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February 28 2010
walnut cake and sheep
Vegan Easter has been updated 
Walnut cake with a tablespoon of Nocaf added to the mix. It is not coffeeish as had intended but is very nice:
1st of March tomorrow, so will it get more springlike?
February 18 2010
Sundae Wednesday! Happy (Birth)day!
You remember Rhona, don’t you? My rescue roasting tin? Well Rhona’s talents don’t stop at granola baking.
Here she is filled with a yummy mixture of the following: a sprinkling of olive oil; chopped onions; some cloves of garlic, left whole; chunks of carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, red and yellow pepper; some mangetout, broken in half; a mixture of half and half olive oil and maple syrup, with a wee spot of salt. She’s about to do duty in the oven at Gas Mark 8/450F/230C for an hour.
When the hour was almost up, we heated some tortilla wraps and smothered them in hummus or Tofutti Cream Cheese, according to taste (Jane had one of each) and then we filled them with the roasted vegetables and rolled them up.
Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So good!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m planning on making these OFTEN!
‘But wait!’ I hear you say. ‘What’s that got to do with Sundae Wednesday Happy (Birth)day?’ And the answer is, ‘Nothing at all! That bit comes next.’
Read on…
It was my birthday last Wednesday (10th February) and I had forgotten to buy the jellies for the trifle. This trifle is the standard pudding for birthday teas in our family. Here’s how I make it…
In a trifle bowl I make up one-and-a-half strength jelly with half a (usually chocolate) sandwich cake layer crumbled into it and leave it to set. I then mix up another one-and-a-half strength jelly with some tinned ‘fruits of the forest’ mixed in. Then I top it all with a huge mound of vanilla Swedish Glace ice cream. And I sometimes grate some chocolate over it. Recently I’ve also been making a big bowl of vanilla custard. Here’s how I make the custard…
First, I heat up most of a pint of soya milk with about a tablespoon of margarine and two tablespoons of sugar. In the measuring jug, I mix together the rest of the milk and two tablespoons of custard powder. Then I stir the custard mix into the pan and whisk as fast as my aching muscles will allow until it’s all thick and bubbly. It’s then put in a bowl and allowed to cool.
I’m sorry. I was SURE I had a photo of a trifle I made before, but just can’t find it anywhere. I must organise my photos SOON!
I would actually like to have the custard on top of the jelly as part of the trifle, but Jane, who’s a creature of habit, loves the trifle the way I traditionally made it, without the custard, so she doesn’t want me to change a winning formula. She does sometimes have some custard with it, though…
Also, a note on tablespoons… We’re not talking wee measuring spoons here. This is the type of chap you want for this recipe.
Available at any charity shop near you… (If you live in Scotland, that is. I can’t speak for other parts of the world…)
Anyway, back to 10th February 2010, 63 years since my birth on a cold, snowy day in Glasgow… And no jelly… As far as trifle was concerned, I was snookered…
So, first I thought of just having the custard and ice cream.
Then I thought of my favourite pudding in the whole, wide world: chocolate custard and ice cream. I could eat bucket-loads of this, with or without a sliced banana on top, if my weight weren’t such a problem. I make the custard as above, but with two tablespoons of cocoa powder added to the custard powder mix. OK, so there are probably several days’ calories in a small bowlful…
Then, however, I had such a good idea that if I’d been a cartoon drawing a wee light-bulb would have appeared over my head. CHOCOLATE NUT SUNDAES!!! Now, I’d never made these before, but necessity is the mother of invention. Here’s what I did.
I made half a pint of chocolate custard, but as I didn’t have custard powder I used vanilla rice milk and cornflour. I also made some chocolate sauce thus:
84g margarine
90g golden syrup
About 30g cocoa powder (more or less, depending on how strong you want it)
I melted the margarine and sugar together and then added the cocoa, all over a low heat.
Then, in our two sundae dishes plus two tall mugs and a pint beer mug, I layered ice cream, chocolate custard, chopped nuts, ice cream, chocolate sauce, chopped nuts and so on to the top.
It was SO GOOD! Unfortunately the camera didn’t like photographing it with flash and it was too dark to get a good picture without the flash, so you’ll just have to make do with this one and imagine its chocolate-y goodness, because I’m afraid that not even for you was I going to keep it till the next day, to take a photo in daylight!
