Courgette and cumin soup

Are you still struggling with a glut of courgettes? Then you will be so grateful for having an abundant harvest when you try this soup.

You may feel that courgette soup is a bit weird, maybe a little thin and watery or flavourless. Fear not - this super easy soup tastes absolutely amazing and is so simple to make that your glut will disappear in a flash as you bulk make and freeze in portions for later on in the year, a tasty reminder of warmer days on a chilly winters evening! It's thick and creamy but still dairy free.
Cumin is a very popular spice in our house, being a key ingredient in many Mexican, Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. Slightly peppery and distinctly aromatic, cumin adds a wonderfully deep and seductive flavour to dishes and works amazingly in this soup. Whilst there are some nutritional goodies tucked inside, cumin's great coup is it's positive effect on the digestion.
Cumin has been used traditionally in Ayruvedic medicine in India for centuries as a digestive aid and expeller of gas, quite handy if you eat a mainly plant based diet! Special phytonutrients not only help stimulate gut motility, so moving things along inside the intestines, but can also stimulate the secretion of digestive enzymes in the pancreas to aid digestion and the assimilation of nutrients. I visited an Ayurvedic day spa whilst living in Bangalore (my synchronised Ayurvedic massage was quite an experience - definitely not relaxing!) and was presented with lukewarm water seasoned with cumin seeds before lunch as a digestive aid. It was rather enjoyable once I'd got used to. In fact, the aroma of toasted cumin seeds always brings back fond, if funny, memories of that day.
So why not give this a go and spice up your courgette glut with this tasty aromatic soup - your gut will love you for it!
Courgette and cumin soup 

1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 large potato, diced
1 large stick celery, chopped
3-4 large courgettes, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
sprinkle of celery salt
750mls vegetable stock
salt and pepper
To finish - soya yoghurt, toasted cumin, parsley
Heat a dash of oil in a large pan and sauté the onion and cumin seeds for 5 minutes or so until the onion has softened and the seeds are lightly toasted. Add the potato and celery and cook for another few minutes, then stir in the courgettes and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly so the vegetables don't stick.
Pour in enough stock to cover the vegetable, don't just use it all in one go as the courgettes release a lot of water and may make the soup too thin. Add the celery salt and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the vegetable are soft and the aroma smells rich and gorgeous. Season with salt and pepper to taste and leave to cool slightly.
Blend the soup until smooth, add more of the stock if it's too thick, then reheat gently. Toast some more cumin seeds to garnish if you wish and serve with the toppings or a good glug of extra virgin olive oil. 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!).

Tofu scramble

Wouldn't it be great to find a dish that is quick and easy to make, and suitable to eat at any time of the day? Well, I'm happy to say that tofu scramble fits the bill just perfectly. A great breakfast alternative to scrambled eggs, a quick and easy lunch option or bulked up with a range of vegetables for a more substantial evening meal, tofu scramble is super easy and packed with masses of flavour as well as a shed-load of nutrients.

I first came across tofu scramble in India on one of the cooking courses I attended. There's an Indian breakfast dish called Akuri that is basically scrambled egg with vegetables and chilli. Replacing the eggs with tofu created tofu akuri and I have to say I really didn't like it! Looking back, I think it was the type of tofu used but I avoided trying it again for some time. Then whilst in New York last summer, we found a fabulous boutique cafe that served tofu scramble, so I decided to give it a go and was delighted I did. It was amazing and I've been making it at home ever since.

There's a lot of mixed opinions on tofu. Tofu is made from fermented soya milk, and it's the humble soya bean that courts controversy. Many people are concerned about genetically modified soy that is grown mainly in the States along with the fact that vast swathes of land, including previously pristine rainforests, are used to grow it. But most of the soy grown is actually used for animal feed, not for direct human consumption, and as long as you know where your soya and tofu comes from, or buy organic, you can make sure that you're not unwittingly consuming GMO if you don't want to. My favourite is Dragonfly tofu, made down in Devon, but there a number of different options in the shops, it's all a matter of taste.

