Monthly Archives: February 2012

by | February 29, 2012

WIAW – I’ll bring the Sun-dried Tomato Humous and Creamy Pea, Ginger & Oregano Soup!

Hi everyone!  Hope you are having a great week so far! :)

This is the last week of Jenn’s month of ‘Love Your Veggies’ themed parties and they’ve been such good fun!

For the final ’Love your Veggies’ party, my mission was to get Lil’ L to love a veggie that, to date, he’s not felt much love for.  I’m pleased to report that I succeeded in my mission! :) :) :)  

But, before I get onto that, let’s begin with a rundown of the day’s eats and drinks:

Breakfast
Hot lemon & water before school run
After school run, big bowl of warm organic jumbo porridge oats, made with Alpro fortified soya milk, sprinkled with chopped brazils, pecans, walnuts, flaked almonds, ground flaxseed, goji berries and chopped dates, and a drizzle of agave syrup.  I can’t think of any words to describe how nice with breakfast is, so I’ll use one of Lil’ L’s SCRUMPDIDDLYUMPTIOUS!

 I want to give a shout out to Crazy Jack just to say how much I love their organic chopped dates :)   They’ve got the most amazing texture & taste, and are perfect for sprinkling on porridge/oatmeal and mueslis.  They might be a little pricier than other brands, but they’re so worth it!

Lunch
For lunch, I had some sun-dried tomato humous that I’d made for Lil’ L’s school lunchbox.  This is one of our all-time favourite flavours for humous.  It is totally lush!  It’s so easy to make at home and so much nicer than the shop bought version.  In five minutes, you can make enough humous to last you the week. (I’ll post the recipe soon, I promise!)

I served the humous with carrot sticks and Scottish oatcakes. 

I used to bake my own Scottish oatcakes but, lately, I’ve been buying the Nairn’s brand.  This week we tried their roasted red pepper flavoured oatcakes.  They are really yummy, especially when topped with houmous or guacamole. 

Watch out, here comes a flying oatcake! 

Drinks & Snacks
1 Clippers Organic Nettle & Peppermint Tea, 2 black coffees, water, mango smoothie, 1 Clippers Organic Sleep Easy Infusion
blueberry pancakes with pecans (post school snack shared with Lil’ L before his swimming lesson)
handful of pistachios (post swimming snack)

Dinner
While Lil’ L is pretty good when it comes to eating vegetables, there’s one veggie in particular that he tends to eat begrudgingly… and that’s the little green pea. He’ll scoop them up and stuff them in his mouth (especially when they’re covered in ketchup) simply to clear his plate, but there’s certainly no love there. 

Furthermore, the only soup that Lil’ L has ever refused to eat is actually one of mine & M’s favourites… green pea and mint.  When I asked him why he disliked it, he said that it was ‘too peay and too minty’.  Hmmm… not much I can work on there!   

On Sunday, I decided that it was time to give peas another chance.  I was determined to find a recipe that would make Lil’ L love this poor little neglected veggie.  I spotted a creamy pea soup recipe on the lovely Alexia’s blog that I thought might do the trick.  The soup contained ginger and oregano which, I thought, would give the soup some flavour and stop it from tasting ‘too peay’.  The addition of milk or cream would also give it a different texture, which could appeal to Lil’ L.

 
And the verdict…. HE LOVED IT! :)   He actually said it was delicious and gave me a big smile :)   I then told him that it was made of peas and the smile disappeared.  He realised he’d be done ;)   But who cares, he now loves peas! Yay!

A big thank you to Alexia for inspiring me with this recipe.  I did make a couple tweaks, adding more peas, liquid and using non dairy milk rather than cream, but the overall flavour was the same.  It’s a winner! :)   And I loved it so much that I made another batch on Monday too.  M’s taken it to work for his lunch and I had it again for my dinner with a couple of pieces of seeded wholegrain toast.  Totally delish!

Here’s how I made it:

Creamy Pea Soup with Ginger & Oregano
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 thumb-size piece of fresh grated ginger (I used frozen ginger)
1 tbsp dried oregano
handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (reserve a little for a garnish)
3 cups frozen peas
2 cups vegetable stock (I used Marigold vegan bouillon powder)
1 cup non dairy milk (I used Alpro fortified soya milk)
salt & pepper to taste

Method

  1. Gently heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion until it starts to soften.  Mix in the ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes.  Add the oregano, parsley, peas and stock.  Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for 15 minutes.
  2. Allow the soup to cool slightly before adding the milk and blending until smooth.  Return to the pan and heat through.  The recipe makes a thick soup, so add more stock or milk if desired.  Season to taste. 

