Hi everyone!I hope you’re having a great week so far 
Just for a change, I thought I’d share our eats from Sunday for this week’s WIAW virtual foodie party. Thanks, all always, to our glamourous hostess Jenn over at PeasandCrayon.com.
Here goes…
Breakfast
- Warm water & lemon (usual gentle start to the day)
- Black coffee whilst reading in bed (Sunday is the only day I get to lay-in now so I’m making the most of it!)
- Warming bowl of cinnamon porridge, made with Alpro almond milk and topped with ground linseed (flaxseed), chopped walnuts, flaked almonds, goji berries, candied citrus peel, and a light drizzle of agave syrup. This is one of my all-time favourite breakfasts. It’s so yummy!
Lunch
At the moment I’m on a mission to find new ways of encouraging kids to eat kale. Now there’s a challenge!
As we all know, kale is a super food. It’s packed with antioxidant vitamins A, C and K, contains iron and is a great plant-based source of calcium. However, at the end of the day, when you’re 9 years old, it’s still a slightly bitter tasting green leaf and, as such, doesn’t hold at lot of appeal.
One of the biggest successes I’ve had in encouraging Lil’ L to eat kale is in the form of crispy kale (aka kale chips). However, after the initial enthusiasm for it, he’s now getting a bit tired of eating bowls of crispy kale every week.
On Sunday, I thought I’d experiment with making a kale soup. To make it more appealing to Lil’ L, I used sweet potatoes to make the soup creamy and sweet tasting. I also added some grated ginger to give it a little warming kick.
The verdict?
He loved it!! After tasting it and declaring it to be ‘really yummy’ he proceeded to devour the whole bowl
While not the prettiest of soups, the taste more than makes up for it. For me, it’s a great Winter warming soup, perfect for keeping those cold bugs away!
Here’s the recipe…
Serves 4 Hands-on time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 inch piece of fresh or frozen ginger, grated
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
120g / 4 oz / 4 packed cups of kale, thick stalks removed then shredded
800 ml – 1 litre (about 3.5 – 4 cups) vegetable stock (start with the smaller amount and add more, if needed)
Lightly toasted pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds (for a protein and omega 3 boost)
Finely chopped red pepper or chilli, for garnish
Optional extras: 1 tbsp miso paste (to add a more savoury taste) or ½ tbsp garam masala (for a delicious, light curry flavoured soup)
Method
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion until it starts to soften. Stir in the garlic and ginger. Reduce the heat, add the sweet potatoes and kale, cover and leave to sweat for 5 minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the potato has softened (15-20 minutes). Allow the soup to cool slightly before blending. Return the soup to the stove and gently heat through. Stir in the miso paste or garam masala (if using). Taste the soup and season, to taste.
- Gently heat a frying pan and lightly toast the pumpkin seeds or gently fry them in a little olive oil.
- Serve the soup in warm bowls, with a sprinkling of pumpkin and hemp seeds. For small children, the seeds can be grinded and mixed into the soup before serving. Add some finely chopped red pepper or chilli as a garnish and serve with some warm, crusty bread.
Lunch was followed by a delicious Ghirardelli chocolate. These chocolates were a gift from my wonderful American blogging friend Rachel. A parcel arrived on Christmas Eve filled with a whole host of goodies, along with a batch of her delicious home-made vegan ginger biscotti. What a star she is!
Snacks
A fruit smoothie, made with Kara Coconut Milk, fresh organic blueberries and frozen banana slices.
One tangerine & some walnuts
I made some Blackstrap Gingersnaps for this week’s lunch box treats and of course I had to taste test one 
These are one of my all-time favourite dairy free / vegan cookies. They’ve received great feedback from friends and family too. One of my friends (who isn’t vegan) said that he was ‘blown away’ by these cookies. High praise indeed.
The recipe comes from this wonderful little vegan cookie book.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that’s looking for dairy free or vegan cookie recipes. I’m not a great baker, but the cookies I’ve made from this book always work out perfectly. I received the book as a gift from a friend a couple of years ago and I still use it practically every week!
The book is American, but you can purchase it from Amazon UK with free delivery. The measurements are in cups, but it’s very easy to purchase cups in the UK now. I have 2 sets that I use every day. One I bought from Asda for about £2. The other set were a gift from a friend. Check them out…
they’re Measuring Matryoshkas! Such a cool gift!
Dinner
For our main meal today, I wanted to make some comfort food, so I opted for one of our all-time favourite Winter warmers… Sweet Chestnut Casserole with Herby Dumplings.