Strictly speaking, tofu is a processed product and not whole food as the soya bean has been cooked and strained to get milk then strained again to separate off some of the fluid. Calcium carbonate (or traditionally seaweed) is added to help it set in a block. But even with this processing, it's still a great product to include in a plant based diet as it's high in protein as well as calcium, iron and manganese. Being dairy free, it can be used in dishes as an alternative to cheese and cream, as well as an ingredient in it's own right. Soya products also contain phyto-oestrogens that are particularly useful for women especially around the menopause and research shows that it can help reduce the incidence of breast cancer. It can also help lower bad LDL cholesterol so suitable for both women and men!

There are a number of different types of tofu - silken, firm, extra firm, smoked or flavoured. By itself, it doesn't score high on taste or texture, but it absorbs flavours really well and so can be a great asset in the plant based kitchen. For tofu scramble, extra firm is best as you don't want it too watery. I have used lightly smoked and it gives a different flavour, but I prefer to use plain so I can taste all the flavours. 

Cooking this for breakfast, I tend to go simple and just add in a few herbs or mushrooms. But if I'm using this for a quick but substantial supper, I cook a pan of additional vegetables such as courgette, mushroom, peppers and spinach, and stir them in at the end with whatever fresh herbs I have to hand. You can serve it on toast, or with saute potatoes or salad. Really, it's up to whatever you feel like, and what ever you have in the fridge - there are no rules! So why not give it a try and see what combinations you can come up with. Let me know what your favourite turns out to be.

Tofu scramble (serves 2) basic recipe

200g extra firm tofu drained and dried

1 small onion or shallot

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon tamari

pepper to taste.

Heat the oil in a small pan and saute the onion until soft. Crumble in the tofu and cook gently for a minute then add the turmeric, tamari and pepper. Continue to heat gently for another few minutes then serve.

I like to add mushrooms to my breakfast tofu scramble, so add in some finely chopped mushrooms when the onion is nearly cooked and saute them for a few minutes before adding in the tofu etc. Before serving, I sprinkle some freshly chopped parsley over the top and serve on a bed of baby spinach leaves. Super healthy and tasty!

Half term breakfast pancakes

It's half term this week for our region of the UK, a welcome break in the normal routine of chasing teenagers up out of bed, prompting, reminding and miraculously getting them out of the door vaguely on time and conscious! When the kids were little, I loved just spending some relaxing time with them, going out on little excursions and generally chilling out together; now they just enjoy chilling out with their friends and I don't get much of a look in, apart from in the food producing department!
Breakfast on a school day is usually a case of getting something quick and nutritious inside of them; the holidays allow a little more time. This week I made these great wholesome pancakes; they are easy to prepare, but tend to be saved as a weekend or holiday treat as pancakes just seem to take longer to cook than I expect them too. My giant boy teenager, who had already consumed one breakfast, polished off four and said they were the best dairy free pancakes he'd tasted!
What's great about these pancakes is that apart from being dairy free, they're also gluten free, contain no refined sugar or oil and are packed with fibre and nutrients. I've used buckwheat flour which in itself is a fabulous source of plant based protein as well as fibre, manganese and magnesium. Flaxseed, which I've used as an egg replacer, is a fabulous source of omega 3 and cinnamon is just an all round fabulous anti-inflammatory that can help reduce cholesterol, maintain good blood sugar control and just tastes wonderful! And if you use almond milk as your non-dairy milk, you get fantastic amounts of calcium and vitamin E thrown in for good measure.
I've used maple syrup as the sweetening agent which is one of the least refined sugars you can get your hands on; you could use agave syrup or just normal sugar if you don't have any maple syrup to hand, but that reduces the overall favourable nutritional profile of these pancakes. Having said that, the superb amount of fibre in these pancakes should negate the negativities of a little added sugar (unless you are on a specific disease reversing programme). If you don't have buckwheat flour to hand, use wholemeal wheat flour, but add a little less milk as it shouldn't need as much.
Give these a go one lazy morning and see how great a nutrient packed pancake can taste.
Apple and maple pancakes

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
2 1/2 tablespoons water
1 apple grated
125g buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
300mls non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon maple syrup
First of all, soak the ground flaxseed in the water for a few minutes - it will become thick and gloopy. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. In another bowl, mix together the milk, apple and maple syrup, then add in the gloopy flaxseed mix, stirring well. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix well. It should be very thick; add a little extra non-dairy milk if it seems too thick to come off the spoon.
Heat a non-stick frying pan and wipe over with oil.  Add a spoonful of mixture into the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side until brown. Keep warm until the whole batch is cooked, then serve with additional maple syrup, fruit or whatever you like to add to your pancakes. Enjoy!

