Chocolate rethink - then try this tart!

Easter has many meanings. There's the religious one, naturally. Or the start of spring and new life. Or - for many - chocolate! It's estimated that 80 million chocolate Easter eggs are sold per year, and that's in the UK alone.

Culturally, it seems that Easter is an excuse to gorge on the brown stuff with impunity. This seems to go hand in hand with Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. Chocolate is number one on the list of items that people give up for Lent, in remembrance of the time Jesus spent in the wilderness.  However, many non-religious people also participate in the process too, and I wonder if that is more of a control issue rather than a spiritual one - chocolate can be so moreish and addictive!

It's estimated that it takes 21 days to change a habit; when you exclude a food item from your diet, it takes about this length of time for your tastebuds to change too (see this old blog post for more tastebud info http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/tastebud-tales.html). In this time, your body also changes the way is responds. Most chocolate is packed full of sugar and fat, which is why we love it so much! But if we take time to listen to our bodies and take note to how it reacts to different foods, you'll probably notice a difference to how you feel without a shed load of chocolate every day. When you start eating it again, especially after 40 days, your body will react differently, and often can make you feel quite unwell. The odd thing is, that's probably how you felt before the exclusion period, but hadn't recognised it as a bad feeling, just a normal one. It's amazing what our bodies deal with as 'normal'.

Now don't be aghast and think that I'm declaring you shouldn't eat chocolate - I wouldn't dare! And as recent research suggests, in certain forms and small amounts, cocoa is actually pretty good for us. Not only does it have iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc, minerals that help keeps the body functioning well, but it's also packed full of helpful antioxidants, sterols and flavonoids that can help blood pressure regulation, reduce cholesterol and potentially increase blood flow in the brain and prevent cognitive decline - I'm all for some of that!

To me, the issue is type and amount of chocolate. All the benefits of cocoa come with dark or raw chocolate. Milk chocolate is miles less effective and carries loads of sugar and fats which lead to weight gain, amongst other problems. Cheap chocolate bars only contain about 10% cocoa; the rest is made up of dairy products, sugar and oils, often hydrogenated (this changes the chemical structure and is toxic to us). And that fat and sugar combo is what makes us want to go back for more, as it triggers the pleasure centres in the brain, and boy those centres just love to be satisfied!
I'm really not keen on dark chocolate, so when I went dairy free it meant going without. Fortunately, I've never been that fussed, so it wasn't really an issue. But now there are so many dairy free alternatives on the market, it's easy to have a little chocolate indulgence every now and then. I buy my dairy free chocolate from Plamil (www.plamilfoods.co.uk) - great flavour and minimal additives. And there's something utterly decadent about buying a 7.5kg box of chocolate drops.......not all for me, honest! I use it for desserts at my supper clubs.

So if you overindulged over the weekend and are feeling rather sluggish and sick, have a listen to what your body is trying to tell you, and maybe have a rethink about your chocolate habits. Then when you've recovered, try this gorgeously yummy and healthy chocolate and coconut tart - it not only tastes good, but will make you feel good too!

Chocolate and coconut tart

Base:

1 cup hazelnuts

1 cup of dates, soaked for 10 minutes

50g cocoa powder

Filling:

400g tin coconut milk

1/4 cup (60ml) dairy free milk

1/4 cup cornflour

pinch of salt

1 cup dairy free chocolate 

Topping:

Toasted coconut flakes

First of all, make the base. Drain the dates and place in a food processor with the hazelnuts and cocoa powder. Blitz until everything is chopped up and well combined - add a little of the date water if you need to help it stick together. Spoon out into a loose bottomed round cake tin and press down firmly so the base sticks together, covering the bottom of the tin. Pop in the freezer whilst you make the filling.

Mix the cornflour and dairy free milk together in a small bowl and put to one side. Heat the coconut milk in a small pan. When it is warm but not boiling, add the dairy free chocolate and salt and stir until melted and smooth (a couple of minutes). Slowly pour in the cornflour mix and continue to stir until it thickens, approximately 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. 

Remove the base from the freezer and pour in the filling. Place in the fridge to firm up for about 8 hours or leave overnight (if you're short of time, pop in the freezer for a few hours but keep an eye on it). To serve, sprinkle toasted coconut flakes over the top, and enjoy!

Odds and end smoky tomato and parsnip stew

Last day of the veg box blogging challenge, and I have to say, the ingredients on offer look rather forlorn! Tuesday evening tends to be my 'creative' night, using up as much produce as possible. It always makes me think of the Goodness Gracious Me character Mrs' I can make it at home for

nothing'. All she needed was a small aubergine and piece of string to create anything. Sometimes I feel like that!

