Category: Lunch

Chicken Noodle Soup | Healthy |Gluten Free

This gluten free chicken noodle soup is warming, nourishing and healing. Especially if you make the broth yourself.

You can find a very basic broth recipe here. Chicken broth tip: Save up all your chicken bones in the freezer, then, when you have enough bones, put them all together to make a big pot of broth. Freeze your broth in a silicone muffin tray, or repurposed glass jars. If you use glass jars, make sure you only fill them 3/4 of the way up, and cool the broth in the fridge overnight first, before putting in the freezer.

I always use organic, free range chicken when I can. I get ours from Bostocks, Organic Free range chicken.

Instant pot or pressure cooker

If you have an instant pot or a pressure cooker, you can cook the chicken legs for 10 minutes, then add the veggies and cook for 5 minutes. I prefer to cook my broth in the pressure cooker too, which I have instructions for in the broth recipe. Don’t forget to save your chicken bones from this recipe, to turn into more broth!

You can also use any cut of chicken you like, I chose this one because it has joints, which are great for making broth, and also it’s a great budget friendly cut of meat, especially if you are trying to stick to free range, organic. It’s also fairy hardy, and doesn’t tend to overcook and go tough easily like chicken breast does. You could also use drumsticks as a budget friendly option, or any cut you like really, keeping in mind that chicken breast will need to be removed as soon as it’s cooked through, then added back through right at the end.

If you are a fellow Kiwi (New Zealander) then you can find gluten and dairy free recipes like this, including all the ingredients, for 5 nights, delivered to your door (for a price so good it should be illegal – just saying) from Kete Kai food boxes. All gluten free recipes developed by me, and quality tested by my family, before making their way to you.

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Gluten Free Chicken Noodle Soup

This gluten free chicken noodle soup is warming, nourishing and healing.
Prep Time40 mins
Course: dinner, Main Course, main meal, meal, Soup
Keyword: allergy friendly, chicken, coconut free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, gut healing, healing, noodle, nut free, soup, soy free
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 2 Whole Chicken legs I use Bostock Brothers Organic Free Range Chicken
  • 1 Onion
  • 1/4 Pumpkin
  • 1 carrot
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 Leek
  • 2 potatoes
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 100 g rice vermicelli noodles optional
  • 2 stalks celery
  • A few leaves of silverbeet or other greens spinach, kale
  • 2 Litres chicken stock or broth
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1 Tablespoon Oil
  • 1-2 teaspoons sea salt depending on how salty your stock or broth already is
  • Fresh parsley

Instructions

  • Dice onion and garlic. Cut pumpkin, potatoes and carrot into cubes. Slice the celery and leek.
  • In a large pot, with a lid, fry the onions, celery, leek and garlic in the oil for 1 – 2 minutes.
  • Add the chicken thighs and cover with the water. Put a lid on your pot and let simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes.
  • Add the potatoes, pumpkin and carrots to the soup water, along with the salt and curry powder. Replace lid. Cook for 8 minutes.
  • Remove the chicken thighs from the water and set aside to cool. When the chicken legs are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and add it back into the soup. (save the bones to make more broth).
  • Add the noodles, salt and juice of half a lemon. Cook for a further 5 minutes with the lid off.
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste 👌

Kayla

Gluten Free Crispy Chicken Nuggets

These healthy, gluten and grain free homemade chicken nuggets are crispy, quick and easy. They are also egg free, dairy free and have an option for nut free as well.

Chicken nuggets, what is it about these little morsels of delight that kids just love. My kids have never had nuggets of the processed type, so it’s definitely something to do with crispy, bite sized pieces of chicken.

Nut free

You can make these nuggets nut free by swapping the almond meal or almond flour for sunflower seed flour. You can buy pre made sunflower seed flour, or you can very easily make your own by grinding raw sunflower seeds into a flour in your food processor or blender. I’ve tried making these with other grain flours such as rice flour or tapioca, and they are just not the same without that courser texture of the almond or sunflower meal.

Do you Really not need eggs?

