Creamy pumpkin pasta

If you follow me on Instagram, you'd see me posting of my lunch quite often. If you haven't, search #onemotherkitchen and see all the yummy stuff for yourself. 

Nothing like making my own pasta in the morning, and eating it for lunch. Just have to knock up an easy sauce. This one is made in one dish(if you don't count the pot for cooking the pasta). 

Pumpkin creamy pasta 
400 grams pumpkin, cubed into 2cm pieces
4 or five garlic cloves
dried mixed herbs*
salt and pepper

1/2 cup of thickened cream
cooked pasta of choice( I used 400 grams of cooked spaghetti) A pasta like penne, would be great too to hold all of that wonderful sauce.

Place pumpkin and garlic in a baking tray. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and mix all together.

Sprinkle with dried mixed herbs and bake in a 190 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven. Grab a fork and press down on each cube of pumpkin. Some will collapse and some will still be a little firm. That's ok. You want the different textures.

Mash the bits of garlic with the fork, so it will incorporate with the sauce.

Pour the cream into the tray and stir to combine it through the pumpkin and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Put back in the oven for five minutes to warm through the cream.

Throw cooked pasta in the pan and stir through the creamy pumpkin sauce. Serve with parmesan and crusty bread if you like.

*Now is a great time to pick some herbs from the garden, hang them up somewhere like you're kitchen, it looks great. When they dry out, chop them finely and keep in a jar in the pantry. Try rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, whatever you have. Even though I have rosemary in my garden already, I have just discovered rosemary growing in the carpark in our local Woolies. Sucked in to anyone silly enough to buy it in store!

Do you grow your own herbs? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Sweet potato pizza

I made this yummy pizza when my sister and her partner were coming for dinner, I cut this up for pre dinner nibbles. Well, they were unfashionably late and by the time they did arrive I'd put the lasagna on the table and we tucked into that. They didn't even touch it! I was a bit annoyed because it tasted bloody good!

Anyway I made it again for my lunch a few days later. I really like it.

Wholemeal pizza dough
7g(two teaspoons) dry yeast 
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon salt

Place yeast, sugar and water in a small bowl. Lightly mix with a fork and set aside for 10 minutes until frothy.

Put flour in a large bowl, with the salt. Add the yeast mix and olive oil to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until dough comes together.

Knead for 5 minutes, then put back into the large bowl, cover with a tea towel and sit in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Knock down the dough with your fist and divide into four portions.

Roll out on a floured surface and place on an oiled tray.

Pizza topping
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick rounds.
Olive Oil
Poppy seeds
Rosemary leaves and Rosemary flowers(if you have them)
Mixed greens - e.g. rocket, beet leaves, spinach
feta or goats cheese(optional)

Oil a baking tray, place sweet potato rounds in one layer. Loosely cover with foil and bake in a 180C oven for 10 minutes.

Brush some olive oil(I used garlic oil) on the pizza base. Lightly sprinkle poppy seeds and about 1 tablespoon of rosemary leaves.

Lay sweet potato rounds on base and then drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 15 minutes at 230C.

When cooked, cut into slices and scatter mixed greens over and some cheese if using. Garnish with the rosemary flowers.

Sharing this recipe at Little Wolff blog for Little Veggie Kitchen

Flowering Rosemary