20 raring2go.co.uk Raring2go! Raring2go! 21 It’s Pumpkin Time! Here’s one of her recipes for you to try with your kids: Easy Pumpkin Cake Bake in a square tin and slice into squares for elevenses or the school lunchbox Makes 12 Ingredients: 175g sugar 175ml sunflower oil 3 eggs 150g pumpkin, grated 100g raisins 175g self-raising flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon Pinch of ground ginger, ground nutmeg and ground cloves For the drizzle icing: 50g icing sugar The juice from half an orange Method: • Heat the oven to 180oC. • Line a 21cm square tin with non-stick paper. • In a large bowl, mix the sugar, oil and eggs. Stir in the grated pumpkin. Add the raisins and dry ingredients. • Pile into the prepared tin and bake for about one hour until it springs back to the touch and a toothpick or skewer comes out clean. • Remove from the tin and leave to cool. • Mix the icing sugar and orange juice and use a teaspoon to drizzle over the cooled cake. • Cut into a dozen squares. It’s nearly Halloween, which means it’s nearly PUMPKIN time! Think pumpkins and the first thing that usually springs to mind is carving them into spooky Jack o’ lanterns. However, there’s so much more you can do with your pumpkin! We spoke to Jenny Fyall from Udny Pumpkins, who is growing 8000 at her pumpkin patch near Udny Green, for some tips to keep your little ones entertained this autumn. PAINT YOUR PUMPKIN Use acrylic paint to create a beautiful picture or pattern on your pumpkin or turn it into your favourite animal or cartoon character. The beauty of painting your pumpkin is that (unlike when you carve it), it can last for many weeks or even months, providing a stunning decoration for your home or child’s bedroom. DECORATE IT Dig out some craft supplies and let your child’s imagination run wild. Stick on googly eyes, poke in pipe cleaners, glue on some felt hair and before you know it, you’ll have created a crazy looking pumpkin monster! USE IT AS A VASE To make a stunning table centrepiece, cut off the lid and scoop out the seeds as you would when carving a pumpkin. Put your favourite autumnal flowers into a small glass jar or plastic beaker filled with water and pop the whole thing into your pumpkin. KEEP IT AS A DECORATION Pumpkins are beautiful, especially if you have a mix of colours. At the pumpkin patch we have white “ghost” pumpkins, blue ones, green ones and even warty ones. Lots of children make a beeline for our tiny munchkin pumpkins and love to give them a name and keep them in their bedroom! A selection of pumpkins can look so pretty on the doorstep or mantelpiece. If they are kept inside and aren’t carved or cut, a pumpkin can last for six months or even longer. Sometimes, magically, they even change colour as they age. GROW FROM IT If you’ve carved a pumpkin, you’ll know they are full of slimy seeds. Wash all the gunge off the seeds (use a colander or sieve), then dry them out thoroughly (put them on a sunny window ledge on some kitchen roll). Store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Then in the spring plant them to grow your very own pumpkin for next Halloween! COOK WITH IT Pumpkins are amazing to cook with, full of vitamin A and low in fat. They can be used for everything from soup to cake, from pasties to milkshakes. Grate some into bolognaise sauce or add some into a risotto. It’s great messy fun to cook with pumpkins, so children will love it. Jenny enjoys cooking with pumpkins so much she’s written a book - The Pumpkin Patch Cookbook; Forty tasty recipes celebrating the magic of pumpkin in the kitchen.
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