Nope, you really don’t need eggs to make the coating stick. We no longer have to avoid eggs, but this is how I make our nuggets every time. I recon they come out the best texture and crunch using this recipe. And a bonus in that they are so, so easy to throw together without having to faff around with an egg coating.

These are best served with homemade aioli or mayonnaise, which I have the perfect egg free mayo recipe here.

Oils

Ok lets talk oils for frying in. We personally avoid highly processed oils such as canola oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil, soya oil and ‘vegetable oil’. I fry these nuggets in my deep fryer which we fill with beef tallow or lard (just like the fish n chip shops back in the old days!) You could also use coconut oil. Olive oil isn’t the oil for frying in this recipe, as it doesn’t have a high smoke point, so you will end up smokin out your kitchen when it gets hot enough for frying.

If you try these don’t forget to tag me on Facebook or Instagram

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Gluten Free Crispy Chicken Nuggets

These healthy, gluten and grain free homemade chicken nuggets are crispy, quick and easy. They are also egg free, dairy free and have an option for nut free as well.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Total Time20 mins
Course: dinner
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken, chicken nuggets, coconut free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, healthy, nuggets, nut free, soy free

Equipment

  • optional – Deep Fryer

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • ½ teaspoon allspice
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon white pepper
  • ½ cup almond meal (or ground sunflower seeds / sunflower meal)
  • 500 g chicken diced into small cubes / nuggets of your desired size
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • Oil for shallow frying, or deep frying.

Instructions

  • Combine all the spices, salt and almond meal in a bowl.
  • Dice the chicken into nuggets of your preferred size.
  • Coat the chicken in the tablespoon of olive oil.
  • Add the chicken to the bowl of spices and toss to coat. Leave them to sit for 5 minutes to soak up the spice mix.
  • If shallow frying, add oil to your pan 1-2cm deep and gently heat over medium heat. If deep frying heat enough oil to be able to fully drop the nuggets in, or use a deep fryer.
  • Fry the nuggets in small batches for best results, and remove after 3-5 minutes or when golden and cooked through.

Kayla

10 of The Best Healthy Lunchbox Tips

So, you have come a long way, and there is hardly any packets in the lunchbox anymore. Lunch consists of: sandwich, apple, banana, yoghurt and a biscuit and muesli bar. Sounds ok huh?

What if I told you that there could be up to TEN hidden teaspoons of added sugar in this lunchbox? The recommended daily intake of added sugars from the World Health Organisation (WHO) is 4 teaspoons for a 5 year old (and a maximum of 8) this has just blown the sugar intake through the roof in just one meal! Let me explain; Fresh and fruity fruit yoghurt: just over 4 tsp sugar*. 2 superwine biscuits: 1 tsp. Muesli bar: around 3 tsp on average depending on the bar. Jam or honey in a sandwich: 1-2 tsp And just like that you have 8-10 tsp of added sugar all packaged up nicely in a healthy looking school lunch. Marmite and even some peanut butters have added sugar in them, it’s everywhere and unfortunately we have to become detectives to scope this out!

So what could you do about this? The trick is not to change everything at once, not only would that be hard work for you, your kids would probably be feeling pretty overwhelmed too if their lunchbox suddenly changed overnight. Make the changes small, easy for you to manage and sustainable – something you can do, and stick to, so you don’t look back. Some small, simple tips (choose one):

  • Replace the sandwich filling to something like ham, salami, egg or cheese Spreads: We slowly got rid of things like marmite and jam from the house, so they are not even an option.
  • Next time you run out of jam or Nutella, don’t replace it. We make homemade jam by blending up berries and adding some chia seeds and a tiny bit of honey.
  • Read the labels, make sure you get a peanut butter with no added sugar.
  • Try using plain Greek yoghurt instead of flavoured and add some fresh fruit to it, berries are perfect for that, fresh in summer, or frozen in winter. Even stirring a teaspoon of honey through plain yoghurt will have nothing on the sugar content of a brought flavoured pottle, you could try this with the intention to reduce it completely after a few weeks. For dairy free options, flavoured coconut yoghurt, does tend to have a little less sugar than some other dairy brands, but still check the label and try and choose the least sugar.

