Chilli sweetcorn baked polenta

Here's my next instalment of 'what to do with lots of sweetcorn and courgettes at the end of a good summer?' series. This dish is focused on sweetcorn, and is a double corn recipe using both fresh off the kernels with dried and ground corn.
Polenta is one of those products that can delight or dismay, depending on how it's cooked and the texture. I had never really tried it until I went along to an Italian cooking demo whilst living in India. Yes, you read that right! It might sound a bit random, but there was a great Italian restaurant (called Toscano) in the mall next to our housing compound, run by two French brothers. I know you'd expect them to be Italian, but hey, in that's how things roll in the awesome global mix that is Bangalore! It was a bit of an expat retreat serving familiar European dishes with an Indian kick (i.e.; lots of chilli) and pizzas that kept the kids more than happy.
As it turned out, I couldn't actually eat the finished polenta dish they were demonstrating as it contained breadcrumbs, which was a shame but avoiding deep fried food is never a bad thing really. But what I did learn was how to prepare it from scratch and how to maximise flavour without overloading it with butter and cheese, perfect for the dairy free diner.
The top bit of advise, as always, was the simplest - keep tasting until you get it right, and use good quality ingredients. I've since lost the recipe demonstrated that day, but I was so glad to see how to make it, plus I gained valuable tips on what to do, and not do, in cooking demos!
I used to get quite confused about the difference between polenta and the ground maize used for Mexican dishes and featuring on mainly American recipe sites. Basically, polenta is ground cornmeal, just slightly more coarse with less of the healthy outer grain removed, so theoretically should contain more fibre and nutrients, but modern processing methods may make that assumption defunct! In the US, it's often frowned upon as some cornmeal is made from genetically modified corn, plus different coloured corn contains less nutrients. If you want to know more, check out this article to help make things clearer http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-cornmeal-and-polenta-word-of-mouth-211404
The good thing about polenta is that it's gluten free, so useful if you need to be careful, and still has a useful amount of fibre to help transit the sugar content through. It can be used as a base for other dishes like cakes, bread or crunchy coatings, as well as just made up in it's own right.
The nutrition in this dish really comes from the fresh corn kernels - those bright yellow buttons are packed with phytonutrients that are good for the eyes and contain anti-oxidants, as well as a load of insoluble fibre that the friendly bacteria in your gut just love to munch on. I used this as an accompaniment to a courgette based chilli dish and they complimented each other perfectly, but you could serve it with a fresh salsa, avocado dip or fresh summer green salad - any rainbow dish will do, for lunch, dinner or a snack. So why not give this a try and let the sun shine from your plate!
Baked sweetcorn chilli polenta

2 cobs of sweetcorn
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
200g polenta
750ml vegetable stock
1 heaped teaspoon ground oregano/Italian herbs
1 red chilli finely chopped or 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed chilli
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºc. Grab a 23x30cm baking tin, grease and line with baking paper.
Next, cut the corn off the cobs. Heat a dash of olive oil in a medium sized pan and sauté the corn for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time so it doesn't stick. Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the polenta and cook for a minute, stirring continually. Slowly pour in the stock, stirring constantly with the heat on low so that it steadily thickens without sticking to the pan. You need to get rid of all the lumps. It's ready when the texture is smoother and no longer grainy. This takes about 10 minutes or so - be patient and have a cup of tea to hand to keep you going! It should become really thick, but not so thick you can't move it around, so add a little more stock if needed, but don't go mad otherwise the mix will be too loose. When you're happy with the texture, stir in the herbs, chill, baking powder and nutritional yeast if you're using. Season with salt and pepper and mix really well to make sure everything is combined. Taste and add more flavour as needed. Your could stir in a little extra virgin olive oil as well at this point but it's not essential.
Spoon the mix out into the prepared baking tin and smooth down the top so it's equally spread out - a bit tricky as it's so sticky. With the recommended size tin, it should be about 5cm thick. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until a dark golden crust has formed. Remove from the oven, rest in the tray for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire cooling rack to firm up. Once it's cool enough to handle and set, peel off the baking paper and cut into shapes. If it needs warming up, pop back in the oven to warm though for a few minutes and serve. Enjoy!

Summer crumble comfort

Some may call us brave, others foolish, but we have just been away on holiday for two weeks, leaving our teens at home to fend for themselves. It's not the first time we've done it, but certainly the longest. And with great relief, they managed just fine - the house was still standing, no difficult to explain holes in the wall or dangling radiators (it's happened before!) and pretty tidy too - how wonderful!