Farinata or frittata?

I have to say, I've become obsessed by food! I love reading articles, recipes, blogs and watching various food programmes on the TV. And as for recipes books - well my collection is growing! Sitting down with a cuppa and a pile of recipes is the perfect way to spend a few minutes.

The constant thought in the back of my mind is "can I eat this?" Eating dairy and yeast free, and now completely plant based, can create a number of challenges, but with a bit of imagination and creativity, it's amazing what you can come up with. Although I have to say, experimentation can be accompanied by disaster! 

Recently, I was browsing a vegan cookbook and I came across a recipe for farinata, something I hadn't heard of before. Originating in Northern Italy, farinata is a type of flat bread that's made from chickpea flour and baked at a high temperature so that it's crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. The thing that had caught my eye though was the featured photo looked like pizza!

For once, I decided to follow the recipe diligently, even down to the recommended tin size. This was where things didn't quite add up though. The photo showed a really thin base with a topping of tomato, onion and olive delicately resting on the top. However, the batter was really deep in the tin, and all my toppings just sank! So I baked it anyway, a bit grumpy that things were not going to work out. 

I was right, it didn't turn out as expected - but it certainly wasn't a disaster. I ended up with a plant based version of a frittata, so egg-like in texture and taste it was a real surprise. My grumpiness soon turned to delight. 

Perfect for breakfast, lunch, picnic or a light supper, this dish is pretty simple to make, you just need to plan ahead a little as the batter has to sit for a couple of hours. And as it's make with chickpea flour, it's got lots of fibre as well as protein and various minerals so it's a really healthy, cholesterol free alternative to eggs. As for the filling, you could add whatever you would to any frittata. I've stuck with tomatoes, olives and onions as the combination tastes great. 

My only problem is what to call it, as I don't think it's either a farinata or a frittata. Why not try it - seriously tasty as well as healthy, and maybe you can think of a good name!  And in the meantime, I will try to make a thin farinata with the toppings on top…..maybe that pizza alternative is close!

Tomato, olive and onion farinata/frittata

250g chickpea flour (gram flour)

1/2 teaspoon salt

450mls warm water

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

black pepper

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 small onion diced

handful black olives, halved

sprig fresh rosemary and oregano, chopped

chilli flakes (optional)

Stir the chickpea flour and salt together, then stir in the warm water until well mixed and no lumps. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and put somewhere warm for a couple of hours, or even overnight (I put it on the draining board which is above the dishwasher - gets slightly warm and worked perfectly!). When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 220oC. Put one tablespoon of olive oil in a 20x20 baking tin and pop in the oven to get really hot. Stir the rest of the oil into the batter, then pour into the sizzling hot tin. Sprinkle the topping ingredients equally over the batter - they will sink into it, season with more salt and pepper and finish with a sprinkle of chilli flakes if you so desire. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the top is lightly browned and coming away from the side of the tin. This can be eaten hot, or left to cool. Don't over cook as it dries out and eat the same day if possible as it won't be as good tomorrow. Enjoy!

A weighty challenge

Do you always feel like you're on a diet? Lose weight then put it all back on again, lured back into you're old way, getting stuck in a dieting yoyo?  I've tried most of them during my lifetime, - Atkins (lasted 48 hours - it made me so ill!), weight watchers, Rosemary Connolly's fat free, food combining to name a few. Most of the time, I had some success and would lose some weight, but always managed to put it back on again.
Whilst never being massively overweight, I've also never been particularly small and never felt comfortable. Looking back, I realise not feeling right was more to do with not eating the right foods for me, rather than being too heavy and needing to 'diet'. But it was being on a particular diet - Carol Vorderman's 28 day detox plan - that made me realise there was more to this eating malarky that meets the eye.

Rainbow on a shelf!

