Protein pumpkin pie

I had an amazing visit to a pumpkin patch this weekend where I picked a pumpkin and a load of lovely squashes. Families were filling their wheelbarrows with the biggest pumpkins they could find so that they could carve them for their Halloween decoration. What a waste! 😉 I was strolling around looking for the pumpkins that I thought would make the most delicious food.

After enjoying some delicious roasted sweet dumpling squash for dinner, I made a pumpkin pie. However, I didn’t use fresh pumpkin but canned pumpkin purée instead. I find that this is less watery so helps keep the filling solid. Luckily you can find this in most big supermarkets in the UK. Waitrose, Ocado and larger Tesco stores have all been a good, cheap source when I’ve needed it.

I wanted to create a healthier pie so the first thing to tackle was the case. Instead of using pastry, I used pizza dough. I used a 220g ball of Northern Dough Co original dough as I had some in the freezer, but you could make your own and use that instead. Just make sure you have about 200g of it.

I did some Googling for the filling and found that someone else had successfully used protein powder in their pumpkin pie so I thought I’d try that too. Rather than double cream or condensed milk I used light cream cheese (aka soft cheese).

To ensure that my pie baked as I hoped I first stretched the dough out in the case, added some baking beads and baked it for 5 minutes at 160C. I then added the filling and baked for 30 minutes at the bottom of the oven. I then covered it tin foil and baked for an additional 20 minutes. By then, the filling was baked and set as I hoped so that when sliced it stayed firm.

It tasted sweet, spiced and delicious, just as I hoped. I’ve only ever tried a small slither of pumpkin pie before, but this turned out as delicious as I hoped with a fraction of the calories that the normal version has.

Protein pumpkin pie recipe

Serves: 8 slices
Ingredients
200g pizza dough (I used a 220g ball of Northern Dough Co original dough)
550g canned pumpkin purée (although one 400g can would probably be enough)
200g light cream cheese
60g cinnamon whey powder (I used MyProtein cinnamon danish)
3 eggs, beaten
75g Sukrin gold (or other sweetener)
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground ginger
1/4tsp ground cloves
1/2tsp ground nutmeg

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C (fan).
2. Roll the dough to fit a flan case and cover it as you would pastry. Fill with baking beads and bake for 5 minutes.
3. While the dough is baking add all of the other ingredients to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
4. Remove from the oven, empty out the beads and add the pie filling.
5. Bake for 30 mins then cover with foil and bake for 20mins.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to set and cool.

Macros (per slice): 187kcal, 14P, 19C, 6F.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Happy Autumn everyone! 😀 I’m a very happy baker as it’s my favourite season and accompanied by the hashtags #pumpkinspiceupyourlife and #pumpkinspiceeverything. I have a cupboard full of tinned pumpkin puree and a tub of Pumpkin spice and I’m ready to go!!!

I’ve been saving this cake for Autumn and it didn’t disappoint. As I added pumpkin puree, I cut back on the yogurt from 100g to 50g although you could probably leave it out completely. Instead of making a big cake I made 8 individual big muffins. Using a cupcake corer I then removed the insides and spooned in some pumpkin/philadelphia filling. The topping is slightly different without the pumpkin. You could use the same topping/filling for both though. I was really impressed with how moist the muffins came out. I think this creation is as similar to “normal” cakes as I’ve gotten so maybe the pumpkin puree would be a good addition for all of my chickpea protein cake creations.

For the Pumpkin Spice mix you can of course buy it ready made. It’s a bit tricky (aka expensive) to find over in the UK though. However, it’s so simple to make your own! I followed the recipe from Betty Crocker and made a big tub then I dip in whenever I need some. I’ve used 5tsp in this recipe, although I don’t think adding 6-7 tsp would hurt if you love your spices. I’ve found, however, that the spices can add a little bitterness. I think it depends on the brand. Taste your cake batter and see what you think. To counteract that I added about 15 Stevia drops. The spice bitterness didn’t come through to the final bake so that worked well.

