Happy Halloween

Spiced Pumpkin & Apple Soup

It’s that time of year again. With things being so very different this year, treat yourselves to some homemade healthy soup.

As well as providing you with some of your seven a day it is also very economical to make, using the flesh from all that pumpkin carving and windfall apples.

For the adults I highly recommend using cider to make this soup, however, for the children vegetable stock is a better option.

To finish the soup, toast some bread, using a cookie cutter, stamp out to ghostly shapes, Sprinkle with grated cheese or a vegan alternative, float on tp of individual bowls of soup.

Dairy free, gluten free, Vegetarian, vegan. Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1kg Pumpkin flesh
• 1 Large Potato, peeled & diced
• 2 Large Bramley Apple., peeled & chopped
• 1 large onion, peeled & diced
• 1 Large Carrot. Chopped
• 2 Sticks Celery. Chopped
• 2 Sage leaves
• 1 Tbspn Smoked Paprika
• 1 Tbspn Curry powder
• 1/2 tspn grated nutmeg.
• 1.5 Ltrs Vegetable Stock or for the adults. 1/2 veg stock & 1/2 Cider.
• 3tbspns Rapeseed Oil.
• Seasoning

METHOD.

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan, over a medium heat.
• Add the vegetables & fruit. Fry for 5mins.
• Sprinkle in the spices & fry for a further 3mins, stirring regularly.
• Add the liquid(s). Bring to the boil, turn down the heat, simmer for 45mins.
• Remove from heat, blend in a liquidiser or with a stick until smooth.
• Season to taste and serve.

Should the soup be to thick for your liking, thin down with extra veg stock.

Enjoy

Happy Halloween

Merry Christmas

Christmas Countdown 22 Recipes for a Merry Christmas

If you have been. Thank you for reading. This concludes the 22 recipe Christmas Countdown. All thats left for me to say is “I hope you have found these recipes useful & you have enjoyed, reading these blogs.

Click the photos below to take you to the individual recipes. OR the blue link below will take you to all the recipes, mentioned below in the drop down menu of Christmas Countdown.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HEALTHY & HAPPY NEW YEAR

• 

  Lemon Mincemeat

• 

  Perfect Pastry

• 

  Late cake recipe

• 

  Chocolate & Coconut Vegan Truffles

• 

  Mascapone Pastry

• 

  Marzipan or Sugar Pan

• 

  Top those pies with Veg

• 

  The Christmas Starter

• 

  Do real men eat Quiche?

• 

  The icing on the cake

• 

  About Christmas Countdown

• 

  A Cooks Life

• 

  Chocolate Please

• 

  Vegetables & leftovers

• 

  A change from Sage & onion

• 

  Veggies, look away now

• 

  Roasted Mediterranean Veg

• 

  A little knowledge

• 

  Christmas Stollen Pudding

• 

  Easy Turkey thigh bake

• 

  The Social

Stollen Pudding

Leftovers recipe

If you are lucky enough to be given or bought a lovely home made Stollen this Christmas, you MAY have some left over, along with some drops in the bottom of your liqueur bottles!!!!

For this leftovers recipe you can use Brioche, Croissants or any other bread product you happen to have to hand.

Christmas Stollen with Home made Marzipan

 

INGREDIENTS. ALLERGENS IN BOLD. Serves 6 Oven 180c 350F Gas MK 5 Time taken 20mins + Standing time & Cooking

Slices of Stollen,( I used my own Homemade, filled with Cranberries, Pistachios & Marzipan) or any of the above.

3 Large Free Range Local Eggs

150ml Double Cream

350ml Milk

2 Tbspns Rum, or Cointreau

Grated rind of 1 large Orange

1/2 Tspn Freshly grated Nutmeg & Cinnamon.

METHOD.

Butter a large oven proof serving dish & lay the slices of Stollen over the base, building several layers.

Beat together the eggs, cream, orange rind, liqueur & spices.

Pour over the sliced Stollen pushing the slices down to cover in the liquid.

Leave to stand for 40mins.

Bake in the centre of the oven for approx 45mins until the pudding is just firm in the centre.

Allow to cool slightly, before serving, dust with Icing Sugar and add a good dollop of Clotted Cream or clotted cream Ice Cream. ( Marshfield Farm do a superb clotted cream & gingerbread Ice Cream if you really want to go mad).

If you want to use Croissants slice them & spread with Nutella. The addition of some of those bananas, wasting in the fruit bowl, also compliments this dessert. Omit, the alcohol, for a fruity childrens pud.

