Pumpkin Time!!

I am a huge fan of Autumn/Winter traditions. I think as the nights draw in and it gets dark so much earlier (especially now the clocks have gone back!!), we need to have the comfort of a nice tradition. For me, the start of the Autumn traditions begins with all of the October birthdays, followed by Halloween, the Christmas Panto, Christmas itself and New Year to round it all up. We are currently on number two of the all time favourite traditions- Halloween! And more specifically, pumpkin carving!!

I seem to be the only one in my family who can stand the smell of pumpkin flesh, therefore it falls to me to choose the biggest, plumpest and most orange pumpkin, design the features and carve it up.

I really like his little button nose this year!! (Created by carefully poking through a screwdriver from the outside.)

Raawwwwrrrrr!!! Scary stuff.

I like to think of the black marks as war wounds or battle scars, to show what a tough pumpkin this is. Not afraid of a barny. He would snap your hand off if you got too close!

And of course, once the scooping out of the innards is complete, you are left with lots and lots of pumpkin slices. This year the pumpkin is so big there was masses of it scooped out. I started by making Pumpkin, Potato and Carrot soup for tea yesterday. (Not really following a recipe just softening some onions, throwing in the carrot and pumpkin along with parsley, ginger, cinnamon, chili seeds, salt and pepper and frying for a little while. Then added in two small jugs of vegetable stock along with chopped potato and celery for crunch, leave to boil for 15 or so minutes. Blend with a hand blender until pureed or slightly more mushy and add in a tub of half fat creme fraiche, stir, season and serve with crusty bread!! Delish.)

I put the remaining pumpkin flesh in the fridge (seriously, when I mean there was lots, there was lots!!!) overnight and this evening made another few handfuls into Pumpkin and Ginger Tea Loaf, which I started making last year. The smell of this baking in the oven is amazing, totally autumnal.

And whilst this bakes in the oven, I can think about what to do with the final handful of pumpkin in the fridge (I really did mean it about the amount that was scooped out of this gigantic beast!!). How are you decorating your pumpkin this year? Do you make it into lovely edibles?