What I’ve learnt these past couple of years is that when a kid says that they don’t like a certain fruit or vegetable, this isn’t set in stone.  Sometimes it’s a passing phase, sometimes it can be the way the fruit or veggie is served.  With a bit of creativity, flexible thinking and a touch of sneakiness we can win them over!  ;)

Dessert
For dessert, we shared a mango ‘hedgehog’ and a raw chocolate orange chia dessert (which featured in yesterday’s post along with the recipe).  Lots of yummy goodness!

Well I hope you’re all loving your veggies and eating them with great enthusiasm! ;)   However, if you’re in need for some inspiration and ideas on new ways to serve them, head over to Jenn’s where you’ll find plenty of delicious eats on display.   Happy WIAW everyone! xx

14 Comments

Filed under Breakfast & Elevenses, Dinners

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

by | February 28, 2012

A Weekend of Treats, Rounded off with a Raw Chocolate Orange Chia Dessert!

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a great week so far! :)

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday but I was busy all day taking photographs for “the book”!  My aim is to get all the photos finished by Easter, which isn’t far off considering how quickly the weeks are flying by!

So how was your weekend?  For us, it was a weekend of “treats”!  Lil’ L had the treat of going to stay for a night with his lovely nanny in Dorset, while M and I went for our belated Valentine’s night away at Carey’s Manor in Brockenhurst, Hampshire.

This place is pretty special…

[Source]

and has the most beautiful Thai-style spa with hydrotherapy facilities.

 [Source]

Okay, I’ll stop the photos now ;)  

This was our first ‘date night’ in months and it was nice to go somewhere special and spend some quality time together.  We reduced the costs as much as possible by staying on the Friday night (thus avoiding the Saturday night supplements), and we also took advantage of the hotel’s special free evening meal offer.

We were booked into the hotel’s Manor Restaurant for our evening meal, and I can happily report that the chef rose to the challenge of meeting my dietary requirements ;)   I didn’t take any photos as it wasn’t the type of restaurant where you can whip out your camera and start snapping the food , but here’s a quick run down of what they served me:

Entree – strawberry sorbet (M was given a white onion cappuccino which sounds bizarre to me, but apparently it was really nice!)

Starter – beetroot carpaccio with mushrooms, rocket and a balsamic dressing.

Main course – wild mushroom risotto…which they made with soya milk for me! 

Dessert – pineapple carpaccio with shredded basil and coconut sorbet.

All courses were totally delicious!  I really want to have a try at making both the beetroot and pineapple carpaccios as they were stunning! 

After our meal, M and I stayed in the lounge until 1 in the morning chatting.  We haven’t had an opportunity to do that in a long time.  It was really nice! :)

The next day, we met my mum and Lil’ L in Burley.  Every time I visit this village, I have to stop at the Old Farmhouse Tearooms for a soy cappuccino and slice of their ginger cake.  That cake is dairy free and gluten free… and totally scrumptious! 

(c) Derek Harper

We then took a circular walk on the common to walk off our cake.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue, it was warm enough to not wear a coat.  Is this really February?  The crazy weather continues! 

Along the walk, we saw lots of this beautiful yellow gorse…

We warned Lil’ L that it’s really prickly but you know kids.. they have to find out for themselves ;)  

We also came across lots of these beautiful little New Forest ponies.  So cute!

 All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.  Lil’ L loved his time with nanny and, since M and I rarely go on dates these days (perhaps 2-3 times a year?), we really cherished our night away.  M has suggested that we do it again later this year and I’m totally up for that! 

As you can imagine, I did very little cooking this weekend …. but I did make a raw chocolate orange chia pudding!  I’ve only recently started to buy chia seeds as they have been hard to come by in this country.  Local to me, they’re now available from the Harvest Health Food shop in Bath, and from Elements for Life, which also sell them online.

[Source]

These seeds come from the beautiful chia plant, which belongs to the mint family (salvia hispanica). 

[Source]

I’ve read so much good stuff about them on the Internet.  Here’s a quick rundown of its nutritional profile:

  • Chia is a very rich source of omega 3 essential fatty acid
  • It is a good source of protein, and contains all 9 essential amino acids.
  • It is high in dietary fibre.
  • It’s easily digested and absorbs more than 9 times its weight in liquid when soaked, helping to regular blood sugar and hydration.
  • Chia is a good source of minerals, notably phosphorus, manganese, calcium and zinc.

They sound like another “super food” to me!   