So, what could have been a disappointment on the pudding front was turned to unmitigated delight! I’ll be making these again! But not too often… Just for birthdays…
I must tell you about the wonderful home-made birthday card I received from the offspring. Last year they themed my card around my new Vita-Mix; this year it was themed around my new studies and it featured a cartoon bear, created by Johnny, who stars in most of his home-made cards. There was a chart showing grades for ‘sweetness’; ‘compassion’; ‘inspirational qualities’; ‘sense of humour’; ‘chef skills’ and ‘devotion to family’ and I was awarded the top grade of ‘excellent’ for all of them! I’ll be honest with you. The tears were streaming down my cheeks, sentimental old fool that I am! There was a lot more sweet and loving stuff in it, too… (sniff)
And here, just to finish with a nice picture, are two people who also tick all the boxes (though not exactly the same ones as me!): Tom and Mimi… (What do you mean, ‘Oh, not HIM again!’???)
Today’s title: Sunday, Monday, Happy Days – theme song from the series Happy Days. John suggested Sundae Girl by Blondie, but I’m not going to pander to his adolescent fantasies about Debbie Harry…
Today’s soup: onions; red lentils; chunks of carrot, turnip (Swede/rutabaga), leeks, celery; passata and water all pressure cooked together, with some salt added at the end. Mmmm… Perfect for a cold winter’s day!
February 06 2010
swan lake
There were swans on the loch yesterday
Had a lovely day with friends morphing into a very balletic afternoon which was great fun. It’s been wonderful rediscovering ballet being for enjoyment, rather than an eternal striving (not to mention starving) for perfection. Looked out the old class music etc. I have but it’s all on cassettes – technology moved on a bit fast for me there 
Watched Fast Food Nation (quite good trailer there on amazon), fictional film based on the non-fiction book – strong stuff, a round of exploitation to go with the fries… good cast, making it very watchable though gradually more horrifying.
January 24 2010
Easy as Pie (Pasties)
You can always tell that Burn's Night is on the horizon when the supermarkets start stockpiling haggis on groaningly full shelves. They are everywhere you turn! I really don't mind though, I quite like haggis, well veggie haggis, obviously (I wouldn't eat the timorous wee beastie), but I tend to forget about it during the year, until this not-so-gentle reminder appears.
This year I wasn't stuck for ideas as I threw a couple of vegetarian haggis in my trolley. Back in December Mangocheeks made some truly inspirational Clapshot Vegetarian Haggis Tikkia, which is on my make-soon list and Johanna went haggis-crazy and made nachos, pasties and crepes with her veggie haggis. 
I just wanted something quick and easy to make, so I bought some ready made shortcrust pastry and some nachos, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. I didn't really enjoy the haggis with nachos, but I am not a great lover of nachos at the best of times. Graham enjoyed them, so that was the main thing. However, the pasties were fabulous! So tasty, very filling and so quick and easy to make.Here is my how-to-guide for quick veggie haggis pasties:
Easy Vegetarian Haggis Pasties
Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6. Roll your shortcrust pastry fairly thinly and cut into discs. I cut mine using a small glass bowl measuring 13 cm/5 inches, but you can make your pasties any size you want depending on your whim.
Spread mustard across half of your pastry disc. I used wholegrain mustard, a favourite of mine. The mustard is optional, but it works so well with the haggis and potato.
Spoon some haggis onto the pastry, being careful not to add too much or you will have problems later when you come to seal the pasty.
Add a few cubes of boiled potato to your filling, then season with pepper. Brush the edge of your pastry disc with milk to seal.
Fold the pastry over the filling to make a half moon shape and seal by crimping the edge with your thumb and forefinger. Cut slits into the pastry to let out the steam and them brush the pasty with milk or an egg wash for a lovely golden finish.
Bake the pasties in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden.
Break open and enjoy while they are still hot, then enjoy the leftover pasties, if there are any, the next day cold for lunch.
These pasties are great made this quick and easy way, but do make your own pastry and haggis, if you have the time. I use Delia Smith's recipe for shortcrust pastry, which is always successful and if I was going to make my own haggis, I would definitely use Johanna's recipe.