This plan is plant based, cutting out any food source that can cause inflammation in the body (including wheat, alcohol and caffeine). Lacking the understanding I have now, it was hard, but I felt so good. More energy, less headaches and generally lighter in body and spirit. But I didn't continue with it long term, so slowly the weight started creeping back on.
It was however, the start of my journey to wellness through a plant based whole food diet. And once I applied the principles properly, I lost weight without even trying. But not so much that I'm an unhealthy size. I've plateaued at a healthy 57kg and eat loads more now than I used to, it's just all whole and plant. I've seen this in others too (my daughter lost 10kg over 6 months, a colleague at work must have lost half his body weight over the last year or so), and it's backed up by research; at the Annal Meeting of the Obesity Society in America last week, research comparing different diets revealed that a fully plant based diet lead to the greatest weight loss without having to restrict calories* and The Permanente Journal states that current research is so strong that a plant based diet should be recommended to improve overall health and well being, including weight loss**.

A Clogger Burger!

Although he enjoys the food I cook for him, my husband has been reluctant to go fully plant based; he does enjoy his meat and cheese! But a month away living in a hotel in Mexico eating too much meat and dairy not only expanded his waist line a bit too much, it made him feel pretty unwell in general. This was followed by our family holiday in the US, with large portions and gut-busting burgers. So much food! So much so, that on the way home, he declared his intention to eat a plant based diet for a month to kick start some weight loss (96kg at the mo) and a training plan to cycle up Ventoux (mountain in France) next year (see his blog http://cyclingseagull.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/the-next-challenge). Four days in and he's doing really well, commenting on how he's eating so much more than he would normally. The weekend is going to be his first challenge though - a day trip to watch football in Birmingham with the boys, which usually means many beers, burgers and pies. Beer is the first challenge, as like wine, many brands use animal products for fining (see my blog post http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/milk-in-wine-surely-not.html). Luckily, the Barnivore website has come to the rescue, and even has an app which he rapidly downloaded.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how he gets on with eating this way over the next month - I know it works, but social situations make it challenging at times. Hopefully more and more people will get on board and reap the health benefits of eating plant based; once mainstream, and easily accessible, eating out and socialising will become less challenging. And my man will be more streamlined!

* http://www.obesity.org/news-center/plant-based-diets-show-more-weight-loss-without-emphasizing-caloric-restriction.htm
**http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/

Cupcakes - no other title is needed!

I have a great belief that there's always a time and a place for cake! I've always had a sweet tooth, and cake to me is the ultimate comfort food. Any type is good (except coffee cake - yuck!), but I do have a particular penchant for a might fine cupcake.
Cupcakes have really been in fashion over the last few years, and it's not difficult to see why - the recipes tend to be simpler than a whole cake, take less time to cook and you can have variety and creative fun with one batch of mixture. A phenomena originating in the States, cupcakes have actually been around since the end of the 18th century, although their popularity really kicked in at the beginning of the 21st. There's two theories about the name - that they were originally baked in cups, or because the ingredients were measured in cups as opposed to weight. Either way, cupcakes are definitely superior to our little fairy cakes!
Of course, eating a plant based diet means no eggs, one key ingredient to the standard cupcake recipe. But does this mean then end to cupcake delights? Thankfully not!

We have a baking guru in our house - Ms Cupcake! She has the most delicious recipes, along with other larger cakes, that never fail to produce gorgeously light, melt in the mouth cupcakes. And I have to say that my daughter makes much better cupcakes than I do - or maybe cake just tastes better when someone else has made them!
Vegan cupcakes are actually much simpler to make than standard ones - it's just a matter of mixing up your dry ingredients, then your wet and finally combining them together in one big whoosh. There's no creaming or delicate stirring - in fact, over stirring is a definite no no as it overworks the gluten in the flour, making the cake heavy and dense. A lightly stirred batter results in light, fluffy cakes, no need for the leavening action of eggs.
Eggs also act as a binding agent; curdled milk also works well, that's dairy free milk of course! Most of Ms Cupcakes recipes use cider vinegar to sour the milk; that doesn't work for me unfortunately as due to my yeast sensitivity, I have to avoid fermented items. Lemon juice works as well, and gives a slightly tart contrast to the super sweet cakey flavour.
My daughter is often found whipping up a batch of these chocolate cupcakes and I have to say they are amazingly light and delicious, so much so I bet you might even prefer them to the standard cholesterol laden butter version. The recipe is pretty much the same as Ms Cupcake with a couple of slight alterations, but still completely dairy free and seriously delicious - give them a go and see what your tastebuds think. And just a little thought to leave you with - there's a mint choc chip cupcake which is just amazing…..
Chocolate cupcake (enough for 12 large cupcakes)

