the wholesome meal we lovingly prepared, the kids start investigating very closely the plate using their fork as a magnifying glass to identify what exactly is on the plate “What is the green stuff?” & inevitably the “green stuff” gets pushed away to the side of the plate.
A great solution to getting the kids to eat more veggies is to involve them in cooking their favourite foods. They love getting messy, using super noisy kitchen gadgets & generally having fun. Like this, a vegetable, whose look had little appeal to them, magically in their own hands transforms into something really yummy.
Pumpkins are associated with autumn & particularly with Halloween. This vegetable is the star of the two healthy recipes: Pumpkin Gnocchi and Gluten Free Dairy Free Pumpkin Cookies.
What’s more, these recipes are also budget friendly! Once the pumpkin flesh is scooped out of the pumpkin, use the knife to cut out the eyes, nose & teeth to make a scary Halloween face, put candle inside the hollow pumpkin & you are all set to celebrate the Halloween.
Pumpkin Gnocchi
Once gnocchi are ready but not cooked, freeze them and keep for later or cook and eat straight away.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 medium size pumpkin to make 1 cup cooked pumpkin
- 1 cup wholewheat flour
- Pinch of salt /pinch of pepper
- ½ tsp ground nuttmeg
Instructions for a child
- Mash the pumpkin pieces with potato masher in a bowl until they turn into puree.
- In a bowl, mix together flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg & pumpkin.
- Put the mix onto a chopping board & knead 10-12 times until the dough is soft. Let rest for 15 minutes.
- Roll each portion of the dough into 2 fingers thick rope.
- Using a fork, press the fork alongside the dough rope.
- If gnocchi is misshapen use your hand to make them a bit elongated
Instructions for a parent
- Scoop out the flesh from 1 medium size pumpkin. Steam it for abt 30 mins until cooked. Either use Thermomix of steaming or boil water in a large pan, add the pumpkin pieces into colander, put the colander on to of the boiling water, cover & cook over boiling water. This can be done 1 day in advance. Once cooked, let the pumpkin pieces to cool.
- Cut each rope into pieces.
- Boil water in a large pan. Cook gnocchi in batches for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until they float.
- Serve hot with butter & grated parmesan.
Gluten Free Dairy Free Pumpkin Cookies
Rice flour is used in this recipe instead of the white flour, to give it a very soft and chewy texture.
Total time 35mins.
Ingredients:
- 1tsp baking soda
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 1cup rice flour
- ¾ cup corn starch
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1 medium size pumpkin to make 1 cup cooked pumpkin
- ¾ cup demerara sugar
- 1 handful of vegan chocolate pieces, broken into smaller pieces
- Cookie cutters or rings for starters/desserts
- Optional: A handful of walnuts or pecans for a more crunchy taste
Instructions for a child
- Mash the pumpkin pieces into puree with potato masher.
- Mix baking powder, baking soda, rice flower, corn starch, spices & nuts (optional) in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add the coconut oil, sugar. Take is using a hand wisker or in blender.
- Using a big spoon mix the dry ingredients with wet ones. Mix very well.
- Choose the cookie cutters or rings for starters/desserts. Arrange the cookie cutters onto the baking sheet. Using a soup spoon, add 1 spoonful of mix into each cookie cutter, spreading it well. Continue until the tray is full.
- Take a plastic bag, put chocolate bits into it & break them into smaller ones.
- Decorate the cookies with scary Halloween faces.
Instructions for a parent
- Scoop out the flesh from 1 medium size pumpkin. Steam it for abt 30 mins until cooked. Either use Thermomix of steaming or boil water in a large pan, add the pumkin pieces into colander, put the colander on to of the boiling water, cover & cook over boiling water. This can be done 1 day in advance. Once cooked, let the pumpkin pieces to cool.
- Heat the coconut oil in a microwave for abt 30seconds until it is liquid.
- Place a baking sheet onto baking tray.
- Preheat the over to 175deg. Bake for for 20 mins.
- Once the cookies are cooled a bit but not completely cold decorate with chocolate chips.