Here are a few other recipes to help your Burn's Night go off with a bang:
1 Clapshot and Vegetarian Haggis - Allotment to Kitchen
2 Clapshot Vegetarian Haggis Tikkia - Allotment to Kitchen
3 Haggis with Warm Butter Bean and Spinach Salad - The World Famous Burns Supper
4 Vegetarian Haggis Pakoras - Food Lovers Britain
5 Vegetarian Haggis Nachos - Green Gourmet Giraffe
6 Haggis, Neeps & Tatties Pasties - Green Gourmet Giraffe
7 Haggis, Neeps & Tatties Crepe Stack - Green Gourmet Giraffe
8 Vegetarian Haggis and Winter Tzatziki Wraps - Mostly Eating
9 Baked Onions with Vegetarian Haggis - The Foody
10 Vegan Haggis - Veg World
December 21 2009
Deck the walls…
… and the ceiling and the tables and the shelves and the furniture and the stove…. People are surprised to hear that we don’t have a Christmas box to bring out at this time of year… No! We have a Christmas CUPBOARD! That’s how Christmassy we are in this family! And that cupboard is full of not just Christmas decorations, but Christmas books, old Christmas issues of magazines, Christmas CDs, Christmas DVDs, Christmas cushion covers…
But, let’s start at the very beginning. (It’s a very good place to start!) When the offspring were w
ee, Christmas, for us, started in November. This was because we made our own Christmas cards and so November was filled with a flurry of folding card, rubber stamping the chosen Christmas designs onto paper, sprinkling them with embossing powder, wielding the hot air gun, colouring in the pictures and then sticking them onto the cards. We had quite a production line going and, of course, being a home educating family, this led to discussions about factory conditions past and present etc.!
The children also, for a few years, produced a Christmas scrapbook followed by a magazine, which they distributed to home-educating friends, and the Christmas edition was very special, with themed puzzles, stories, pictures, reviews etc.
And every year, they made their own advent calendar. Here’s how… Firstly we would mark off 23 2cm by 2cm squares and one 4cm by 2cm oblong. Each year they’d take either the odd or the even numbers and secretly draw a Christmas picture in each box. Then, after designing and executing the front of the calendar, they’d give their pictures to me to stick onto another piece of card. I’d also cut out the slits on the cover. Then, in December, they’d each open the other’s picture. This gave us HUGE enjoyment over the years. (Sentimental sigh…)
Now we buy our cards from charities, the magazine remains only as back issues, and we don’t have Advent calendars any more….
So now Christmas begins for us on the first Sunday in Advent. Perhaps I should explain something here… We’re not religious, so our Christmas is a secular one, though we use the usual Christian terminology, as most people do, and we love Christmas carols… OK… Where was I? Ah, yes! The first Sunday in Advent… We’re a food-loving family. There’s no point in trying to deny it! And Christmas dinner, we reckon, is far too delicious to be confined to Christmas Day alone. So we eat it on the four preceding Sundays as well! And what do we eat? Well, nut roast, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, sage and onion stuffing, bread sauce (recipe on request) and cranberry sauce. Mmmmmm….
The next stage is the first day in December when we start listening to Christmas music. When my sister, Sylvia, and I were young, our family owned one Christmas record: Mantovani’s Christmas. Now, every 1st December, it’s the first Christmas music we put on. My mother, sister and I phone each other in the morning to play it over the phone and in our house, whoever of us has been out at work or university hears it playing on the CD player as s/he comes in the door! We also start decorating the house apart from the tree.
After that, we read Christmas books and magazines, listen to our other Christmas music and, whenever we can be together, we watch Christmas films. And about a fortnight before Christmas Day, we put up the tree and decorate it with mostly home-made decorations. Now we can watch White Christmas.
We also make Christmas biscuits and mincemeat pies… And we eat tangerines by the dozen and put the skins on top of the stove. It makes a lovely smell added to the one emanating from the red saucepan filled with hot water infused with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves… (Sorry, a photo can’t demonstrate that, so you’ll just have to use your imaginations or, better still, do the same, if possible!)
Over the years my Christmas crafts have included patchwork and quilting 
cross-stitch
and, of course, memory booking.
This year was The Year of the Bunting, which I made for the sitting room and the dining room. Thank goodness for rotary cutters!
