Next month we won't be eating any meat. It's something I started last year- Meat Free May. It may be a permanent change to the diet of some of us but that remains to be seen. Last year Hope couldn't bring herself to give up eating meat but she's a year older and wiser and more adventurous now and she's all for it. Last night she perused some of my cookbooks and decided I should cook this pumpkin and raisin loaf from my River Cottage Veg Every Day cookbook. I'm glad she did, it's delicious and I've already eaten more than I should. I didn't wait for it to cool, these sorts of cakes taste best still oven warm if you ask me.
The recipe is in the cookbook of course but it can also be found here. The only alterations I made today were to use mixed dried fruit rather than raisins and no nutmeg and that's only because I didn't have them in the pantry today. I think it would be good with grated carrot or even apple instead of the pumpkin if they aren't in season.
And why am I making a cake laced with pumpkin?
Well, there are one or two that have broken off the vines so I'm using them up before I'm inundated with pumpkins after the first frost. A simple pumpkin soup for Sunday soup night last night and the cake today. Still half of this pumpkin left to enjoy. I love pumpkin, it's right up there with a load of other vegetables as one of my favourites.
I'm happy to say that today, everyone is well and back to work and school and I bypassed the worst of it with just a croaky voice.
Tracy