The lunchbox I described is one of the better lunches I’ve seen in the classroom, but just because it’s what everyone is packing, does it make it ok? (I’ll leave that to you to decide). There is no protien, fat or vegetables in this lunchbox – some ideal forms of fuel for little bodies to learn and grow. I will share my tips on how to add these in, in the coming weeks.

If you need a hand getting lunchboxes sorted I have created a Lunchbox Planner resource that comes with 70+ healthy, real food, minimal prep or fuss food ideas and 12 healthy lunchbox recipes. You can check it out here.

Come Back next week for tip #2 🙂

*one teaspoon of sugar is about 4 grams.

My kids lick the bowl has a fantastic blog post which shows how much sugar is in everyday items and how it correlates to WHO’s recommended daily intake. It’s been expertly calculated and put into easy to read visuals! I used this to help me with my lunchbox example. I highly recommend checking it out!

Kayla

Apple Crumble Slice | Gluten Free, Healthy

This Apple crumble slice is super versatile. It’s free from the top allergens, plus coconut. Can be made with any fruit. And you can also layer the fruit on the bottom of an oven proof dish, and crumble the whole mix over the top to make fruit crumble! I actually find we only need half of the mix for fruit crumble, and the other half freezes great, and can be used to make another fruit crumble later on.

This recipe is healthy enough for everyday, (or breakfast even!) and lunchboxes, if you are wanting to make an extra sweet treat, or you are serving people used to sweet baking, then you can use 3/4 cup of sweetener instead of 1/2.

Make it grain free / Paleo

You can make this recipe paleo by substituting the oats, seeds and flour for almond meal – so 2 cups almond meal + 1 cup tapioca. Or 1 cup ground seeds, 3/4 cup almond meal and 3/4 cup tapioca.

Which sweetener?

The sweetener is fairly flexible, this recipe is designed for a liquid sweetener such as honey, maple, brown rice syrup etc. If you use a granulated sweetener such as coconut sugar, then you will need to add approximately 1/4 cup water to ensure the current texture. It only just comes together, so you denote want it too wet.

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Apple Crumble Slice

This apple crumble slice is tangy and delicious and can be made free from gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, nuts and coconut
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Breakfast, Snack, treats

Ingredients

  • ½ cup oil (olive oil, coconut oil and butter all work)
  • ½ cup sweetener e.g maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp baking soda + 1 tsp vinegar (OR 2 tsp baking powder)
  • 1 cup mixed seeds or almond meal
  • 1 ½ cup flour rice flour, buckwheat, spelt or gluten free blend all work fine
  • ½ cup rolled oats or quinoa flakes

Apple Filling

  • 4 apples You can use any other fruit
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 Tbsp sweetener optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180°c fanbake.
  • Peel and core the apples. Dice them and add to a pot with ¼ cup water, cinnamon and sweetener if you are using.
  • Cook over medium heat with the lid on for about 10 minutes, then when apples are softened, take the lid off and allow any liquid to evaporate, before setting the cooked apples aside.
  • If using seeds, grind them in your blender or food proccessor to form a flour. Place all the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix everything together. If it seems a bit dry and crumbly, add 1 Tbsp of water at a time, until it holds together nicely, when pressed.
  • Line a square slice tin with baking paper, and grease it.
  • Place half of the mixture on the tray and press down to spread out and form the base of the slice.
  • Spread the apples (now hopefully slightly cooled) on top of the base.
  • Take the remaining mixture and crumble it with your fingers on top of the stewed apples or fruit.
  • Cook in middle or lower rack in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and the slice has risen.
  • Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin (you can put the whole tin in the fridge or freezer to help speed it up!) before removing and slicing. Store in the fridge or freezer.

