Butternut Squash Curry Soup

After being away working for a couple of days I'm back on the soup wagon. I've got to be truthful.  I wasn't massively impressed with today's offering.  It had the potential to be great, but it just fell short.  In the end I had to stir three dessert spoons of spice mix (secret recipe) into in. I think if I were to make it again I would add some garlic as well.

1x butternut squash
1x onion
3x celery stalks
2x tbsp curry powder
1x tsp cumin
1x tsp coriander
1x tsp turmeric
1x tsp salt
1x tin coconut milk light
Chopped coriander to garnish.

Peel and dice the squash before oven roasting with some salt and oil at 180C for 20 mins or until soft.

Dice the onion and cook off in the some oil until soft. Add the spices and some water, then the diced celery and cook for ten minutes.  Add the roasted butternut squash, the tin of coconut milk and 1 cup of water.  Cook together for 20minutes then blend and stir through a handful of chopped coriander.

Like I said, it was ok.  But not as good as it should have been.

Post Pilates Pesto (soup)

The month of veg seems to be going well so far and this post pilates, first day back at work after the holidays contribution to the experiment was particularly good.  Exactly what was required on a cold, miserable, wet night. The Very Tolerant Boyfriend's brother gave him some really delicious sicilian pesto at Christmas which made this soup really special.

1x red onion (diced)
1x clove garlic (diced)
2x large carrots (peeled and diced)
1x large leek (sliced)
2x cans butter beans (drained and rinsed)
1lb red potatoes (peeled and diced)
1x sprig rosemary
1x ltr vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
2x tsp pesto
200g spinach

Soften the onion, garlic and leek in some olive oil for 5-6 minutes. Add the stock and the diced carrots and potatoes and the drained beans with the rosemary, salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer until the potatoes are cooked through (15-20 mins).

Once the potatoes are cooked stir in the pesto and then add the spinach.  Leave the spinach to wilt and then stir in. Remove the rosemary stalk and serve.

Sweet Potato and black bean burritos

This was a delicious and very filling meal. It was very well received by the Very Tolerant Boyfriend and will definitely be made again.

We de-veganised ours with a scattering of cheese,  but this could easily be left out.

Take two sweet potatoes, peel and cut into bite sized pieces.  Shake with a tablespoon of oil and scatter over a pinch of chilli flakes.  Roast for 35 to 45 mins at 180C or until soft.

While the sweet potato is in the oven make the sauce.  Dice a red onion and soften in a little olive oil.  Add in 2.5 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of paprika and a diced red pepper and cook until soft.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of black beans and a cup of sweetcorn.  Cook together until it has reduced to a thick sauce.

Take a wholemeal wrap and place pieces of the sweet potato down the centre.  Spoon the sauce over this and if you want sprinkle with a little sauce. Fold the edges in and roll into a burrito.

Caribbean Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

I've been really getting into the groove with the vegetable based/vegetarian/vegan diet thing.  The rules have been adapted so that I can still eat meat when we're eating out which I think pretty definitively proves that I couldn't ever become vegetarian full time.

This has been my favourite of the vegetable soups so far and I suspect will become a staple in our house.

2x sweet potatoes
3x carrots
3x tomatoes
2x red peppers
2x red onions
2x tbsp olive oil
1x tbspn grated ginger
1x tbspn smoked paprika
1x tsp cumin
1x tin light coconut milk
1x bay leaf
3/4 cup water
salt and pepper

Chopped coriander and a wedge of lime to garnish

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and carrots into pieces.  Peel and quarter the red onions and deseed

and quarter the red peppers.  Toss in oil and roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes at 180C.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Combine the rest of the  ingredients in a pan, add the cooled roasted vegetables and bring to the boil.  Simmer gently for 10 minutes and then let the flavours develop for 20 minutes. Blend together using a hand blender.

This will serve six.

In this as we had a really late breakfast so the soup has been packed up for lunch tomorrow and the rest has gone in the freezer for the next time I can't be bothered to cook.  Hopefully some delicious spicy soup should ease the pain of going back to work a little bit.

Friday night curry

Still sticking to the vegetarian/vegan challenge I cracked into the Friday night curry series with a dhal. This is a great store cupboard meal that's cheap and easy, which tastes just as great in the second day.  Which is just as well, as it's on the menu for lunch tomorrow (spoiler). I made enough for six and served it with wholemeal chapattis.

2 x red onions (diced (
6x tomatoes
400g red lentils
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp nigella seeds
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cinnamon
200g spinach
20g coriander

Soak the lentils while you start in the rest of the curry.

Fry of the onion in the heated oil with a large punch of salt until browned then add the minced garlic and cook until softened.  Add all the spices and cook until fragrant.  I needed to add some water at this point to stop it sticking.

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until it has reduced to a thick sauce.  Drain and rinse the lentils and stir then into the tomato/spice mixture.  Add enough water to cover the lentils,  put the lid on and simmer until the lentils are tender.  Stir through most of the chopped coriander and then add the spinach and replace the lid until the spinach has wilted. Stir through the wilted spinach and serve with a further sprinkling of fresh coriander.

Spicy slow cooker cashews. Not cake.

These are about as brilliant as a tasty non cake snack gets.  They're really easy to make and you only need to eat about three of them. You just throw everything into the slow cooker, stir really well so all the nuts are coated and then leave for about an hour and a half.

The result are beautifully toasted spicy cashew nuts.

3 cups of raw cashews
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt

January. Vegetables and soup

After the excesses of December and Christmas the desire to cram all the vegetables in my mouth has got too much.  So the Very Tolerant Boyfriend and I have decided to have a largely vegetarian/vegan January.

Hopefully this will challenge me to get out of my cooking rut as well as lose the extra Christmas poundage. We started off with a sweet potato and red pepper spicy soup.

1lb sweet potatoes
2x red peppers
1x red onions
Tbsp olive oil
Clove garlic minced
Pinch dried chilli flakes
500 mls veg stock
Paprika and sour cream to garnish

Peel and dice the potatoes before roasting for 30 mins or until soft.
Roughly chop the onions, peppers and sweat with the garlic and chilli flakes in a little oil until soft. Add the roasted potatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and then blend with a hand blender.  Blend until smooth. Feel free to add more water if the consistency is too thick.

Serve with a sprinkling of paprika and and splash of sour cream. No sour cream for the vegans.