[Source]

The seeds have been eaten throughout Central and Southern America for thousands of years, and were part of the staple diet of the Aztecs and Indians.  The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that chia seeds have a history of safe use as a food.  However, for some reason (which I’m yet to fathom out) these little seeds have been classed as a “novel food” under the EU Novel Food Act 1997.  This means that when you buy chia seeds in Europe, they have a big label on the packet that they can only be consumed as an ingredient for baked goods comprising a maximum 5% of the content!

Since I haven’t read anything on the Internet about chia seeds being harmful and, on the contrary, have read time and again about the health benefits of this little seed, I’ve joined my fellow American and Canadian health foodie friends in eating chia seeds raw :)   If you bake them, you lose the omega 3 content which, to me, defeats the object of eating them in the first place.

And in their raw form, chia seeds make the most AMAZING chocolate desserts!  Chocolate orange is my current favourite flavour, but I’m looking forward to trying mocha and hazelnut versions.  The possibilities are endless!

It’s so simple to make.  Here’s how I do it: 

Raw Chocolate Orange Chia Dessert

Serves 2
Prep: 5 minutes (+ 1-2 hours chilling time, preferably overnight)

Ingredients
2 tbsp raw chia seeds
1/2 cup water (or you can use non dairy milk)
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp raw cocoa powder
2 tbsp Sweet Freedom fruit sweetener (or other natural liquid sweetener, such as agave syrup)
1/2 tsp orange extract
grated orange rind and raw chocolate shavings, for garnish

Method

  1. Mix the chia seeds and water together in a small bowl. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours (or overnight). The mixture will transform into a gel.
  2. Blend the chia gel, freshly squeezed orange juice, cocoa powder, fruit sweetener and orange extract to a smooth consistency.  Place in small dessert bowls, and sprinkle with orange rind and chocolate shavings.  Chill until ready to serve.

Do you eat chia seeds?  If so, what is your favourite way of serving them? Please add links to your favourite recipes in the comment section below as I’d love to try them out!

What do you think of the EU law on chia?  Do you think it’s right to class chia as a ‘novel’ food when it’s been around for thousands of years? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have a great week everyone! xx

 

10 Comments

Filed under Baking & Desserts, Dinners, General wittering, Nutrition, Raw Chocolate Making, Walking & Hiking

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

by | February 22, 2012

WIAW – Coconut & Mango Pancakes, Butternut & Nut Butter Soup, Spinach, Mushroom & Tofu Ricotta Strudel

Hello everyone!  I hope you are having a great week :)  

Mine’s been pretty good so far.  My Wednesday Workshops started back again today.  As it’s a new term, I’ve got two new groups of children.  Some of the children have attended my workshops before while others are new.  This time round I’ve got four reception children (aged 4) and they are so cute!  I’d forgotten just how little they are!  

I was shocked when I recently came across a picture of Lil’ L on his first day of school in 2008.  I can’t even remember him being that small!  It really is incredible how quickly they grow up!

 For this week’s WIAW party, hosted by the lovely Jenn @ Peas and Crayons, I’m going to show what Lil’ L and I made and ate on Saturday.  M was away in London for the day, watching bike racing at the new Velodrome at the Olympic Park, so unfortunately he missed out on some great eats.  We did, however, leave him a few tiny morsels which he took to work on Monday in his lunch box. Aren’t we kind ;)

Here’s our rundown:

Breakfast
Inspired by a guest post by Rachael (Passing Daisies) on Rachel’s ‘My Naturally Frugal Family’ blog, we decided to have a try at making some mango and coconut pancakes.  That combination just sounds so delicious to me! 

I used my usual vegan pancake mixture, but added 3T of dessicated coconut into the mix.  The pancakes were topped with mango pieces (which I caramelized in 1T coconut palm sugar), some lightly toasted dessicated coconut, chopped pecans, sprinkling of ground linseed and a drizzle of agave syrup.

The pancakes were delicious! The only thing I’ll change next time I make them is to omit putting coconut within the pancake mixture as I couldn’t really taste it.  Instead, I’ll just sprinkle more toasted coconut on top. :)

Lunch
On Friday night, Lil’ L and I snuggled on the sofa to watch a re-run of River Cottage Everyday (no this wasn’t a bedtime delay tactic, he really does enjoy this programme… it’s up there with Jo Frost on his list of favourite programmes… strange I know!).  

