🎃 Halloween is an old Celtic tradition marking the end of harvest and the summer and the start of winter. ❄️ BUT (apologies, I’m on my soapbox) really what the festival has now come to symbolise is an extraordinary amount of waste (and some might argue greed! 🍭🍬🍫)
🎃 Whilst trying not to take the fun element out of Halloween, instead my top tip for this Wednesday when carving your pumps - don’t waste the fruit inside! It’s being estimated this year 8 million pumpkins will be carved in the UK, with 2/3 of us binning the insides. What a weird and frankly wasteful tradition to buy food just for its skin and just chuck the food away! Parents you are definitely missing a trick, what an easy way to involve the young ‘uns and get some of this great fruit in the kiddo’s! #parentinghacks 🎃The internet is full of recipes with what you can do with the pumpkin pulp, sweet or savoury so no excuses. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/pumpkin A simple one is steam/roast and make a purée with the flesh, season and add to pasta with some parmesan. Bloody easy dinner. Pumpkin is chocker full of vitamin A in the form of beta carotene. Which literally doesn’t get any better for that winter skin. 🎃 And pumpkin seeds (you’ll need to roast them) are a WEALTH of nutrition. Did someone say #ZINC - lads this little mineral is really great for you as you age #halloween #pumpkin #pumpkinrecipes #pumpkincarving #fruitstagram #zerowaste #pumpkinrescue #greenliving #wastenot #zerowaste #nutritiontips #tuesdaytips #dinnerideas #reducereuserecycle #gingerandpicklesnutrition
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Brewing up some cough mixture to have throughout cold and flu season. (And because it’s the first day of half term and someone woke up with a runny nose and cough this morning...)
Take one raw red onion, dice finely and use in layers interspersed with brown sugar. Leave in a cool dark place and let the onion infuse with the sugar. The resulting syrup can be taken every 1-2 hours if you have a bad cough. 😪 Onions are fantastic for this time of year, one of the reasons being they contain a component called quercetin (especially high in red onions) which studies have shown is a potent antiviral and has anti bacterial actions. I’m totally not against giving my children over the counter medicine when necessary, BUT most pharmacists would agree cough medicine is a waste of time and money (“sugary water” I remember being told many years ago!) and you’re far better making your own. 💪 My personal experience in making my own remedies for minor colds are that they can be super effective. Most children love a spoonful of this because the sugar makes it so palatable - it smells strongly of onion but tastes like syrup! Can also be made with raw honey and garlic which I’ll be making later today. We will all be smelling fresh tomorrow after this onslaught of onion and garlic! 🙌 #herbalmedicine #foodasmedicine #onions #healingfoods #traditionalremedies #vegstagram #medicinalherbs #antiviral #kidsnutrition #health #parentinghacks #gingerandpicklesnutrition Not roasting on an open fire (are you mad?) but in the oven. Any Bristolians out there, I hear Leigh woods is a great source for the chestnuts at this time of year. More beautiful autumnal produce.🍁
Not to be confused with conkers (which can’t be eaten but you can use to wash your clothes if you’re interested in #greenliving) these bad boys are normally covered in a green spikey case, so do take gloves if you’re planning on foraging💪 Such a great thing to do with kids and another way to connect them to their food and their environment. 🌍 I’ve only ever eaten sweet chestnuts from street vendors in Oxford Street, but mr google provided me with the recipe (soak in cold water, score a cross in each one, and roast at 200degs for 30 mins) and these beautiful things came out sweet and nutty and gorgeous 🌰Foraging at its best! 🙌 Nutritionally these little beauts are unusual in that they are fairly low in protein and fat (compared to most other nuts) but high in starchy carbohydrate. I was also interested to read they contain good amounts of vitamin C and folate, again unusual for a nut and more like a green leafy veg 💚 What a lovely food to eat if you’re expecting a baby : ) #chestnuts #donteattheconkers #foraging #woodlandtrust #wildfoodlove #hyggelife #autumn #fall #naturelover #wildedibles #naturesbrilliance #eatseasonally #natureismytherapy #slowliving #plantbased #parentinghacks #gingerandpicklesnutrition A time of plenty, but a time to start slowing down, reflecting on the year, the change of season, the beginning of hibernation. Who doesn’t appreciate this time of year? 🙏🏻
From a food perspective, I always love that the local harvested food matches the season colours orange and greens 💚: butternut squashes, Brussels, pears, chestnuts, carrots, spinach, kale, broccoli....veggie and foodie heaven! My beautiful food boxes from @abelandcole are full of these ingredients. Dinner is a pleasure. And it’s soup season. Got to love the soup and it’s ability to be easy, filling, warming, nutritious and delicious.🍵 This is butternut squash and spinach soup my supper this evening. A tasty mix of the phytonutrient rich oranges and green foods. I like to add a little #miso paste into my soups for a little #fermented kick! And oooh the umami with the sweet squash... #autumn #autumn2018 #umami #soups #harvest #nutritiontips #healthyfood #foodasmedicine #eatlocal #eatseasonal #lovefood #lifestylefood #plantbased #foodphotography #lightanddark #shadows #wholefoods #vegetarian #foodie #vegstagram #vegetariancooking #bristolfood #eatwellbewell #gingerandpicklesnutrition Just some of the lovely things I came home with yesterday after attending the herbal medicine course at @nyr_official in #Bristol - part of some continual professional development for me.
We learnt so many incredible things about therapeutic herbs, as well as learning how to make syrups, poultices, salves, oils, tinctures and decoctions and of course drank lots of delicious herbal healing teas ☕️ My fascination with all things #herbalmedicine has exploded and will hopefully complement my practice as a nutritional therapist (plus my other full time job as Mum). 👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻 #herbsasmedicine #nealsyard #cpd #tea #plantpower #plantremedies #naturopathicmedicine #healthylifestyle #eatherbseveryday #nutritionaltherapy #herbs #medicinalherbs #gingerandpicklesnutrition |
AuthorLouise Cullen Archives
October 2020
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