To finish things off I made some little fondant pumpkins by rolling some balls of orange fondant. Then I rolled thin sausages of green fondant and wrapped them round a cocktail stick and stuck them to the pumpkins. This was just to add a fun little decoration.

I’ll definitely be making these again. I think I’ll add 6tsp of spice mix next time though and leave out the mixed peel. My other half thought the spice level was just right, but I want a tiny bit more for extra yum!

Serves: 8 big muffins
Ingredients
Cake (Wet Ingredients)
200 gram Tinned Pumpkin Puree (I used Libby’s)
1 Tin Tinned Chickpeas In Water
50 gram Brooklea 0%
4 egg whites
10g Slender chef Cinnamon syrup (Or other zero cal syrup)
10-20 Stevia drops
~80ml water

Cake (Dry Ingredients)
40g Egg White Powder (I use MyProtein Egg White Powder)
75g Cinnamon whey (I used MyProtein Cinnamon Danish, however, you could use vanilla + extra ground cinnamon)
25g Coconut Flour
30g Sukrin gold (Or other sweetner equivalent)
5tsp Pumpkin spice mix (see recipe below)
35g Mixed Peel (optional)

Cake (Rising Ingredients)
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp, Bicarbonate of Soda
15ml (1 Tbsp) lemon juice

Filling
75g Lightest Philadelphia
50g Pumpkin Puree
½-1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1-2 tsp powdered sweetener

Topping
1tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
1tsp Ground Cinnamon
2-3tsp powdered sweetener
105g (i.e. the rest of the tub) Lightest Philadelphia

Pumpkin spice mix (From Betty Crocker)
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Add all of the dry ingredients to a bowl
3. Combine all of the wet ingredients, apart from the water, and blend until smooth. If the mixture needs it, add some of the water. Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use the remaining water to rinse out the blender and add to the mix.
4. Use an electric whisk or hand blender to combine the mix until smooth.
5. Grease the muffin tin/cups with a few squirts of Frylight.
6. Finally add the rising agent and blend/whisk well to combine.
7. Add the mix to the muffin cups. I use very deep muffin cups and fill with 3 scoops of batter which leaves about 1.5cm gap at the top. I then bake for 23 minutes in the middle of the oven. Reduce your cooking time if you’re using smaller cases/less batter.
8. Allow to cool and then remove the middle with a cupcake corer, preserving the top to pop back on.
9. Combine the filling and topping ingredients in separate bowls. Spoon the filling inside, pop the muffin top back on and then spoon on the topping to cover. Repeat until all muffins are filled and covered.
10. Place in the fridge for the topping to set.

Macros (Per serving): 172kcal (20P, 15C, 3F)

Thai Pumpkin Soup

I make Thai pumpkin soup every year, several times. It’s an easy, fool proof recipe that you can easily tweak. If you want more spice you can just add more chilli or curry paste. It works with either red or green paste or you could make a big batch, half the ingredients and add red paste to one mix and green to the other to give a bit of variety. On it’s own the pumpkin can make the soup taste a little watery. I find adding the butternut squash gives it a little more body and makes the soup a little sweeter and silkier.

I’ll add a note on tins of coconut milk. These can vary massively. I used the “Full Moon” brand which was about 80 kcal per 100ml. I think this technically means it’s a light coconut milk. In reality it means it’s “Watered down”. Basically, the more calories in your coconut milk per 100ml the less watered down it is. If you want a strong coconut taste then opt for the full fat high quality version, like Biona. You can check the % of coconut on the back of the tin. Picking the lighter/lower % cans will of course mean less calories and fat in your soup.

I like to roast my pumpkin before adding it to the soup. For this recipe I add some spice pastes to the pumpkin wedges to add some extra flavour. The wedges taste delicious and I have to hold back from gobbling them all straight out of the oven!!!