200ml non dairy milk
4 teaspoon cider vinegar/lemon juice
170g self raising flour
30g cocoa powder
200g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
80mls organic rapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
Buttercream icing
75g dairy free margarine (e.g. Pure, vitalite)
1teaspoon vanilla essence
375g icing sugar
20-30mls dairy free milk
Preheat your oven to 180oC and get your muffin tins lined with cupcake wrappers. In a small bowl, mix the non-dairy milk and vinegar/lemon juice together and put to one side for 10 minutes to let it curdle a bit. In the meantime, get a large bowl and mix all the dry ingredients together until well combined. Add the curdled non-dairy milk oil and vanilla and mix together with a metal spoon really quickly (about 10 seconds) until just combined - it will be a bit lumpy.
Tap the bowl on the worktop to release the bubbles and stop the raising agents working too quickly then dollop the mixture into the cupcake cases, distributing equally. Pop the trays in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or so. Remove from oven and lay on a cooling tray until they are completely cold.
In another bowl, whisk the margarine and vanilla essence together until creamy then add half the icing sugar. Once well mixed, add the second half and mix well, adding a little dairy free milk to soften if too stiff. Decorate the cupcake tops with the icing and sprinkles of your choice.

Broad bean spread - surprisingly good.

Bearing in mind I eat a plant based diet, it's just as well that I like most vegetables. And as time goes by and tastes change, I've found those that I didn't like when I was younger seem to be more palatable today; celery is an example of this. I couldn't stand the stuff and had no idea how people could just munch away on celery sticks and nothing else to disguise the flavour. Nowadays, I have to admit I've discovered it's not as bad as previously thought, and can munch away quite happily with the rest of them!

Broad beans, however, have been more of a challenge. I developed a real aversion to them, maybe connected to childhood memories of my dad's vegetable patch. I can't remember him growing anything else but broad beans (which I'm sure is not true!) and vividly recall having them served up as a vegetable, forcing myself to eat them so as not to offend his wonderful green fingered efforts. But to me they were bitter, woody nuggets that had an odd tangy aroma and I really didn't enjoy them one bit.

My dad eventually gave up growing veg and so for years I managed to avoid broad beans; if they appeared in a dish at a restaurant I would pick them out and leave them on the side as even the smell of them was too much.

Broad beans seems to have become quite trendy in the last few years, popularised by celebrity chefs and featuring as a seasonal crop in my weekly veg box. But still I managed to avoid them, changing my box order to ensure they didn't get delivered. Browsing through recipes recently, I realised that maybe the broad beans of my childhood could have been more tasty if they had been served in a different way.

The beans come in a large, thick fibrous pod that, unlike other beans, can't be eaten. Once shelled, they have a greyish-green outer cover - if the beans are very young and tender, apparently this layer tastes ok, but if the beans are larger and more mature, it's bitter and unpleasant - the feature of my childhood memories! Broad beans have to be double podded. This may be well known, but it was a revelation to me!  Once shelled, they should be popped into boiling water and simmered for a few minutes, drained and refreshed with cold water. Then the outer skin comes off quite easily to reveal gorgeously vibrant, tender green beans underneath. 

Now, they still have a 'broad bean taint' to them, but they certainly taste quite different, and the bitterness changes to a fresh, almost sweet taste. For me, I still can't eat them by themselves, but fortunately they combine well with other flavours, particularly mint for a vibrant, spring flavour. Which is good news, as broad beans are actually really good for you and a great source of protein in a plant based whole food diet. On top of that, they are an amazing source of fibre, essential for maintaining gut health, as well as a whole range of B vitamins, iron, manganese and potassium, although some of that will be lost in the cooking process. 

Even though I find broad beans slightly more acceptable, I still avoid having them; last week I forgot to change my veg box order though, and a whole bag of them arrived. Eating dairy free and plant based can sometimes create lunch time challenges, especially with sandwich fillings; sometimes even hummus can get boring.  So I decided to create a broad bean based spread; I found a couple of recipes but they included a large amount of oil which I try to avoid. So instead, I just went the natural route and simply combined broad beans, mint, peas and a little seasoning. It makes a green gloop which has a fabulously rich but fresh flavour and is amazingly healthy with no added fat and all that great fibre. 

