I ate pumpkin for a week to celebrate Halloween

So here it is, my pumpkin pilgrimage. This week I made my way through 21 pumpkin based meals to try and get me into the Halloween spirit.  My ghoulishly gastronomic venture wasn’t easy, leaving my kitchen splattered with pumpkin seeds and my housemates rather bored of the smell of pumpkin puree (you’d be surprised about how much you can get out of one).

DAY 1

I’ll be perfectly honest: today was bitterly disappointing. The bleak prospect of a 9am was not improved by my previously prepared pumpkin spice biscuits. This could however be down to my creative measurements considering they became more like oaty-cake-balls. Half starved by 11am I indulged in some homemade roasted pumpkin seeds which were the definitely highlight of my day. After the gym I came home to some strangely sour pumpkin soup that I also cooked last night and for dinner my pumpkin pasta Alfredo was relatively bland. In hindsight I think my lack of basic cooking skills is my current downfall; not the repetitive use of pumpkin.

DAY 2

Today an early morning gym session called for nothing less than a pumpkin protein shake. This was another unmitigated disaster. I tried until gone 4pm to drink the orange sludge but I rather underestimated how warm drinks get when you carry them around uni all day. For late-lunch I had a grilled pumpkin sandwich which was actually very satisfying, at which point I emptied my breakfast slush down the toilets of the Rendall.

This however left me hungry after a full day of lectures, so I invested in some mini pumpkin chocolate (yes, they count).  For dinner I had pumpkin risotto which bore a beige-y resemblance to my dinner the day before. My pumpkin socks however were enough to lift my spooky spirits.

DAY 3

I finally understand why they call it Humpday. This morning, the thought of yet more pumpkin was the furthest thing from appetising. That said my ‘muffins’ (that turned into rather dense cupcakes) weren’t bad. Pumpkin salad is something I may revisit, along with my pumpkin pasta bake, but I’m starting to really look forward to the end of this pumpkin mania!

DAY 4

I finally cracked it. I released my inner Ramsey and came out trumps. Pumpkin on toast for breakfast, leftover pasta bake for lunch but my piece de resistance was my dinner. This culinary magician made pumpkin naan bread and pumpkin curry and it was lush. I can’t say the same for my pumpkin spiced lattes which became grainy towards the end (thanks to the pureed pumpkin) but regardless I see today as a total success.

I’m very happy with myself in case you didn’t notice

DAY 5

To say this is getting repetitive is an understatement. You can only stomach pumpkin on toast for so long, so today I opted for omelette for breakfast. As with all things cheese makes it better, so I made a fat lasagna for lunch, half of which I pushed to the recesses of my freezer for another day in the far future. Pumpkin fries was one meal I was really looking forward to, but unfortunately they went floppy on me. But flaccid chips aside, today’s meals could have gone worse.

‘flaccid fries’

DAY 6

Dear readers,

Not only have I’ve let you down, I’ve let The Tab down, I’ve let pumpkin down and worst of all,  I’ve let myself down. I caved. I couldn’t do it anymore. My unusually monstrous hangover today drove me to non-pumpkin consumption and this I am eternally sorry. I had a go a my leftover lasagna, but I just couldn’t hack it. I mean we can still count this as half a day right?

At least left overs don’t go to waste

DAY 7

In light of my recent failures I’m coming at this head-first. Pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes are quite simply to die for, and pumpkin humus tasted amazing; making a very cheap alternative to my normal carrot & humus library snack. I also decided to use the last of my pumpkin naan bread dough as the base for my pumpkin pizza. That said, I’ve not looked forward to a Monday this much in a very long time.

So here I am. I’ve had my ups and downs, but definitely more downs than ups. As a pumpkin lover I didn’t think this would be so tasking, but obviously I was wrong. My mum thinks I’m going to turn orange after all this bloody pumpkin; after all, you are what you eat…