Kayla

Hot Cross Buns – Gluten, dairy, egg, grain free

These Hot cross buns are all the spiced, warm bready delight I could have hoped for in a gluten, dairy, soy, egg, nut and coconut free bun. The secret is in the psyllium husk, which helps to give it that springy bread feel. For some reason I only developed the recipe to make 4 buns because I honestly thought, when I could make a version with other stuff in it, why would anyone need to share my everything free buns. But it turns out my family love this version the best, and even myself, who can now have eggs and coconut, actually enjoy this recipe the most. So from now on I’m going to be making a double batch, every time. Below, I will include the double batch measurements for you, in case you would like to come back and do the same! Happy hot cross bun making, i’d love to know what you think of these, and as always happy to answer any questions. If you would like to check out the gluten, dairy and grain free version you can find that here.

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4.5 from 2 votes

Gluten, dairy, soy, egg, grain free hot cross buns

Gluten, dairy, soy, egg, coconut and grain free hot cross buns. Options to make nut free as well. These give a pleasingly bready texture with the perfect amount of fruit and spice to satisfy all your hot cross bun cravings.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Breakfast, celebration, easter, Snack, treats
Servings: 4 Buns

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Almond meal or sunflower flour for nut free (Make your own by blending sunflower seeds to a fine flour)
  • 2 Tbsp psyllium husk 
  • ½ cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder  (for grain free use 1/2 tsp baking soda)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp each ginger, nutmeg and cloves
  • ½ cup almond milk (or rice milk, hemp milk for nut free)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp sweetener 
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 
  • ¼ cup dried apricots (chopped)
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries 

The Cross

  • â…› cup almond meal or sunflower flour
  • â…› cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp of water at a time

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°c fanbake.
  • Put all the ingredients in a bowl together and mix.
  • Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes so the psyllium husk can do its thing, and soak up the liquid.
  • Divide the mixture into 4 (or 8 if you have doubled the mix) You should now be able to gently shape the buns with greased hands, into balls, then flatten them slightly. They can be rustic, if you handle the dough for too long it will start to stick.
  • For the crosses:
    Combine the almond meal and tapioca in a bowl, add the water 1 tsp at a time, until it is a thick, but pipeable consistency. Add the mix into the end of a piping bag, with the smallest nozzle. Or into a glad bag, and just cut a very small snip off the corner. Pipe the mix over your buns to make the crosses.
  • Line a square baking pan with greased baking paper. Place the buns touching one another in the middle of the pan. ( if you have doubled the mix they will take up most of the pan)
  • Cook for 20 minutes (or 35 minutes if you have doubled the mix).
  • The buns should be starting to turn golden on top. The ones around the edges will be well cooked, but check the buns in the middle, they might need an extra few minutes. I have found that when they are just a little softer to touch, they continue to cook after I take them out of the oven and when left to sit for a while, end up cooked through.
  • Remove the whole baking paper with buns still on top, to a wire rack to cool. Don't worry about removing the paper from underneath until they are cooled properly. You can eat them warm, but give them 20 minutes to cool down a little first.
  • Enjoy cut in half and spread with dairy free spread. Or toast them first in the oven before spreading.

Double The Buns:

If you would like the double the mix, I have made it easy for you here. Follow the instructions as above.

  • 2 cup Almond meal or sunflower flour for nut free (Make your own by blending sunflower seeds to a fine flour)
  • 4 Tbsp psyllium husk 
  • 1 cup tapioca flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder  (for grain free use 1/2 tsp baking soda)
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp each ginger, nutmeg and cloves
  • 1 cup almond milk (or rice milk, hemp milk for nut free)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp sweetener 
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar 
  • 1/3 cup dried apricots (chopped)
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries 

Kayla4 Comments

Creamy chicken, bacon & mushroom spaghetti

 

You Need

1 250g dried spaghetti pasta – I use Ceres organics quinoa + rice spaghetti*

2 cloves garlic 

4-5 rashers of bacon 

400g chicken sliced 

200g mushrooms, sliced

Seasonal greens – I used asparagus and spinach, could also use broccoli, kale, zucchini, whatever you have. 

Sauce 

1 cup chicken broth or stock

1 clove garlic 

1/2 cup macadamia nuts (could also use cashews) nut free – see below*

2 tsp tapioca flour OR 2 egg yolks 

salt + pepper to taste. 

What to do

Cover the nuts in boiling water and leave to sit. 

Cook the spaghetti as per packet instructions. 