Also, this year has been the third that we’ve hosted the Scottish Vegans Yahoo Group Christmas potluck, a feast of vegan tastiness and congenial company. Here’s the sweet stuff we had this year…
When the kids were wee, another thing we did was go out one evening before Christmas and admire all the pretty Christmas trees in people’s windows. Now we’re a tad more cynical and, instead, we go out to the expensive housing estates nearby and mock the over-the-top decorations on roofs and in gardens!
On Christmas Eve, there is no sign of that very brief burst of cynicism, as we settle down together to watch It’s A Wonderful Life, our all-time favourite film in the whole… wide… world. Of course, we cry all the way through, apart from Johnny, whose eyes, nonetheless, grow a bit misty. The rest of us sob unashamedly and, in fact, as soon as the first scene hits the screen, one or other of us will mutter, ‘Well, I’ve started…’ and the others will agree that so have they…
When Sylvia and I were children, we always had bridge rolls made up with butter and corned beef mixed with tomato sauce on Christmas morning. I wanted to replicate this, but without the dead animal parts, obviously, and one year I hit on how to do it. So, on Christmas Eve, we make up bean paste, which is fried onion, equal quantities of kidney beans and chickpeas with tomato ketchup to taste. We love it!
Then, after the offspring have gone to bed, John and I lay a treasure hunt. We’ve had these at birthdays for many years and although Johnny hasn’t bothered with one for the last few years, they both enjoy a Christmas treasure hunt. Unlike the birthday clues, the Christmas ones, traditionally, have to rhyme, which requires a bit more ingenuity (though I do sometimes recycle old favourites!)
Jane insists that 6.30 is quite late enough for Christmas morning, and nothing will budge her, so John and I are pretty bleary-eyed when they both come through to open their stockings and receive the first clue! And after that it’s presents and hugs and kisses and enjoying our presents!
Sometimes my mother is at home and we pick her up and bring her over to our place to spend the day. The last couple of years, though, Sylvia has come through on Christmas Eve, stayed for lunch, and then taken her away to her cottage in Ayrshire. We have Christmas lunch and then, in the afternoon, we all watch The Muppets’ Christmas Carol: Michael Caine’s finest hour, in my opinion! And who would have thought that we could cry over the death of a wee frog puppet? (Anyone who knows us, actually!)
After Christmas Day, we go through to Sylvia’s for her Christmas Dinner and we all exchange wee extra presents, the ones from us including my famous (in the family!), home-made, vegan (obviously!) tablet! And then that’s Christmas over, for us, for another year…
So yes, we’re a very Christmassy family and I just hope that whichever partners Johnny and Jane end up with will be just as Christmassy!
Now all that remains in this Christmassy blog is for me to hope, dear readers, that you have the kind of mid-winter festival YOU like best and that 2010 is filled with love, happiness and the fulfilment of at least some of your dreams…
Title: Deck the halls – traditional carol
Our favourite Christmas films: It’s a Wonderful Life; The Muppets’ Christmas Carol; The Cheaters; White Christmas; Trapped in Paradise; The Bishop’s Wife; The Preacher’s Wife; Miracle on 34th Street (both versions); National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; Scrooge (Alastair Sim); Scrooged; Silent Night; While You Were Sleeping…
November 22 2009
It’s Johnny’s Birthday!
Well, no. I’m lying. It was his birthday last month. But I didn’t want to rush this, just to get it out on time, so I’ve waited till now. His early development is inextricably tied up with our ‘journey’ to veganism and home education and I wanted to do it all justice. Anyway, on we go…
It was 24 years ago last month that my baby boy was born! From the moment I knew for sure I was pregnant, I morphed from a woman who had no interest at all in human babies (kittens, puppies, piglets, etc. were much more interesting!) to someone who read every available book on pregnancy and childbirth. I plotted his development in my womb so that I knew at any given point when his nails had developed, when he could suck his thumb, what size he was, etc. However, nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming love I felt for him once he was born.
Johnny was a very bright wee boy and by the age of two he was desperate to be able to read. From his buggy (stroller) he would point to every sign and poster we passed. ‘Words! Words!’ he would say and I had to read them all out to him. So I decided to see if he could learn to read for himself. I used a mixture of phonics (letter sounds) and whole words, using his favourite topic of steam trains to make a picture book with captions dictated by him. I also covered the doors of a cupboard with blackboard paint and every night I would write his ‘new word’ for him to discover in the morning. He LOVED this! In fact, any misdemeanour on his part could be halted in its tracks by a sad shake of my head and the sorrowful words, ‘I’m afraid there won’t be a new word tomorrow for a naughty boy…’ By the time he was about three and a half he was a fluent reader and got enormous pleasure from this.