The only thing that needed immediate attention turned out to be the freezer - the door had been left open a bit so it was over-iced and a couple of things had started to defrost. No big problem that's for sure, especially when those two items were a container of cakes and a bag of rhubarb - they just needed to be eaten :).
The biggest issue about being home turned out to be the weather! Not that it had been perfect in the Alps, but I had got used to a large amount of very hot sun, and now suddenly it was grey, dull and definitely wet, enough to put the damper on anyone's holiday spirits. Comfort food was needed and that bag of rhubarb was begging to be made into a crumble. As it is still summer, no matter what the view out the window may say, I wanted to add a suitable seasonal element and the tub of gorgeously sweet strawberries I'd picked up hit the spot. Some may say that rhubarb and strawberry are an odd combination for a crumble, but they go together perfectly as the sweetness of the glorious strawberries means you need less sugar to soften the tart rhubarb, just as long as the strawberries are properly grown and flavoursome. I wouldn't make this with insipid out-of-season watery berries that's for sure.

Crumble is a fantastic dessert - easy to make and (nearly) everyone enjoys it. Traditionally though, it's not the best for those who need to eat dairy or gluten free, or for anyone looking to lose weight due to the large added sugar content. Fortunately, it's easy to give it a make over! I use a mixture of (gluten free if necessary) oats and gluten free flour for the topping with a smidge of coconut sugar to help with the crunch. Cinnamon aids with sugar absorption and so a teaspoon added into the topping not only benefits the body, but tastes amazing too.
Both rhubarb and strawberry are fabulous nutrition wise, packed full of anti-oxidants, phytonutrients and various vitamins. Strawberries are an amazing source of vitamin C in particular.
So why not give this a go - everyone will agree on the flavour, the only debate will be custard, ice cream or cream to top it (dairy free of course!).
Rhubarb and strawberry crumble

4-5 stalks of rhubarb
150g strawberries
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
2 tablespoons water
85g oats (gluten free if needed)
70g plain flour (wholemeal/gluten free)
2 heaped tablespoons dairy free spread (Pure/Vitalite etc)
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Chop the rhubarb into chunks, slice the strawberries in half (if big) and place in a medium sized oven-proof dish with the coconut sugar and water. Ensure everything is mixed well together.
Mix the oats, flour, coconut sugar and cinnamon together, add the dairy free spread and rub in using your finger tips until it's blended in and small chunks stick together (you can do this in a food processor if you don't want crumble mix up your nails!). Sprinkle over the top of the prepared fruit and pop in the oven for 20 minutes or so until the fruit bubbles up a bit and the top is lightly browned and firm.
Leave to rest for a few minutes then serve with whichever accompaniment you choose. Enjoy!

Chocolate refrigerator chunks - dairy free of course

There are times when only chocolate will do. But when you're eating dairy free, you can't just grab the first bar you find. Then if you're eating gluten free and want to cut out the junk and eat more whole food, then things get even more complicated. By the time you actually find something that meets the criteria and hits the spot, life has moved on and you don't really want it anymore! Which is great for the waistline, but frustrating for the tastebuds! Or worse, you succumb and eat something that makes you feel dreadful.

There are more and more dairy free chocolate brands available to buy, usually in the supermarket free from section or a health food shop, but they can be expensive and you don't really know what's in them.
You could make you're own chocolate of course - something that I do want to do. I even have a friend

who teaches it, but still haven't made it to a class. Fortunately, I have an easy solution to chocolate bar frustration that's really quick to make and tastes amazing - chocolate refrigerator chunks.
The recipe of these came together after I was bought a solid chocolate 'cake bar' from a healthy food stall - a long, mars bar sized chunk filled with nuts and dried fruit. Having not consumed a decent chocolate bar for a number of years, it was quite a revelation, but so rich and filling that I couldn't finish it all, despite a seriously concerted effort. Having made great changes to the way I eat, it really was just too much for me - shocking!
Whenever I munch my way through a new food or dish, I'm always analysing it's make up and trying to decide how to recreate it myself. Realising that this would be simple, I grabbed the dairy free chocolate drops and got to work.
The actual content of the bar is totally up to you - whatever combination of dried fruit, nuts or seeds you like. These little goodies bring in the healthy bit by introducing fabulous fibre as well as an assortment of essential fatty acids, minerals and phytonutrients. You could even add puffed rice or buckwheat, or some gluten free granola to give it another dimension.
So why not give this a go and create your own individualised chocolate chunk that just hits the spot!
Chocolate refrigerator chunks

