Don’t waste all those lovely pumpkin. Get out and buy up any stock and try these great recipes. Carving a pumpkin, don’t bin the flesh use it... let’s not waste good food on just a lantern for Halloween.

1. Zero Waste Halloween
Pumpkin Cookbook
let’s make sure the scaryiest thing about Halloween this year isn’t how
much plastic and food waste we’re producing. -
Created for Zero Waste Chester.
This cookbook has been developed as part of our campaign, with tried
and trusted recipes with the help of my colleagues at
Castlefield Partnership.

2. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
Pumpkin Rescue is part of Zero Food
Waste Britain, which outlines five
principles to tackling food waste and
has been developed by Hubbub.
Hubbub state that 18000 tonnes of
edible pumpkin ends up in the bin
each year.
That’s the same weight as 1500
double decker buses.
The Pumpkin Rescue uses everyone’s
favourite spooky staple as a prop to
talk about the edible food we throw
away and the easy steps we can take
to eat it instead.
The main thing we have been
asked is about those pumpkin sold
as carving pumpkins, these can still
be used for cooking but rarely are.
The flesh of the larger pumpkins will
have less flavour, so use
these for cooking dishes with more
spice e.g. soups, curry and cakes and
the smaller pumpkins for pies and
breads.
The guts can be used the make a
broth or mulled wine.
The seeds you can roast and use for
granola or save them to grow your
own next year.
Pumpkin Puree
You will see a few recipes created
from US sources where you can buy
purée pumpkin in tins.
To make puree at home, cut your
pumpkin flesh into cubes, boil for 20
mins or until soft, then blend. It will
keep in the fridge sealed for up to a
week, or freeze for a month.
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Another US staple you won’t find
here. This is how to make this spice.
You can make your own 1/2 teaspoon
of pumpkin pie spice by blending a
pinch each of ground ginger, ground
cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground
cloves, and ground allspice.
- Helen Tandy, Co-ordinator
Friends of the Earth Chester &
District.
Introduction

3. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
Lets start with a healthy option,
energy balls were all the rage
when I first started making these
and I still love them. For a vegan
option, replace the honey with
maple syrup and get vegan cho-
colate.
I used gluten free oats from our
local Zero Waste Shop in Chester,
Just Footprints.
Ingredients
1 cup oats or oat flour
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup pumpkin purée
3 tablespoons honey
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt chocolate
melted chocolate to decorate
Method
Combine oats and almonds in a food
processor and pulse a few times so
almonds are chopped finely into small
pieces.
Add the rest of the ingredients until
well combined.
Add more pumpkin puree and honey if
the mixture looks dry.
Take 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture
and form them into a ball. Continue
with rest of the mix.
You can drizzle or dip some in melted
chocolate and let them air dry for 10-
15 minutes. Store them in the refrige-
rator to chill.
Pumpkin pie energy balls

4. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
This recipe is from Catherine, a
colleague. She has a young family
and loves to cook and bake and
recommended this recipe. It’s a
pumpkin and pasta recipe which
is served inside the pumpkin as a
great table centre piece.
Ingredients
2kg pumpkin
1 chopped onion
2.5cm cube fresh root ginger
3tbs olive oil
1 sliced courgette
2 red peppers (cut in halves, brushed
in oil and roasted for 25mins, cooled.
Skin peeled off and chopped)
100g sliced mushrooms
1 can chopped tomatoes
100g dried pasta
450ml veg stock
Salt & pepper
60ml fromage frais
Chopped basil
Method
- Scoop out pumpkin and cut int
chunks.
- Bake pumpkin with lid on for 45 mins
until it begins to soften.
- Meanwhile, make the filling. Gently fry
onion, ginger and pumpkin chunks in
olive oil
- Cook pasta.
- Add courgette, mushrooms, pasta,
roasted pepper, stock,salt & pepper
and bring to the boil and simmer for
10mins.
- Stir in fromage frais (or dairy free -
- alternative) and chopped basil.
- Serve in the pumpkin case as a centre
pIece.
Autumn Glory

5. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
This is a recipe I found this year. I
made my own pumpkin spice, Al-
though I think I may have been a
bit heavy handed with the ginger.
Ingredients
55g full-fat cream cheese
2 Tablespoons icing sugar
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
100g crumbed digestive biscuits
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g white chocolate, chopped and
melted
TOPPING
283g chopped semi-sweet or white
chocolate.
Method
Beat the cream cheese and sugar toge-
ther in a large bowl until creamy.
Add the pumpkin and beat until combi-
ned. Add the crumbs,
pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and mel-
ted chocolate.
Beat for 2 minutes until everything is
combined. The mixture is supposed to
be soft and thick.
Cover mixture tightly and refrigerate for
1 hour or up to 24 hours.
Line two large baking sheets with par-
chment paper or silicone baking mats.
Set aside.
Begin rolling mixture into balls and pla-
ce the balls on the baking sheets. Chill
the refrigerator for 30 minutes or up to
24 hours.
During the last few minutes of the chi-
lling time, begin melting the
chocolate. Let the warm chocolate sit
for 5 minutes to slightly cool before
dipping.
Remove balls from the refrigerator and
dip them in the chocolate.
Pumpkin Spice Bites

6. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
This is the first recipe I made for
the book, trying it out on my work
colleagues. I didn’t get back from
the office until late, so I adapted
it to use a slow cooker by adding
extra stock.
Ingredients
3tbs olive oil/rapeseed oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
4 cloves of copped garlic
1 chopped onion
4cm cube fresh root ginger
1 fresh red chilli chopped
1 tsp turmeric
Pumpkin (small) or squash (roughly
900g, chopped into 3cm chunks)
20 curry leaves
2 x 400g tins of chickpeas
400g tin chopped tomatoes
400g coconut milk
Method
- Warm the oil and add the mustard
seeds until they pop, then add the cho-
pped garlic and the onions and saute
until brown.
- Reduce the heat, add the chilli, ginger
and turmeric and stir through the onion
mix until everything is coated. (I also
added around 6 fresh tomatoes at this
stage and cooked these through with
the onions and spice)
- Add the chopped tomatoes, chic-
kpeas and pumpkin, bring to the boil
and reduce the heat.
- Add the coconut milk and simmer for
45 minutes. Check regularly and add
water if needed.
- After 45 minutes check the pumpkin,
remove the lid and simmer for a further
15 mins to thicken if needed.
- Serve with chopped coriander, rice
and naan bread.
Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry

7. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
This one’s from Roisin at work,
it’s a new recipe for me. Laksa is
usually made with shrimp paste,
this is a vegan version. I felt like it
needed more spice so I changed
the recipe to give it more heat.
Ingredients
500g squash or pumpkin(cut into
2-cm cubes)
500ml vegetable stock
2 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp soy sauce
25g finely chopped fresh ginger
250ml full fat coconut milk
1 lime
Season with chilli flakes and pepper.
Method
- Put everything except the lime and
coconut milk into a medium saucepan
and bring to the boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20-
25 minutes until the squash is tender
and the pot looks vibrant.
- Remove from the heat and pour the
contents in a blender and blitz down
into a smooth liquid.
- Pour back into the saucepan and add
the coconut milk and squeeze in the jui-
ce of the lime.
- Bring to the boil and then serve imme-
diately. It goes well with rice noodles.
Pumpkin Laksa

8. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
This was another first for me…I’ve
been making cakes with courget-
tes in the summer for years so but
always enjoy the chance to try using
pumpkin.
Ingredients
Loaf
125g unsalted butter
300g plain flour
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
175g cooked pumpkin
100ml buttermilk
150g milk chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
175g caster sugar
175g dark brown sugar
3 large free-range eggs
Clementine Icing
1 clementine
200g icing sugar
Method
- Preheat oven to 170 degree
- Grease and line a 12cm x 25cm loaf
tin.
- Sift the flour, coca power, baking pow-
der, bicarb and spice in a bowl.
- Puree the cooked pumpkin and mix
with milk and melted chocolate, add
vanilla extract.
- Cream butter and sugar-When fluffy
start to add in the egg and mix one at a
time.
- Mix everything together, if using a
hand mixer you might want to add the
ingredients in more slowly.
- Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 1
hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
Cool for 10 mins and turn out onto a
wire rack.
For the icing
mix the juice of
the clementine
with icing sugar,
poor over the
warm cake and
serve.
Chocolate pumpkin loaf

9. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK
Pumpkin Cupcakes
I’ve always seemed to struggle
with cupcakes for some reason. I
adapted this recipe slightly, mixed
slice is dry ginger, cinnamon and
nutmeg
Ingredients
455 grams butter softened
370 grams brown sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons mixed spice
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
10 grams flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée cooking
spray
2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons butter (softened)
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract food
colouring (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius.
- Cream the butter and sugar, then add
the eggs, syrup and honey and mix well.
- Sift the salt, mixed spice, baking pow-
der, baking soda, and flour.
- Mix the vanilla with the buttermilk and
pumpkin in a separate bowl.
- Add the pumpkin mixture and the
dry ingredients to the butter mixture in
three sections, alternating. Slowly mix
to incorporate.
- Fill cake mounds 3/4 full and bake for
35 minutes, until an inserted toothpick
comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and allow to cool
before decorating. Sift the confectioners
sugar and mix with the butter, milk, and
extract. Add
food colouring
if desired.
Top cupcakes
with frosting.

10. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHESTER & DISTRICT
PUMPKIN COOKBOOK