I know some people say that children shouldn’t be taught to read before the age of seven, but not allowing Johnny to read would have been like not allowing a baby to crawl or a toddler to speak in complete sentences.
When I became pregnant with Jane, Johnny was ecstatic! He would put his face on my tummy every day and say, ‘I love you, Jenny*! I can’t wait for you to pop out!’ John and I had been trying for some time to go vegan, but we kept back-sliding. Just before Jane was born, we decided to attempt it again. This time I explained to Johnny what we were trying to do. I reminded him that I had breast-fed him and told him I intended to do the same with Jenny. Then I asked how he’d feel if someone said, ‘Wait a minute! Jenny can’t have that milk! WE want it!’ and stole it from me. He didn’t like that idea at all! ‘Well, that’s what they do to mummy cows and baby calves,’ I said. He was horrified, and, from that moment, there was no way we could have backslid. We were committed to veganism!
I’d read that your older child’s first sight of his/her new sibling shouldn’t be of the baby in the mother’s arms, in case it causes jealousy, so when Johnny was due to arrive at the hospital to see us, I made sure his new wee sister was in a cot on the far side of my bed. I needn’t have worried! Johnny couldn’t understand why I wasn’t holding her. ‘Where’s Jenny?’ were his first words to me and he rushed over to gaze into the cot. He has remained an very loving, kind and protective big brother and their relationship has always delighted John and me.
They have fierce arguments on occasion, but they have mostly the same interests (in the films, books and music they enjoy) and ideals (veganism and pacifism) and are devoted to each other.
When it was time for Johnny to go to school, he was very excited, but it just didn’t work out. He was expected to ‘learn’ stuff he’d been doing since he was a toddler. He was reprimanded for putting his arm round the wee boy sitting next to him. (We’re a very demonstrative family and he didn’t understand it when the teacher said, ‘No cuddling in school!’) He missed Jenny and me and our cats and dogs. The list could go on… In the end, after six weeks of misery, John and I decided we should give home education a try. We never looked back! Johnny continued to follow his interests and, as Jenny grew out of babyhood, they learned together.
From my memory book...
Johnny is now doing a post graduate degree, at Glasgow University, in Museum Philosophy and Practice, as well as working part-time as a museum assistant, to fund his studies. He’s also a volunteer at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau and the museum. The latter often involves taking round school groups!
He is an extremely loving, kind, caring and considerate young man. He would no more hurt anyone’s feelings than pull the wings off a fly. He is also very funny and, as well as his own-brand humour, he can find a suitable Simpsons’ quote for almost all of life’s experiences!
- Laughing with Nana!
*‘Jenny’ is a Scottish pet-name for ‘Jane’ and is what our sweet daughter is called by family and very old friends…
Today’s smoothie: We didn’t have one… Sorry….
Today’s title: ‘It’s Johnny’s birthday’, recorded by George Harrison for John Lennon’s birthday.
June 19 2009
Comfort Food
When it comes to comfort food, there’s nothing like a big ol’ lump of seitan. I’ve been tinkering with a basic seitan recipe from Penny and so far this week have made cottage pie, stir fry and a roast, but none of them come close to this little slice of gluten perfection – breaded seitan burgers.
I’ve been experimenting with breadmaking and that leftover heel of crusty bread I’d thrown in the freezer came in handy when I was looking for something to coat the burgers in. We ate them with roasted potatoes and a melon/banana/orange smoothie. Not very summery, but neither was the weather! Absolutely delicious, and definately one for B’s cookbook project.
My latest cooking jag has just about used up all the recipe ideas I had floating around in my head so I’m looking for inspiration! Tell me in the comments: What is your favourite comfort food?
or, since I’m up for a challenge: What recipe would you like to see made vegan? Send me that pesky recipe and I’ll give it a try!
June 15 2009
Vegan Society’s Pledge
Interested in trying veganism but don’t know where to start? Think vegans eat only lettuce and twigs? Take the Vegan Society’s Pledge. Pledge to give it a try for 7, 14 or 30 days and you’ll receive an information pack full of yummy recipes and free advice from mentors.