This was just what the boys needed after playing outside and making fire!
Dessert
For dessert, we had a Chocolate Banana Chia Pudding. A lovely, quick dessert that’s totally scrumptious (and healthy!)
That’s me done for another WIAW! Time to dash off to school now to teach my Wednesday Workshops Enjoy the rest of the week everyone xx
Question of the day: What’s your favourite Winter comfort food?
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The soup sounds wonderful!
Fran@ Broken Cookies Don’t Count recently posted..WIAW~My Memory Card Ate My Food
Hi Sharon
As always reading your blog always makes me feel hungry!
the sweet chestnut casserole with herby dumplings looks good – have you got the recipe?
Hi Joni! I posted the recipe on Monday, so hopefully you’ve seen it now. We’re loving this dumpling casserole at the moment. It’s such great comfort food
Have you got a family-favourite veggie casserole or stew? If so, please do send the recipe as I’d love to try it out 
Everything looks so good.
Kale soup….yummy!
I love experimenting with different porridge toppings at the moment. Yours looks great.
And oh my the pudding. I’m off to look at the recipe now. That looks right up my chocolatey loving street.
Wow, beautiful photos! All of your eats sound amazing – especially those gingersnaps. Yum! I often make vegan cookies, and it really is funny how surprised people are when they like them. Just because they’re vegan doesn’t mean they’ll taste bad!
Happy WIAW!
Olivia @ Liv Lives Life recently posted..WIAW #30
It’s funny isn’t it how some people assume the food’s going to be horrible just because it’s vegan. Last week at our local primary school, the children made some vegan chocolate cookies. They were the most delicious chocolate cookies I’ve tasted in my life and the children that made them loved them too. However, when we told other children that the cookies were vegan they pulled faces and wouldn’t even try them!! I found it really strange! I mean, it’s not as if the cookies had anything sinister added to them. Just no dairy or eggs. No problem though as the cookies soon gotten eaten up by the rest of us
Yum your porridge looks so lovely! Soup is definitely my favourite winter comfort food! I love chia pudding.
Lauren (@PoweredbyPB) recently posted..WIAW- Food glorious food!
Oh my those dumplings look utterly fantastic.
Soup is my ultimate favorite comfort food right now. Acorn squash as of now!
Eating 4 Balance recently posted..What I Read on this Fabulous Wednesday (And a New Recipe)
Yum! This soup looks ridiculously good:) Happy WIAW!
Sunnie@ModernGirlNutrition recently posted..WIAW- Siggi’s!
What a great idea to serve kale that way! I really want to love kale, but to be honest, I just don’t, so I often put it in things–smoothies, soups, stews, etc. but I’ve never thought of blending it into a creamy soup. It will work for me but not for my youngest who has decided that he doesn’t like ANY soup, no matter what’s in it. Ah well, at least he will eat kale chips. I look forward to trying this soup–with an extra serving left over!
Candy recently posted..Pause
Oh no does Jace still not like soup? Maybe try sending him to stay with a friend or family member. It did the trick with dips didn’t it?
My niece stayed with my mum for 2 weeks over Christmas and started to eat lots of things that she’s ‘never liked’ before. She even ate my veggie korma and liked it! Lil’ L wouldn’t go near mushrooms until he stayed with my mum for a few days… now they’re one of his favourite vegetables. He told me tonight that he absolutely loves every type of mushroom there is. Talk about one extreme to another!
Somehow I still haven’t learned the lesson that I need a handkerchief on hand when I visit your blog because everything looks so delicious that I can’t help but salivate.
The soup looks incredible!!
Ali @ WHOLEistically Fit recently posted..Group Fitness Instructor Pet Peeves: Do You Have Any?
hehehe I bought those cashew butter sachets this week for my daughter to take to school and dip apple into! How convenient!
Love the look of that soup! It looks very festive too!
hehehee, guess what!!!! As of this week I have a vegan husband
I AM OVER THE MOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lets hope it lasts hey!
Sandy recently posted..The Same but Different
That’s so exciting!!! I bet you feel like you’re getting a new man lol! After seeing all those delicious meals you create I’m sure he won’t miss meat for a second
I love kale in stir fry. The kids don’t know it’s there and devour it. I do like your soup quite a bit and I think the color is very fetching.
So glad that you like the package (I know I am quite late responding to this) I just wanted to share some things with you for the holiday times.
Rachel @ My Naturally Frugal Family recently posted..Hello! Remember Me ?