Happy Halloween

This Halloween, why not get all the family involved in making some tasty meals and snacks, as well as scary lanterns?

History of Halloween

Halloween is believed to have originated in Ireland as the pagan harvest festival. Halloween is now celebrated on 31 October in much of the western world, including Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

The original Halloween lantern was made from a turnip with a burning lump of coal inside. Irish immigrants took the 'neep lantern' custom to North America in the 1840s, but a shortage of turnips and the fact that pumpkins are easier to carve meant the 'neep lantern' was soon replaced by a pumpkin lantern.

Kids' stuff

Getting children to help prepare food is a fun way of encouraging them to try new foods.

Halloween is a great opportunity to get children involved. They can help pick out the best pumpkin and have fun carving different faces.

They can also help with scraping out the flesh, sorting and washing the seeds and making some of the tasty recipes below.

Making a Halloween lantern

Pumpkin skin can be quite tough so an adult should supervise lantern making.

1. cut a circle in the stem end and lift out a lid
2. scrape out the seeds into a bowl and scrape the flesh into another bowl
3. carve a scary face
4. add a tea light
5. find some tasty ways to use the pumpkin flesh and seeds

Scary snacks

Why don't you try out some of these scary snacks with your kids:

Dead man's eyeballs – make these by peeling seedless grapes or lychees.

Scary spiders – it's best to make these on a plate. Peel a kiwi fruit and cut it in half to make your spider body. Use currants for eyes, pressing them into the kiwi, and lay four strips of cucumber on each side of the body to make the legs.

Goblin's toes – slice a small gherkin lengthways and insert a flaked almond or pumpkin seed at the end to make the toenail. You could also use pieces of kiwi fruit, cucumber, apple or pear instead of gherkin.

Bat's blood – otherwise known as tomato juice – add some mashed kiwi on top to make it look more gruesome.

Banana bones – cut a peeled banana into thick slices lengthways and then cut each slice into a bone shape (like a cartoon dog's bone) – this is easier with bananas that aren't too ripe.

Bobbing for apples

Bobbing for apples is another Halloween tradition. Apples are put into a barrel full of water and then each person has to try to get an apple out of the barrel without using their hands – so the only option is to catch it in their mouth. If you're going to play this, you can use a washing-up bowl instead of a barrel – be prepared for quite a lot of water on the floor and on people's hair and clothes! For kids, use small apples, which will be easier for them to bite.

Another way to play this game is to hang the apples on a string – again, the person needs to get hold of the apple in their mouth, without using their hands, which can be harder than you think.

Making the most of your Halloween pumpkin

Pumpkin can be used in lots of dishes, both savoury and sweet. The flesh can be roasted or used to make soup, risotto, curry, pumpkin pie or muffins and biscuits.

Pumpkin is a rich source of betacarotene, which the body can use to make vitamin A. It also contains calcium, iron, folate and vitamin C. Pumpkin is naturally low in salt and fat and can help you towards your 5-a-day target of fruit and vegetables.

Roasted pumpkin

When you have scooped the flesh and seeds out of your pumpkin, cut the flesh into bite-sized chunks. Put it in a roasting tin, brushed with a little olive oil or vegetable oil and a sprinkling of herbs or spices and bake in a moderately hot oven until soft. Garlic, thyme, cumin, coriander, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon zest and chilli all work well with pumpkin.

You can also serve pumpkin mashed or puréed. Try mixing mashed pumpkin with mashed potato.

Pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a good source of protein, zinc and iron. They are also rich in unsaturated fats, which are good for the heart. You can find pumpkin seeds in the home baking section of many supermarkets, but if you have time you can roast the seeds from your Halloween pumpkin to make a tasty snack.

When you have scooped out the seeds, rinse them in water and pat them dry with kitchen paper. Put the seeds in a roasting tin brushed with a little olive or vegetable oil and, if you like, some ground spices and bake them in a moderately hot oven for about 20 minutes. Give the seeds a stir as they bake and keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn.

Pumpkin seeds make a great snack at any time of day – try putting them in lunchboxes. You can also use them to add a bit of crunch to salads, risotto, pasta or dishes such as shepherd's pie.

Halloween recipes

Curried pumpkin soup

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp mild curry paste
1kg diced pumpkin
1l low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
200ml pot natural yoghurt
Chopped chives, to garnish

1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan and cook the onion over a medium heat for 5 minutes until soft.

2. Add the curry paste and pumpkin and cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender.

4. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and then put it in a blender and blend until smooth.

5. Return to the pan and stir in the yoghurt. Add ground black pepper to taste.

6. Spoon into bowls, garnish with chives and serve.

For a dramatic effect, you could serve soup, risotto or curry in a whole pumpkin cooked until just soft.

Pumpkin risotto

Serves 4

15ml olive oil
1 small pumpkin, about 1.2 kg, seeded and cut into bite-size pieces
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
225g Arborio rice
1 litre hot low-sodium chicken vegetable stock
25g freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Parmesan shavings, to garnish

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, add the pumpkin, onion and garlic and fry until soft but not brown.

2. Add the rice and continue to cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the time to coat the rice.

3. Add the stock to the rice and pumpkin mixture a small amount at a time, stirring continuously, allowing the stock to be absorbed before adding more. Continue until all the stock has been used up and the rice is cooked.

4. Stir in the Parmesan cheese (if using). Divide between four serving plates and sprinkle over the Parmesan shavings.

Banana and pumpkin bread

Makes 10 slices

100g self-raising flour
75g wholemeal flour
25g wheatgerm
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g soft brown sugar
100ml rapeseed oil
4 tbsp buttermilk or plain yoghurt
2 medium eggs, beaten
250g coarsely grated pumpkin
1 medium banana mashed
50g sultanas
50g walnuts or pecan nuts

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Lightly grease and line the base of a 2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

2. Sift both types of flour, wheatgerm, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar. Place the oil, buttermilk and eggs in a separate bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the liquid into the flour and beat with an electric whisk for 1 minute.

3. Stir in the pumpkin, banana, sultana and nuts and transfer the mixture to the prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana and 3 seed energy bars

Makes 9 bars

100g polyunsaturated margarine
3 level tbsp golden syrup
150g porridge oats
2 bananas, about 250g in total, weighed with skin on
100g ready-to-eat dried apricots, roughly chopped
25g pumpkin seeds
25g sunflower seeds
25g sesame seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Lightly grease a 19x19cm baking tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper.

2. Melt the margarine and syrup in a heavy-based saucepan until dissolved. Remove from the heat, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, level the surface and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. The mixture will still be very soft in the centre.

4. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then cut into 9 squares. When cold, transfer to an airtight container. Don't try to remove the bars from the tin while they are still warm because they will break.