With a taste like this, I seem to have become a broad bean convert - give a go and see what you think.

Broad bean, pea and mint spread

300g broad bean, podded

150g peas (frozen is fine)

handful fresh mint

small clove garlic, crushed

salt and pepper

Bring a pan of water to the boil and simmer broad beans for a few minutes until the skin starts to wrinkle (try to ignore the strong broad bean aroma that reminds you of your childhood!). Add the peas near the end to cook for a couple of minutes. Drain and refresh with cold water. Once the beans are cool enough to handle, peel off the tough outer layer. Put the beans, peas, mint, garlic, salt and pepper into a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and add extra seasoning if required. Serve either on toasted baguette, baked potato, as a dip, with a salad, or however you so desire.

Fast food my style

Some weeks are just so busy that there just doesn't seem to be time to fit everything in, including writing blog posts, so this is going to be short and sweet!
Time is a real issue in so many peoples lives, trying to juggle work, home, families and hopefully fun.

Lack of time is often the reason people give for relying on processed ready meals or takeaways. And I'm no purist; the odd takeaway is great. But regularly relying on fast food carries not only a financial cost, but a huge health cost too.
Having to avoid dairy and yeast means, for me, that I cannot rely on processed foods as basically one or the other of these allergens appear in some form. So my food sensitivities have actually been a great blessing, as they have enabled me to make better choices, and eat real, nourishing food.  I'm also fortunate that I really love cooking, but there are times when I just don't have much time to spend in the kitchen.
That's where planning ahead comes in. Working shifts, every week for me is different. So thinking about what is happening each week, who is where and needs feeding when can get a little complex, but with the right planning I can usually ensure that the whole family gets a whole, nourishing meal every day, even when I'm not there.
As my kids get older, I feel it's important that they learn to feed themselves well, so sometimes they have to do it; my role is to ensure they have the right produce to hand and a reminder note of what they need to do!
I've found that one pot meals and stews have become a really important feature of our weekday meals - quick, simple and easy to reheat. You can also make it hearty and filling, essential for my growing giant-boy teenager! This particular hotpot is inspired by a couple of Jamie Oliver recipes. Roasting the sweet potato intensifies the flavour and enhances the texture; using passata creates a deeper, richer flavour in a relatively short period of time. This may not be as quick as one of Jamie's 15 minute meals (can you ever really cook one of his recipes in 15 minutes anyway?) but it can all be done and dusted in 30 minutes.
This dish is highly nutritious and positively bursting with fibre, which is essential for health; not only a healthy gut but a healthy heart too. To make it even more heart healthy, sprinkle some ground flaxseed at the end to add some essential omega 3 fatty acid. The sweet potato and beans are filling in themselves, but if you need to fill hungry tummies, then serve with rice, or even wholemeal pitta bread. And don't forget to add some green veg on the side too!
Red bean and roasted sweet potato hotpot

2 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes
olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 packet passata/400g tin tomatoes
1 400g tin kidney beans
thyme
chilli flakes
salt and pepper
First, heat the oven to 180oC. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into medium sized chunks. Lightly grease a baking tin, pop the sweet potato chunks on it and roast in the oven until they start to brown slightly and feel soft to touch - about 15 minutes. In the mean time, heat a little olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onion until soft. Add the garlic for a minute but don't let it burn. Add the peppers, thyme and chilli flakes and sauté for a couple more minutes. Pour in the passata and mix well. Bring to boiling point then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the peppers are soft. Add the beans. By now the sweet potato should be cooked, so take out the oven and add to the pot, stirring well. Simmer for another 5 minutes until the flavours have perfused, season to taste and serve. Simple, tasty and whole!

Happy Earth Day - have some gorgeous squash soup to celebrate!

Whilst every day really should be Earth Day, it is good there is a day once a  year which highlights the absolute amazingness and beauty of this gorgeously unique planet we live on.  We need a reminder to pay attention to something that we just take advantage of and abuse every moment. If there was a galactic Social Services, I think our precious Earth would have been taken into care by now!

