Witches brew

I'm often asked by frustrated parents how to get kids to eat more vegetables. Whilst I would never claim to be an expert on the matter, I have over the years been pretty successful in getting my own kids to eat the green stuff (and red, yellow, orange.....), so now if they are away from home and are not getting enough fresh fruit and vegetables, they really notice it. It's somewhat satisfying to ask "what do you want for dinner" to get the reply "anything with vegetables in!".

I think having an overactive imagination and a silly sense of fun makes a big difference. Plus the willingness to make lots of soup. Halloween always reminds me of one of my first successes with soup, suitably named "Witches Brew". Both were still pretty young and I was still nervous about letting them go out trick or treating (is it not begging with menaces.....?), so I decided they could each have a friend round for tea, we would play some games then go and knock on a few 'safe' doors in our road, whilst I hovered in the back ground. Not really too sure what I thought was going to happen to them!
Menu choices were a bit limited at this time, as both were expressing their independence through their food choices. Fortunately, mine also had good appetites, so it was often who could hold out the longest!  So going along with the Halloween theme, I served up "Witches Brew" soup, followed by "Monster Fingers" (coated chicken fingers) finishing up with the ever safe web-decorated fairy cake. As you can see from the photo, the soup is bright green, but not one of the four children sat round the table hesitated to gobble it all up, fully embracing the whole Halloween experience. I even sprinkled a few peas on top too and told them they were witches warts - the more ghoulish the better!
This soup also tastes gorgeous, which helps too, and thick and creamy despite being dairy free,

and once they had tried it once, it opened up a massive variety of soup experiences, some with names(holiday soup, sunshine soup), others without. As long as the texture is right, i.e.: not lumpy, the ingredients pretty simple and they taste good, soups still go down well today, which is perfect as we head into the cooler months and start to desire nourishing comfort foods.

Witches brew is so simple and super green due to the peas and lettuce. These also make it a little sweet, appealing to younger tastebuds. So often dismissed as a valuable veg, peas are actually packed with vitamins, minerals, fibre, protein and phytonutrients. And their nutrients are retained because peas are usually frozen within a few hours of being picked. Lettuce, too, is contains a whole load of nutrients, plus lots of water. These can be lost when heated, but because it's going into soup, many are retained in the cooking water, so good news!
So as it's Halloween, why not try this Witches Brew out on your little, or big, monsters; you may be surprised how tasty witches can be!
Witches Brew (Pea and Lettuce soup)

1 small onion, diced
1 slender leek, washed, trimmed and chopped
1 medium potato chopped
splash olive oil
400g lettuce
400g peas
750mls vegetable stock
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon
Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a large pan and saute the onion, leek and potato for a few minutes. Add a little of the stock if it starts to stick. Once soft, add enough stock to cover and simmer for 10 minutes or so until the potato is cooked. Rinse and chop the lettuce, then add to the pan. Add some more stock to just cover, and cook for 5 minutes (remember the lettuce will release water). Add the peas, add more stock if needed to just cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Once done, turn off the heat. Now you need to decide how thick your want your Brew - we like ours really thick and gloopy so I blend everything in the pan with a stick blender first, then add more stock if needed to thin it out. Ensure you blend until all the lumps have gone. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add the lemon juice (this just freshens the flavour slightly).
Serve with a few whole peas sprinkled over the top if required. Feel super witchy!!

Autumn apple cake

After a rather dull and soggy end to the summer, it's turning out to be a gorgeous start to autumn.

With the leaves just beginning to turn, I'm looking forward to a stunning colourful autumn display.
Despite the cooler summer, fruit has been in abundance this year. As well as a great first year crop of raspberries and gooseberries, my apple and pear tree have been laden with gorgeously tasty fruit.
Globalisation means that apples are now available all year round, shipped from the other side of the world to meet our all year round demand. But nothing beats the flavour, or density of nutrients, as a locally grown, freshly picked apple. There are so many varieties of home grown apples - 2,200 according to this article http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/14/apple-britain-gala-traditional - but only a few available in our supermarkets, which is a real shame. I was most annoyed the other day to find only one type of British apples available for sale, despite the fact it's the UK apple season. There were many other bags of apples, but none were even from Europe.
Because of it's popularity, it's easy to see apples as a mundane, non-impressive fruit. In fact, apples are a powerhouse of nutrients that help us to stay healthy, but it's the type of fibre that's particularly interesting. Research shows that the insoluble fibre in apples, particularly the pectin, feeds the friendly bacteria that live inside our guts. These helpful chaps not only help digest and absorb food, but keep our gut linings healthy and provide protection from the harmful bad bacteria.
It appears that cooked apple is even more effective than raw, although eating raw is also good. And when paired with cinnamon, cooked apple is even more beneficial. This is great news, as suddenly puddings are a health food! Well, as long as they're not packed full of sugar and fat!
Traditionally, cooking apples like Bramleys, are used for crumbles and pureés, but I tend to use eating apples instead, as you don't have to add sugar to make them more palatable. So you could add apple  and cinnamon pureé to some dairy free yoghurt for a simple dessert, or dollop a spoonful in your porridge in the morning.
This cake is also another way of getting the goodness of apple, whilst enjoying the comfort of a mighty fine cake. As I'm using eating apples, the skins can be kept on as they become soft when cooked. This not only makes it quicker to prepare, but retains many of the super-healthy phytonutrients that live just under the skin. The apples are naturally sweet, which means you don't need to add as much sugar to the mix. I'm using coconut sugar as much as possible now, as it's a less refined and provides a deep, luxurious flavour. As it's so dark brown, it doesn't really work in a light sponge cake, but is perfect for this kind of gooey deliciousness.
So why not give this a go at the weekend? Your tummy and your tastebuds will love you for it!
Autumn apple cake
1 1/2 cup self raising flour (gluten free if needed)

1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup organic rapeseed oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup dairy free milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 eating apples - 1finely chopped, 2 sliced
extra coconut sugar
dairy free spread
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºc. Grease a loose-bottomed cake tin with the dairy free spread, then line the base with greaseproof paper. Grease the paper again, and sprinkle the extra coconut sugar over the base to cover lightly. Arrange the sliced apples on top in a circle, covering the whole base. Grab two bowls. In one, add the oil, water, dairy free milk, lemon juice and vanilla essence, and whisk together to mix. In the other, sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, then stir in the salt and coconut sugar. When you are ready, pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir quickly to combine, but don't over mix. Add the chopped apple and mix gently. Your batter will be quite thick. Spoon into the cake tin, taking care not to disturb the arranged apple slices on the bottom. Tap the tin on the work top before placing in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is firm and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove onto a cooling tray, carefully peeling off the baking paper so your apple arrangement remains intact on top.
Eat warm, or cool completely; it's great both ways. Enjoy!