In this episode, two dishes in particular caught our eye… broad bean humous and butternut & nut butter soup.  We decided to make both for lunch on Saturday :)

Unfortunately I haven’t got any photos of the broad bean humous, but Lil’ L absolutely loved it!  I often serve humous as a starter before lunch or dinner with crudites as a way of getting even more veggies into him.  We’ve tried lots of different flavours… roasted tomato, roasted red pepper, caramelised onion… and now we have broad bean to add to the list :)  

The second item on the lunch menu was butternut & nut butter soup.  When we saw this being made on River Cottage, we both said “yum!” at the same time.  Since I had some butternut squash that needed using up, this was the perfect soup to make for the weekend.  

The soup was made with onion, garlic, a medium butternut squash, 2 tsp ground cumin, vegetable stock and… the secret ingredient…. 2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter.  The soup was garnished with a drizzle of natural soya yoghurt and some coriander. 

We had the remainder of this soup for supper on Monday night.  It really is scrummy and I can’t wait to make it again :)

For our lunch ‘dessert’ on Saturday, we had a couple of raw chocolate hearts (I won’t add a photo of these as you’ve seen them plenty of times before!)

Dinner
For our evening meal, I made a spinach, mushroom and tofu ‘ricotta’ strudel.  I used some pre-made filo pastry and simply rolled up the mixture lengthwise along the layered sheets.  It was very quick and easy to make, and tasted delicious!

I served mine with a salad of romaine lettuce, roasted red pepper, sun-dried tomatoes and olives.  Lil’ L wanted his portion served with the broad bean humous (again!) and some red pepper slices.

The strudel was big enough to provide dinner for us on Monday night as well, plus a slice for M’s lunch box.

Dessert
Pineapple and coconut milk smoothie
Alpro Soya Chocolate Dessert

Another day of yummy eats and veggie loving <3. 

I’m off to Jenn’s now to check out all the beautiful foodie photos and gather inspiration.  Happy WIAW everyone! :)

12 Comments

Filed under Breakfast & Elevenses, Dinners

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | February 20, 2012

Raw Chocolate Coconut Cup Recipe & Giveaway Result!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! :)

As promised, today I’m going to share my recipe for raw chocolate coconut cups.  I’m not sure if the name is an accurate description of what these chocolates are, so if anyone can think of a better name, please let me know!

They are so simple and quick to make.  If you guys do make them I would LOVE to see the pics! You could post them on my FB page or send them to me on Twitter (@GoodStuffSharon).  I’m sure your pics will be amazing! :)

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • raw cacao (cocoa) powder & raw cacao (cocoa) butter
    These can be bought from health food stores (such as Harvest in Bath) or online
  • creamed coconut
    I use Patak’s creamed coconut sachets, which are available from major supermarkets here in the UK.  Creamed coconut is pure coconut flesh, which is pulverised and formed into a solid block.  It’s a common ingredient in Indian cooking, hence why Patak’s sell it. 

I’m sure that coconut butter will be a fine replacement if you can’t get hold of creamed coconut. 

  • Goji berries, almonds & brazil nuts, finely chopped (I whizz them in my mini chopper).  As you probably know by now, I’m a huge fan of goji berries.  They not only taste wonderful, but they’re packed with goodness too :)   These can be bought from health food stores, some major supermarkets (Asda are currently selling them for £1.47/100g compared to £2/100g at Waitrose) and online.

[Source]

  • Petit Four cup cases.  I double these up and use 2 cases per chocolate, to help them keep a nice round shape.

Apologies in advance to my US friends for not giving you quantities in cups. I wasn’t convinced by the online converter I found, so if anyone can recommend a decent one then please do let me know.

Ingredient quantities
60g raw cacao butter, grated or finely chopped & divided in half
50g raw cacao powder, divided in half
3 tbsp Sweet Freedom fruit sweetener (or agave syrup)
50g creamed coconut (or coconut butter)
2 tbsp finely chopped goji berries, almonds, brazils (optional topping)
12-14 petit four cup cases (or 24-28 if using 2 cases per chocolate)

Method

  1. Arrange the petit four cup cases on a tray or in a freezable container (I use a plastic container)
  2. Prepare a bain marie (double broiler) and place 30g cacao butter in the bain marie bowl. When it has melted, mix in 25g cacao powder and sweetener to taste (I use 1.5 T Sweet Freedom or 1T agave syrup)
  3. Pour 1 tsp of the chocolate into each petit four cup (I find that there’s enough for about 13 cups). Place the chocolates in the freezer until they solidify (about 10 minutes)
  4. Meanwhile, wash up the bain marie bowl and utensils, and dry thoroughly.  Prepare the coconut layer by grating or finely chopping the creamed coconut.  Place the coconut in the bain marie bowl and allow it to gently melt.
  5. Remove the chocolates from the freezer and pour 1tsp of the melted coconut into each petit four cup. If there’s any coconut left over, share it between the cases.  Place back in the freezer for another 10 minutes.
  6. Wash up the bain marie bowl and utensils again and dry thoroughly. Prepare the final chocolate layer by melting the remaining 30g of cacao butter in the bain marie bowl. Mix in the remaining 25g of cacao powder and 1-1.5 tbsp sweetener.
  7. Remove the chocolates from the freezer and pour in the final 1tsp of chocolate into each petit four cup.  Sprinkle with the finely chopped goji berries and nuts, then place back in the freezer for a final 10 minutes.
  8. Voila! Beautiful (and scrumptious!) raw chocolate coconut cups :)