So what was left? We had one onion, a large parsnip and a handful of chard leaves. Doesn't look much to start with, but thankfully I have a well stocked store cupboard.
Random ingredients like this usually work well in a one pot stew, adding in herbs and spices to jazz things up a bit. My go-to spice in these situations is smoked paprika - as my daughter wisely states, everything tastes better with a little smoked paprika!
We always have tins of beans in the cupboard; a great plant based source of protein, minerals, B vitamins and fibre, beans give texture and substance to a dish, and can fill up the hungriest of stomachs. And because of their high fibre content, they're really healthy, particularly good for reducing cholesterol and maintaining blood sugar levels. Adding the tomatoes brightens everything up, as well as adding another load of phytonutrients.
I used pinto beans for this dish for their texture and colour. Random fact - these beans have brown speckles, like splashes of colour in a painting. Pinto means 'painted' in Spanish, hence the name. May come in handy one day in a quiz, you never know.
So here it is, my odds and ends smoky tomato and parsnip stew. Served with some mixed quinoa, it has a protein punch and a little spicy kick to make it interesting. And no string in sight!
Odds and ends smoky tomato and parsnip stew.
1 onion, diced

1 large parsnip, peeled and diced
2 small potatoes, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 small celery sticks, chopped
handful of chard, washed and chopped
2 handfuls frozen peas
1 tin pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon thyme
black pepper
Heat a dash of olive oil in the bottom of a pan and sauté the onion, potato, celery and parsnip for a few minutes until soft. Add the garlic and chard stems and cook for another couple of minutes. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and add the spices and herbs. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the parsnip is soft. Stir in the beans and peas, and season with black pepper. Cook for a few more minutes, check the seasoning and add more if needed. Enjoy!

Let us eat soup!

On to the second to last day of my week long veg box challenge, and much of the gorgeous organic produce has been used. We have plenty of leftovers from both Saturday night's squash curry and the pie and mash from Sunday night, so dinner is sorted.
So what to cook on Monday? The one item mainly untouched is the green batavia lettuce. It's not that we don't like lettuce, far from it, but I have to say I prefer warm, comforting foods at this time of year rather than cold, crisp dishes. So there's only one thing to do with it - make soup!

When chatting with my mum about what I was going to make, she was more than a little unimpressed! But lettuce soup is actually really tasty as well as healthy. Known in my house as 'sludge soup' due to its rather pond-like hue, it's packed full of nutrients like vitamins A and B complex, calcium and iron, and a whole range of phytonutrients that help support the body. As lettuce has a high water content, the soup doesn't need much fluid added to the pot, keeping the nutrients readily available.
The other important thing about making lettuce soup is that it reduces food waste - lettuce is top of the league when it comes to fresh food items thrown away each week. I've always tried not to waste food, but ever since Hugh's War on Waste recently, I've really made a concerted effort to use everything up, which is one reason why a veg box can be such a good idea, as you base your meals for the week around the box and add in as necessary, rather than just buy random items and see what works.
So why not try this soup if you have a desolate lettuce hanging around? Open head, leafy ones like this gorgeous green batavia, romaine or little gem lettuces all work well. I've not tried it with lollo rosso, and I don't think an iceberg would be quite right (although can't remember the last time I bought one). It's so green, you just know it's good for you!
Lettuce soup

1 onion, diced
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 large lettuce, washed well and chopped
a handful of chard leaves, chopped
500ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Heat a glug of olive oil in the bottom of a large saucepan and sauté the onion and potato for 5 minutes on a low heat with the lid on until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Stir in enough vegetable stock to cover the vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes or so until the potato is cooked and soft. Add the lettuce and chard leaves. Pour in some more vegetable stock, but don't fully cover the leaves as remember they will wilt and add more fluid to the pan, potentially making your soup too watery. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, pop on the lid and simmer for 5 minutes until the leaves have fully wilted. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then blend until smooth, adding more stock if needed.
Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice (to help with iron absorption) and a swirl of dairy free yoghurt or cream. Enjoy!