Sauté the chicken, bacon + garlic in some olive oil, then add the veggies and sauté until cooked through. 

Drain the water from the nuts and add to a blender with all the other sauce ingredients. Blend high speed until smooth. 

Drain the spaghetti and add to the chicken bacon and veg. Pour the sauce in and cook over low heat until  everything is combined and sauce has thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

*grain free – you could make zucchini noodles 

*Nut free – you could try replace the nuts with 1 cup steamed cauliflower + 2 T olive oil and either some nutritional yeast or 1 tsp garlic powder and a squeeze of lemon juice. Or you could use the sauce recipe from my everything free Mac + cheese 

Let me know if this doesn’t fit your requirements, and as always, i’ll see what I can suggest for you 🙂 

Kayla

The Lunchbox Mum

When Ashton was five and Felix was 6 months old, I quit my job to be a stay at home Mum. As I envisioned myself as a school Mum … a stay at home school Mum. I envisioned being that Mum that turns up to school pick up in activewear, because I’ve actually done yoga or gone for a run. The Mum with the slick pony tail who always knew what day it was, and sent her son off to school every day in clean clothes with a healthy 100% homemade packed lunch. The Mum who turned up to help out in class occasionally and paid the school fees on time. The Mum who was always smiling, and organised, with a clear head and a clean car.

The last two years has taught me, that I am in fact, none of those Mums! I’m the Mum that stays in the car at school drop off because she is wearing her slippers, and the toddler is in his pyjamas. I’m the Mum who may have actually been for a walk or a run, but is wearing track pants because she hasn’t shaved her legs in 6 months. I’m the Mum with the un-brushed messy bun, probably still up from overnight, and clothes covered in baby puke, snot and possibly poop, maybe chocolate – but probably poop. I’m the Mum who hasn’t been in to meet the new teacher except through the car window one time. I’m the Mum whose son goes to school regularly wearing odd socks, and on occasion, odd shoes. I’m The Mum who has no idea what day it is, but can tell the time by how heavy her eyes feel. And the Mum who can’t see the floor of her car (last time I checked there was an open jar of mayonnaise in the back seat). But I am also the Mum who tries her best to send her boy to school everyday with a lunchbox made with love. Love doesn’t have to be homemade, or tidy, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Love just has to try it’s best.

Here is what it looks like when I am that Mum, the one who is messy, unorganised, covered in baby excretions, and tired beyond belief, that tries to send her boys off with a nourishing lunchbox every day. My lunchboxes aren’t perfect, they are not 100% homemade, they are made quickly, on little sleep, and sometimes empty cupboards. When my boys open their lunchboxes, I hope that they see the love.

Don’t worry about perfection, because even the most experienced of us don’t get it right, all the time. Be inspired to pack lunchboxes out of love and the kids will have everything they need 💞

And if you need a little helping hand, this resource I created helped to make sure the kids had somewhat healthy lunchboxes packed daily, in my manic attempt to get everyone out the door on time

https://mailchi.mp/b75eda91781a/chefashton_lunchboxplanner?fbclid=IwAR2zWqBO66IABaMZNqWiyNpDMObZCwe_TTv5MeQgwt92_PsHLadMMrU41Eo

Kayla

Veggie Loaded Nachoes


You Need

500 – 700g beef mince
1 grated carrot
1 grated zucchini
200-400g mushrooms – blitz to tiny pieces in food processor
1 head broccoli or a few handfuls of leafy greens (spinach, kale, silverbeet) chopped to tiny pieces by hand or in a food processor/ blender.
Optional extra – Up to 1 cup of any other veggie you have lying around that you feel like hiding – i’ve put in grated parsnip, pumpkin, sweet potato, extra greens.
2 T diced garlic
1/2 bottle tomato passata (350g)
1/2 cup water / stock or broth
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp salt
Chilli to taste (we add ours after to the adult dishes)

1 avocado
1/2 lemon or lime
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander
Optional: small clove of garlic or 1 T garlic olive oil

Chips – corn chips (make sure they are just corn, oil & salt)
kumara chips, grilled kumara slices, or baked tortilla wraps (gluten free if needed)

What to do

Brown the mince, add the spices and stir through over the heat for a few minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer, stirring every now and then on a med to low heat for 10-20 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened. Often I put the tomato passata, garlic and leafy greens in the blender, and blend them all up together so the greens disappear into the sauce and I don’t have to chop the garlic! Then pour in to the mince mix.