 

Valentine’s Giveaway Result
Thank  you so much for all the lovely comments you left me on Valentine’s Day :)   So who’s the lucky winner of my Valentine’s giveaway?

Well, I organised the comments into chronological order and pressed the magic button on random.org. 

  

The winner is the lovely Rachel who writes the fabulous blog My Naturally Frugal Family

Congratulations Rachel!  Six of  my raw chocolate coconut cups will be on their way to you shortly.

Have a wonderful week everyone!  xx

8 Comments

Filed under Raw Chocolate Making

Tagged as ,

by | February 15, 2012

WIAW – I’ll Bring the Falafels & Pizza

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I hope you’ve had a great day so far! :)

We’ve just got back from a great day out in Bristol City.  The sun was shining, it was warm, and we had lots of exercise walking up and down the hilly city.  We even decided to ditch the car for the day, and instead walked the 2.5 miles into Bath city centre and hopped on a train.  It was all good fun :)  

As is customary on a Wednesday, I’m going to head over to Jenn’s WIAW party, check out all the delicious eats and get inspired!  But before I head off there, let me share what we ate today:

Breakfast
Delicious North Staffordshire oatcakes with a sprinkling of ground linseed and a big dollop of cherry & berry preserve.  These oatcakes take more prep than regular pancakes, but they’re so worth it.

Lunch
On the way to Bristol, I sent a tweet asking for recommendations of a great place to eat a vegan lunch in the city.  The first tweet back recommended Falafel King on Cotham Hill… so that’s where we went :)

By the time we’d walked across the city, stopping along the way to admire the graffiti art…

walked up the Christmas Steps

This old passageway was 'steppered' in 1669. I love that expression!

walked up St Michael’s Hill and down Cotham Hill, we were definitely ready for some lunch!  Lil’ L and I chose to have the humous platter, which came with four falafels, chickpeas and a soft, warm, wholemeal pitta.

M chose to have falafel in a laffa.  This included six falafel and your choice of salad fillings and dressings.  M pretty much included everything in his laffa.  It looked so delicious.  My photo really doesn’t do it justice.

 

I can’t wait to have a try at re-creating one of these at home. 

Falafel King is a great cafe/restaurant.  It has a beautiful seating area downstairs.  I didn’t take a photo as I didn’t want to put people off their falafel ;) but here’s a bit of footage from the Guide2Bristol site. 

We had a great time at the restaurant and we’ll definitely be back :)

Drinks
Hot water and lemon
1 small black coffee
1 soy cappuccino
water (not enough!)
1 Clipper Organic Sleep Easy tea.  Last week, Tesco substituted my usual Nettle tea with this one.  I’m glad they did as I’ve now discovered another herbal tea that I love.  This one contains cinnamon, chamomile, rooibos, lemon balm, valerian and natural orange flavouring.  I love its beautiful, delicate flavour so I’ll definitely buy it again :)

Snacks
raw cashews & dried raisin mix (shared on the train)
piece of home made zucchini brownie. This was too dry, so I need to do some work on the recipe.

Dinner
Home made pizza left over from Monday night.  Lil’ L and I had great fun making this pizza.  We made the base with half wholemeal and half white flour, then covered it with a generous layer of home made pesto (which included a cup of spinach and lots of ground cashews).  We then packed on as many veggies as we could!  We used courgette, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion and mushroom, all cut finely and a sprinkling of pine nuts. 

I think we’ll have to name this one the ’confetti pizza’!

The pesto and veggies were so delicious that we didn’t feel the need to add any cheese on.  We certainly didn’t miss it!

Dessert
Banana, blueberry & chocolate ‘thickie’

Well, that’s me done for another WIAW.  Time to head over to the lovely Jenn’s and get inspired.  Hope to see you there! xx  

p.s. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win some home made raw chocolates.  The closing date is Friday 17th Feb, 9pm GMT.

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

28 Comments

Filed under Breakfast & Elevenses, Dinners

Tagged as , , , , , ,