250g dairy free chocolate
2 tablespoons coconut oil
250g of chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruit
(my favourite combo is pecan, raisin, cranberry, pumpkin and flaxseed)
Pop the dairy free chocolate and coconut oil in a medium sized bowl. Place it over a small pan of simmering water and stir whilst it melts to combine. Remove from the heat and stir in the nuts, seeds and fruit combo you've chosen - mix well.
Tip the mix into a prepared tin (*see below), cover with a freezer bag and place in the freezer for a couple of hours to set hard. Remove from the freezer, tip out of the tin onto a board and chop into chunks (careful of your fingers though as it's pretty hard). Place chunks into a pot and leave in the fridge until you're ready to eat them (if you manage not to eat them all during the chopping process). Enjoy!
*I have found that disposable flan dishes are the best mould to use, and as it's easy to remove when frozen, you can reuse them a number of times. If you don't have any, just line any tin with foil to help you remove it later - don't use cling film though, unless you want it as part of your chocolate chunk!

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!

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!

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!

Cauli-power!

The humble cauliflower has had a massive image overhaul in the last year or so. Gone are the days of soggy, overcooked mush with sulphurous overtones (thank goodness!) - in fact to simply boil a creamy white floret might be seen as sacrilege now! Whether it's the raw crisp crunch or the rich, caramelised softness from roasting, our homegrown hero offers much to previous cauli detractors.

There's even whole features on them in food magazines, including this month's Waitrose magazine. And rightly so, as this previously underrated vegetable has much to offer, with outstanding taste,  nutrition and flexibility.
I've raved about cauliflowers before, using them as a base for a white sauce, and creating a 'cheesy' sauce and soup (see http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/cheesy-cauliflower-soup-or-pasta-bake.html). The low-carb and paleo followers use cauliflower for a number of grain based alternatives like rice, and pizza base. I've tried the pizza base, as part of my search for the ideal pizza alternative - good taste but lots of effort! As for rice, I like the brown stuff myself, and all the goodness that goes with it, so not gone for the cauli-rice personally. The texture of cauliflower means that it can hold its form in curries and stews (as long as it's not added too early and overcooked) and absorbs spices really well, so works with a lovely dry curry like aloo gobi.
Whilst I always encourage eating an array of rainbow vegetables every day, there are still some beneficial white vegetables, cauliflower being one of them. As the head of creamy florets develop, they are protected from the winter weather by layers of dark green leaves that capture whatever winter sunlight they can to help them grow. As part of the super-healthy cruciferous family, cauliflowers share many of the powerful anti-cancer phytonutrients found in other brassicas like broccoli and cabbage. Whilst maybe not quite as nutrient dense, cauliflower still packs a good punch of vitamin C, B vitamins, potassium and of course fibre. And that sulphury aroma - that's released from the phytochemicals as they are cooked, so steam lightly rather then boil it to death, and not only will your house smell better, your body will benefit too!
My two favourite ways of using cauliflower are roasting or using to give a creamy, flavoursome texture, either as a sauce or in soup.

 Roasting caramelises the outer layer of the florets, creating a beautifully nutty flavour. You can try and roast a whole cauli in one go, but this takes at least an hour - I found these cute little mini caulis the other day, perfect for roasting, only taking about 20 minutes. And the flavour was fabulous!
Cauliflower as a cream in soup is really easy to use - this creamy cauliflower and sweet potato chowder is not only packed full of amazing nutrients, including vitamin A, C and a whole bundle of phytonutrients, the 'cream' is rich and flavoursome, and of course dairy free. And using all vegetables gives an extra boost of fibre to keep your intestines super happy!
My next foray into cauli versatility is to explore the world of cauliflower steaks, a new experiment for me in textures and flavours. So why not start discovering cauli-power for yourself, and watch out for more cauli raving in the future!
Cauliflower, red pepper and sweet potato chowder

1 teaspoon olive oil1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, chopped
1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
2 teaspoons thyme
1 litre vegetable stock
salt and pepper
dairy free milk (optional)
parsley or basil to garnish (optional)
Heat a small amount of olive oil in the bottom of a large pan and sauté the onion for a few minutes until it starts to soften. Add the red pepper and sweet potato and cook for a few minutes. Add the cauliflower florets and continue to sauté until it starts to brown slightly (this is why you need a large pan, so you can move the vegetables around a bit!). Stir in the garlic and thyme, mixing well. Pour in the vegetable stock until the vegetables are covered (you can add more later if needed), bring to the boil, then put on the lid, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or so until all the vegetables are well cooked. Season with salt and pepper, cool slightly then blitz until smooth - add more vegetable stock or some dairy free milk to get the thickness you want. Check seasoning, then serve with a chopped herb garnish (optional).