Mighty fine Sunday pie

Four days down in the veg box challenge and we are gradually munching our way through the gorgeous produce that arrived on Wednesday. The squash has all gone, as have the carrots and the cherry tomatoes. There's still a couple of onions though, most of the leeks and mushrooms, the lettuce, one parsnip and a handful of chard as well as potatoes.
So to Sunday dinner - what to have? There's plenty of curry leftover from Saturday night, but those big fat juicy leeks are just begging to be eaten, so it just has to be a leek and mushroom pie.
I know some people aren't keen on pie, especially as a thick layer of butter pastry can result in a serious case of indigestion afterwards. But I've always been a fan, and ended up missing out for a while when I first went dairy free. It then got more complicated when I went plant based and then nigh on impossible when I went gluten free. But where there's a will there's a way, and a desire for pie can overcome all obstacles!
Ever since grain was milled, people have made some sort of crust to stuff a filling into! First it was more of bread or pancake. Then the Greeks developed pie pastry, and the Romans started documenting pie recipes. Apparently the most popular recipe was called 'placenta' - somehow that doesn't sound too appealing to me........
Pie has been a feature of British cuisine since Roman times, and take different forms all round the world. We noticed the Aussies are particularly fond of pie when we were over there at Christmas, and I always think of Twin Peaks when anyone has cherry pie!
For a plant based pie filling, in my mind there is no better than a simple leek and mushroom one, especially if they are firm, nutty chestnut mushrooms, which is fortunately what was in the veg box. They go together brilliantly with tarragon and a creamy sauce, making such a delicious filling you might just prefer it to a meat pie!

You may not think of leeks as being particularly special, but being part of the allium family they are packed full of phytonutrients such as flavonoids and polyphenols that help protect and support our blood vessels and help protect against oxidative damage and stress. And mushrooms, although in lesser amounts, have a whole range of vitamins and minerals, particularly selenium, and lots of fibre. On top of that, they produce their own natural antibiotics that can help boost immunity.
I made my own pastry for this pie as I haven't found a gluten and dairy free alternative in the shops. If you're ok with shop bought pastry, then go ahead and use it if making it is not your thing - JustRol is dairy free and definitely easy to use. I've not included my recipe for gluten free pie pastry here - I'm well chuffed with it though, and will save that for another day.
To make the creamy sauce, I kept it really simple and used some soya cream -it works brilliantly and is no hassle. If you don't do soya, then there are some other dairy free creams on the market such as oat or rice. You could of course make a white sauce, but I was too busy making rhubarb crumble (dessert is most important!).
For a complete Sunday night feast, our pie was accompanied by crushed potatoes (mash with skins on!) and some steamed cabbage, admittedly not from the box, but perfect anyway.
Mighty fine leek and mushroom pie

4 medium leeks, washed and trimmed
150g of chestnut mushrooms (more if you have them)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons tarragon, fresh or dried
1 carton dairy free cream
salt and pepper
1 portion pastry, enough for a double crust
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Slice the leeks and mushrooms, then heat a dash of olive oil in a large pan and sauté the leeks for a few minutes, then adding the mushrooms. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic for a couple more. Pour in the cream, add the tarragon and seasoning and simmer until everything is cooked through. Let it stand for a few moments.
In the meantime, divide your pastry in two and roll out the first half and cover the base of a pie tin or dish. Wet the rim with a little water. Then roll out the second half of the pastry, making it big enough to cover the top. Spoon in the leek mixture, then place the pastry on top, pressing the edges together. Make two small slits in the middle to allow the steam to escape, brush the top with a little water or dairy free milk, place on a baking tray and pop in the oven for approximately 20 minutes until the pastry is firm and light brown (remember you might not get this brown with gluten free pastry). Remove from the oven, let it sit for a couple of minutes then serve and enjoy!

Steve's Saturday night squash curry

As much as I love cooking, it's always a treat when someone else does it for a change. Because of work and travel commitments, my hubby Steve doesn't get many opportunities to get creative in the kitchen, so when he offers to cook it's always a treat, especially as I was out all day yesterday, so it was a real relief to come home and be served with a piping hot dinner.
Steve does what I call 'man's cooking' - lots of ingredients all prepped before hand (often with lots of washing up!), loud music and always a beer on the go. Not that this is a criticism, just a little observation - whatever is needed to maximise the cooking experience (although the number of beers could potentially be directly linked to the outcome of the dish - "hic!").
Having lived in India and spent time in South Africa, Steve has picked up a few tricks and makes a mean veggie curry, all dairy free of course. Aware of my veg box blogging challenge, he did check what I had planned to make - a sweet mama squash and chickpea curry - so now I'm writing about his version of what I had planned in my head!