Even though there are those who still refuse to acknowledge the existence of global warming (like those in the past who refused to believe the Earth was round…..), it's difficult to escape the effects that we, the human race, have on our eco systems. As Brits, we just love discussing the weather, and there's been lots of that going on to raise a few questions! Most of us try to make adaptations to help the environment - reduce plastic, recycle, shower instead of bathe etc - but these actions will only have a small impact on a global scale. 
However, changing to a plant based way of eating is the single more important change we can make that can have a direct impact on the environment. Whilst this may seem like a huge claim, you just have to look at the environmental impact of meat production to see where vast amounts of natural resources go.
Bearing in mind less than 50% of the world's population eat meat in the first place, the shear number of livestock which need supporting is immense - 17billion! Just check out these other statistics:
   * 30% of the world's land mass is used for raising animals for food
   * 11 times as much fossil fuel is needed to create meat products compared to plants
   * In the US, 70% of the grain grown is for animal feed
   * It takes 2400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, whereas is takes 25 gallons to 
   produce a pound of wheat
   * By not eating that pound of meat, you could save as much water as not showering for 6 months!
A plant based whole food diet is not only good for our health, but our environment's too. Even making small changes will have an impact - if everyone reduced their meat intake by a few pounds a week, look how much water alone could be saved. But don't replace processed meat with processed meat alternatives, rather care for yourself as well as your environment and eat real food, complete with all the nutrients and gorgeousness that our wonderful planet provides.
So to celebrate, have some gorgeous soup that's just bursting with flavour and nutrients - a tasty reminder of what our Earth so generously provides. 
Roasted butternut squash, ginger and coconut soup
500g butternut squash, peeled and cut into large chunks (or any small squash or pumpkin, preferably local if possible)
few drops olive oil
1 onion
good thumb sized bit of ginger
2 cloves garlic
400g tin of coconut milk
salt and pepper
First, roast the squash chunks in the oven for 25 minutes or so until soft but not crispy brown. Roughly chop the onion, ginger and garlic, and pop in a small food processor. Blitz until very finely chopped. Heat the oil and add the onion, ginger and garlic mix, gently frying (add a little water to stop it burning). Cook for 10 minutes or so until soft, then poor in the coconut milk and heat through well. Add the roasted squash, salt and pepper to taste and lower the heat right down. Leave to simmer gently for another 10 minutes or so then turn off the heat. Once cooled a little, puree with a stick blender, adding a little more water if it's too thick, reheat gently and serve. 

Chickpeas once more - in a bread!

The internet is a wonderful thing - quick access to information about any topic under the sun. Sometimes it's prudent to be careful and question where this information is coming from, particularly controversial points of view; for recipes though it's like having one massive cookery book at your finger tips with so much variety, abounding inspiration is available at every moment.
I can spend hours browsing websites and blogs, googling random ingredients and following a path of ingenuity and creativity. There's so many different options on offer, I tend to forget where I've been, and take ages finding that fascinating fact or idea that's tantalising the edge of my subconscious. Now I try to bookmark everything that I want to return to; that list is getting pretty long and unmanageable!
Recently I found an article featuring marvellous things to do with chickpeas (that old obsession returns once more!); this led me to a recipe for 'Eggy Breakfast Bread', a chickpea based bread, similar to cornbread but sweet http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/10/11/eggy-breakfast-bread/. Made with chickpea flour, it looked great, but I'm not so keen on sweet bread, so decided to omit the sugar and add in some savoury flavours.

I have to say, not only is it incredibly easy, the flavour and texture is fabulous. And totally moreish! Not being able to eat bread other than wraps and the occasional soda bread (home made version) due to my yeast intolerance, it was exciting to create something that was so tasty and felt so right in the mouth.
This recipe calls for flaxseed. If you've not come across it before, you're missing out. Nutritionally it's a brilliant plant source of omega 3, absolutely packed full of fibre, lignans (anti-oxidant phytonutrients) and other anti-oxidants. When mixed with water, flaxseed swells and can be used as an egg replacement in plant based cooking. When you see how it swells in a cup with a little water, you realise how it's going to swell in your gut. So it's not only good for healthy bowels, it will  help you stay full for longer if you're trying to lose weight.  Adding it to cereal in the morning is a wise thing to do!
Here is my savoury version of this bread. The herbs and spices can be played around with to create different flavours. I'm planning on experimenting with pesto (dairy free of course!) by omitting some of the oil and adding the equivalent pesto. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Savoury chickpea bread

1 cup chickpea flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon vinegar (omit if yeast free diet)
1 cup of dairy free milk
2 tablespoons of olive oil or water
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Black pepper

Pre heat oven to 180oC and lightly grease a round metal pie tin.