Comforting cabbage

There’s no getting away from it, winter is looming. The cold, frosty mornings and all-too-early dark evenings say it all. At this time, I’m rummaging in the cupboard for my woolly hat and gloves, and dipping into my old cookbooks to hunt out my favourite comfort recipes to warm me up.

What constitutes ‘comfort food’ is different for everyone, but generally they’re warming, satisfying, and, if not careful, can be lethal for the waistline! Now that I eat plant based and dairy and gluten free, I still have my comfort foods – thick sumptuous stews, heart warming soups and gorgeous puddings – they’re just slightly different.

One of my go-to winter dishes is slow braised red cabbage. Some may look at me in horror and ask what’s comforting about that, but the mixture of crisp cabbage, sharp apple and sulphury onion gently softened over a couple of hours results in a deeply developed rich aroma and a taste that just gives you one big loving hug! This slow braised red cabbage was one of the dishes I served at my supper club in October. Whilst everything was eaten up with gusto, it was the red cabbage that was remarked upon the most. Unadulterated by complicated spices, this is a simple but delightful dish that is easy to make – time is the magic ingredient! 

Nutritionally, cabbage is an amazing vegetable, packed full of nutrients and phytonutrients that have a range of beneficial properties. It’s part of the cruciferous family, a group of veg that you may well have heard me go on about (it includes cauliflower and broccoli), that's anti-inflammatory and full of antioxidants and specific phytonutrients that have anti-cancer properties. Plus, cabbage is really good for the stomach and gut lining, keep unfriendly bacteria under control.

Red cabbage is even better than green. Its deep rich colour contains even more antioxidants and polyphenols, a specific group of phyto-nutrients as well as loads more vitamin C, B6 and manganese.

Mix that with the probiotic properties of cooked apple (see apple cake posting for more info) and the super sulphur properties of onion, you’ve got a pretty nutritionally packed dish that also tastes gorgeous! So why not try this one chilly evening, and curl up in front of the fire with a dish that will give your taste buds and your body a big healing hug!

Slow braised red cabbage

1 medium sized red cabbage shredded

1 large red onion, sliced

1 large cooking apple, sliced

2 teaspoons dried mix herbs

couple handfuls raisins

salt and pepper

50mls vegetable stock

Dairy free spread or olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and grease an oven proof dish that has a lid (I use my old faithful Le Creuset dish). Place a layer of sliced onions on the bottom, then cabbage, then apple. Sprinkle with the herbs and raisins and season with salt and pepper. Repeat these layers one or two more times (depending on how much you have, how big your pot is etc). Add the vegetable stock, cover with the lid and place in the oven for an hour. Remove and check there's enough fluid so it doesn't burn, then return to the oven for another half to one hour until everything is super soft and the flavours are concentrated. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for up to 30 minutes with the lid on before serving. Enjoy!

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!

Wonderful watermelon

In the UK, summer seems to have disappeared! Fortunately, though, the gorgeous seasonal fruit hasn't. This really is my favourite time of year for delicious, fragrant fresh fruit that's packed full of flavour and fabulous nutrients to keep us healthy.
Global markets means we can have most fruit all year round, but with a hefty cost both environmentally and flavour wise. Those force fed strawberries that land on the super market shelves in early February are always disappointing and are nothing compared to ones that are locally grown and ripened in the early summer sun.