 Squash and chickpeas go together really well in terms of flavour, texture and nutrition. I've already talked about what nutritional powerhouses they are (Thursday stuffed squash and Friday's pancakes), as well as fabulous sources of fibre that your gut will love. They also both work wonderfully with spices, and complement each other superbly.
Of course, spices add more than just colour and flavour to a dish; they contain amazing healing properties that have been used for thousands of years, but science is only just beginning to understand how.
Cumin, for example, works on the digestive system, and can help stimulate digestive enzymes, as well as settle and soothe an irritated gut. It's also a surprising good source of iron, and as iron absorption can often be an issue when you suffer from an irritated gut, it's worth including some in your meals on a regular basis.  I've had warm cumin water at an ayruvedic spa as a pre-lunch stimulant (it was surprisingly pleasant) and as part of a special herb mix to help heal the gut after a rather severe episode of 'Delhi belly'. And as a key ingredient in many Indian, Mexican and Middle Eastern dishes, it's not too difficult to find an excuse to have some.
Turmeric has long been used for it's anti-inflammatory and anti-septic properties, but the active ingredient - curcumin - has only recently been identified and researched. It seems that the amazing properties in turmeric can help relieve all sorts of ailments from period problems, to IBS, to joint pain to cancer. In fact, there is so much to say about turmeric, there's no way enough room here, so let's just say it's amazing and should be included in your diet as much as possible!
Steve likes the base of his curry sauces to cook down over a period of time to concentrate the flavours; this doesn't take that much longer, but really does deepen the flavour.
There are a couple of interloper ingredients again, but from the veg box he used an onion, two of the carrots and the second half of the sweet mama squash. There was (and still is!) loads, so this recipe feeds a hungry crew easily.
Play around with the spices to get the heat level you desire - I've only given approximations here, as I'm not really too sure exactly how much was put in! Needless to say, it was super tasty, and all the more special as I didn't have to cook!
Steve's Saturday night squash curry

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
1-2 red chilli, chopped
3-4 tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder/garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
water
1/2 sweet mama squash cut into smallish chunks
2 carrots, diced
1 courgette, diced
1/3 small cauliflower, chopped (optional)
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
Heat a dash of olive oil in the bottom of a pan and cook the onion for a couple of minutes until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and chill and cook for another couple of minutes, stirring all the time so it doesn't burn. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and let it cook down for a few minutes. Stir in the spices and add some water to make a thick sauce. Cook down on a low heat, adding a bit more water for 15 minutes or so until the flavours have developed.
Add the squash and carrot chunks, covering them well with the sauce, adding a little more water to almost cover. Pop on a lid, bring to the boil, and simmer for 5 -10 minutes until the veg begin to soften. Add in the courgette, cauliflower and chickpeas and simmer until all the veg are soft and the sauce has thickened up nicely. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with popadoms and steamed brown rice.

Friday night rainbow savoury pancakes

Friday night dinners have to be quick and easy, just because it's Friday, really! Rainbow pancakes are ideal as they are super tasty and don't take much time to make.
So what was used from the veg box? One of the carrots (I'm gradually making my way through them), a handful of chard and then the cherry tomatoes, not for the pancakes but roasted on the side - oh and they tasted sublime!

For the sharp eyed, you'll notice there is an interloper in the veg ingredients - I snuck in some sweet potato, not just for the gorgeous colour but to use as a binding agent. Once steamed and puréed, sweet potato goes a little gloopy, and works brilliantly helping to hold everything together in gluten free plant based recipes. They also contribute towards the texture and can be added in surprisingly well to a variety of recipes - anyone tried my sweet potato chocolate brownies.....?
The other key ingredient in the pancakes is the flour - for this particular pancake I've used chickpea flour (otherwise known as besan or gram flour). I first discovered this flour when living in India, and find myself using it more and more, simply because it's amazing! First it has a strong flavour so contributes a savoury taste. It's packed with minerals, particularly magnesium, B vitamins and is a great source of protein and of course fibre. Finally, it's gluten free and really adaptable for all sorts of recipes. Don't try to lick the bowl though, as it tastes pretty foul when raw!
To finish off the dish, I made a spinach and walnut pesto sauce as it needed a little something on the side, and that's what I had in the fridge!
So give this a go - it takes about 20 minutes in total if you already have some sweet potato pureé to hand. Enjoy!
Rainbow savoury pancakes