June 05 2009
Something I’ve Been Meaning To Do…
B and I have been vegan for over six years now, and while I’m still as committed as I was when we first began, over the past couple of years I’d started taking it for granted. It had become a familiar part of me, like having green eyes, or liking olives, and I didn’t question it anymore.
When we got pregnant, instead of the usual What do you eat??, people I didn’t even know all that well started telling me ZOMG YOU’VE GOT TO EAT MEAT YOU’RE KILLING YOUR BABY!!11! and pointing out various newspaper articles about malnourished children with brittle bones to make me ’see sense’.
Then I was misquoted in a popular parenting magazine in an article about vegan pregnancies, and I started to get angry. It occurred to me that the confidence and comfort I had in being vegan was being mistaken for complacency and ignorance and I knew I had to do something about it.
I’ve always described veganism as a lifestyle – something you are rather than something you do like a diet, but for years I’d been limiting my participation in veganism to what I consumed and the occasional potluck. When Breanna was born I had a lot of time to think about what I want to do with my life and where my priorities are, and I’ve decided that vegan outreach is one of them.
This journal is the start of that with plenty more to come. Thanks for reading.
March 16 2008
Curried Parsnip & Sweet Potato Soup
Curried Parsnip & Sweet Potato Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped,
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
6 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 heaped tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp hot mango chutney
6 cups water
juice of 1 lime
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Heat a small pan and dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds then roughly crush in a mortar and pestle.
Heat the oil in pan and when hot add the spices and allow to sizzle for 1 minute. Add the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger and cook for 5 minutes, on a medium heat until softened.
Add the parsnips and sweet potatoes and cook for another few minutes. Add a splash of water before adding the turmeric to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan. Stir well and then add the mango chutney and the water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until the parsnips and potatoes are tender. Stir in the lime juice.
Spoon out a few of the vegetable to decorate the soup with and then whizz the rest of the soup until fairly smooth.
Serves 4-6 (I think, but I wasn't counting!)
If you want to enter a soup into the March Challenge, post it and send it to me at nocroutonsrequired@googlemail.com by the 20th March. Please include your name, the name of your blog, your location and the name of your dish. Remember to link here and mention No Croutons Required in your post.
Happy Soup Making!
February 21 2008
Spicy Aubgergine & Tomato Soup
This is my entry for No Croutons Required, the new monthly soup and salad challenge, which is going to be jointly hosted by myself and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen. When I say entry, I mean that I don't want to miss out on all the fun! Lisa and I's entries are not up for voting. I want to say a big thank to Lisa for all her hard work in starting the event and thank you all for contributing. We have been absolutely blown away by the enthusiasm everyone has shown!
So without further ado, here is my soup.
Spicy Aubergine & Tomato Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped,
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 heaped tsp toasted, crushed cumin seeds
3 aubergines, chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2/ ½ pints vegetable stock
juice ½ lemon
handful fresh coriander, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
Sizzle the cumin seeds in hot olive oil and then add the onion, garlic and chilli and cook for a few minutes. Add the aubergines and tomatoes. Next add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the lemon juice and coriander before whizzing the soup in a blender. I personally don’t like it too smooth.
Taste and season.
Serves 4 – 6
The challenge is now closed for the month. Lisa is kindly letting me submit my soup a day late, I know, I know, not a good example to set!
Make sure to visit Lisa's blog to see all the entries and vote for your favourite in the comments box!
Love
Holler
January 14 2008
Charred Tomato Soup
Charred Tomato Soup
1 red onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 chilli pepper, finely chopped
900g/2lb ripe tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 pint/300ml vegetable stock
pinch of sugar
handful basil
salt & freshly ground pepper
a splash of yogurt or cream or soya milk (optional)
Heat the grill to medium high.
Meanwhile, mix together the tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli,a pinch of sugar and olive oil in a large bowl.
Scatter the tomato mixture onto a baking tray and grill until the tomatoes are starting to brown.
Whizz up the tomatoes, add the basil at this point.
Pour the smooth mixture into a pan, add the stock, mix well and season. You can strain the mixture, but I like there to be a little texture, even in quite a smooth soup. Reheat gently.