As well as flavour, the other great benefit of eating summer fruits in the summer is that they provide you with specific nutrients that protect the part of you that's at risk at this time of year - your skin.
The strong summer sun (when it decides to come out!) can play havoc with skin; too much UV exposure is connected to a wide variety of issues from wrinkles to cancer. It's those naughty free-radicals that cause the damage. Fruits such as raspberries, nectarines, tomatoes and watermelon are packed with anti-oxidants - vitamin C and other phytonutrients - that mop up the free radicals and prevent long term damage.
I don't tend to buy watermelon whilst in the UK as it can be really expensive, particularly after living in India where they are locally grown and seriously cheap! But being summer, the prices are currently more reasonable, so I'm taking advantage of this delicious giant fruit.
As the name suggests, watermelons contain a lot of water - 92%. So it's really hydrating and great for a hot day. But on top of that, it also contains a surprisingly large number of nutrients that really help our bodies in different ways. For a start, the bright red/pink flesh contains a load of lycopene, a phytonutrient renowned for its' ability to help prevent and reduce cancers, particularly prostate and ovarian. It's even a more concentrated source than tomatoes, which are usually recognised as having fabulous lycopene levels.

It's also great for keeping our guts happy and healthy, with a good fibre content and lots of anti-inflammatory amino acids such as choline and citrulline. Research shows that citrulline also helps to keep blood pressure under control and can reduce muscle soreness and increase recovery time after intense exercise. I decided to try this out the other day after my morning training run by blitzing some watermelon flesh in the blender to produce juice (but with the fibre included). I'm not sure if it made any difference, but it certainly tasted good!
And as mentioned above, watermelon contains good amounts of vitamin A and C which help support our skin and hair so not only will it help hydrate you on a hot day, it will also repair sun damage and keep those wrinkles at bay. That's got to be good!
Because of it's crisp, crunchy texture, watermelon is great in quick summer salads. I love this combination of watermelon, spinach, avocado and pine nuts - it's super tasty and has a good mix of textures. The avocado will help increase the absorption of vitamin A as well as give a great helping of lovely vitamin E, another skin enhancing vitamin, and healthy fats. Pine nuts have been added in just because they make me think of summer (plus they are a fabulous source of manganese as well as healthy fats and fibre), but you could use walnuts, or pumpkins seeds if preferred.
So if you're sunning yourself on a Mediterranean beach or just waiting at home for the sun to come back out, why not add a little watermelon into your diet - your skin will love you for it!
Watermelon, spinach, avocado and pine nut salad (serves 2)

1 slice watermelon chopped into cubes
2-3 handfuls baby spinach
1-2 handfuls pea shoots or lambs lettuce
1-2 spring onions or half small onion, sliced
1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 small ripe avocado, sliced
drizzle flaxseed oil (optional)
salt and pepper
Scatter the leaves in two bowls and add the chopped watermelon and onion. Mix together lightly with your hands then scatter the avocado and pine nuts over the top. Drizzle a little oil around and season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Super Sunday Salad

Sometimes, the simple things are the best, particularly when it comes to food. Fresh, undiluted and natural flavours beat anything that's been highly processed or manufactured. And of course, nutritionally speaking, whole and complete provides a wonderful range of minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients that our bodies need, not just to stay healthy, but to positively glow with energy and vitality.

As a family, the main Sunday meal is treated as a bit of an occasion in our house, sometimes the only time we all get to sit down and eat together. In winter, it tends to be a plant-based roast or stew of some kind, summer a BBQ.  This weekend, though, has been a bit different, with parties and meals out for all, so that by the time it came to Sunday, most of us were a bit overfed, and the fridge was looking rather forlorn! So rather than go grand, we had this beautifully simple but wonderfully delicious salad, light enough to sooth the overfed, and filling enough to satisfy a giant boy's hunger!

New potatoes have been coming in our veg box for a couple of weeks now; organic new potatoes really are the best and have an actual flavour, unlike many mass produced potatoes that are bland and unrewarding on the taste front. Dieters tend to avoid the lowly spud, but when boiled or steamed and served without lashing of butter they are pretty good for you, with a hefty amount of vitamin B6 which is involved in many cell activities and enzymes, and plays a particular roles in keeping the nervous system and heart healthy. Potatoes also contain good amounts of potassium and vitamin C, as well as other phytonutrients, some of which are only just being discovered. And of course, potatoes (unadorned with fat or fried) are a good source of fibre, essential for a healthy gut. Keeping the skins on potatoes, particularly easy with new ones, maximises the nutrient content, as most are stored in or just under the skin, which is why organic is better so pesticide residues are minimised.