1 cup chickpea flour/besan/gram flour
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
200ml water
1 medium carrot, grated
2 small sweet potatoes, steamed and mashed
handful chard
handful parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
cherry tomatoes
olive oil
First, heat the oven to 180ºC, place the cherry tomatoes still on their stems into a baking tray with a splash of olive oil and pop in the oven to roast for 15 minutes or so.
Wash the chard and separate the stem and leaves. Finely chop the stem and put to one side. Place the leaves into a frying pan and dry fry for a couple of minutes to remove some of the water. Leave to cool.
Whilst the tomatoes are roasting, make the pancakes. Place the flour, turmeric, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix together well. Add most of the water to make a thick batter. Stir in the sweet potato, chopped chard stems, chopped chard leaves, grated carrot and parsley and mix together really well until everything is combined. Add a little more water if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a drop of oil in a pan and dollop 2-3 spoonfuls into the middle, spreading it out to make a large pancake. Cook for a couple of minutes until starting to brown, then flip and cook the other side. Slide out onto a warm plate and repeat until all the mixture is used up.
Cut each pancake into fours, then serve with the roasted tomatoes and some pesto or sauce of choice.

Stuffed squash for Thursday

Second day of my veg box challenge, and the beautifully voluptuous sweet mama squash just had to get on the menu! Like sweet potato, pumpkin and squash are high on my list of 'important foods to eat each week' list. Their bright orange flesh is just packed full of betacarotene which converts to vitamin A in our bodies, necessary for beautiful skin, hair and eyes (get that sparkle!) and readily available in a plant based diet.
Finding different varieties of squash and pumpkin in the supermarkets can be a challenge at times - often butternut squash is the only one on the shelf, so getting a veg box means variety in the squash department! I've sometimes bought a pumpkin box from Riverford which contains an amazingly eclectic mix to experiment with.
Sweet mama squash has a really hard outer skin, so needs attacking with gusto and a sharp knife! The flesh inside is dense and very orange, so you know it's going to be good for you. Once cooked, it's very sweet and works well with spices (spoiler alert - I'm saving half for a Saturday night curry!).
My decision on what to cook every day is influenced by what's going on in the house, and what I'm doing work wise. This Thursday, everyone was coming home and going out at different times, and as I actually had a little extra time for cooking, I decided to do stuffed squash. Once all the prep has been done, it sits in the oven quite happily and so can be eaten as and when needed.
I tend to use brown rice for my stuffing, usually because there's some left over in the fridge, and of course there's so much more nutrition wise in wholegrain. But you could use quinoa, millet or even couscous if you're not going gluten free.

You can see from the photo that there are a few interlopers in the stuffing ingredients - celery and courgette are still left over from last weeks box. Going away for a couple of days left me with more goodies to use up this week, although sometimes I do buy extras that are not in the box, just for variety. Trying to balance what we need with what we're doing and what we'd like is tricky at times!
All these different lovely ingredients provide a whole array of fabulous nutrients that our bodies love. The squash alone has more than just the betacarotene I've mentioned above. For a start, it has masses of fibre formed from good starchy carbs that have a beneficial effect in the body and also help to keep the gut healthy. There's a mix of B vitamins, and minerals, as well as a lovely dose of vitamin C, which will be retained better by being baked. Vitamin C is water soluble so is easily lost by boiling and even steaming.
My top tip for the stuffing is make sure you get the seasoning to how you want it. I used thyme as my herb of choice as I like it with squash, but mixed or Italian herbs would have worked too, along with a lengthy grinding of black pepper. Keep tasting your mix until you've got it right for you - the sweet and savoury flavours are seriously satisfying.
Stuffed sweet mama squash (served 3)
1/2 onion finely chopped

1 leek, diced
1 stick celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
handful mushrooms, chopped
handful chard leaves
1/2 courgette, chopped
1/2 sweet mama squash, deseeded
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon tamari (optional)
salt and pepper
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and lightly grease a large piece of tin foil. Heat a dash of olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion, leek, celery and carrot until soft. Chop the stems of the chard and add them to the pan with the mushrooms and courgette. Cook for another couple of minutes until they start to soften, then add the garlic, stirring well so it doesn't burn. Stir in the thyme, chopped chard leaves, rice, tamari, salt and pepper and cook for another couple of minutes. Sprinkle in the parsley, stir well, turn off the heat and leave to cool for a moment.
Wipe out the squash half with a damp piece of kitchen roll and season with salt and pepper and sprinkle a little extra thyme into the cavity. Pack in spoonfuls of the rice stuffing until full. Place the stuffed squash onto the tin foil, wrap it up loosely then place on a tin and into the oven for about 45 minutes. Once the squash flesh is soft and tender, it's ready for eating. Remove from the oven and slice into 3 equal portions. Serve with accompanying vegetables of choice (we had potato wedges and peas - yum!).

