Gestational Diabetes Recipes

Pumpkin is such a mellow fellow so to help him stand out from the soup crowd I’ve dressed him up with some spice. You could even take this up a notch and grill the parmesan and garlic bread to make (lightly) cheesy crusty croutons. Gestational diabetes friendly pumpkin soup never tasted so good! (Main carbohydrate containing ingredients are listed in bold.)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped roughly
• 2 sticks celery, chopped roughly
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground ground ginger
• 1kg/ ~2 pounds raw pumpkin, diced
• 800ml / 3 ½ cups salt reduced vegetable (or chicken) stock
• 4 slices low GI seed or multigrain bread, toasted
• Parmesan cheese, grated to serve or low fat natural yoghurt (optional)

Heat olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add onion, garlic and celery and cook until softened.

Add ground spices and stir until fragrant (2 minuntes only).

Add pumpkin and stock and bring to the boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for around 20-30 minutes until pumpkin is soft.

Allow the soup to cool slightly and before you blend it scoop out 1 cup of stock and set aside. (It’s much easier to make soup thinner than thicker). After blending, add stock back in gradually until you reach your preferred consistency.

Serving suggestion: For easy garlic bread, rub toast with a clove of peeled garlic.

Variation: Roast the pumpkin and garlic in the oven (20 minutes at 200ºC/ ~400ºF) before adding to cooked onion and remaining ingredients.