Serves 4
I reserved a little of the soup, before the basil was added and spooned it on top before serving, with a little chiffonade of basil. Boy, did I have too much time on my hands at the weekend! I swirled some cream I had left in the fridge, through the soup for Graham and he loved it! It is definitely a new favourite and so quick to make!
January 03 2008
It's Snowing, it's Soup Time!
Butternut & Spinach Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
5cm piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped,
2 tsp turmeric
1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
3 handfuls spinach, chopped
1 handful fresh coriander, chopped
2 - 3 pints vegetable stock
Saute the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil until the onion becomes translucent. Add the turmeric and a little water to prevent from sticking. Add the other vegetables and cook for a few minutes, mixing well. Add the vegetable stock and spinach. Bring to the boil, them simmer for 30 minutes. Add the coriander and whizz the soup until smooth. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Serves 6
I made this yummy soup for a small dinner party last night. It was simple fare.
For starters, we had soup with some crusty brown bread, then we had Penne with a tomato & chilli sauce (I made way too much pasta as usual, I never learn!) and we finished with chocolate cheesecake. No booing and hissing please, it was a shop bought cheesecake! I arranged the dinner party at the last minute, so out of the freezer it came, just waiting for such an occasion.
I bet the soup will taste even better today! I am going to have some for lunch.
I am having a lazy, indulgent day today, snuggled up warm in the house with the cats, looking out at the snow as it drifts down. Back to work tomorrow! Sigh!
December 06 2007
Middle Eastern Stew
A good friend of mine, very kindly, gave me a copy as a gift. It has been great bedtime reading so far, but it was time to try out some of the recipes and time to stop drooling over them.
Middle Eastern Stew
3/4 cup dried chickpeas, picked over, washed and drained (I used 1 can of chickpeas)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp finely chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 lb potatoes, cut into chunks (I used 3 medium potatoes)
1 medium carrot, cut into slices (I used 2 medium carrots)
4 canned plum tomatoes + 1 cup liquid from the can
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley (I used coriander for more flavour)
Soak the chickpeas overnight in cold water to cover by about 3 inches.
In a medium pot, bring the chickpeas and 2 1/2 cups of water to the boil. Cover, lower the heat and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the chickpeas are very tender.
Heat the oil in a medium pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and stir and fry until the onions are brown around the edges. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Put in the potatoes, carrot, chickpeas with their cooking liquid, tomatoes, tomato liquid, salt, thyme and 1/2 cup of water. If the tomatoes are very tart, add the sugar to taste. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover and cook gently for 45 minutes. Sprinkle parsley over the top before serving. Serve hot.
Serves 4 - 6
I left it to the last minute to decide I was going to make this recipe. I didn't have time to soak the chickpeas, so I used a can of chickpeas instead. Therefor, I didn't have cooking liquid, so I just added a little extra water. It worked fine.
This was a lovely stew, I liked the fact that the carrots and potatoes were in large chunks and the chickpeas held their shape. I only cooked the stew for about 50 minutes and this worked because I used canned chickpeas. I think I would like to add a little turmeric and chilli powder next time, to spice it up a little, but I will definitely make it again!
June 18 2007
Weston's Premium Organic Cider
Well, drinking cider really takes me back to my student days, although the cider we drank back then, was nothing like this nectar! You could probably strip paint with the cider we used to drink! Price was the main concern, It was cheap!
I am usually a wine drinker, but something made me stop in my tracks at the cider shelf. So I have had this little gem cooling, for a few days in the fridge. I came home from a lovely lunch with Graham and my parents (in honour of Father's Day, unfortunately we couldn't take Graham's mum and dad as they have moved somewhere hot!)and the sun was actually making an appearance, so I was straight out in the garden with a glass of cider and my book! We won't mention the change of glass to make the photos look better and the time spent trying to get a photo of the cat, while he viewed the cider in complete mystery and disgust!
Anyway, the cider was really soft, with a lovely appley bite and no catching in the back of the throat. It smelled gorgeous too! I would definitely recommend this one! It is made by Westons, in Herefordshire, in a village called Much Marcle (great name!). It is organic, suitable for vegetarians, vegans, coeliacs and has won a few Organic Food Awards. It is endorsed by the Soil Asscoiation , that was enough to persuade me to try it!
Maybe Soup is currently being updated? I'll try again automatically in a few seconds...