While it’s cooking, make the guacamole by mashing the avo and stirring through the rest of the ingredients. Or add everything to a stick blender or mini blender (if I use my full size blender I need to double the mix and add some water so it flows freely through the blades, but it comes out super smooth that way.

Put the mince in the middle of your plate, then surround with your chosen corn chips, grilled kumara slices or baked tortilla chips. Top with grated cheese of your choice (dairy free, zucchini cheese or cows cheese). And guacamole, and then at our house the adults add chilli flakes or chilli oil to their plates to taste.

Kayla

Beef Curry in a Hurry

The prep for this curry is super quick and easy – but it does need some love in the form of time, to infuse it’s flavours and make the beef fall apart. So is best done in a slow cooker, pressure cooker, or on the stovetop low and slow.


You Need

700g – 1kg beef stewing steak
2 onions
2-4 cloves garlic
1 thumb ginger
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1.5 tsp salt
3 tsp coriander (dried or fresh)
1.5 cup almond milk (or cashew milk, broth or stock) or coconut milk

If not using coconut milk and nuts are safe – measure out half cup cashew or macadamia nuts (we can’t have cashews so use macadamia) and cover in boiled water and leave to sit min 30 mins, max 4 hours.

Optional – fresh chilli and / or 1 tsp chilli powder or flakes – add with the spoices. We don’t add chilli because our kids don’t like spicy, instead we add chilli flakes to adult plates once served.

What to do

Chop the meat – or if you are lazy like me, chuck the whole slab into the slow cooker (or pressure cooker). Finely dice the onion, garlic and ginger and add to pot with all the other ingredients.

Slow cooker: for 8 hours low or 4-5 hours on high, or until the meat is falling apart, if I haven’t cut the meat, I use two forks to pull it apart.

Pressure cooker: for 45 minutes, and rest for 20 mins (same as slow cooker, cut or use forks to pull apart once rested)

Stove top: I’d recommend dicing the meat for this option, then simmer on low, lid on, stirring every 20 minutes to make sure it’s not sticking. Until meat is falling apart. You may need to add more liquid.

If coconut free and using the nuts, blend with half a cup of water in a high powered blender, until it turns into a cream. Add to your curry after cooking, and stir through.

That easy, it’s done!

Serve with rice, salt and pepper and chilli to taste.

Kayla

Pumpkin Soup


You Need

1 whole crown pumpkin
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
3 rashers bacon
400ml stock or broth (water also works if you have neither)
1-2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp natural sea salt

What to do

Wash any dirt off the pumpkin and put the entire pumpkin skin, stalk and all into either your slow cooker, pressure cooker or oven.

Slow cook: On high 4-6 hours, low 6-8 hours.

Pressure cooker: Add 1 cup water pressure cook 30 mins and leave to rest 30 mins.

Oven – 180 deg c for 2 hours

Once the pumpkin is cooked, leave to cool. Then peel the skin off – it should only take a minute to get all the skin off and should come away like paper. Pluck the stem out and then cut in half and scoop out the seeds and discard.

Add the flesh to a large stock pot along with the rest of the ingredients and cook until bacon is heated and liquid is simmering. (Usually I pop the lid on and leave to simmer 10 mins).

Blend everything until smooth, I use my vitamix and blend in batches.

Serve with more salt, cracked black pepper and a dollop of yogurt or sour cream if you can have it. Fresh herbs that lend well are parsley, chives & coriander.

Notes:

If it seems bland or unbalanced it usually means it needs more salt.

Sometimes I cook the pumpkin then store the cooked flesh in the fridge to make soup later in the week. Sometimes I save some flesh to put in baking (like these muffins or waffles) or to hide in other dishes like mince (my kids don’t like plain pumpkin).

Kayla