Hi everyone! I hope you’re having a great week so far 
It’s Wednesday, which means only one thing in food blogging world… yep it’s WIAW party time again! If you’re new to this shindig, you can check out what it’s all about here.
Jenn’s latest theme is ‘Spooky Snacks and Healthy Halloween Treats’. I’ve never been that big on Halloween, but I’m looking forward to checking out all the spooky concoctions that people create over the next few weeks.
For this week’s WIAW party, I’d like to show what I ate yesterday. No horrors, but lots of lovely eats and a couple of yummy recipes to share
Here’s goes…
Breakfast
I’m still loving the breakfast smoothie milkshakes, especially on those days when I’m short of time or have been out for a morning run. One of my favourite Autumn/Fall flavours is apple & cinnamon. The addition of yoghurt makes it nice and creamy, while the spices add warmth.
Here’s how I made it:
Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Smoothie
Serves 1
Ingredients
1 apple peeled and cored (I don’t like peel in my smoothies but as it’s full of antioxidants, I eat it as I’m peeling!)
1 cup fortified almond milk (I used Alpro)
¼ cup non dairy yoghurt (I used Alpro natural yoghurt)
¼ cup rolled oats (I used Mornflake superfast oats)
1 tbsp ground almonds
1 tbsp chia seeds (for a nutritional boost, incl. omega 3)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
dash of ground nutmeg
drizzle of maple syrup, to taste
Method
Throw all the ingredients in a blender, and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy.
I like to serve it in a tall glass with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top.
Lunch
For lunch, I had a bowl of home-made lightly curried parsnip soup.
This soup is sweet, silky smooth, warming and oh so yummy! For me, this is another soup that’s perfect for Autumn/Fall. The spice I used was Garam Masala, which gives the soup a gentle hint of Indian curry. Lil’ L loves it, so hopefully other children will too
Here’s how I made it:
Lightly Curried Parsnip Soup
Serves: 6
Hands-on time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 medium parsnips (approx. 450g / 16oz), peeled and chopped
1 large sweet potato (approx. 350g / 12oz), peeled and chopped
½ tbsp garam masala (add another ½ tbsp if really want to spice it up)
1.2 litres / 42fl oz / 5 cups vegetable stock
flaked almonds & parsley, for garnish
Method
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onions until they start to soften. Add the garlic and garam masala and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Add the parsnips and potato to the pan. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and gently simmer with the lid on for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- Remove the pan from the heat, allow to cool slightly then blend until smooth. If it’s too thick for your liking, add a little water or stock and blend again.
- Garnish with a sprinkling of flaked almonds (or other nuts/seeds) and parsley.
- This soup is delicious served on its own, or with a slice of warm bread.
(This recipe has been submitted to Ricki Heller’s Wellness Weekend 8-12 November 2012).
After School Snacks
A Blackstrap Gingersnap cookie… the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee… or Kara chocolate milk if you’re Lil’ L 
These cookies are hugely popular in my house and with my Tuesday night study class group. They’re super easy to make. The recipe is from Isa and Terry’s wonderful book Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar (thanks Naomi for buying me this great book!)
Drinks
hot lemon; nettle tea; cherry & cinnamon tea; 2 coffees
Dinner
I needed to make a quick dinner yesterday as I was heading out to my study class, so we had spaghetti bolognaise. We hadn’t had this dinner in ages!
I used half a packet of Linda McCartney Vegemince (which I bought from Holland & Barrett) and my favourite pasta sauce… Seeds of Change Organic Tomato & Basil Sauce. Into the sauce, I also added a large, finely grated carrot and a finely chopped courgette (zucchini).
When the bolognaise was cooked, I allowed it to cool down slightly then sprinkled in some Marigold Nutritional Flakes with added B12 (this adds a cheesy, nutty flavour and lots of lovely B vitamins). We then served the bolognaise on a bed of organic wholewheat spaghetti.
I made 4 portions of bolognaise and Lil’ L took the remaining portion for his school lunch today, wrapped in a wholewheat seeded tortilla, which I lightly toasted to give it a crisp topping.
Dessert
Fresh pineapple with Alpro natural yoghurt. Sorry no pic… I had to dash to my class!
Evening snack
When I got back from my class, I had some home-made granola with a drizzle of almond milk, which I served in a cute little ramekin.
So that’s me done for another WIAW. Thanks as ever to our gorgeous host Jenn over at PeasandCrayons.com.
Just before I go though, I’d like to list my favourite supermarket deals of the week (I love a good deal, don’t you?)
- Alpro Almond UHT Milk – Waitrose any 3 for £3.00 (normally £1.59 each) Asda – the Alpro fresh and long life almond milks are currently £1 each. We stocked up at the weekend
- Alpro Soya UHT Milk – Waitrose any 3 for £3 (normally £1.19 each). I’ll be stocking up this weekend! (glad there’s space in the garage now )
- Kara Dairy-free Chocolate plus Calcium Drink – Waitrose 2 for £2.00 (normally £1.39 each) Lil’ L tried this for the first time last week & loves it!
- Seeds of Change Organic Pasta Sauce - Waitrose any 2 for £3.50 (this deal applies to the 500g and 350g jars) Great sauce for lasagnas, spag bol, etc.
Right, definitely time to hit the ‘publish’ button now.
Enjoy the rest of your week everyone xx
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That soup looks so fantastic! Thanks!
Great to hear from you Tara! Thanks for stopping by!
Soup looks like it’ll do the trick after an autumn mountainbike ride. If there’s a little left i’ll rub it in my legs for a year ’round tan.
Served with doorstep slices of warm bread, it would be the perfect post ride recovery lunch
All your meals look delicious! I’m not a fan of parsnip, but I want to try parsnip soup again to see how I get on.
I’m not big into Halloween either, but I’m in the US for it this year, so I might get more excited!
Lucky you getting to go to the US! And what a great time to go!
All of your meals are perfectly fall! I cannot wait to try that smoothie–have I mentioned how much I love apples?
The soup sounds beautiful as well! There was such a chill in the air today, despite the sunshine, that after Jace’s soccer practice we came straight home to make soup for dinner instead of what I had originally planned. I’m thinking I will be making lots of soups this fall/winter.
I think I’ll be making lots of soups this Autumn/Fall too. They’re so warming on cold, wet days (and we’re having lots of those this week!). Lil’ L’s also enjoying taking a flask of soup to school. It makes a nice change to sandwiches!
Oh know now I will have two smoothies to choose from (I had the chocolate one this morning). You had a great day of eats and that spaghetti looks delicious and comforting.
I have been meaning to pick up the Vegan Cookies cookbook and seeing those blackstrap gingersnaps I may head over to Amazon right now.
You are right about age (it is just a number)…but sometimes when I say it out loud it sounds bad (but I still feel young about 25 just like you). I was just having a moment and hopefully I am over it now
Have a great day, and if you don’t post before, and a great weekend as well.
I love Isa & Terry’s Vegan Cookie Book. It’s so beautifully designed & full of great recipes. It’s my ‘go to’ book when I need to make cookies for my study class. I can always rely on them turning out well. The blackstrap gingersnaps are our favourite to date.
Oooo, can’t wait to make the smoothie and soup! Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by my blog Anne! Hope you’re having a great weekend xx