For more ideas on what to do with your Christmas Leftovers. I will be on  The Graham Rogers morning show at 9.10 on Boxing Day morning. BBC Radio Wiltshire

 

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Christmas Stollen with Home made Marzipan

Don’t fritter it Frittata it.

In today’s world none of us have money to fritter away, yet we frequently throw away food.

The media and supermarkets tempt us  with new products on a daily basis, prompting us to disregard the food already lurking in our fridges and buy yet another product. Fine for them, more money into their already swelling coffers, but not so good for us.

We are being lured into an ever increasing circle of wasting food, – our money – and in many cases eating unhealthy, processed food stuffs which contain little, or no nutritional value.

In the time it takes to open a packet and microwave a container you can whip up a nutritious Frittata and top it with what ever takes your fancy, or those leftovers from the fridge. Add some salad or veg and tuck in.

This recipe is equally good served both hot or cold. Good cut in wedges for a picnic or the kids lunchboxes, Place inside a chunk of Granary bread for a giant sandwiches.

The recipe below is for a basic Cheese and Tomato Frittata. (Pictured above)  But the method is the same for any of the suggested ingredients listed below.

Cavolo Nero & Mozzarella Frittata

Serves 4-6       Gluten Free.   Time taken 20 mins.

Equipment:  Frying pan.   Pre-heated Grill.

INGREDIENTS:

Tbspn Olive or Rapeseed oil.

8 Large Free range eggs.   Beaten together.

Seasoning.

Leftover veg, meat, fish, olives, anchovies etc

Cheese or cheeses of your choice.

Garlic & chopped fresh herbs. Optional.

METHOD:

Heat a large frying pan with the oil, over a med/high heat.

Halve 4 Large soft tomatoes, fry lightly, cut side up.

When brown turn the tomatoes over fry for a further minute.

Pour the beaten, seasoned eggs over the tomatoes, scraping  and lifting the edges to allow the unset egg run underneath.

When set to your liking, remove from the heat, scatter with 175g of cheese & grill until melted.

If liked scatter with chopped raw garlic & fresh herbs. Serve either hot or cold

Until next time foodies. Happy, Healthy Eating.

Its a wrap. Wrap up your leftovers.

I love a wrap, they are very useful things, which lend themselves to a quick healthy meal, depending, what you put in them, of course. Wraps can be both sweet or savoury, hot or cold, personally I like mine, cooked on a Panini toaster, or in a dry, non stick frying pan.

Wraps are available in white, wholemeal, white & wheat ?! and multi seeded, my favourite, they also come flavoured with an assortment of different herbs & spices. You can also make your own, which I sometimes do using a mixture of Spelt & Multi grain flour. I tend not to add any flavourings as they can then be used with either sweet or savoury fillings.

Which ever variety you choose, always go for the best quality, as the cheaper brands tend to be rather tough & when toasted have the consistency of cardboard.

In the photo above, I used leftover Pork from last Sunday’s roast, thinly sliced green pepper, chopped spring onion & smoked garlic as the filling. I spread Sweet Chilli Chutney, from the marvellous Pot of What range of chutney’s & pickles over the wrap, popped the filling in the middle & folded the wrap, to completely enclose the filling.

Quickly toasted & served with a beansprout, carrot & apple salad drizzled with fresh lime juice & Sesame oil, The wrap made a substantial, healthy supper dish, which was ready in minutes, had quite a ring of a non greasy pancake roll about it.

Right cookies, get creative & make some for yourself. There are a few suggestions below, but really, your fridge holds the ingredients.

SAVOURY:

Leftover roast lamb, Feta cheese & mint, spread with tomato chutney.

Cooked sausage, grated Cheddar cheese & chopped onion, spread with mustard & mayo.

Olives, sun dried tomatoes & roasted peppers, spread with herby cream cheese.

Tuna, sweetcorn & grated cheese, spread with Mayo.

Leftover roast beef, cooked beetroot & garlic, spread with horseradish & soured cream

Serve with a salad & a dip of your choice.

SWEET:

Sliced Banana, Blueberries &  a sprinkle of Lime Juice, spread with cream cheese.

Sliced Banana, Pecan nuts & chopped chocolate, spread with Nutella.

Sliced Peaches, raspberries, Spread with honey.

Crushed meringues, stale cake crumbs, strawberries, spread with lemon curd.

Chopped dates, grated Orange rind & chopped nuts, spread with cream cheese.

Give the sweet wraps a dusting of icing sugar & serve with Fromage Frais, Greek Yoghurt or to be very decadent Clotted Cream.

Have fun creating your own personal favourites. Maybe they could be a quick alternative to Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Who knows?