I love the dressing on this salad, as I used a vinegar I made a few weeks ago whilst on a foraging course. The day was so much fun, and I learnt loads about spring flowers, leaves and shoots that can be freely eaten; some of the flavours were incredible, particularly the flowers of wild garlic that have an incredibly intense garlic flavour and the strong wasabi-like taste of  leaves of the pretty pink cuckoo flower. My vinegar had wild garlic and ground ivy infused into it, and tastes beautiful, making the salad dressing particularly gorgeous.
We ate these with baked vegetable and bean patties served in a large lettuce leave; recipe to come soon. The salad can stand alone as a lunch or complete supper, so why not give it a go - it doesn't have to be a Sunday, any day will do!
New potato, asparagus and spinach salad

450g new potatoes
150g baby spinach
1 bunch asparagus
2 large vine ripened tomatoes
handful pumpkin seeds
handful fresh parsley
juice 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar (flavoured if you have it)
salt and pepper
Boil or steam the potatoes until tender, drain and leave to cool. Steam asparagus and leave to cool. Chop potato and tomatoes into bite sized pieces, slice asparagus length ways and put into a bowl with the spinach, mixing together with your hands so everything is combined. Pour over the dressing, mix again then garnish with seeds and parsley and season to taste. Enjoy!

Onion bhajis - a super food?

I remember my first visit to an Indian restaurant so well. It was my then boyfriend's sixteenth birthday and my parents had given me the money to take him out for a meal. I felt so sophisticated! Our food at home was very traditional British, so a curry house seemed exotic and slightly overwhelming. Fortunately my boyfriend was more experienced than me in Indian cuisine, and advised me on my menu choices - onion bhaji to start followed by a chicken korma.
It seems strange to say, but I found the korma a bit spicy! But I loved the crispy, crunchy texture of the bhaji, with it's softer doughy centre, and it's been a favourite ever since, although quality really does vary and those times when you end up with a soggy, greasy lump on your plate are most disappointing.

Onion bhajis are a definite British curry house favourite. Consumed as more of a teatime snack in India, they are part of the wider pakora family. Found less frequently in the UK, I discovered pakoras when we first moved to India. They are basically anything covered in a chickpea batter and deep fried. We used to order veg pakoras and try to work out which vegetable was underneath the opaque golden batter.
As delicious as pakora and bhajis are, there is a problem with them - the amount of oil that is absorbed into the batter as they are deep fried. Of course, it's the frying that makes the batter so crispy, but cooking in refined oil not only increases the fat content but the molecular make up of the fats change when used at such a high heat. This is not good for our bodies.
What is good for our bodies, however, are the onions. Universally used in every cuisine around the world, onions are packed full of flavonoids and anti-oxidants that are beneficial to health, as well as a moderate amount of vitamins, minerals and fibre. The key phytonutrient is quercitin. Research shows that quercitin has a number of amazing roles in the body, and has been used in herbal medicine since ancient times. It acts as an anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-viral role, helping to support the immune system and protect against infectious diseases. Quercitin also helps prevent cancer developing, can help thin the blood and prevent blood clots and increase good HDL cholesterol whilst preventing bad LDL cholesterol from becoming toxic and attacking arteries. Pretty amazing stuff from one small bulb!
Interestingly, studies show that quercitin is much less effective when extracted and used in supplement form. Interaction with other phytonutrients make an onion a much more effective source, so consuming them in your diet is best. Of course, raw is best but onions are packed full of sulphur-containing compounds that can make them difficult to eat uncooked, so eating them anyway you can is all good.
So, how to make an onion bhaji tasty, crispy and healthy? The trick is to use the water in the onions to combine with the flour and stick everything together. This way, you don't need a batter as such, and you don't need to add any refined oil at all, just bake at a high temperature and the sugars in the onions will naturally caramelise and crisp up. They taste just as good, you can make them as spicy as you like and you know your body will love you for it. They're dairy free, gluten free and fat free - but totally delicious!
Super food onion bhaji

3 medium onions, thinly sliced
3 heaped tablespoons of chickpea/gram flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
pinch turmeric
fresh chopped coriander
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together well, then put to one side for 5 minutes or so (up to 20). The salt will draw out the water in the onions and help bind everything together. When you're ready, pick up a small amount in your hand and squeeze it together - you'll be able to see if it will stick. You may need to add a little more chickpea flour. Use a spoonful at a time, and squeeze together to form a blob, then place on a slightly greased baking tray. Place in the oven at 200°c and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden. You may like to turn them half way through. Serve hot with slices of lemon and chutney of your choice. Enjoy!