Combine flaxseed with all the wet ingredients and whisk together really well. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients together, then pour the wet into the dry and stir until well mixed.

Pour batter into prepared tin and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until firm and slightly browned on   top. Remove from oven and leave to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes. Cut into triangles in the tin before removing.

Best eaten warm, it's still delicious cold - that's if you can leave it to get cold before gobbling it up!

'Cheesy' cauliflower soup or a pasta bake

Back in August last year, I posted a recipe using cauliflower as a base for a white sauce http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/saucy-cauliflower.html. Since then, I have experimented further with the good old cauli and discovered another way to make a sauce that tastes remarkably like cheese sauce. Doesn't seem possible I know, but it's not just me that thinks that - my family have commented on it's cheesy-ness (dairy and non-dairy eaters alike) as well as it's general gorgeousness.

And the secret - roast the cauliflower florets first.
The idea actually came from soup, as so many good things do! Browsing through my Rachel Allen cook book, I found her recipe for cauliflower soup that included the use of ground almonds to thicken the texture. At the same time, I remembered a Guardian newspaper article featuring the 10 best cauliflower recipes (I do read a lot about food!), one of which had been a whole roasted cauli. Roasting concentrates the sugars in the florets, caramelising them slightly as well as giving a slight nutty flavour. It's delicious just by itself. The magic comes by adding it to a base of onion, garlic and ground almonds and simmering it in some stock. Once pureed, it somehow tastes cheesy, and has a slightly coarse cheesy texture.

What's more, it doesn't take long to make it. In fact, my first experiment with roasting was to make the soup, which I actually made in the morning before going to work. I was so excited about the flavour I force fed it to everyone whilst they were trying to eat their breakfast (it doesn't go so well with porridge apparently!). For the pasta bake, the sauce takes the same time to cook as the pasta, and the oven is already hot and ready to use for the baking, so it's an easy, midweek supper for when you're running low on time and inspiration.
And the ultimately amazing fact about this soup/sauce is that it is dairy free, gluten free and just perfect for a plant based whole food diet.  Low in fat, high in fibre, packed with nutrients and generally just fabulous. If you think I'm over excited, try it for yourself and you'll understand why!
Roasted cauliflower soup

1 medium sized cauli, broken into florets

1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons ground almonds
1 litre veg stock
600ml almond milk
salt and pepper
Heat the oven to 180oC. Pop a tiny amount of olive oil onto a roasting tray and spread the cauliflower florets out over it, turning them around to spread the oil. Place in the oven for 10 minutes or so until the florets start to caramelise (see picture). Remove from the oven.
Whilst the cauli is roasting, heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large pan and gently sauté the onion until soft. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for a minute or so. Don't let it burn. Stir in the ground almonds, then add the roasted cauli, bay leaves and enough stock to cover. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so until the cauliflower is well cooked. Turn off the heat and cool slightly, remove the bay leaves, then transfer to a blender, adding the almond milk and seasoning. Blend until you get a voluptuously thick puree, adding more milk or stock as needed to get a good soupy consistency. Return to the pan, check the seasoning, add more as needed, reheat and serve.
'Cheesy' cauliflower pasta bake

Ingredients as above, omitting the almond milk.
400g wholewheat or brown rice pasta
2 large tomatoes, sliced
few handfuls of baby spinach (optional)
Put a large pan of water on to boil and cook the pasta according to packet instructions. In the meantime, follow the recipe as above. When adding the stock, use enough to just cover the cauli and no more - you can always add more later if needed. Once the cauliflower mix has been through the blending process, it should be thick and very sauce-like. If too thick, add a little more stock.
Drain the cooked pasta and pour in the cheesy cauliflower sauce, mixing well and adding more seasoning if needed (seasoning really is key to this dish). Mix together well. Spread out the spinach over the base of a large baking dish and pour the pasta and cauliflower sauce over the top. Place the tomato slices on the top and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so until the tomatoes are cooked and the top slightly brown. Serve with some extra greens if required and enjoy!