By Gintare Safigulinaite

Ever wondered what to do with the insides of a gutted pumpkin after you’ve transformed it into a piece of ghostly art? Well, there is plenty you can do and it can be as creative as carving the pumpkin! You can make fantastic meals and surprise everyone you live with.

So this is how it usually works: you carve the pumpkin, put it up on the window shell and enjoy the Halloween scariness. Then the pumpkin leftovers go to the bin, and we donÔÇÖt put too much thought into what a waste we are making with the useful pulp. This is why I will try to give you a few tips on how to make some delicious meals and snacks.

PUMPKIN SOUP

Want to impress your roommates with your master chef skills? Make a tasty and healthy pumpkin soup! I have never received more compliments about my cooking than after serving this soup, and so will you! Simple trick ÔÇôdonÔÇÖt keep your pumpkin for too long after Halloween, use it while itÔÇÖs still good.

For this soup you will need:

Chopped pumpkin;	1/3 of celery;
2 carrots;	coconut oil;
1 onion;	a little bit of salt;
3 potatoes;	a little bit of pepper;
seasoning: garlic powder; ginger powder; Italians herbs and turmeric;	1/3 cauliflower.

Peel off the skin and chop the pumpkin into small pieces. Put the chopped pumpkin, carrots, potatoes, celery and half of the onion into boiling water. You also can put a little bit of a salt at the beginning as it will accelerate the release of the veggie juice.

In the meantime, chop the other half of the onion into very small pieces, heat the pan and fry the onions with a bit of a black pepper, garlic powder, Italian herbs and salt in the coconut oil until golden.

Once itÔÇÖs done, chuck everything into the pot and mix it! Have a little taste, see how you like it and add spices according to your taste! Cook the soup for about 30 minutes and when itÔÇÖs done, blend it. Serve it with a chopped raw cauliflower on top, it will add a beautiful crunchy feeling!

Enjoy!

DRIED PUMPKIN SEEDS

The next trick is to save the pumpkin seeds! Take them out, wash and rinse them under water and spread them on a tea towel to dry for about 24 hours.

Then, put them in a bowl and spread some salt or spices if you like and mix everything together. You can keep dried pumpkin seeds in a plastic bag and have them as a snack whenever you want. It is not only healthy and nutritious, but also loads of fun to crack it open whilst watching a film!

And the last but not least, ROASTED VEGGIES!

You will need:

Chopped pumpkin pieces;	chopped carrots
chopped potatoes	seasoning: olive oil, salt, pepper, Italian herbs and garlic powder.

Use the pumpkin leftovers, but before that make sure you peel off all the skin! Put all of the chopped vegetables in the bowl and mix it with olive oil and the rest of the spices. Bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 200C temperature on the top of a foil. ItÔÇÖs going to come off nice and crunchy! You can also serve this with salad, and if you are a meat lover, it will go nicely with steak!

As you can see, it doesnÔÇÖt take long to save the insides of the pumpkin and make something good out of it! All the meals take about 30 minutes to prepare and are incredibly healthy and delicious! Your tummy will thank you!