Winter warmer - celeriac

It's that time of year when comfort food is a must. The end of January means we're ploughing our way through winter but the weather is still grey and cold, the nights long and Spring seems a long way off. I treated myself to some sneaky winter sun by nipping back to India for a week; the winter weather in Bangalore is near perfect for me - bright blue skies, high 20s in the day, cooler in the mornings. Coming back to a fresh north wind, snow showers and minus 0 temperatures is my penance!

Having left the family home alone, I was expecting the fridge to be bare yesterday lunchtime - fortunately the Riverford vegetable box had arrived so there was lots of fresh produce to play with. Soup was definitely in order, and there on the shelf waiting for me was one of my favourite veggies - celeriac.
A member of the same family as celery, the bulbous roots are cultivated rather then the stems and leaves. I feel a bit sorry for celeriac as it just a bit bobbly and ugly - it reminds me of The Ood on Dr Who! But as the saying goes, true beauty lies within, and underneath the cracks and bumps lies clear, creamy flesh that tastes rich and satisfying when cooked. Of course, it can be finely sliced and used in salads or remoulade, but that's another blog post.
Celeriac is under-rated as a winter root vegetable - nutritionally it's packed full of fibre, essential for a healthy gut, as well as potassium, vitamin C, K and B, some magnesium and manganese. If you want a potato substitute, it works brilliantly as a mash and has a lower GI as it releases it's sugars more slowly, great if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic. It also has minimal fat content, and of course no cholesterol, so combined with the high fibre levels, works brilliantly to help reduce your LDL cholesterol levels (the bad stuff!).
As the oven was on for a long time at Christmas, I baked a celeriac whole and served it up as a whole so everyone could help themselves, spooning out the creamy flesh straight from the foil. It was delicious. If you want to do that, it takes about 2 hours 20minutes, depending on the size of your root. Clean the outside skin as much as possible and rub with salt and a little olive oil. Drop a couple of garlic cloves on the top and then wrap up in tin foil. Place in an oven on a baking dish at 180oC and bake for 2 hours, then open up the foil and cook for another 20 minutes. The celeriac should be soft to the touch. Take out of the oven and cut open, add some non-dairy butter if you so desire and serve as it is.
But that is not the recipe for today - now you have two for the price of one! This celeriac and apple soup is fabulous and really quick and easy to make. It's comforting, warming and filling - all the things you need on a winters day - packed with minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients to keep you healthy, low in fat and simple carbs, so it won't make you fat (unlike so many winter comforts!). Serve with some chopped almonds, chives and a good sprinkle of black pepper. Serious comfort, dairy free and delicious!
Celeriac and apple soup

1 onion, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
1 medium celeriac
2 apples
1 teaspoon thyme
1 litre vegetable stock
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper
toasted sliced almonds and chives (optional)
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onion and celery. Whilst this is cooking, peel the celeriac and apple and chop into small chunks - both start to oxidise when open to the air, so you want to work fast so they don't get too discoloured. Add both to the pan with the thyme and continue to sauté for a few minutes on a low heat to caramelise a little. Add the stock, season and simmer for 20 minutes or so until all the veggies and apple are soft. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then blitz with a hand blender until smooth. If the soup is too thick for you, add more stock or some non-dairy milk. Reheat and serve, garnished with almonds and chives if you so desire. Enjoy!

Happy New Year hangover juice

It's time to reflect on the year that has been, and celebrate the arrival of a new one. In recent years, we've seen in the New Year in some pretty different places - an Indian jungle, on the street in the centre of Bangkok and, last year, in a local Chinese restaurant. All have been memorable, but this year is my favourite way of celebrating - a crowd at a friends house. Good conversation, lots of laughs and a relaxed atmosphere. And of course, lots of alcohol!