Wednesday night parsnips

I do love a good parsnip! And the ones that turned up in the Riverford veg box yesterday were voluptuous and ready for some action.
The usual route (or should it be root ;)) for any parsnips that enters the house is spicy parsnip soup, swiftly followed by a roasting. Simple but packed with flavour. But this weeks veg box contained a parsnip recipe that I hadn't tried before - skordalia - so the fate of the gorgeously creamy roots was sealed.
I had never heard of skordalia before, but apparently it's a side dish from Greece traditionally made with potatoes; Bob the Riverford chef had substituted parsnips for the spuds, and it does taste might fine.
As with most recipes I come across, it did need The Sensitive Foodie touch to make it dairy and gluten free; I also used whole almonds and chopped them as I like to have my nuts with optimum fibre content and I substituted flaxseed oil for the olive oil to increase the omega 3 content. I used Mrs Crimbles breadcrumb mix as that was open, but have notice that Waitrose now do their own gluten free breadcrumbs, which are completely rice based. Of course, if you're ok with wheat and gluten, then go for normal fresh breadcrumbs as I can imagine they make the dish even more thick and gloopy.

The final product was seriously gorgeous, and would go perfectly with a nut or lentil loaf and a pile of roast potatoes. Not that's what we had for dinner! But the quiche was still good with it!
You may not think of parsnips as a 'healthy food' but, as with all veggies, they do having surprising nutritional benefits. For one they are a great source of soluble fibre, so keep our guts healthy and won't upset those with IBS too much. They also have a good amount of vitamin C, potassium and B vitamins, which are all needed for cell activity. There's even a reasonable amount of manganese as well as a whole range of phytonutrients that are thought to have an anti-inflammatory effect and help protect against certain cancers. Not bad for a simple root vegetable!
So here is the recipe - there was a little left over, so I'm looking forward to lunch!
Parsnip skordalia (Riverford recipe with Sensitive Foodie adjustments!)
500g parsnips

400ml dairy free milk
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, peeled
30g gluten free breadcrumbs/fresh breadcrumbs
handful almonds, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
glug of flaxseed oil/olive oil
salt and pepper
Peel and chop the parsnips into small chunks and pop into a saucepan with the dairy free milk, bay leaf and garlic cloves. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes or so until the parsnip is soft and mushy. Turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Strain the parsnips and garlic but reserve the milk. Discard the bay leaf. Pop the parsnip and garlic into a food processor with a little of the cooking milk and blend until smooth. Add the almonds, breadcrumbs and some salt and pepper and blitz again for a moment to combine everything together. Add the oil and lemon juice and blitz briefly. Check the flavours and consistency and add more seasoning. milk or lemon as needed. Serve and enjoy!

Veg box challenge

I love getting my Riverford veg box every Wednesday! Unless we're over run with potatoes or artichokes, I never look at the box contents on line, but wait to be surprised when the box arrives. It might help planning if I checked, but I love a bit of creativity and spontaneity, particularly if there is a vegetable that I'm not particularly familiar with, or that's not a bit hit with the family. And cooking dairy free, gluten free and plant based just makes the challenge a little more interesting!

I've been getting a Riverford organic veg box for a long time now, apart from when we were in India - bit too far for them to deliver! I did, however, find a local one whilst I was there, which presented an even bigger challenge at times.

In my opinion, organic vegetables not only taste better, but being grown more naturally in cared for soil means they contain more nutrients, less chemicals and are better for the environment. And I know that everything grown is as local to the UK as possible, not flown half way across the world, and is therefore fresher and more vibrant.

So when I get asked "what do you eat in a normal week, then?', my answer is that it depends on what's in my veg box! And as I've been a bit lax with the blogging recently, I've decided to do a blog a day for a week, all about what I've made with the veg from my box.

This weeks gorgeous delivery was waiting on my doorstep earlier. We've got potatoes, carrots, onions, fat leeks, parsnips, chard, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, a huge sweet mama squash and a couple of vibrant green batavia lettuces. Nothing surprising or unconventional this week, so not too difficult to think up some yummy dishes. I'm thinking parsnips for tonight's dinner - tomorrows post will tell you all about it!