Thai Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Serves: 2
Ingredients
For the roast veg
200g, Roasted Butternut Squash
250g, Roasted Pumpkin
30 sprays coconut Frylight
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
½ Tbsp chilli paste
½ Tbsp garlic paste
½ Tbsp lemongrass paste
½ Tbsp ginger paste

For the soup
100 ml Coconut Milk (I used Full Moon)
40-50g, Thai Curry Paste (I used a 45g M&S red Thai curry shot)
500 ml chicken or veg stock made from directions
½ tsp, Fish Sauce (optional)
50g diced brown Onion
2 Tbsp diced, fresh corriander stalks
2 spring onion, sliced
1 Tbsp fresh corriander leaf, chopped

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut up your pumpkin and butternut squash wedges and put in a big bowl. You can leave the skin on and peel it off after roasting. It’s a lot easier to do this than cut the skin off when raw.
2. This step is optional: Mix together the roasting pastes with the soy sauce and add to the wedges. Toss to coat them in the lovely spices. The soy sauce helps spread the paste mixture.
3. Spread the wedges on a baking tin and squirt with the Frylight
4. Bake for 20-30 mins. You may find that the pumpkin cooks before the squash, so you can remove it from the trays and then return the squash to the oven for the remaining 10 minutes.
4. Leave the pumpkin and squash to cool and then peel the skins off.
5. In a pan, fry the onion and corriander stalks until soft. Add the curry paste, pumpkin and squash. Stir to combine while slightly mashing the squash/pumpkin and covering it with the curry paste. Cook for a few minutes.
6. Add the hot stock and fish sauce. Bring to the boil and then turn to a simmer.
7. Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Taste the soup. Depending on your palete: Add paste or chilli to increase the spice level. Add fish sauce, soy sauce or salt to increase the saltiness. Add coconut milk to increase the creaminess. For me, however, the recipe above was perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing!
8. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes before serving. Top with the corriander leaf and spring onions.

Macros per serving: 180kcal (4P, 25C, 8F)

Roast Pumpkin Soup

Amongst my friends I’m a little bit famous for my pumpkin soup. I make it every Autumn. This is my usual recipe that I kind of just make up as I go along. As long as there’s pumpkin, garlic, rosemary and thyme in there it’s guaranteed to be good. I like to roast the pumpkin first to soften it and bring out the lovely sweetness. I’ve made it a little early this year as my mum grew some deliciously sweet pumpkins in her garden. I used fresh thyme, rosemary and chives from my own garden too.

In the past I’ve always added a little Parmesan to it as I feel it gives a great salty, cheesy taste. In my quest to make it a little healthier I swapped it with Eat Lean protein cheese this time. It tasted great and made it nice and thick as well as improving the macros. I used a hand blender to finely chop the cheese first to help it melt quicker.

The last step for the soup making is to add something to make it creamy. You can have it without that, however, I like to add something. Ensure the soup has cooled a little first before mixing it in as you don’t want it to split. For the healthiest option, use quark. This is high in protein and doesn’t split when mixed with the soup.

Roast Pumpkin soup recipe

Serves: 5
Ingredients
1.5kg pumpkin flesh
3 garlic cloves, 8 sprigs thyme, 4 sprigs rosemary, 1Tsp sea salt – blended to make a paste
1.3L chicken stock (or veg stock)
100g Eat lean protein cheese (or 50g Parmesan)
1Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
2Tbsp finely chopped fresh chives (optional)
3 garlic cloves
150g diced onion
100g Quark (could use crime fraiche, sour cream, or cream instead)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Remove the skin from the pumpkin and chop the flesh into wedges. Place in a bowl with the garlic and herb paste and about 20 squirts of fry light. Mix to coat the pumpkin wedges with the paste and then scatter pan baking tray. Roast for 20-30 mins in the oven until soft.
3. In a large pan, fry the garlic, onion and rosemary until soft and then and the pumpkin wedges. Stir to mix well and allow to cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes. Blend with a hand blender until smooth. Have a taste and add salt and pepper as you see fit.
5. Stir in the cheese and place back on the heat with the lid on. Allow to simmer so that the cheese melts for about 10 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 mins. Stir in the quark and fresh chives.

Macros per serving: 164kcal (14P, 27C, 1.5F)