This is my favourite time of year. The twinkling sun still shines and warms us while the chill of the winter wind reminds us what’s coming.

The excitement of being wrapped up and cosy with large cups of tea and cake is looming. To look outside the trees turn from a bright green to hues of oranges and golden browns. One of my favourite things to do this time of year is crunch through the fallen leaves and kick them like I am a 7-year-old again.

The produce at this time of year is bulging, oversized and full of colour. Pumpkins, butternut squash, berries, to name a few.

This type of produce makes me turn almost completely vegetarian and I am a real meat eater. Here are a few of my recipes to try to fill you up and tick the comforting winter is coming feel.

Pumpkin is my all time favourite, the deeply satisfying thick flesh is so versatile, it can be used in salads, stews, soups to name a few. It is also one of the very low calorie vegetables. It contains no saturated fats or cholesterol; however, it is rich in dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins.

Serves 4

One medium pumpkin or butternut squash
400 g chick peas
100 g lambs lettuce
courgette
Tahini
Lemon
Rosemary
Garlic
Chilli
Cumin seeds
Cider vinegar
Olive oil

Chop the Pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Chop into wedges keeping the skin on and drizzle olive oil, garlic cloves in the skin, sprigs of rosemary and salt and pepper and place into the oven at 180 degrees for 30 mins or until tender. The outsides of the pumpkin may singe a little, but it is delicious when that happens so don’t worry.Drain your can of chick peas and in a bowl toss in chilli flakes and cumin seeds then bake for 20 minutes on 180 degrees. (these can all be cooked in oven at the same time)

Once everything is cooked set aside to cool then arrange into a large salad bowl or plate with the lambs lettuce and grated courgette.

Make your dressing by using 2 table spoons of tahini, 2 table spoons of cider vinegar, juice of half a lemon, splash of water to loosen mixture and salt and pepper. Add more water if consistency still very thick.

Add your wedges of pumpkin on top of the salad and drizzle your tahini dressing all over.

This salad is comforting, very filling and incredibly good for you. Full of protein from the chick peas and rich in vitamin C from the pumpkin. It wins hands down on getting basically all of your 5 a day in one meal time!