No matter how careful I am, I always seem to feel hungover on New Year's Day, even if I've not been drinking! Maybe it's the combination of excitement and a late night, but telling signs of headache, tiredness and lethargy always seem to rear their unpleasant head.
A hangover is a combination of dehydration and an accumulation of toxins from the alcohol plus a low blood sugar which affects your brain. This can lead to a stonking headache, nausea, vomiting, lethargy and insomnia. Keeping well hydrated is key, so having a glass of water to every glass of alcohol helps. An extra good guzzle of water before going to bed along with a little snack should also smooth the way to a better morning after along with a milk thistle tablet (this helps support your liver detoxifying everything). Of course, you need to be in a reasonable state to do all this before collapsing in a post-party heap!
This year I'm armed with vegetables and fruit that will aid a faster recovery in the morning. - a juice that helps rehydrate, detox and settle a disturbed stomach. A combination of beetroot, celery, apple, carrot, lemon and ginger should do the trick.
Beetroot is your liver's best friend when it comes to excess as it helps remove toxins and is packed full of anti-oxidants. Celery is high in potassium and sodium and so helps with replacing those electrolytes lost with dehydration. Carrots are packed full of vitamin C, another powerful antioxidant, B6 (good for the liver) as well as potassium. Apples also rate high with vitamin C and potassium and can help settle the digestion; ginger does the same and can reduce any nausea that might be hanging around. Finally, lemon provides another shot of vitamin C and can also provide some additional phyto-nutrients.  If you fancy, a couple of handfuls of spinach can be thrown in for good measure; loads of B vitamins provide additional support to your liver.
There's still time to make sure your fridge is stocked up ready for the morning after - give it a go and your body will love you for it!
Wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year!
Hangover juice (serves 1 poorly person)

1 medium beetroot
1 large carrot
1-2 sticks celery
1 large apple
chunk fresh ginger
1/2 lemon
couple of handfuls spinach (optional)
Put all the ingredients into a juicer to extract all the goodness. I like to add my spinach separately, by putting the juice into a blender, then popping in the spinach and whizzing it all up.  Add water if you desire and consume with gusto, or great care, depending on how delicate you're feeling!

Home grown parsnips and soup

We built a small vegetable patch in the garden this spring, but hadn't expected to gain much produce in the first year. It rained so much, we started later than planned, so seed sowing was somewhat delayed. Plus we didn't know what would be a success, and what would not.
Gardening organically is always a challenge but pests haven't been too difficult to manage, apart from the slugs and snails. They munched their way through all my courgette, pumpkin and broccoli like there's no tomorrow and so we didn't actually get any success with these. Others, though, have been great - my french beans in the summer were outstanding, the leeks full flavoured and the chard fabulously rich, despite an initial slug onslaught.

But one crop is proving to be a real success - parsnips. Supposedly quite difficult to cultivate at times, the seeds were planted when the ground was warming up, and have grown beyond expectations. Traditionally, you're supposed to harvest parsnips after the first frost, as the cold changes the carbohydrate content, making them sweeter and more flavoursome. Having been up at stupid-o'clock on Thursday morning and experienced freezing temperatures, I decided it was time to harvest a few parsnips to sample the fruits (or veg!) of my labour.
There is something truly wonderful about eating food that you have grown yourself; not only do you know exactly where they've been grown and what chemicals may or may not be on them, but the effort you put in to them seems to increase the eating experience - they have an enhanced value when they're your own. And the flavour is always great, as fresh as you can get.
And these parsnips did not disappoint - deeply flavoured, sweet and full of goodness. As soon as my daughter saw the bunch, she delightedly asked if I was making parsnip soup, which of course I was. Funny what gets my kids excited!
Nutritionally, some may view parsnips as being to high in carbohydrate, especially sugars. The sugar content is higher than other veg, that's true, but it's complex sugars combined with lots of fibre so that's actually the good stuff. Plus they're packed full of phytonutrients and antioxidants that actually help protect your body against nasty free radicals. They also have great amounts of potassium, calcium, manganese as well as B vitamins and vitamin E. So not only do they taste good, they good for your body too.
Parsnip soup has to be one the the quickest and easiest soups to make, great if you want a speedy lunch.     Why not give it a go - delightfully creamy, deeply flavoured and deliciously dairy free!
Spicy parsnip soup

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium sized leek, chopped
550g (or so) parsnips
1 tablespoon curry powder
up to 1 litre vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Wash the parsnips and peel if you have to (sometimes its difficult to get all the mud off, plus if they're not organic you want to try and get rid of some of the chemical residue). Gently heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the leek and parsnip until they start to soften. Add the curry powder and coat well, then pour in the vegetable stock until the veg are just covered - don't use it all for now, you can always add more later, that way you get to control thickness and consistency. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat, pop on the lid and simmer for about 10 minutes until the parsnips are soft. Season and taste, then blitz, adding more stock if you need to thin the soup a bit. Serve with coriander or a swirl of dairy free yoghurt and enjoy - it's makes wet autumn days worth having!